Certificate in English for International Understanding

Course details

While Southeast Asia as a region is rich in terms of its persity of languages and richness of cultural differences, it also faces the challenge of having many languages, which can make it difficult for intra-regional communication and international understanding. English, being a global language, is often used as a lingua franca among speakers of perse languages and cultures. There is a need to teach and promote English for International Understanding (EIU), especially among the English language teachers in the region.

Learning Objectives

The course is intended for English language teachers with some years of teaching experience in the classroom. It aims to fulfil two main objectives:

• To hone participants' pedagogical skills in the teaching of EIU and raise their language awareness of teaching EIU for inter-cultural communication;
• To enhance participants’ language and communication skills for professional communication in cross-cultural contexts.

Course Components 

2-week Teacher Training Course for the Teaching of EIU

• Introduction to the teaching of EIU
• Intercultural communication
• EIU: Issues of intelligibility and acceptability
• EIU: Developing intercultural skills
• EIU: Communicative competence versus linguistic competence
• EIU: Communicative competence - pragmatics and conversational strategies
• EIU: Communicating effectively
• Becoming a better listener - teaching of listening skills
• Becoming a better speaker - teaching of speaking skills
• EIU lesson planning and demonstration

1-week for Inter-cultural Communication (structured interaction sessions with other course participants)

• Combination of knowledge-based and skill-oriented training on the use of English for international understanding
• Teaching of an English lesson to other students (e.g. Chukyo Dokkyo University)
• Interaction sessions with participants from other courses
• Oral presentation skills (e.g. panel presentation, discussion forum)

Delivery Method

The communicative approach, which requires active student participation, will be adopted for the course.

During the phase of teacher training programme, participants will be expected to do lesson planning and mocro-teaching.

Participants will be involved in a variety of practice activities to help them develop a knowledge base of EIU for inter-cultural communication and a set of language skills with particular focus on oracy. Participants will analyse authentic examples of target situations and materials and use these as models.

Outcomes and Deliverables

The teacher training programme aims to prepare teachers of EIU who will be successful classroom teachers in a wide variety of institutional settings and cultural contexts.

The programme will provide opportunities for participants to develop and demonstrate the following competencies:

• Demonstrate proficiency in spoken English at a level commensurate with their role as a language model in a cross-cultural classroom setting. Good oral communication skills and a good understanding of English grammar are expected of an effective language teacher.
• Gain the experience of learning the language in a cross-cultural classroom setting.
• Have an understanding of the principles of language pedagogy and the demonstrated ability, gained by microteaching, to apply these principles as needed to various classroom situations.
• Have an understanding of the complex relationships between language and culture.
• Demonstrate the competency for teaching EIU by conducting oneself with sensitivity to, and appreciation for, perse student populations.

Assessment

There will be two assignments:

• A group presentation on a selected topic related to the course.
• An inpidual lesson plan for the teaching of EIU.

Course Requirements

To complete the course successfully, a candidate must:

• satisfy class attendance requirements;
• attain a satisfactory standard in required course work;
• complete all assignments.

Course Award 

The course will lead to the award of a Certificate in English for International Understanding (EIU).

Entry Requirements

Applicants from SEAMEO member countries applying for a scholarship should meet the following criteria:

Minimum English language requirements in any one of these:

• IELTS (academic) at least 5.5
• Paper-based TOEFL score of at least 513 or an internet-based score of at least 65
• A minimum of two years study in an approved tertiary institution where English is the medium of instruction (to be verified by the institution)

To have at least two years of experience teaching English in the classroom.