Aims

Objectives

Speaking skills

The main objective of the course is the development of oral skills in daily situations of the world of business (socialising, meetings, negotiating, job interviews and telephoning). The teacher presents the techniques, the do's and don'ts, the grammatical structures and the technical vocabulary. Subsequently, the students practise in the form of role plays adapted to the various above-mentioned situations. The course also includes activities that are specific for GERM students, viz. domains where the students have to "score higher" than students from other faculties: practical mastery of the English language, pronunciation, grammatical structures, etc.

Writing skills

The main objective of the course is oral skills, but for some students the analysis and the drafting of various types of written messages used on a daily basis in business contexts will be useful (e-mail, application or cover letters, CVs or résumés, graph descriptions, etc.). Many GERM students will have no other communicative or interactive course anymore until they graduate.

Main themes

Methods

The student is encouraged to gradually improve his/her oral skills in the various above-mentioned domains, first through the analysis of the do's and the don't as well as the relevant techniques and subsequently through imitation and emulation in various concrete situations (role plays). Weekly exercises. Detailed correction by the teachers. Error analysis.

Code

Ability to master the language functions, the grammatical structures, the "etiquette", the "genre conventions", the general and business vocabulary, with the aim of facilitating the spontaneous production of the various above-mentioned oral messages.

Other information (prerequisite, evaluation (assessment methods), course materials recommended readings, ...)

Requirements

Upper-intermediate English level (especially oral skills); the B2 level of the "Common European Framework for languages".

Assessment

- Continuous assessment based on the student's participation during class and the weekly role plays done in little groups.
- Oral exam at the end of the academic year, in the form of a role play.
- Scientific presentation during the second semester.

Other credits in programs