English for Communication in Management

In line with the general objectives of the university course Labour and Management (LAM), this course is aimed at providing students with linguistic means and strategies which could enable them to interact in English both in private or public companies.
To reach this objective the teacher will try to foster the basic communicative skills: listening, reading, writing and speaking. As regards the skill of listening this will be improved thanks to the guided comprehension of BBC and CNN news and TED.COM videos.
The same goes for reading since the students will be guided in analysing articles from famous magazines or newspapers dealing with current affairs about economics and international politics. These articles will be analysed from the grammatical and lexical point of view and their specific vocabulary will be recorded in a glossary. The same articles will be used by the teacher to prompt discussions and so to foster speaking. Moreover the speaking skill will be spurred by the use of models which would mock real situations at work, here students will be asked to perform roleplays or write documents.
Finally, in order to learn more complex grammar structures and specific vocabulary corresponding to the B2 level students will be provided with frontal grammar lessons and with FCE activities.

At the end of the course students are expected to become independent users of the language as it is requested by the B2 level within the European Common Framework. This means that they should use more complex grammar structures and specific language and to be clear, accurate and logical in organizing their writing and speeches.
Students are supposed to describe the historical, scientific and economic process which has led English to become a 'lingua franca' in the world in connection to the globalization. In addition to that students should become more aware of their future professional role by describing the functions and duties of a HR manager within a company organization.
At the end of the course students should be able to understand any text about economics and politics and to connect it with their prior knowledge drawn from their university studies.
At the same time students are supposed to write e-mails, formal letters, memos, CVs and reports in English as well as to lead meetings, negotiations, telephone calls, interviews. In conclusion students should design and carry out a presentation about a topic they choose according to the instructions provided by the teacher during the course. Their arguments should be based on reliable sources presented in a bibliography.