INTRODUCTION TO THE COURSE Course Title Delivering Body Materials Intensive Pre Sessional One Business School: BPP University Thaine, C. (2012). Cambridge Academic English: An Integrated skills course for EAP Intermediate. Cambridge: CUP. Details This course is non credit bearing and non award bearing, which means that study undertaken on this course does not count towards any undergraduate or postgraduate programme that you may go on to study. On completion of this course you will receive certification of the level of English that you have achieved in reading, writing, listening and speaking. Intensive Pre Sessional One is designed to focus on academic English and develop your ability to communicate at University while living and studying in the UK. On successfully completing this course, you will be able to Demonstrate an awareness of the purpose of academic English at the transitional level. Demonstrate the linguistic ability to progress to a more advanced level of EAP study Sufficiently communicate and manage interaction with native speakers. Improve your knowledge and application of the core language skills (reading, writing, speaking and listening), as well as enhancing English vocabulary and grammar, within the academic context. Page 2
Pre Sessional Courses At BPP we run the following pre sessional courses. Intensive Presessional One 5 weeks Intensive Presessional Two 5 weeks Intensive Writing 4 weeks Extended Presessional 15 weeks Contacts Peter Bailey: peterbailey@bpp.com Module Leader Helen McKenna: HelenMcKenna@bpp.com Module Leader Page 3
Assessments Assessment Component Weighting Portfolio Task to be completed during course Final Exam to be done at end of course Writing 25% Extended Essay 100% Timed essay 60 minutes Reading 25% Reading skills tasks for essays. E.g. skimming and scanning 100% Comprehension test 60 minutes Speaking 25% Seminar Skills 100% Seminar speaking activity 16 24 minutes per group (4 6 students) Listening 25% Listening to lectures Note taking 100% Timed comprehension test 60 90 minutes Grading system In line with BPP University s policy, a mark of 40% or more in your exams is considered a pass, 60% is a merit and 70% is a distinction. Please note that it is your responsibility to know when your deadlines and examinations are due. If you do not attend an exam or submit an assessment you will score zero and you may receive a FAIL grade. Page 4
Intensive Pre Sessional One: Course Book Thaine, C. (2012). Cambridge Academic English: An Integrated skills course for EAP Intermediate. Cambridge: CUP. Additional resources : are available online at www.cambridge.org/elt/academicenglish The following books are in the library: Fletcher, C & Matthews, B (2012) Skills for Study Level 1, Cambridge, Cambridge University Press Phillips, T, & Phillips, A (2011) Progressive Skills in English Course Book, Level 2, Reading, Garnet Publishing Ltd Page 5
Attendance Policy You must attend every lesson. You are expected to arrive on time and to stay until the end of the lesson. If you miss a lesson, or part of a lesson, you will miss information that is important for your assessments. If your attendance is poor your visa is at risk and you will not be able to continue with your studies. You may be asked to leave the country and return home. Make sure you do the following: 1. Attend every lesson on time and stay until the end 2. If you are unwell and unable to attend email ELASenquiry@bpp.com 3. If you are away from the school for longer than one day, make sure you provide evidence such as a letter from the doctor. 4. Do not let your attendance fall below 85% Lateness Policy You must attend every lesson. You must attend from the start to the finish of the lesson; toilet breaks must be short; please note that you may not smoke cigarettes or use your phone if you leave class to go to the toilet. 1. You must be ready to start your class on time 2. Your teacher can refuse entry to the class if you are late. You should knock on the door and request entry. If you leave class early you will be marked absent for the whole lesson. 3. You may not be allowed to enter class and will be marked late if you arrive more than 10 minutes after the class has started. Mobile phones policy Mobile phones must be switched off and in your bag during the lesson. You may not use your mobile phone for any purpose, including as a clock, unless told to by your teacher Page 6
Teacher and Student Expectations Your tutor will facilitate team working activities You will actively engage in discussion and participate in group activities Your tutor will plan and prepare class activities in advance You will come to class having adequately prepared Your tutor will act professionally and treat you with respect You will be professional and treat your tutors and peers with respect Your tutor will encourage active learning and engagement You will avoid distractions by switching off mobile phones and other devices Your tutor will create a supportive environment You will attend all scheduled classes and appointments Your tutor will start on time You will arrive at classes before the class starts so that you are ready to take part immediately Page 7
Week 1 SAMPLE (AM Session) Natural World (EAW Session) Academic life Independent Study: Week 2 SAMPLE (AM Session) Day 1 Day 2 Day 3 Day 4 Day 5 To introduce key terms To prepare for lectures To identify and for academic reading by personalising produce set and writing. concepts and focusing collocations. on subject specific To introduce students to the aims and expectations of the course. To differentiate between academic and general English. To introduce / review language of study. To practise generating ideas. To introduce notemaking methods. To focus on reading techniques gist, skimming and scanning. To focus on university communication writing emails as a student. To identify formal/informal language use. To write a university based email. vocabulary. To practise listening for gist (main points) and details (supporting points). To focus on language in use key spoken expressions. To review reading strategies. To develop vocabulary learning in context. To use a mind map and write a summary. To reflect on reading skills. To identify topic sentences. To focus on paragraph building organisation and development. To focus on present perfect tense in context. To employ methods of analysis (e.g. fishbone analysis) to explore a topic. To analyse a paragraph. To practise writing a paragraph. To identify areas of grammatical weakness and to develop an individualised SWOT analysis and Action Plan. To generate and organise ideas for discussion work. To hold and reflect on a group discussion. Listening Practice (C/book, ex. 8.1 on p.41) and note taking // Group discussion reflection // Email appropriate to the university context To understand and analyse essay titles. To select relevant sources. To review past simple & past perfect in the context of describing trends. To interact with and respond to essay titles planning main paragraphs. To practise critical/ interactive reading. To analyse texts for the main ideas. No class To practise listening for gist and detail. To recognise signposting phrases in lectures. Page 8
