20640 - ENGLISH CERTIFICATION COURSES

The course is aimed at those students enrolled in a three years bachelor program who already have an adequate level of knowledge of the language. The course is for a limited number of applicants.

The aim of the course is to give the student the necessary tools and skills to pass an IELTS certificate at grade 7.0 or higher. The student should then be able to: Follow speech at some length on a variety of both concrete and abstract subjects; Produce a clear and detailed text on a range of subjects, expressing an opinion and discussing the pros and cons of different points of view; Express himself clearly and in detail on subjects related to his studies and to university life in general; Discuss the pros and cons of a pre-specified and relatively familiar subject; Speak at length (given a short time to prepare) on a question, without noticeable hesitation; Interact with a certain degree of fluency and spontaneity.

Course Content Summary

Activities are aimed at developing skills which are required to confidently attempt the various activities found in the IELTS test, in order to achieve a mark at a C1 level.
Particular attention is given to reinforcing each of the four linguistic skills tested in IELTS: listening, reading, speaking and writing.

Special emphasis is given to:

• Drafting, writing and revising full length essays;
• Written interpretation of graphical information;
• Detailed description of processes and procedures.
   

Speaking activities are mainly concerned with developing interactive (discussions, debates) and reporting/presenting skills at the competence level C1.
Then the listening activities are presented in order that the students are able to gauge the difficulty and complexity of the task.
In addition, the activities are based on simulations that are taken from past papers and appropriately selected materials. Additional detailed information concerning the course can be found online at www.unibocconi.eu/languagecenter 

At the end of the course student will be able to...

• Understand a wide range of long, complex texts and recognize the implicit meaning;
• Produce fluent and natural  language;
• Use the language in a flexible and effective way;
• Use the language in social and cultural contexts;
• Use a wide variety of vocabulary and expressions for a variety of communication tasks;
• Produce clear, well-constructed and detailed texts on complex subjects, demonstrating good use of textual structures such as connectors and linking words.

At the end of the course student will be able to...

• Understand a wide range of long, complex texts and recognize the implicit meaning;
• Produce fluent and natural  language;
• Use the language in a flexible and effective way;
• Use the language in social and cultural contexts;
• Use a wide variety of vocabulary and expressions for a variety of communication tasks;
• Produce clear, well-constructed and detailed texts on complex subjects, demonstrating good use of textual structures such as connectors and linking words.

• Face-to-face lectures
• Exercises (exercises, database, software etc.)
• Individual assignments

• Face-to-face lectures
• Exercises (exercises, database, software etc.)
• Individual assignments
   

The preparation course is aimed at the relevant external certification, which takes place at the authorized exam centers. The certification can be converted as an alternative to the English exam. Further information concerning the Bocconi learning path and exams available at www.unibocconi.eu/languagecenter

Textbook:

• O'CONNEL S., Focus on IELTS, New Edition, Pearson Longman
• In addition to professor’s own materials