Who is this course for?
This course has been specifically prepared for 1) both on-campus and distance college students who use the Active English series; and 2) learners who have passed the beginning stage of their English study and wish to make further progress especially in their listening and speaking competence.

What does this course aim at?
Many learners may encounter this kind of situation in their English study: they have mastered all the basic grammar rules, and possess a wide vocabulary, but when it comes to listening and speaking in English, they become blank-minded and tongue-tied. This course aims to transfer those learners from KNOWING a grammar rule or the meaning of a word to DOING things (listening and speaking in particular) in real life situations, through a series of practical learning tasks.

What resources are available?
This course comes in three versions: the online, the multi-media and the print versions. The content of the three versions is basically the same, except that the first two versions can obviously offer more variety and convenience through visual and audio presentations. If you choose the print version, you need to have Interactive English (Band 1) as the textbook, the Interactive English Learner's Workbook as the workbook, and two audio cassettes to accompany the two books. Of course, you need to have access to a tape recorder. Blank tapes are also desirable for you to record your own speaking performances. If you choose the multi-media version, you need to have access to a computer. Finally, if you choose to study this course online, you need to have convenient access to the Internet and more important, you need to become a registered student at the Institute of Online Education, Beijing Foreign Studies University （北京外国语大学网络教育学院的注册学生）. For more information, please visit http://www.beiwaionline.com.

What does this course contain?
This course has 12 units. At the start of each unit, you will find a list of "Objectives" which highlights the speaking performances you should be able to present at the completion of the unit. This is followed by a "Warm-up Exercise" which leads you to the main themes. The unit is basically task and exercise-based, which means that it is made up of nine to twelve "Tasks" with one to five "Exercises" under each task. To handle the exercises, you need to read (or listen to, if you adopt the multi-media or online learning mode) the instructions first, then do the exercises as instructed, and finally read the feedback (or click the button “Done”) to check your performance. Sometimes, you can also find "Suggestions from Professor Interactive" or "Cultural Notes" after the feedback to help you complete the exercises in a more satisfying way. Towards the end of each unit, you will have the "Review" which helps you summarize the main language points presented in the unit. Finally, if you like, you can visit "Professor Interactive 's Cafe", where you will have a chat with the professor by looking at some interesting facts on one of the themes of the unit. "Tapescripts" for all recorded materials are attached at corresponding tasks and you can click each sentence to listen. With some cues and situations, “Role Play” section gives you a good chance to practice a dialogue with your computer.

How should you study this course?
This course is designed to enhance your skills in using English rather than to increase your knowledge about English. Thus, you should not just READ through all the exercises, but rather actually DO what is required. If you just read it through, you are actually cheating.

If you are studying this course without the presence of a teacher, you are advised to find a partner who will work together with you through the course. You can offer help and encouragement to each other as well as practice English. But this doesn't mean you can't learn this course all by yourself. In fact, I - Professor Interactive - am with you all the time, by telling you the objectives of the each unit, giving you explicit instructions on how the exercises should be done, offering feedback for you to assess your performance, guiding you to review what you have learned …

How should you plan your study?
Most of you will use this course together with Enrichment Reading (ER) (Band 1) and Comprehensive English (CE) (Band 1). Usually you finish three units (one unit for each course) within one week, 13 hours study time (6 hours for CE 1, 4 for ER 1, and 3 for IE 1). Therefore knowing how to divide your time among these three courses is crucial.

Some of you may prefer to study the three courses simultaneously, that is, you may spend a certain amount of time each day studying all three courses. This isn't a good idea. My suggestion is that you study the courses one or two at a time. For example, you could finish the tasks for ER 1 within the first 3-4 days of the week, one hour each day (in the evening), plus half an hour for IE 1 (either in the early morning or in the evening). Then you could spend Friday and Saturday on CE 1. A sample weekly study plan is shown below.

A sample weekly study plan (based on unit 2 of CE1, ER1 and IE1)

Day	Evening
Monday	6:00 - 6:20	IE 1	Warm-up & Task 1
	20:00- 22:30	ER 1 (20:00-21:20)	Warm-up, Tasks 1, 2 & 3
		IE 1 (21:30-22:30)	Tasks 2, 3 & 4
Tuesday	20:00 - 22:30	ER 1 (20:00-21:20)	Tasks 4, 5, 6 & 7
		IE 1 (21:30-22:30)	Tasks 5& 6, 7
Wednesday		Free
Thursday	20:00 - 22:30	ER 1 (20:00-20:50)	Tasks 8 & 9, Review & self-assessment
		IE 1 (21:00-22:20)	Task 8, 9 & Review
Friday	20:00 - 22:00	CE 1	Tasks 1, 2, 3, 4, 5 & 6
Saturday	14:00 - 17:00 20:00 - 21:00	CE 1	Tasks 7, 8, 9, 10& Review & self-assessment
Sunday			Review and summary

Alternatively, you could also finish the tasks for CE 1 within the first 3-4 days of the week, and leave Friday and Saturday for ER 1 and IE 1. Some of you may prefer to spend more time studying on weekends, in which case you can plan your own study. The purpose of making a study plan is to ensure that you study regularly and that you don't panic when you still have a lot of catching-up to do at the last minute.

Some of you, particularly those who are learning English through the distance mode, may feel lonely and helpless sometimes. But if you follow the course closely, do the tasks step by step, you won't have such feelings, for you will find me--your "virtual teacher"--who is always there to provide help, supervision and guidance.

I hope that this course not only helps you enhance your listening and speaking skills, but also offers you guidance to some practical language learning skills in general. What's more, I hope that you enjoy this course. I wish you every success in your English study.