Interfaculty course - General and academic Dutch - intermediate level [ LNEER1300 ]

The course is of intermediate level and students should have a good knowledge of the basic grammar and vocabulary and have reached a lower b1 level of the CEFR.

The course is structured around themes related primarily to the daily life in a Dutch speaking environment, to the academic world and to the Flemish and Dutch culture in broad sense (including also political, social and economical aspects).

Reading Comprehension :

• Students can read with some autonomy and understand the argumentative scheme of factual texts, written in current language and related to cultural matters or contemporary problems
• Students can understand academic course notes related to their field of study

B1+ level of the Common European Framework of Reference for Languages

 Listening Comprehension :

• Students can understand most of an academic lecture related to their field of study, provided the presentation is clearly structured and the standard language clearly articulated
• Students can understand most of the newspapers and television programmes provided the student is familiar with the topic and the standard language is clearly articulated
• Students can understand a normal conversation , with the occasional repeating of some words or expressions

B1+ level of the CEFR

Speaking Skills :

• Students can expose their points of view and defend them
• Students can explain their point of view by presenting the advantages and disadvantages of different options
• Students can keep , with some ease, a conversation or discussion with a native speaker, in standard language, on a general topic or a topic related to their field of study

B1+ level of the CEFR

Writing Skills :

Students can write a simple and coherent text on a familiar topic which is of direct interest to them or which is related to their field of study

B1-level of the CEFR

Code :

• Expansion of general vocabulary and introduction to academic vocabulary
• Reinforcement of specific Dutch grammatical structures

Culture :

For all the skills aforementioned : introduction to Flemish and Dutch culture through active participation (cultural trip, film, exhibitions).

1. Continuous assessment (class participation, daily work, individual presentation of a press article)
2. Written assessment of general and academic vocabulary course material in a self-tuition test on the Moodle e-learning Platform
3. Oral test at the end of the semester: group presentation on a topic selected by the students, related or not to their field of study, in agreement with the teacher
4. Oral exam: individual presentation of a press reading file or a cultural file

The more general vocabulary related to daily life, to the news items and to contemporary problems as well as the academic vocabulary are presented in the self-tuition syllabus.
The specific Dutch grammatical structures are also presented in the self-tuition syllabus with exercices and key to exercices.

The revision and expansion of the general vocabulary as well as the revision of grammatical points will be exercised through oral practice activities and self-tuition tests on the Moodle e-learning Platform. This will  require the spontaneous study of the code by the student who is responsible for perfecting his linguistic knowledge.

The debates, discussions and presentations also require a certain amount of preparation by the student. Besides, the students are supposed to participate to the cultural trip.
 

This course focuses primarily on oral communication practice. The activities proposed in class aim at developing spontaneous communication while reinforcing the mastery of the code (vocabulary, grammar) :

• Role plays, debates on various topics chosen by either the students or the teacher and discussions based on articles, videos
• Individual presentations  of a previously selected press article
• Group presentations on a topic related to the Flemish culture or on a topic related to the students'field of study
• Cultural trip to Flanders (visit of a Flemish town or an exhibition)

• Self-tuition syllabus « néerlandais général et académique » (General and Academic Dutch) LNeer1300 -1500
• Press articles
• Videos
• Moodle e-learning Platform

• Training staff: Classes in group of 15 to 20 students
• The teacher is available during his office hours and can be contacted by email
• Workload : 30h classroom hours ' 42 hours of self-tuition