Aims

By the end of the course, students will:

i. begin to communicate fluently and accurately in the foreign language, in both spoken and written form;
ii. be prepared for the kind of situations which they are likely to encounter when working or studying abroad;
iii. be able to express their opinions on cultural, social and political issues.

This is the first part of a French Upper Intermediate course designed with the non language specialist in mind. It is open to students who have obtained an A-Level Grade C or below, who received a GCSE grade in the past and undertook self-study or lived in a French-speaking country since. It is also open to students who have no formal qualification in the foreign language but feel they can communicate fairly fluently but have not reached the Advanced stage yet. The module covers the four skills: writing, reading, speaking and listening. At the end of the module, students will have gained a body of vocabulary and grammatical structures sufficient to allow them to communicate orally and in writing with confidence at an intermediate level (B1 on the Common European Framework of Reference for Languages).

Outline Of Syllabus

These are the Communication and Grammar that will be covered in this module

Communication: Vocabulary; Speaking and Listening skills:
•       Making comparisons
•       Expressing preferences and opinions
•       Reporting accidents and problems
•       Expressing difficulties over accommodation
•       Giving the pros and cons of different forms of transport

Grammar:
•       The comparative and superlative
•       Possessive pronouns
•       The perfect and imperfect tenses contrasted
•       Narrating events in the past

Teaching Rationale And Relationship

1. Teaching in the language seminars will focus on communication skills. Grammar will be taught systematically to enable students to produce and manipulate the foreign language. Use of the target language will be made as much as possible to develop listening skills. All four skills: listening, reading, writing and speaking are fully integrated in the language seminars and associated work and preparation, and will be tested equally.

2. Independent learning and learner autonomy are further developed through online guided tasks, pair and group work, assessment preparation and completion, and self-study at home, via the University’s Virtual Learning Environment (VLE) and in the Language Resource Centre. Particular initiative is expected from students, e.g. course participants will be asked to contribute their own materials to the classes and activities.

3. Depending on numbers we may be able to offer one online only group and the Teaching Activities will differ as follows.
Scheduled Learning and Teaching Activities / Small group teaching / 11 weeks / 2 hours weekly / 22 hours / Online synchronous language seminars

Assessment Rationale And Relationship

The portfolio will help students assess their progress and identify their strengths and areas for improvement. It will test student’s ability to communicate effectively, identify relevant information and produce a structured text in the target language.