Aims

By the end of the course, the student should have reached an upper-intermediate level in three areas: listening, reading, and speaking (both individual and interactive). This course is not open to beginners.

Main themes

Content : the topics addressed during the classes aim at arousing the interests of young adults: we shall speak about hobbies, leisure, holidays, studies and possible future professions, daily life and contemporary events, trips and relations with others, and the culture (that is, the habits and customs) of the countries that speak the target language.
Method : 30 hours of (so called) lecture course: presentation of the "basic texts" (articles and recordings) indicating the thematic areas to be addressed during the course. 30 hours of organized tutorials (partly done in the language lab): speaking (15 hours) and listening exercises (15 hours). 40 hours of personal study and work: systematic study of the vocabulary used, integrated in the listening and reading exercises; preparation of the listening, reading, and oral expression exercises; updating notes, revising, memorizing; review and systematic study of basic grammar (theory and self-learning exercises, to be done with the aid of review exercises available on the Internet).

Content and teaching methods

In this course we will analyse documents about hobbies, holidays, study, future job, current events, trips and relations with others, culture,… The emphasis is on communicational interaction and accurracy (pronunciation , grammar e.g.)

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

Prerequisite.
European Council entry-level for these same skills ("b1" level).

Assessment.
Speaking exercises will be evaluated over the semester. The final exam will be comprised of four parts, in conformity with the course objectives and addressing the same themes as those covered in class (convergent use of acquired knowledge). Code evaluation (vocabulary and grammar) will be integrated into the evaluation of (oral and written) know-how. - Listening comprehension assessment (analytic and general) : 30% of the grade. - Reading comprehension assessment : 30% of the grade. - Assessment of speaking abilities (individual and interactive) : 30% of the grade. - Assessment of the writing abilities: 10% of the grade.

Course holder.
General coordination and the lecture part of the course will be taken by a specialist in Dutch studies, member of the Department of Germanic Studies. Tutorials will be given by teachers from the Institut des Langues Vivantes. Assessment will be carried out by the ILV teachers in collaboration with the course coordinator.

Other credits in programs