The course aims at providing students with the essential grammar and vocabulary necessary to reach the B2 level of the Common European Framework. Furthermore, it aims at giving students speaking practice in all parts of the oral examination, thereby encouraging them to apply B2 structures to a speaking context.

In particular, the course will focus on an in-depth examination of the following:

- B2 level grammar such as simple and continous aspects, modality, passive and active forms, complex adjectives and adverbs;

- B2 vocabulary such as phrasal verbs and idiomatic forms;

- Application of B2 language structures to speaking contexts.

The course aims at providing students with the grammar and lexical structures necessary for reaching a B2 level with success. After an initial overview of grammar following on from a level assessment test based on the format of the written exam, subsequent lessons will focus on providing in-depth analysis of B2 grammar and syntactical structures, in particular:  

-  the Present Simple and Continous, Past Simple, Present Perfect Simple;

-  Will and Going to;

-  The Conditional;

-  Use of infinitives and gerunds;

-  Use of modal verbs to express ability, obligation, recommendation and so on.;

-  Passive form;

-  question words;

-  relative pronouns;

-  Past Progressive, Past Perfect Simple and Progressive, Past Progressive;

-  Future forms.

None in particular, however both attending and non-attending students are strongly advised to study the contents of the Blended Learning site in self-study mode in order to make the most of the variety of material available to them.

Knowledge and understanding:

By the end of the course students should have acquired the grammatical and lexical structures of the B2 level of the Common European Framework and be able to understand the key points of a complext text concerning both concrete and abstract subjects as well as those related to their professional field.

Applying knowledge and understanding:

At the end of the course the student should be able to:

-  interact with a native speaker with a reasonable degree of fluency and spontaneity that makes regular interaction with native speakers quite possible without strain for either party;

-  can understand and produce clear, detailed text on a wide range of subjects.

Making judgements:

 By the end of the course the students should be able to:

-  explain a viewpoint on a topical issue giving the advantages and disadvantages of various options concerning also the education of children in modern society.

Communication skills:

 By the end of the course students should be able to:

- communicate confidently and fluently with both native and non-speakers on a variety of topics;

- participate actively in a discussion concerning a wide range of topics, as well as work-related ones, and express and support personal opinions.

Learning skills:

 At the end of the course the student should have acquired a good under standing of reading and study material and be able to continue studying in an autonomous manner, as well as be aware of language mistakes and correct them.

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

DESTINATION B2 GRAMMAR AND VOCABULARY by Malcolm Mann and Steve Taylore-Knowles Macmillan, which can be downloaded from Google Drive in PDF format.

Supplementary material is available from Moodle.

Teaching

Classroom lessons. Extra material is available on Blended Learning.

Attendance

A regular attendance of lessons is strongly recommended in order to obtain the best results given the high level required of the exam. For those students who are unable to attend regular access to Blended Learning and self-study of the coursebook material is strongly advised.

Course books

DESTINATION B2 GRAMMAR AND VOCABULARY by Malcolm Mann and Steve Taylore-Knowles Macmillan, which can be downloaded from Google Drive in PDF format.

Supplementary material is available from Moodle.

Assessment

The test consists of a written and spoken exam. The written exam requires the comprehension of a text and grammatical and lexical exercises at B2 level. Please access the CLA website to obtain further information concerning the written exam and a past paper with key.

Once students have passed the written exam they can take the spoken part. They will only obtain the final qualification if they pass the spoken exam.  This exam consists of three parts: 1) an introductory part in which students present themselves and give personal information in response to the examiner's questions; 2) the detailed description of a picture which might be related to a classroom context or other situation (see the CLA website for some examples);  3) develop a disucssion with a partner, with the support of prompts from the examiner, concerning a theme related to one of the two photographs described in the previous stage.

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

Regular access to the Blended Learning site and use of all the materials is strongly recommended.

Course books

DESTINATION B2 GRAMMAR AND VOCABULARY by Malcolm Mann and Steve Taylore-Knowles Macmillan, which can be downloaded from Google Drive in PDF format.

Supplementary material is available from Moodle.

Assessment

The test consists of a written and spoken exam. The written exam requires the comprehension of a text and grammatical and lexical exercises at B2 level. Please access the CLA website to obtain further information concerning the written exam and a past paper with key.

Once students have passed the written exam they can take the spoken part. They will only obtain the final qualification if they pass the spoken exam.  This exam consists of three parts: 1) an introductory part in which students present themselves and give personal information in response to the examiner's questions; 2) the detailed description of a picture which might be related to a classroom context or other situation (see the CLA website for some examples);  3) develop a disucssion with a partner, with the support of prompts from the examiner, concerning a theme related to one of the two photographs described in the previous stage.

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.