B2 INTENSIVE ENGLISH INTERMEDIATE COURSE. IMPROVING YOUR LEVEL FROM B1 TO B2

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COURSE INFORMATION

As per its title, this is an intensive course to improve, in general terms, your English level, and it aims to be a preparation course for B2 official examinations. Of course, one week is not enough to achieve such an ambitious goal, as B2 is quite a challenging level. However, our teachers will show you the path to get to it, giving you the necessary tools to prepare for the exam. Nowadays, there is a wide range of resources available on line to learn foreign languages; our mission as teachers will be to guide you to choose the most useful ones and take advantage of them to prepare for the exam.

 

During the course we will focus especially on developing oral skills, as these are often the hardest for most of the students, as well as very difficult to practice when we study individually at home. The heterogeneous groups formed by students of different ages, countries and specialties are the perfect environment to work on both oral competences: comprehension and production, and of course, fun is guaranteed!

 

Written competences will also be present in the course; we will provide the students with the most useful tips to develop their production skills and their comprehension competences, using authentic documents such as newspapers, magazines, brochures, etc.

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Our aim is that you enjoy the experience, and you take advantage of sharing this course with other students from different countries, this is so enriching!

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METHODOLOGY

- Real learning : Students will have to face real communication situations, inside and outside the classroom. When the course takes place in English speaking countries, our priority will be to practice outdoors, with native speakers, in real situations of everyday life : supermarkets, Post office, Train station…

 

- Functional and pragmatic : We will not focus on learning rules and grammar practice. This is of course necessary but… you can do this at home!! We will practice with games and many different types of activities and resources, taking advantage also of your experience as teachers.

 

- We will focus on oral skills : individually, in pairs, in small groups…. The objective is communication. We will practice with native speakers and also other resources such as TV, radio podcasts, etc. We will practice with examples of exams so that you know what you can expect the day of the exam.

 

MAIN OBJECTIVES

B2 COMPETENCES – EUROPEAN FRAMEWORK OF REFERENCE OF LANGUAGE

B2 level corresponds to independent users of the language, and therefore, our main objective will be to help you to become independent users. The description of the competencies according to the European Framework of Reference of Languages is the following :

 

1. Can understand the main ideas of complex text on both concrete and abstract topics, including technical discussions in his/her field of specialisation.

2. Can interact with a degree of fluency and spontaneity that makes regular interaction with native speakers quite possible without strain for either party.

3. Can 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.

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Considering that the course takes place in English speaking countries, the main objectives of the course are the following:

• To develop self – confidence when using the foreign language.

• To improve fluency, phonetics and accent.

• To develop strategies to communicate in real life situations.

More specifically, the objectives can be defined as follows :

 

• SPEAKING SKILLS:

- To be able to keep up with an animated conversation between native speakers.

- To cope linguistically to negotiate a solution to a dispute.

- To interact with a degree of fluency and spontaneity that makes regular interaction, and sustained relationships with native speakers without imposing strain on either party.

- To be able to use the language fluently, accurately and effectively.

- To be able to interact using standard spoken language even in a noisy environment.

- To engage in extended conversation on most general topics in a clearly participatory fashion, even in a noisy environment.

- To keep up with an animated discussion, identifying accurately arguments supporting and opposing points of view.

- To follow detailed instructions reliably.

 

• LISTENING SKILLS

- To understand standard spoken language, on both familiar and unfamiliar topics.

-To understand recordings in standard dialect likely to be encountered in social, professional or academic life and identify speaker viewpoints and attitudes as well as the information content.

- To understand most radio documentaries and most other recorded or broadcast audio material delivered in standard dialect and to identify the speaker's mood, tone etc. and identify most TV news and current affairs programmes, documentaries, live interviews, talk shows, plays and the majority of films in standard dialect.

 

• READING SKILLS

- To be able to read with a large degree of independence, adapting style and speed of reading to different texts and purposes and using appropriate reference sources selectively.

- To be able to scan quickly through long and complex texts, locating relevant details.

- To summarise the plot and sequence of events in a text or film.

 

• WRITING SKILLS

- To be able to write with a large degree of independence, adapting style and speed of reading and writing to different texts and purposes, and using appropriate reference sources selectively.

- To summarise the plot and sequence of events in a film or play.

 

DAILY PROGRAMME

The manager of the company usually welcomes participants on Sunday afternoon and gives them all the information about courses and Erasmus week. The main training activities, instruction and practices will take place from Monday to Friday. Moreover, participants will be able to explain their own school and Erasmus project to the rest of participants in the beginning of the week and, after that, work all together to set up future eTwinnings or even Job Shadowing. On another note, participants will be involved in cultural activities held by the company during afternoon time. Finally, there will be a course’ roundup and a final evaluation on Friday or Saturday morning, depending on the participants' departure time, and the delivery of the certificates of attendance.

 

ACTIVITIES SCHEDULED :

• Meeting and greeting.

• Individual orientation and information about the venue and the city.

• Reception of all course material.

• Working with news. Relevant vocabulary and pronunciation.

• Practice: Use of English.

• Group activities to review the main concepts in an enjoyable way.

• Time for discussing dissemination strategies.

• Course evaluation.

• Presentation of participants’ works.

• Releasing official course certifications.

• Participants departure.

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 DATES 

B2 ENGLISH course will attend editions during 2023 and 2024 in the following dates:

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2023:

ICELAND – REYKJAVÍK:

• From Sunday 15th October to Saturday 21st.

DUBLIN - IRELAND:

• From Sunday 15th October to Saturday 21st.

• From Sunday 22nd October to Saturday 28th.

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2024:

ICELAND – REYKJAVÍK:

• From Sunday 11th February to Saturday 17th.

• From Sunday 18th February to Saturday 24th.

• From Sunday 24th March to Saturday 30th.

• From Sunday 31st March to Saturday 6th April.

• From Sunday 21st April to Saturday 27th.

• From Sunday 23rd June to Saturday 29th.

• From Sunday 7th July to Saturday 13th.

• From Sunday 14th July to Saturday 20th. CONFIRMED!

• From Sunday 21st July to Saturday 27th.

• From Sunday 11th August to Saturday 17th.

• From Sunday 18th August to Saturday 24th.

• From Sunday 25th August to Saturday 31st.

• From Sunday 6th October to Saturday 12th.

• From Sunday 13th October to Saturday 19th.

• From Sunday 20th October to Saturday 26th.

DUBLIN - IRELAND:

• From Sunday 24th March to Saturday 30th.

• From Sunday 21st April to Saturday 27th.

• From Sunday 23rd June to Saturday 29th.

• From Sunday 7th July to Saturday 13th.

• From Sunday 14th July to Saturday 20th.

• From Sunday 21st July to Saturday 27th.

• From Sunday 11th August to Saturday 17th.

• From Sunday 18th August to Saturday 24th.

• From Sunday 6th October to Saturday 12th.

• From Sunday 13th October to Saturday 19th.

• From Sunday 20th October to Saturday 26th.

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COSTS AND ERASMUS FUNDING

The cost of the seven day course is 560€ and includes course fees, free cultural activities in the city during the week and certification of attendance. The company offers an Optional cultural package to deepen the relationship between all participants.

 

The training course is tailored to be fully funded by Erasmus + to teachers, trainers, headmasters and any other staff of education organizations. Furthermore trainers can help in Key Action 1 Application to ensure that participants can get the grant and could be eligible to receive an Erasmus + grant that covers all the costs of the course.