Course description

Title of the Teaching Unit

English C1+ (passerelles)

Code of the Teaching Unit

21PLG15

Academic year

2024 - 2025

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 called “Full Professional Proficiency”. The level is described as follows:

A person at this level is:
• able to use the language fluently and accurately on all levels and as normally pertinent to professional needs, including in writing;
• able to understand all forms and styles of speech pertinent to professional needs
• able to read fluently and accurately all styles and forms of the language pertinent to professional needs

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

The "Minimal Professional Proficiency" level is required to take the course, as it will not cover the basics of the language. It is expected that students are already able to express themselves fluently, coherently, and with a good level of grammatical accuracy on a range of relatively complex topics.
Both classes (interactive and lecture-based) aim at perfecting the level.

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 (36h 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.

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.

- The remaining 12 hours will be devoted to the class "Bilingual job interviews" (see class description)

In this course, artificial intelligence is likely to be used as an assistant to generate ideas, to search for information (search engine type), as an assistant to organise or revise a production, to partially (or completely) elaborate a production. AI can also be used to write content or conduct an analysis. It can also be used as a learning assistant. Make sure you use AI transparently and critically and produce original, personal ideas. You must comply with citation rules regarding the use of AI. Depending on the type of exercises/tasks you'll have to do or carry out, teachers will tell you to what extend AI can be used

Assessment method

Throughout the year: all the assignments and tests/exams organised before May 2024 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;
- professional presentations based on the socio-economic topics done in class;
- 4 grammar tests (2 each term) organised during the ex-cathedra class;
- 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. Students who have passed both grammar tests organised during the 1st term may be exempted from the grammar part of the January exam. Those who will have failed one or both test(s), as well as those who were absent, will have to take the grammar part of the January exam.

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 2024. These are
1. The meeting oral exam: organised face-to-face
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. Students who have passed both grammar tests organised during the 2nd term may be exempted from the grammar part of the June exam. Those who will have failed one or both test(s), as well as those who were absent, will have to take the grammar part of the June exam.

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 in the course objectives. 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