• extract from Maxine Hong Kingston's The Woman Warrior: Memoirs of a Girlhood Among Ghosts (Knopf, 1976);
• extract from Joyce Carol Oates's Inside District School #7, Niagara County, New York.

English

B2.1 (Vantage) level (ENG2.11915)

1st semester 2023/2024 - TP1 and TP2

Lecturer: Isabel Maria Ferro Mealha

Email address: isabelmealha@edu.ulisboa.pt

1. Learning outcomes of the course

The course will follow the objectives outlined in the Council of Europe document Common European Framework of Reference for Languages (CEF). At the end of this course students will be able to understand the main ideas of complex texts on both concrete and abstract topics; interact with a degree of fluency and spontaneity that makes regular interaction with fluent/proficient speakers quite possible without strain for either party; produce clear, detailed text on a wide range of subjects and explain a viewpoint on a topical issue giving the advantages and disadvantages of various options.

2. Syllabus

Students will develop their language competencies with regard to the four skills:

a) READING: literary and non-literary texts (e.g. newspaper articles, essays and contemporary short stories).

b) WRITING: opinion and discursive essays; summaries; emails and letters.

c) SPEAKING: individual and group oral projects with a view to developing oral presentation skills; debates (putting forward arguments for and against); students will ask and answer questions about the English-speaking world.

d) LISTENING to interviews and talks, watching films and/or documentaries with a view to developing note-taking skills.

Students will develop linguistic, social and cultural aspects related to the English-speaking world while further developing the ability to use grammatical structures with an emphasis on increased accuracy.

3. Teaching methodologies (including evaluation)

Teaching methodologies foster ongoing development of the CEF linguistic competencies. Task-based activities held include reading and discussing texts, dramatised reading, essay writing, a speaking paper, watching films and/or talks followed by guided debates. Lexicogrammatical items are addressed in class with an emphasis on increased accuracy. Other individual and team/group teacher-oriented task-based activities will be carried out. In accordance with Regulamento de Avaliação dos Estudantes da Faculdade de Letras da Universidade de Lisboa (RAE), students will be assessed on oral and written work throughout the semester. Weighting will be as follows: 

• first writing test 20%; 
• second writing test 30%; 
• individual oral presentation 20%; 
• written and oral assignments 25%; 
• attendance 5%

The oral presentation is an individual assignment that will consist in a 6-minute speech, spoken from notes, NOT read. Each student will choose the date of the oral presentation from a set of proposed dates (TBA). Topic: presenting a linguistic, social or cultural aspect related to an English-speaking country. 

Dates of tests

TP1 (Mondays & Wednesdays)

FIRST TEST: October 30 

SECOND TEST: December 4

TP2 (Tuesdays & Thursdays)

FIRST TEST: October 31

SECOND TEST: December 5

Since assessment will be conducted on a regular basis, any task that is not submitted when due and/or any form of plagiarism will be given a zero. Any student who fails to do one of the above-mentioned tests/tasks will be given a zero. If needed, an assignment submission extension may be granted as long as it is requested by email in advance of the submission deadline. In exceptional cases, students may apply for an extension retrospectively.  

Worker students may opt for continuous assessment (in which case they will have to comply with all the assessment criteria set for regular students) OR sit the Época Especial de Avaliação examination. The examination will focus on the contents of the syllabus adopted for the B2.1 level. 

6. Bibliography

Mealha, Isabel Ferro. B2.1 Workbook 2023-2024 (a compilation of articles, essays, short stories by English-speaking writers and other materials). (compulsory – please bring your workbook to every class). Additional materials will be sent by email and/or uploaded to Moodle.

Optional:

Swan, Michael. 2005. Practical English Usage. 3rd edition. Oxford: Oxford University Press.

The Longman Dictionary Of Contemporary English For Advanced Learners. 2009. 5th edition. Harlow, Essex: Pearson Education Limited.

The Oxford Phrasal Verbs Dictionary for Learners of English. 2006. Oxford: Oxford University Press. 

ATTENDANCE 

Attendance of classes is compulsory. For exceptions, please check the Regulamento de Avaliação dos Estudantes da Faculdade de Letras da Universidade de Lisboa (RAE).

Absence from class should be reported by email to the teacher prior to missing a class, if at all possible, or as soon as possible after a student misses a class. Reporting an absence does not automatically “excuse” missed work. In these cases, students should contact the teacher to discuss what options may be available. If the absence is due to illness or other emergency, please submit a doctor’s note or any other appropriate documentation within the following ten working days (see RAE, Artigo 3º, 3).

Please be punctual and do not use mobile phones, headphone and earphones in class. Exceptions will be negotiated one-on-one. Texting, emailing, surfing the web, posting on social media in class is extremely disrupting to other students, and a waste of your time in class. Students who are found disruptive of other students' learning will be asked to leave the room.

LECTURER/STUDENT COMMUNICATION

Teacher and students will communicate via institutional email addresses only. You should make sure that you check your institutional email on a regular basis so as not to miss out on any important information related to the class.

OFFICE HOURS & TUTORIAL  - Wednesdays, 9.30-10.30, Room C213.A

There will be a weekly one-hour tutoring session which can be used to answer individual students’ questions, review any materials students need to review, or provide extra practice, etc. 

REQUIREMENTS

Having successfully completed English B1.2 or having been placed in English B2.1 as a result of a placement test done at the beginning of the academic year.