Entry to Professional life in English for Criminologists [ LANGL2623 ]

> https://moodleucl.uclouvain.be/course/view.php?id=143

This is an intermediate level course and presupposes active mastery of basic grammar and vocabulary as described for the course LANGL 2423 , an intermediate level course for the first year of the Master in Criminology (corresponding to the B1 level of the « Common European Framework » (Council of Europe).

Students will be asked to take part in various activities allowing them to develop their communicative skills (mainly oral and written) in the following situations:

• public presentation of an institution
• job interview  (including a CV and a letter of application)
• role playing a situation where a criminologist has to interview someone (+ report)
• preparation of and participation in a professional meeting

The main objective of the course is the development of skills that will enable the students from various faculties to function in the daily situations of their future professional activities. Students will be asked to carry out various projects in order to facilitate their integration in their future professional life. 

By the end of the course, the student should have reached the B2 level of the « Common European Framework » (Council of Europe) for the following skills :

1. reading comprehension
2. listening comprehension
3. oral expression
4. written expression
    

Students are assessed :

There will be an oral examination for any student who fails one of the four topics (presentation of the institution, job interview, case interview, professional meeting). It will take the form of a job interview and will include various aspects of the four topics).

The course is based on interactive communication. The activities proposed aim at consolidating and developing the communication techniques specific to a professional context while at the same time mastering the code required (general and specific vocabulary, grammar). These activities will involve role-plays involving the spoken and written language.

The activities proposed are of two kinds:

1. Presentation by the teacher of the linguistic functions and techniques most directly related to professional life (meetings, job interviews, interviewing someone, presentations ...) and activation of these skills in various role plays.
2. Presentation of assignments prepared by the students in connection with their placement:

• presentation of the placement institution (+ report)
• job interview (+ letter of application and CV)
• interview of someone where a criminologist is needed (+ report)
• preparation of and participation in a professional meeting about a specific case (+ report)

Before each class activity, the teacher places a range of tools (communication techniques, useful expressions, general and specialised vocabulary, grammatical reminders) and resources (written documents, audiovisual aids, web sites ') at the students' disposal to  enable the students to interact in communication situations in so far as they have been prepared beforehand. Feedback activities are also planned. Students are given detailed instructions before each activity. Texts and videos are used as inputs to the oral discussion.

Reading skills

By the end of the course, the students should be able to read - with a large degree of independence - articles and reports concerning their field of studies.

Listening skills - Individual

• Students should be able to understand conferences and extended speeches and follow complex argumentation on familiar topics or those related to their studies.
• Students should be able to understand radio or TV programs on familiar topics.

Listening skills - Interactive

• Students should be able to understand the main points of a discussion in their field.
• Students should be able to understand most of what is said in a normal conversation in standard English.

Oral skills (main aim) - Individual

• Students should be able to present (after preparation) in a clear  and methodical way a topic related to their placement and to answer questions from the audience.
• Students should be able to do a job interview in the institution where the placement  has been carried out.

Oral skills (main aim) - Interactive

• Students should be able to question someone in a professional context where the services of a criminologist are needed.
• Students should be able to communicate spontaneously and fluently to a degree that allows for normal interaction with a native-speaker interlocutor.
• In a professional meeting, students should be able to express their point of view sufficiently well to be understood without difficulty, developing their arguments logically, giving both the pros and the cons and relating what they say to the arguments of their interlocutors

Written skills

By the end of the course, the students should be able

• to write a letter of application and a CV
• to write a report on the institution where they did their placement
• to write a text about a specific case where a criminologist is required
• to write a report of a meeting related to a specific case

Code

Enabling students to adequately master language functions, grammatical structures (simple and  complex), vocabulary (general and specific), pronunciation and intonation in order to allow for fluent and spontaneous communication. The use of the code is with a view to communication and correction of mistakes will be provided.

Culture

Making students aware of the (inter-)cultural differences as expressed by different interlocutors of the English language (native and non-native speakers).

• Syllabus: 'Entry to Professional Life'
• E-learning site containing pedagogical documents and references about sites.