We introduce some model-theoretic tools and ideas up to initial notions in stability theory. We aim to cover a selection of the following topics:

• types, the compactness theorem for types
• examples of relational structures (dense linear orders, the random graph)
• universal homogeneous models
• saturation and the existence of saturated models
• the monster model
• omitting types theorem, small theories
• ω-categorical theories and the Ryll-Nardzewski theorem
• preservation theorems and quantifier elimination
• imaginaries and the eq-expansion
• formulas without the order property (externally definable sets, stability and the number of types)