Business English and English for Social Sciences
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
The registration for the summer semester 2022 is now open.
Before registering for a course, you will either need to take an online placement test or provide a valid certificate confirming your level of English proficiency. Once we know how many courses on which course level to offer, the final course registration starts. We will communicate to all students who have registered when the final course registration is open.
Generally, registration for the winter semester runs from mid-June to September and for the summer semester 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 at the end of semester exam. Additionally, all students receive an certificate at the end of the course indicating their language level.
Timetable
The courses take place once a week and start in the first week of the lecture period of that term.
The classes will be scheduled during the following time slots:
Monday, Tuesday, Wednesday or Thursday: 2 pm – 5 pm or 6 pm – 9 pm.
Wednesday or Thursday: 9 am – 12 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 session reserved for the end of course test.
