University of Southampton
Centre for Language Study
English Language Course for Aarhus School of Business, University of
Aarhus, Denmark
The course will take place over a two-week period from 14th to 25th of January
2008 at Aarhus School of Business and will be run by Mary Page and Elwyn
Edwards from the Centre for Language Study at the University of
Southampton. The course will start with an overview and introduction on the
first Monday when Mary and Elwyn will outline the course aims and
objectives. The content of the course is deliberately being kept flexible in
order to meet as closely as possible the needs of individual participants and,
at the start of the course, participants will be encouraged to discuss what they
hope to achieve during the two weeks. The content specified in the timetable
below is therefore intended as a guide and may be amended as necessary as
the course progresses.
There will not be any formal testing during the course; however, participants
will be invited to give a semi-formal presentation of about 10 minutes at the
start of the course to introduce themselves to their fellow participants and to
Mary.
The needs analysis questionnaires completed by the participants indicate that
for each participant the main objective is to improve their spoken English. The
course will therefore focus mainly on this skill area; each participant will be
expected to work on a semi-formal spoken presentation of around 20 - 25
minutes to be delivered towards the end of the second week. This may take
the form of a presentation, a mini-lecture, a debate (if several participants
choose to work together as a group) or similar activity that participants may
want to suggest. It is hoped that this will allow each individual to research and
work on a topic area or theme that is of personal interest to them and to
practice their spoken English in a context that anticipates their real-world
needs. It is also hoped that the presentations will be video recorded, both as a
useful means of feedback and as a permanent record for participants to keep.
Although much of the course will focus on developing speaking and speakingrelated skills, such as pronunciation, there will also be opportunities to
develop other language skills as necessary. Again, participants will be
encouraged to discuss among themselves and with Mary and Elwyn their
needs and expectations.
Time has been allocated at the end of each day for tutorials; it is envisaged
that these will be of around 20 minutes and will give participants the chance to
discuss any questions or issues individually with Mary and Elwyn.
Each participant will receive a certificate of attendance at the end of the
course, together with a detailed report offering advice and suggestions for
continuing to develop their English language skills.
Mary and Elwyn will contact each participant by email before the start of the
course to introduce herself and to answer any questions participants may
have before the course.
Find out more about languages at the University of Southampton at
http://www.lang.soton.ac.uk/
Chris Sinclair
Deputy Director
Centre for Language Study
University of Southampton
C.Sinclair@soton.ac.uk
Timetable Week 1
09.00 – 10.30
10.30 – 11.00
11.00 – 12.30
12.30 – 13.30
13.30 – 15.00
15.00 – 15.10
15.30 – 16.30
Monday
Introduction
Course
structure, aims
and objectives
Break
Participants’
introductions
Lunch
Listening
Break
Guided selfstudy/ tutorials
Tuesday
Vocabulary
development
Wednesday
Speaking
Thursday
Vocabulary
development
Friday
Speaking
Break
Academic
styles
Lunch
Pronunciation
Break
Guided selfstudy/ tutorials
Break
Academic
Writing
Lunch
Listening
Break
Guided selfstudy/ tutorials
Break
Academic
styles
Lunch
Pronunciation
Break
Guided selfstudy/ tutorials
Break
Academic
Writing
Lunch
Listening
Break
Guided selfstudy/ tutorials
Monday
Speaking
Wednesday
Speaking
Thursday
Vocabulary
development
Break
Presentations,
debate and
feedback
Lunch
Presentations,
debate and
feedback
Break
Presentations,
debate and
feedback
Friday
Speaking
Week 2
10.30 – 11.00
11.00 – 12.30
Break
Academic
styles
12.30 – 13.30
13.30 – 15.00
Lunch
Pronunciation
Tuesday
Vocabulary
development
Break
Continuing to
develop EL
skills
Lunch
Listening
15.00 – 15.10
15.30 – 16.30
Break
Guided selfstudy/ tutorials
Break
Guided selfstudy/ tutorials
09.00 – 10.30
Break
Presentations,
debate and
feedback
Lunch
Presentations,
debate and
feedback
Break
Presentations,
debate and
feedback
Break
Presentations,
debate and
feedback
Lunch
Presentations,
debate and
feedback
Break
Summing up,
recommendations for
further study