Duration
30h Th
Number of credits
| Master in law, professional focus in management | 2 crédits |
Lecturer
Ellen Harry, ISLV
Coordinator
Language(s) of instruction
French language
Organisation and examination
Teaching in the second semester
Schedule
Units courses prerequisite and corequisite
Prerequisite or corequisite units are presented within each program
Learning unit contents
30 hrs: The course is based on on a recent publication exploring the causes behind the financial crisis of 2008, as well as an integrated course manual at upper intermediate level (B2+) aimed at business people and students of business English:
- Cotton, Falvey and Kent. Market Leader. Intermediate Business Course Book. 3rd edition. Pearson Education, 2010.
- Lewis, Michael. The Big Short: Inside the Doomsday Machine. W. W. Norton, 2010.
The course manual is organized around thematic units relating to management and economic life. It offers a range of activities (articles from The Financial Times, expert interviews, speaking and writing tasks, case studies, grammar and vocabulary exercises) dealt with and exploited in class. This book will allow Law students to acquire the business English terminology and business language skills necessary to follow more complex business-related activities.
Learning outcomes of the learning unit
As this is a B2 (writing/speaking)/C1 (reading/listening) level course, at the end of the year, the intended key learning outcomes are that the students will be able to...
- understand the main ideas of complex text on both concrete and abstract topics, including technical discussions in business;
- interact with a degree of fluency and spontaneity that makes regular interaction with native speakers quite possible without strain for either party;
- produce clear, detailed text, comprising a range of business-related documents;
- explain a viewpoint on a topical issue giving the advantages and disadvantages of various options;
- understand extended speech and lectures on familiar subjects, taken from English-speaking media;
- show a relatively high degree of grammatical control, and correct most of their mistakes.
Prerequisite knowledge and skills
The course is open to Law/HEC-Ulg students having successfully completed the bachelor's course programme requirements regarding English, and to external students with an equivalent (intermediate) level of everyday and business English.
Planned learning activities and teaching methods
This class uses a dynamic, interactive, and effective approach to learning business English and includes:
* active and regular participation in class discussions and debates on business themes, putting into practice the target business terminology and appropriate oral skills
* the assessment of grammar through self-assessment tests, through former exam excerpts (1st week of class, last week of April) and online self-study exercises through GABi;
* periodic written assignments, testing writing and organizational skills;
* interactive discussions on The Big Short, putting into practice oral skills and business knowledge;
* improving listening skills with a focus on notetaking, presentations, and intercultural relations;
* improving public speaking skills, thanks to a presentation based on class themes;
* the transmission of relevant grammar and vocabulary through Market Leader, which uses material from authentic business sources, and The Big Short.
Mode of delivery (face-to-face ; distance-learning)
A 30-hour, face-to-face course taught 3 hours per week in the spring semester.
Recommended or required readings
Course Book: Cotton, Falvey and Kent "Market Leader Intermediate Business Course". 3rd edition. Pearson Education 2010. Available from the Centrale des cours in HEC.
Lewis, Michael. The Big Short: Inside the Doomsday Machine. W. W. Norton, 2010.
Assessment methods and criteria
2 self-assessment tests (including vocabulary and grammar) and 1 writing test will be organised during the spring semester.
The presentations will take place in the weeks: 16th March, 20th April. Students who do not perform their oral presentation will NOT be allowed to sit the May exam, and will have to sit the second session.
All tests and essays will be taken into account as classwork.
The exam in May, testing the language and skills taught throughout the year, will comprise an oral, reading and listening exam.
The final marks (20 marks) will be awarded as follows:
Oral exam - 6 marks
Listening comprehension exam - 3 marks
Reading comprehension and written exam - 4 marks
Presentation - 4 marks
Classwork and self-study - 3 marks
Work placement(s)
Organizational remarks
Contacts
Ellen Harry Chargée d'enseignement principal Bâtiment B33, Bureau des enseignants de l'ISLV, niveau -1 Sart-Tilman tél: 04/ 366 46 52 eharry@uliege.be
Adaptation of teaching commitments following the COVID-19 pandemic for the May-June 2020 session
Teaching methods implemented : distance-learning
Classes will continue online with weekly reading and listening assignments for The Big Short posted on eCampus for LANG3015 > Notes de cours > Online Class: Wiki. Answering comprehension and debate questions online combined with 2 videoconferences via Lifesize (scheduled for end of March and end of April) will constitute class participation for the confinement period.
Assessment subjects
The assessment will principally concern Chapter 10, but will refer to the pages covered in class (before March 16 in class and after March 16 online) from the book version of The Big Short (Lewis, 2010) in terms of events, major players, and business and finance vocabulary, as well as from the entire film The Big Short (2015) in the same terms.
Students will be assessed individually on their presentations submitted online, but this is not material for the exam questions. It may, however, help students in better understanding the material.
Assessment methods
The evaluation will be as follows (out of 20):
Classwork and online participation 4 pts
Individual presentations 6 pts
Written essay 2 pts
Oral exam 8 pts
Contacts
Ellen Harry
Chargée d'enseignement principale / Lecturer
eharry@uliege.be
Adaptation of teaching commitments following the COVID-19 pandemic for the Aug-Sept 2020 session
Assessment subjects
The conditions will be the same as in June 2020 (see the "Covid-19" sections above).
Assessment methods
The conditions will be the same as in June 2020 (see the "Covid-19" sections above).
Contacts
The contacts will be the same as in June 2020 (see the "Covid-19" sections above).