Curricula

Objectives

In the course English for Working Life you will learn to operate in English in situations related to international working life.

You will also increase your self-confidence in speaking and writing in professional contexts. In addition, you will learn to follow the developments in your field locally and globally.

After taking the course, you will have learned to write texts related to your future profession in an appropriate style. You will also have gained confidence in spoken interaction and acquired vocabulary that will benefit you later in your career.

Communication and Team-working: You are able to function effectively in a national and international context and you are able to cooperate effectively with specialists in your own field as well as with other groups of professionals.

Content

The central contents of the course are:
- telling about your studies and looking for employment
- oral and written communication in working life, for example meetings, small talk, customer service, telephoning and emailing, and expressing your own opinion
- producing formal text, such as reports, instructions or summaries
- field-specific terminology
- presentations, workshops, group discussions

Teaching methods

This course requires weekly classroom attendance on Thursdays at 13.15 - 15.45 . The contact sessions are not lectures but an opportunity for you to be actively engaged with the material via small group discussions and activities. For this reason, the sessions will not be recorded and there is a minimum attendance rate of 80%.

The course grade will be calculated as follows:
30 % Major task: Spoken exam in the form of a Town Hall Meeting
30 % Major task: Written exam: C.V., Diplomatic email and Letter of Application
30% Major task: Project carried out with partner(s)
10 % Continuous Demonstration of skills – this part of the grade includes active attendance and completion of minor tasks.
All of the requirements above must be completed at a satisfactorily level to receive a grade for the course.

Evaluation scale

0-5

Evaluation criteria, satisfactory (1-2)

1 The students are able to communicate understandably both in speech and writing in simple and routine work tasks and other situations. They can understand the central content of speech and writing dealing with familiar topics. They have a sufficient command of the basic structures of the language for the delivery of their message. The level of their pronunciation is sufficient for the delivery of the main content of their message. The students act responsibly and abide by established agreements.

2 The students are able to communicate understandably both orally and in writing in routine and familiar work duties and situations although their language use is at times slow and incoherent. They understand clear speech and writing with familiar content. They have an adequate command of the basic structures of the language. Their vocabulary is sufficient for every-day situations and reasonably adequate for basic field-specific situations. The level of their pronunciation is sufficient for the delivery of content.The students act responsibly and abide by established agreements.

Evaluation criteria, good (3-4)

3 The students can manage well both oral and written situations in working life and every-day life. The students can write a text with coherent content. They understand speech with a normal tempo, but unusual topics and language deviating from standard use cause difficulties. They can understand demanding written content related to their own field, although some details may remain unclear. They can use the grammatical structures of the language in a versatile way, and their mistakes do not hinder communication. The students’ command of the vocabulary of the language is sufficient for communicating the central content even in demanding tasks and situations. Their pronunciation is adequate. The students act responsibly and abide by established agreements.

4 The students are able to communicate fluently in different situations and produce clear and fluent language with adequate style. They have no difficulty in understanding and producing speech and writing needed in working life although expressions deviating from the standard use of the language cause problems to some extent. The students have a good command of the language and its use, but occasional problems may arise. The students act responsibly and abide by established agreements.

Evaluation criteria, excellent (5)

5 The students are able to communicate with great fluency and active participation in a wide variety of situations. They also portray considerable versatility and an appropriate sense of style in their ability to apply the learning content of the course to demanding working life situations. They have no difficulties in understanding different kinds of language users although fine nuances and speech deviating significantly from standard language can sometimes be challenging. The students can understand and produce demanding content in both speech and writing. Their language use is practically flawless. The students act responsibly and abide by established agreements.

Prerequisites

The course is on level B2 in the Common European Framework of Reference for Languages. If the course Improve your English was recommended to you at the beginning of your studies, please take it before enrolling for English for Working Life.

In this course you will need the basic ICT-skills, such as word processing and creating audio and video files.