Course description

Title of the Teaching Unit

English C1+ (passerelles)

Code of the Teaching Unit

21PLG15

Academic year

2022 - 2023

Cycle

Number of credits

Number of hours

Quarter

1-2

Weighting

Site

Anjou

Teaching language

French

Teacher in charge

MOGAVERO Fabrice

Objectives and contribution to the program

The objective of the English team in the “master passerelles” is to help you reach at least an upper-intermediate (C1+) level of English.
Interactive classes in combination with thorough preparations will help you progress in lexical and structural mastery as well as in the various skills: speaking (top-priority), understanding spoken (authentic news items in different varieties of English) and written English (press files) as well as writing. Special attention is devoted to specific vocabulary and idioms used in the socio-economic and business world, and in particular, the ones needed to negotiate, attend meetings and take job-interviews effectively in English.

Prerequisites and corequisites

Prerequisite unit : “English B2+, Raising Awareness of Economic & Corporate Matters”
Corequisite unit : “Nederlands C1+, Bedrijfscommunicatiestrategieën & People Management” or the German class for the students exempted from the Dutch class.

Content

Topics this year will be selected from a series of socio-economic issues. They will include:
Business:

• Jobs interviews
• Meetings & negotiations
• Management issues of all kinds
- Company presentation
- Presenting graphs and trends
- …

Socio-economic topics (among others):

- The job market
- The 4th industrial revolution
- Universal basic income
- ...

Teaching methods

1. Interactive class (48h face-to-face in small groups):
Two main steps will be followed:
- Input which takes on various forms: video extracts, articles, essays, business idioms, vocabulary, language structures and functions.
- Practice, i.e. using input in real productive language. This will be done in presentations based on reading files, role plays and debates.

Self-study:
- advanced vocab
- video to watch
- ...

2. Ex-cathedra class (24h face-to-face):
- Input provided to students by the teacher
- PowerPoint presentations with voice-over or videos to watch and/or listen to.

3. Ex-cath teacher available online once a week to discuss any problem students may be facing, correct exercises, etc.

Classes will be taught exclusively face-to-face. Some activities may be organised on Teams, but they'll be organised for all students. No comodal classes will be organised.

Assessment method

Throughout the year: all the assignments and tests/exams organised before May 2023 are considered as part of the permanent assessment. These are:

- permanent assessment in class based on the quality of work students will provide and the efforts they will put in throughout the two terms (10% of the mark)
- professional presentations based on the socio-economic topics done in class (10% of the mark)
- the January exams: written exam based on (1) the grammar and vocab that will have been studied or self-studied and (2) a report to write based on an unseen video. Both represent 25% of the final mark. These tests/exams will most likely be organised at Ichec in December 2022 (report) and January 2023 (gram/vocab)

Concerning the permanent assessment, if a student is absent, they'll score 0/20 for the part(s) they will not have taken. This mark will be added to their end-of-the-year mark.

Final assessment: all the assignments and tests/exams organised in May and June 2023. These are
1. The meeting oral exam: organised face-to-face (30% of the mark)
Master students (not "gateway students) who attend the English, but are exempted from the bilingual interview exam will be given the opportunity to take a job-interview exam in English. If they choose to do so, the mark will be based on both oral exams (meetings & the job-interview). The mark will reflect their ability to pass both exams.

2. The June written exam based on (1) the grammar and vocab that will have been studied or self-studied and (2) a report to write based on an unseen video.
These tests/exams will most likely be organised at Ichec in December 2022 (report) and January 2023 (gram/vocab)

Attention: if a student chooses not the take one of the final-assessment exams or is absent, they'll score 0/20 for the whole class regardless of the results they will have scored before.

Some important remarks:
- In order to qualify for a pass, students must show they've managed to master the skills defined by the European Common Framework for languages, C1 level. This means that students have to acquire the minimal skills as described in the European portfolio.
- In order to progress, students will be encouraged to attend classes every week as the quality and amount of work they will provide will be taken into account in the permanent assessment. This also means that the self-study programme must also be thouroughly prepared.
- Exam requirements and organisation may vary slightly from one session to the other. Students may also be assessed by any teacher responsible for the class.
- Medical certificates do not necessarily entitle students to retake this exam. If the test/exam cannot be reorganised, they'll score 0/20 for that test (permanent assessment) or 0/20 for the whole class (final assessment)
- Exams organised at Ichec will not be reorganised online.

References

Syllabus « English Master Passerelles »
Roseline Charles, Laurence Echevin, James Todd
Sites de référence : www.economist.com, www.cnn.com, www.bbc.co.uk, www.time.com, www.bloomberg.com