The Upstream series is specifically designed for students from absolute beginner to intermediate level. Each book consists of five units and provides systematic preparation in all four language skills - listening, speaking, reading, and writing - required at these levels.

The Student Book and Workbook are designed to be covered in approximately 60 to 80 hours of classwork. The Workbooks for Upstream from Beginner to Pre-Intermediate level contain Vocabulary, Grammar, Communication, Reading, Listening, and Writing sections with a variety of motivating tasks and useful exercises, as well as listening exercise excerpts.

The Teacher's Books for the Student Books contain step-by-step teaching notes, additional ideas for optional activities, and complete answer keys for the exercises in the Student Books. The Tests include appropriate photocopiable assessment tests as well as a mid-term and final test that allow teachers to assess students' progress throughout the course.

• Theme units from a wide range of sources
• A variety of intercultural and interdisciplinary topics
• Systematic development of all four language skills through realistic challenging tasks that encourage the student's personal engagement
• Vocabulary exercises that practice and activate essential vocabulary, including collocations, everyday English, phrasal verbs, and word formation
• A variety of authentic challenging reading and listening tasks
• Grammar units covering all major grammatical areas, along with a Grammar Reference section
• Analysis and practical composition in all types of writing with complete models
• A wide range of speaking activities
• Culture Clips
• Literature pages
• Interactive Whiteboard software
• Personal Language Portfolios (for levels A1-B1+)