Interactive communication seminar

Teacher(s)

Denis Philippe (coordinator);

Language

English

Prerequisites

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.

Main themes

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.

Aims

At the end of this learning unit, the student is able to :
1	At the end of the course, the students should be able to   grasp the content and significance of articles and reports on topics connected with their interests or their jobs. Reading comprehension : level B2+ of the « Common European Framework of References for Languages » understand the TV  programmes concerning general topics and oriented towards their fields of interest in standard and clearly articulated English language. Listening comprehension: level B2+ of the « Common European Framework of References for Languages » master enough grammar, vocabulary and phonetics to successfully take part in discussions, debates or language-focused activities and give their opinion on general topics. Speaking: level B2  of the « Common European Framework of References for Languages ».

Content

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 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 societal and philosophical debates; take part in quizzes.

Teaching methods

Due to the COVID-19 crisis, the information in this section is particularly likely to change.

The course is  taught in a classroom with technological support such as a Moodle platform, Teams and Internet sources. This blended approach might evolve in accordance with constraints linked to the sanitary crisis.
Training learners to become autonomous readers and listeners of authentic sources
Broadening the students' vocabulary scope and enhancing their grammatical sophistication
Teaching complex grammar points such as tenses, modal auxiliary verbs, connectives and advanced syntax.
Training students how to resort to listening strategies
Role plays, debates, discussions as well as a team student-led class
English pronunciation and stress patterns: practice and theory

As regards speaking skills, the emphasis will be on fluency and depth rather than accuracy proper.

Evaluation methods

Due to the COVID-19 crisis, the information in this section is particularly likely to change.

1. Class attendance and active participation (and completion of home assignment)
2. The end-of-term language use written test
3. The spring team student-led class
4. The mid-term, oral phonetics test
5. The May research-based role-play debate on a study-related controversial issue

This mark represents 75% of the final mark.

1. The student will also have to take a standardized exam, the IELTS test at UCL,, under the teacher's assistant's supervision. In case of overall failure, the student will be allowed to retake this part of the exam internally during the second session.
   Should there be no training to this end, the students will be required to put in an equivalent amount of work. They could for instance be requested to read a book or scientific articles.

September exam
Students will not be exempted for a part of the exam. If you take the September exam, you have to re-do the written exam AND the oral exam. Your continuous assessment mark will not be taken into account.

Online resources

http://moodleucl.uclouvain.be

Bibliography

• Syllabus du cours LANGL1315
• Plateforme Moodle du cours LANGL1315

Faculty or entity

ILV