The aims of the course are:

To develop and strengthen students' general language skills – reading, listening and speaking;

To develop and strengthen students' grammar and vocabulary skills;

To increase vocabulary range in subject-specific language;

To develop and strengthen general communicative competence so that the student will be able to interact in a competent and productive manner with other professional figures in this sector;

To give practice in the independent learner study skills required to function effectively in a higher education learning environment

CEFR level B1:

Grammar

Present simple / Present continuous

Past simple / Past continuous

Present Perfect simple / Present Perfect continuous

Past Perfect simple

Future with will and shall, 'be going to', Present Continuous and Present simple

Imperatives

Infinitives

-ing forms after verbs and prepositions

Modals: can, should, may, might, have to, ought to, must/ mustn't need / needn't, etc.

Passive Voice (all tenses)

have something done/ get something done

Conditional sentences: (zero conditional, first conditional, second conditional)

Reported speech

Nouns singular and plural; regular and irregular forms; countable and uncountable nouns

Personal pronouns (subject, object, possessive )

Reflexive pronouns: myself, etc.

Demonstrative pronouns: this, that, these, those

Adjectives; order of adjectives

Relative pronouns and clauses

Question tags (You're from Spain, aren't you?)

Infinitive of purpose (I went to the shop to buy milk.)

Phrasal verbs; 'find out', 'turn down', 'set up' etc.

Time clauses: after, as soon as, before, by the time, etc.

Modal verbs: deductions in the Present / Past (must be / must have been / can't be / couldn't have been

Gerunds and infinities

to be used to / to get used to

Future progressive

FUNCTIONS

Talking about obligations, possibility, and ability

making predictions

making suggestions

giving advice, giving instructions,

offering, inviting, refusing,

describing a photo

talking about past events and states in the past, recent activities and completed actions

talking about what people are doing at the moment

criticising and complaining

discussing advantages and disadvantages

making arrangements

understanding /discussing authentic newspaper articles

interview/ consultation/ e.g. (for example: describe symptoms to a doctor)

explaining why something is a problem

summarizing and giving an opinion on an article, documentary, etc

communicating at work; understanding and following procedures

understand safety and security regulations and instructions

communicate appropriately with superiors, colleagues and subordinates

By the end of this course, students:

will be able to use a range of functions, structures and vocabulary to communicate effectively;

will be able to construct and use a mix of simple and complex sentence forms;

will be able to understand the main points of clear standard speech and know how to deal with most situations likely to arise in the context of work;

Will be able to carry out research on a limited basis

The teaching material prepared by the lecturer in addition to recommended textbooks (such as for instance slides, lecture notes, exercises, bibliography) and communications from the lecturer specific to the course can be found inside the Moodle platform › blended.uniurb.it

Students are requested to download the lessons posted on the Moodle platform and bring them to class. The lessons will be presented and students will have the opportunity to ask questions. Students are expected to participate in class discussions and communicative exercises.

Independent out-of-class work will be assigned along with review exercises from the following texts:

'Speaking B1+ Intermediate' Cheryl Pelteret, Collins English for life, Harper Collins publisher, London 2012

The Complete English Grammar for Italian students – with answers, by Jon Hird, Oxford University Press

Teaching

The first part of the class will be in the form of a lecture during which the lesson posted on the Moodle platform will be presented and students will be able to ask questions concerning the material presented.

Students are expected to download lessons posted on the Moodle platform and are requested to bring them to class.

Students will also have the opportunity to practice their use of English during in-class communicative exercises, listening and reading exercises, and class discussions.

Course books

'Speaking B1+ Intermediate' Cheryl Pelteret, Collins English for life, Harper Collins publisher, London 2012

The Complete English Grammar for Italian students – with answers, by Jon Hird, Oxford University Press

Assessment

Through the January/ February exam schedule, the test will be a one-hour written or computer-based test at A2 level CEFR with reading comprehension and vocabulary questions on the text. The grammar section consists of gap-fill questions and translation of anatomy terms.

For the 2016/2017 Academic year, the test will be at B1 level with reading comprehension and multiple choice grammar questions.

Disability and Specific Learning Disorders (SLD)

Students who have registered their disability certification or SLD certification with the Inclusion and Right to Study Office can request to use conceptual maps (for keywords) during exams.

To this end, it is necessary to send the maps, two weeks before the exam date, to the course instructor, who will verify their compliance with the university guidelines and may request modifications.

Teaching

Students are requested to download the lessons posted on Moodle, review them and complete those exercises which are provided with an answer key.

Out of class assignments from the books listed below will be posted on the Moodle platform. These exercises should be completed by all students .

Students who do not attend classes regularly are requested to work independently.

Speaking B1+ Intermediate, Cheryl Pelteret ; Collins English for life, Harper Collins publisher, London 2012

The Complete English Grammar for Italian students – with answers, by Jon Hird, Oxford University Press

Course books

'Speaking B1+ Intermediate' Cheryl Pelteret, Collins English for life, Harper Collins publisher, London 2012

The Complete English Grammar for Italian students – with answers, by Jon Hird, Oxford University Press

Assessment

Through the January/ February exam schedule, the test will be a one-hour written or computer-based test at A2 level CEFR with reading comprehension and vocabulary questions on the text. The grammar section consists of gap-fill questions and translation of anatomy terms.

For the 2016/2017 Academic year, the test will be at B1 level with reading comprehension and multiple choice grammar questions.

Disability and Specific Learning Disorders (SLD)

Students who have registered their disability certification or SLD certification with the Inclusion and Right to Study Office can request to use conceptual maps (for keywords) during exams.

To this end, it is necessary to send the maps, two weeks before the exam date, to the course instructor, who will verify their compliance with the university guidelines and may request modifications.