Science & Technology (EAW Session) Work around the world Independent Study: To practise annotating texts. To employ note taking at the paragraph level. To introduce paraphrasing skills. To focus on and practise research skills. To evaluate online sources. To identify language for describing trends. To conduct research and find data on an allocated topic. To give a mini presentation reporting on findings. To identify features of academic style. To focus on academic style and reformulate texts. To produce an essay plan/outline. To identify key features in introductions. To practise writing introductions. To identify key language for coherence. To analyse how ideas are linked in paragraphs. To practise developing coherence and cohesion at the paragraph level. To outline and define the main issues in group discussion. To put forward points of view in group discussion. To focus on comparison essay structures. To develop comparison essay plan/outline. To identify the significance of signposting in lectures. To focus on drafting and editing skills in writing. To introduce reporting verbs and in text citation. No class Completion of a reference list for allocated essay title (EAW)// Completion of an essay from outline produced in class // Listening Practice (C/book, ex. 8.1 on p.69) and note taking Week 3 SAMPLE (AM Session) Economics and budgeting To understand key information and concepts in texts. To identify and practise techniques for writing definitions. To review summary writing 4 R s technique. To recognise the importance of and how to avoid plagiarism. To focus on Direct v Indirect citation methods. To apply paraphrasing and To recognise presentation elements within seminars. To identify the function of agreeing and disagreeing in seminars. To identify key features of conclusions writing and speaking. To use visuals to predict lecture content. To focus on listening for supporting points To review linking language. To practice taking examinations reading and listening. Page 9
To present summaries and definitions of key concepts in group discussion. summarising skills when citing sources. To identify and use language of agreement in seminars. and developing effective notes. To engage in critical thinking linking lectures to seminar discussions. (EAW Session) Work around the world Independent Study: To focus on simple, compound and complex sentence structure. To practice writing a timed essay. To identify language of comparison and contrast. To apply language of comparison. To review relative clauses. To focus on incorporating sources in essays. Language practice expressing different levels of certainty (c/book, ex. 3.1 3.4, pp. 73 74) // To reflect on timed essay feedback. To build and develop essays from feedback. No class Week 4 SAMPLE (AM Session) To practice research for an essay; employing reading for gist and detail. To focus on note taking and paraphrasing. To introduce additional note taking methods e.g. Tables or Cornell To identify comparatives and superlatives in context. To recognise and apply turn taking in group discussions. To complete seminar practice comparison focus To reflect on seminar group and individual performance. To apply note taking and paraphrasing skills to essay writing. To employ language of comparison to essay writing. To write a comparative essay under timed conditions. To focus on lecture styles and its impact on listening. To focus on referring words to help students keep up with lectures. To listen for and use cleft sentences for emphasis. To identify and employ passive constructions. To consider strategies for dealing with multimeaning words. To focus on reading and making notes on theoretical/abstract texts. Page 10
(EAW Session) Independent Study: To focus on language for expressing cause and effect. To apply cause effect language. To focus on and review introductions and conclusions. To practise writing introductions and conclusions. To recognise persuasive writing structures. To focus on persuasive and business language (e.g. 4 Ps) To apply persuasive language in spoken form e.g. Dragon s Den style pitch. Completion of feedback analysis task // Completion of reflective writing task To define the concept of argument. To identify making claims and using evidence. To analyse how argumentative paragraphs are organised. No class Week 5 SAMPLE (AM Session) To analyse texts problem solution style texts. To apply SPRE notetaking approach when reading texts. To practise generating ideas using SPRE framework. To engage in group work and generate ideas for essays. To review in text citation. To focus on and develop a bibliography. To use generated ideas to build paragraphs. To assess and review introductions and conclusions. To focus on the presentation element in seminars. To introduce and practice signposting language in seminar presentations. To review turn taking and interaction techniques in seminars. To complete a full seminar practice. To evaluate and provide feedback on seminar performance. To identify and review conditional clauses and hypothetical language. To engage in interactive listening. To use a lecture context to guess the meaning of vocabulary. To critically respond to a lecture and engage in group discussion. To identify exam strategies. To assess the essay writing process. To produce a revision study plan. Page 11
(EAW Session) Independent Study: To review language related to academic style (hedging, varying sentence length, modals, adverbs and modifiers). To identify clause types and apply them to writing. To review reading and note taking techniques. To identify and practise methods for increasing accuracy in writing and speaking. To complete a grammar audit. To reflect on areas of weakness in writing/speaking. To conduct one to one tutorials. No class Completion of essay based on work done on days 1 & 2 // Completion of pre tutorial reflection// Revision according to personal study plan Page 12