Business English
Are you looking to brush up your English skills? The Faculty of Management, Economics and Social Sciences (WiSo Faculty) offers subject-specific language courses in Business English and English for Social Sciences in cooperation with the Englisches Institut Köln. The courses focus on developing communication skills interactively.
Registration
Registration for the spring term 2023 has started on 15 January 2023. Please find the link to the ILIAS registration folder below.
Generally, registration for the fall term runs from mid-June to September and for the spring term from mid-January to March and takes place on ILIAS.
Course description
This Business English course aims to improve your communication skills in a business environment. It includes discussions, oral presentations and written tasks relating to business environments. An emphasis is placed on cultural appropriacy e.g., choice of language for workplace settings. Depending on the learner level, grammar training will also be included.
The course is designed to be very interactive and with focus on practical language skills. It includes usage of online learning platforms to complement the weekly classes. During class, you will regularly work in small groups and receive individual feedback from the teacher. You will be required to prepare for class and do follow-up work on each session. In order to pass the course, students must attend at least 9 of the 12 sessions.
The course structure and its learning objectives are aligned with the 'Common European Framework of Reference for Languages' (CEFR), a guideline used to describe the achievements of learners of foreign languages across Europe. The levels defined by the CEFR are as follows: A1- Beginner, A2 - Elementary / Pre-intermediate, B1 - Intermediate, B2 - Upper-intermediate, C1 - Advanced Intermediate
Credit points
The course is worth 6 credit points. For bachelor's students of the WiSo Faculty, the course can be taken as part of Studium Integrale (SI) if you have not already completed this. Master's students can take the course as part of their extracurricular modules (EA = Extracurriculares Angebot). The course is also open to our incoming guest students. To receive the credit points, students need to attend the course regularly and participate in the end of semester exam. Additionally, all students receive a certificate at the end of the course indicating their language level.
Timetable
The courses take place once a week and usually start in the first week of the lecture period of that term.
The classes will be scheduled during the following time slots:
Monday and Tuesday: 2 pm – 5 pm or 6 pm – 9 pm.
Wednesday and Thursday: 9 am – 12 pm, 2 pm - 5 pm or 6 pm - 9 pm.
The exact timetable for the semester will be finalised after all students have participated in the placement test and we know how many courses can be offered.
The courses are made up of 12 sessions with the penultimate or last session reserved for the end of course test.