Interactive English Communication

All is posted up on Moodle

To have passed their second year and reached a B1 level in the targeted skills, namely speaking.

The prerequisite(s) for this Teaching Unit (Unité d’enseignement – UE) for the programmes/courses that offer this Teaching Unit are specified at the end of this sheet.

The themes are related to their studies and fields of future professional activities.
Broadly speaking, these are all steeped in the English-speaking world's culture.

The terminology related to these socio-professional topics are activated in class: socializing, the language of argumentation, traveling abroad and applying for a job.

The teacher's American Language and Culture website is integrated into the course through home assignments and interactive sessions, approximately once every seven weeks.

By the end, the students will have become independent users in both speaking and listening. The course aims at a B2+ level according to the European Framework of Reference for Languages.

Speaking Skills

The students have to master enough grammar, vocabulary and phonetics to successfully take part in discussions, debates or language-focused activities.
A self-teaching grammar guide is also enclosed in the course-notes as its knowledge enhances the quality of their speech.
The teacher's American Culture & Language website is also used to increase their speaking proficiency.

Listening Comprehension

• To understand authentic English radio, TV and on-line recordings.
• To follow a conversation among native speakers as long as it is about course-related subjects.
  It is a realistic objective for a skill that is no longer honed and only serves as a starting point for conversational activities.

Reading Comprehension

The learners will be able to read the following rather fluently '

1. The American website articles, forum contributions, encyclopaedia entries, quiz-related questions, clues and explanations, quotes and odd facts, '
2. Any course-notes worksheets used as a basis for discussion.

The contribution of this Teaching Unit to the development and command of the skills and learning outcomes of the programme(s) can be accessed at the end of this sheet, in the section entitled “Programmes/courses offering this Teaching Unit”.

The final mark is based on 5 criteria, each of which worth 20%.

1. Class attendance and active participation (and completion of home assignment)
2. The Christmas written grammar
3. The Spring team presentation
4. The Easter phonetics test
5. The May research-based role-play debate on a study-related controversial issue

This course is interactive and conversation-oriented regardless of the level. The teacher resorts to various techniques and media to help the learners hold a conversation, participate in debates and take the floor. The students are strongly encouraged to prepare before class for it to be truly interactive.

The students will also be trained to report on articles, radio and TV programs; give a short talk on the English-speaking world culture; discuss historical events and current news; argue about the American way of life; take part in quizzes.
For the final exam pair role-play, study-specific research is demanded.

Homework should amount to roughly 35-40 hours a year for an average student:

1. Studying the self-teaching Grammatical Guide = 15 hours.
2. Studying the General Vocabulary Phonetic list and speeches = 10 hours
3. Preparing for their team presentation = 5 hours.
4. Doing research for the end-of-year role-play discussion = 5 hours.
5. Other weekly Home assignments: 3 hours

• The course book is entitled « INTERACTIVE ENGLISH SEMINAR  ».
• It features a sizeable self-study section: « ENGLISH GRAMMAR FOR FLUENT SPEAKERS ».
• The Moodle platform also contains a wealth of resources.
• The teacher's website: www.ilv.ucl.ac.be/ilv-us

In fact, for the input the teacher relies on all available multimedia aids and other documents are likely to be added during the year.

Training staff

• The teacher is available an hour a week and by appointment for individualized tuition and guidance.
• Weaker or stronger students can also improve their language in the ILV multimedia center.