Professional development seminar: Dutch - intermediate level [ LNEER2500 ]

> https://moodleucl.uclouvain.be/ 

Students should have a good receptive knowledge of the basic grammar and vocabulary and have reached a LOWER B1 level (reading, listening and speaking) of the " Common European Framework of reference for Languages " (CEFR).

The course is structured around different themes related primarily to the professional world in which the student is meant to function in the future.  Current affairs will also be discussed through the reading of newspaper articles.

Reading comprehension: B2- level of the CEFR

• Students can understand articles and reports on everyday topics or related to their field of study and can understand the writer's particular point of view.
• Students can read a meeting report, a memorandum, a job advertisement

Listening comprehension: B2- level of the CEFR

• Students can understand standard spoken English (live or from recordings)  on both familiar and unfamiliar topics normally encountered in personal, social, university or professional life
• Students can understand most of the newspapers and television programmes.
• In a conversation, students can understand in detail what is said in standard dialect, even in a noisy environment.

Speaking skills : B1 level of the CEFR

• Students can develop a simple, direct and prepared presentation on a familiar topic or a topic related to their field of study which is clear enough to be followed without difficulty most of the time and in which the main points are clearly explained
• Students can answer a series of questions linked to their presentation but can ask for repetition if the speed was too high.
• Students can follow an everyday conversation if the speaker expresses himself clearly, but with the occasional repeating of certain words or expressions. 

Writing skills : A2 level of the CEFR

• Students can write short and simple notes in connection with specific needs
• Students can write a series of expressions and simple sentences linked by connectors such as 'and', 'but' and 'because'

Code :

Expansion of basic vocabulary (2000 basic words) and reinforcement of specific Dutch grammatical structures.  As far as speaking skills are concerned, the course focuses more on communicative skills than on correction.
 

• Continuous assessment (class participation, daily work, oral presentation in group, ')
• Oral and written final exam

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Content and methodology

This course aims at helping students to prepare their entry on the job market, by training skills such as participating in a meeting, telephone conversation, e-mail writing, debating'

The aim is also to allow the student to know the professional world better, through the reading of newspaper articles, conferences, films, video sequences, company simulation exercises' All skills will be trained (listening, reading, speaking and writing) although the focus will be on developing speaking skills in a professional environment. 

Students are required to deliver a talk on one of the communication techniques related to professional life.  During this presentation, they are asked to create interaction with the public. The communication techniques themselves will be systematically trained in class.  All these activities require some preparation work to be done by the students who are also themselves responsible for perfecting their linguistic knowledge (vocabulary study, revision of grammatical points,'). This course can logically be followed by the LNEER2600 course of upper-intermediate level.