General information


Subject type: Optional

Coordinator: Julián Horrillo Tello

Trimester: First term

Credits: 6

Teaching staff: 

Juan Garcia Ramirez

Teaching languages


This module is entirely delivered in English.

Skills


Transversal competences
  • CT1: That the students know a third language, which will be preferably English, with an adequate level of oral and written form and in accordance with the needs of the graduates in each degree.

Description


English for the Professional World aims to help students be competent in planning their job hunting process as well as in using English accurately in certain situations of professional life.

As for the former, considering how competitive the professional world is, students must be prepared to sell themselves and make themselves different in order to land a job.

Regarding the latter, effective communication is a skill professionals have to acquire before completing university and entering the world of business.

 

 

Learning outcomes


In general terms, this subject contributes to the learning outcomes (LO) specific to the subject matter it belongs to (English). 

At a more specific level, this module will help students become competent in the use of English for job hunting and making effective oral presentations. At the end of the course, students must be able to:

  • (LO1) identify the stages in the job hunting process
  • (LO2) make a mind map with strengths and weaknesses
  • (LO3) understand the specific language of job adverts
  • (LO4) write a personal statement
  • (LO5) produces a good CV
  • (LO6) write a cover letter
  • (LO7) plan a job interview
  • (LO8) participate in a job interview
  • (LO9) communicate personal ideas, points of view and opinions on a given topic
  • (LO10) make an effective oral presentation

 

Working methodology


Class work is based on a theoretical explanation of the course content. The theory is supported by practical work on the proposed exercises. Exercises will be completed either individually or in small groups according to cooperative learning methodologies.

Pieces of work, exercises, tasks, and assignments made both in the classroom or at home will be delivered just after completing each section of the syllabus on a given deadline.

Activities leading to achieving objectives related to oral skills will be done in the classroom in groups of two or more students.

Other autonomous learning tasks will also be considered, such as those devoted to the reading of articles and complementary exercises.

 

 

Contents


1. Personal statement. resume Cover Letter. Job Interview

  • 1.1 Research of the job hunting process: stages, mind map of strengths and weaknesses, qualifications, work experience.
  • 1.2 Personal statement: features of the personal statement, short description of the applicant (education, work experience, soft skills, achievements, goals).
  • 1.3 The CV or Summary: sections of the CV, vocabulary, analysis of common errors, first good impression, the CV and the job offer, creative CVs.
  • 1.4 The Cover Letter: features and parts of a good cover letter, style and vocabulary, the Cover Letter and the job offer.
  • 1.5 The Job Interview: preparation of the job interview, the small talk, typical questions and the most suitable answers, good first impression, vocabulary, analysis of common errors, simulation of a job interview.

2. Effective Oral Presentations

  • Structure of an oral presentation in a professional context
  • The body language
  • Effective visual aids

Learning activities


Aiming to gather evidence of the achievement of learning outcomes (LO), the following activities will be carried out:

activity 1: Personal statement. resume Cover Letter. Job interview. (Content 1) (Evidence of Learning Outcomes LO1, LO2, LO3, LO4, LO5, LO6, LO7, LO8, and LO9) Individual Activity

  • Mind map of strengths and weaknesses: skills, qualifications, experience
  • Writing the personal statement
  • Writing the CV. The creative CV
  • Writing a good cover letter
  • Preparing a good job interview
  • Simulation of a job interview

Regarding competencies, this activity has an impact on cross-curricular competency T1

 

activity 2. Effective Oral Presentations (Content 2) (Evidence of Learning Outcomes LO9 and LO10) Individual activity

  • Making a good short oral presentation
  • Making an effective oral presentation of the CV

Regarding competencies, this activity has an impact on cross-curricular competency T1

 

 

Evaluation system


Assignments on all the points of the syllabus will be collected for assessment:

- Personal statement

- C.V

- Cover letter

- Job interview

- Formal writing

- Oral exercises: discussions, dialogues, oral presentations

1. Continuous assessment: 70%

  • PW # 1: Personal Statement (5%)
  • PW # 2: CV (15%)
  • PW # 3: Listening comprehension (10%)
  • PW # 4: Cover letter (15%)
  • PW # 5: Speaking activity: Job Interview (10%)
  • PW#6: Short writing: summary of an article (5%)
  • PW # 7: Short oral presentation on one of the articles given or on a topic chosen by the student (10%)

2. Oral presentation of professional profile: 20%. This activity is mandatory in order to pass the subject.

3. Class attendance and participation: 10%

Exam Pass: 70%. The resit exam covers the continuous assessment part (point 1 above). In order to be allowed to do the resit exam, a mark of 4 to 4.9 must be achieved in the continuous assessment part. Otherwise, the module will be given a fail. The highest mark possible in the resit exam is PASS (5). 

VERY IMPORTANT:

Total or partial PLAGIARISM of any of the assignments will be automatically qualified as FAIL (0). And, if plagiarism is repeated, it may mean that the module has a definitive qualification of FAIL (0).

PLAGIARISM consists of copying text from unacknowledged sources, whether this is part of a sentence or a whole text, which is intended as the student's own text. It includes cutting and pasting from Internet sources, presented unmodified in the student's own text. PLAGIARISM IS A SERIOUS OFFENSE. Students must respect authors' intellectual property, always identifying the sources they may use. They must also be responsible for the originality and authenticity of their own texts.

REFERENCES


Basic

Handouts. English for the Professional World.

Complementary

http://jobs.theguardian.com/

Powell, Mark. In Company 3.0. Sl: Macmillan, 2004.

http://www.cvtips.com/

http://targetjobs.co.uk/careers-advice

Evans, David. Business English Verbs. Harlow: Penguin English, 2000. Print.

Flinders, Steve, and Steve Flinders. Test Your Professional English: Business: General. Harlow, Essex, Eng: Pearson Education, 2002. Print.

 

McCarthy, Michael, and Felicity O'Dell. English Vocabulary in Use. Cambridge: CambridgeUniversityPress, 2001.

http://www.cv-masterclass.com/

https://www.engvid.com/

Downes, Colm. Cambridge English for Job-Hunting. Cambridge: Cambridge University Press, 2008.

www.ted.com

www.esl-lab.com

http://esl.about.com/od/listening/