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Business English Course

The Foundation English Program is part of a package of programs which prepares students to cope with university education. It mainly aims at bridging the gap between school and university education. The English Program consists of a number of competencies: reading, writing, listening, speaking, vocabulary, grammar, critical thinking skills, and self-learning. A multimedia component of the program is also available to reinforce the language skills and to support independent learning.Improve your reading, writing and number skills: find fact sheets, worksheets, quizzes and games

for English and math skills aimed at adult learners.

This is an integrated Basic/Low Intermediate level course that develops students' receptive skills (reading and listening) and productive skills (writing and speaking), reviews basic knowledge and use of grammar and vocabulary, and encourages independent learning and critical thinking. Classroom learning is reinforced with a variety of Multimedia programs and special websites for student's supplementary materials and self- assessment.

Course Objectives 1. Understand and use effective aural strategies to process spoken language. 2. Communicate orally in English for personal, social, and academic purposes. 3. Apply critical thinking skills in reading and writing. 4. Read and comprehend texts of varying length at basic/low intermediate level. 5. Develop knowledge of vocabulary and grammar. 6. Understand and use effective writing skills to express ideas/give information.

Learning Outcomes By the end of this course students are expected to be able to do the following:- 1. Critical thinking skills: Recognize personal attitudes and preferences Evaluate and classify information in a text Identify the advantages and disadvantages of things Interpret cartoons, graphs, pictures, maps Infer word meaning from context Draw conclusions Propose solutions Distinguish between opinion and fact 2. Listening tasks: Listen for main ideas and details Interpret speaker's tone and attitude Relate listening to personal experience Synthesize information from two listening texts Listen and take notes on details using an outline/ chart Compare and contrast information from two listening texts 3. Speaking tasks: Express and defend opinions Act out a conversation Role- play different situations Interview people on various topics 4. Pronunciation: Recognize stress patterns of nouns and adjectives, numbers, 5. Reading tasks: Read for main ideas Scan for details Make predictions Relate personal experience to the text Synthesize information from two texts Summarize information in a text using (graphic organizer) 6. Writing tasks: Compose a paragraph. Compose a paragraph to describe something (person, place and object). Form basic sentences with correct word order. Combine simple sentences to make compound sentences. Write complete sentences. Use basic punctuation. Spell common words. Use basic lexis appropriately. Distinguish between informal/formal register 7. Vocabulary: Demonstrate knowledge of word definitions, synonyms, antonyms, prefixes, association, dictionary work, appropriate usage 8. Grammar: Recognize the simple present tense. Recognize the present progressive tense. Demonstrate understanding of the simple past tense. Recognize the future tenses will and going to. Use subject pronouns. Identify basic parts of speech. Use prepositions of place and time. 3 Use basic adjectives. Use the simple past tense. Use the simple present tense and present progressive tense. Use the simple future tense. Recognize articles. Teaching Methods The following are the main principles and techniques but are by no means the only methods. Principles: • Creating a student-centered environment where the students are responsible for learning. The role of the teacher is mainly that of a facilitator, communicator, moderator, prompter and an assessor. • Using collaborative approaches (peer support and feedback) Techniques: • Individual, pair and group work • Brainstorming activities • Breeding critical thinking skills through discussions • Relating topics and themes- as much as possible- to students' background and culture Assessment Policy and Tools Students will be assessed on the following: 1) Writing Portfolio 2) Oral Presentation 3) Speaking activities, such as an interview and role-play 4) Reading Projects 5) Class work 6) Participation 7) Multimedia work 8) Midterm and Final exams The weighting is 65% exams and 35% class work. The pass mark is 60 %.

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