Ilà Certificate: Level A1 Syllabus

This Syllabus should not be taken as a requirement for the attainment of CEFR A1 Level. The heterogeneity of those who sit the Ilà examination is such that vocabulary and linguistic functions have a different weight to the lives and needs of different people. The different age also plays a crucial role. Young people have different interests compared to adults, have a limited life experience and less responsibility. They are also at different stages of cognitive development. These differences profoundly affect the use of language. Intercultural awareness is important too.

People at Level A1 are aware at different stages of the cultural difference. For example, those who add a Level A1 competence in a minor language to the knowledge of other languages are in a different position with respect to those who learn a foreign language for the first time

Vocabulary Grammar Linguistic functions
1. Personal details

  • name
  • job
  • nationality
  • marital status

2. Physical and character features

  • human body
  • dress
  • accessories
  • character

3. Family

  • family members
  • relatives
  • friendship
  • love

4. Jobs

5. Familiar domain

  • home
  • school
  • workplace

6. Daily routine

  • personal care
  • having breakfast
  • getting dressed
  • going out
  • studying, working

7. Colours

8. Cardinal points

9. Arabic personal names

10. Personal age

11. Imperatives

  • takallam/takallamī
  • unẓur/unẓurī
  • ṣif/ṣifī

12. Arab world map

 1. Pronouns

  • isolated and suffixed

2. Common names

  • with and without definite article
  • singular, dual and plural
  • masculine and feminine

3. Adjectives

  • qualifiers
  • predicatives
  • nisba

4. Equational sentence

  • affirmative
  • negative (laysa)

5. Iḍāfa

6. Demonstrative adjectives and pronouns (singular)

7. Question marks

  • hal
  • ayna
  • man
  • kayfa
  • kam

8. Numbers

  • from 1 to 10

9. How to express possession

  • li
  • ‘inda
  • ma‘a
  • ladà

10. Prepositions

  • ‘alà, fī, min
  • taḥt, fawq, amām, warā’, ḫalf

11. Mudāri‘ conjugation in the singular of following verbs:

 ،يغتسل، يأكل، يشرب  •

يلبس، يخرج، يدرس، يعمل

1. Identifying

  • a person
  • an object
  • (eventually with pointing gesture)

2. Answering questions for

  • confirmation
  • information
  • identification

3. Greeting

  • exchanging greetings
  • introducing oneself
  • asking about someone else

4. Introducing another person

5. Describing relatives’ relationships

6. Describing in a simple way one’s home and the familiar domain

7. Describing oneself and other people

8. Telling the place one comes from

9. Identifying Arab and non-Arab countries and towns

10. Speaking about what one has got

11. Telling one’s age