DISCOVER CONTEMPORARY ENGLISH

Comenius/Gruntvig Code: UK-2012-1622-001

The course is intended for:

• Teachers, other ELT professionals and university students who wish to gain insights into contemporary English and how it is used
• Participants with a minimum language level corresponding to C1 on the Common European Framework

Aimds and Objectives:

• To raise participants' understanding of the notion and importance of language awareness
• To investigate the grammar of spoken English
• To familiarise participants with recent changes in the English language and their implications for
  learners and teachers
• To enable participants to work practically with concordancers and other corpus-based research
  instruments
• To raise participants' critical language awareness through basic discourse analysis
• To review recently published language reference works and other books on language
• To investigate some of the links between contemporary English and popular culture

All course participants receive a pre-course questionnaire, which should be returned prior to the course. This is to ensure that the areas of most relevance to participants are covered. However, topics are likely to be drawn from the following main areas:

• Discourse analysis, with particular reference to contemporary spoken and written texts
• Experiencing language awareness tasks
• Designing materials for language awareness
• Hands-on sessions in the computer lab focusing on working with corpus data and related
  software
• Recent developments and changes in English with particular reference to the impact of the
  media on the way language is used
• Language, jargon and identity in subcultures (e.g. teenagers) and professional groups (e.g.
  business people, ICT experts)
• Corpus studies and ways in which they have influenced the way we perceive and describe
• language

Time will be built into the course for reflection and for participants to consider how to adapt ideas from the course to classrooms in their own professional contexts.  It involves a significant element of English language improvement and/or development of language awareness.

The 50-hour course provision includes intensive tuition by trainers who are experts in the fields of discourse analysis and language awareness, as well as opportunities for reading and research and guest lectures from well-known figures in the field of ELT.  Classes will be practical and ‘hands-on' but with reference to relevant theory.

Dates and fees:

Please note that these prices do not include airport transfers.

The school was established in 1995 by directors with extensive experience of ELT worldwide.  It was set up as a specialist teacher development institute to provide courses of the highest quality for teachers from all over the world. The number and range of these courses continues to grow, and the range of work has been extended to cover the following main areas:

• Professional development programmes for EL teachers and trainers
• Professional development programmes for CLIL teachers (using English as a medium of instruction), including vocational teachers
• Modular postgraduate courses up to Masters level for second or foreign language teaching professionals under a programme validated by Leeds Metropolitan University
• CELTA and DELTA training (as an accredited centre for Cambridge ESOL)
• BEC and TKT exam preparation courses by arrangement
• International consultancy
• International project management
• Delivery of short courses, seminars and workshops worldwide
• One-to-one and executive language training

The school has grown to become the biggest single provider of professional development courses for EL teachers and trainers in Europe. It was the first institute to be accredited by the British Council for the provision of teacher development courses and all these courses qualify for either Comenius, Grundtvig or Leonardo funding. It is a member of EnglishUK and an official examination centre for Cambridge exams. It is also one of the very few independent UK organisations accredited to run courses offering qualifications up to Masters level, through a modular programme allowing teachers to choose to go for a PG Cert., PG Dip., or an MA. It also runs BEC and TKT exam preparation courses by special arrangement. Its Cambridge CELTA courses have a 99% pass rate.

Hundreds of courses for thousands of participants from over 60 different countries have been run. As well as running open-enrolment courses, the school works closely with education ministries, regional authorities and institutional partners around the world to design and deliver tailor-made courses. Consultants and trainers are also sent all over the world to help with practical advice and training in the field of English language education.

Homestay accommodation is provided in single study-bedrooms with carefully selected hosts. It comprises bed, breakfast & evening meal each day and light lunch (or packed lunch, as appropriate) at weekends.

Residential accommodation is provided on campus at the University of East Anglia in single study-bedrooms with private bathroom. The accommodation is on a bed & breakfast (B&B) basis in university houses or flats with a shared kitchen/dining room, fully equipped for self-catering.