Teaching Technical English

Target Audience

This course is for all professionals who want to better understand the challenges of teaching technical English. You will learn about different approaches to teaching English for Specific Purposes (ESP), aspects of teaching technical English, and develop your skills for teaching in this area. Participants need to be at a minimum B1 level of English.

Preparation

After registration, participants on this course programme will receive:

• A pre-course questionnaire which will enable trainers to learn about the participants’ teaching backgrounds
• Information about the Europass Mobility Certificate
• A recommended reading list to prepare participants for various aspects of the course
• Information about York to prepare teachers for their cultural experience

Objectives

By the end of the course participants will:

• be able to understand and use a wide range of technical vocabulary
• have a knowledge of the key pedagogy behind teaching technical English and ESP
• have gained the confidence to discuss and present technical issues
• have developed an understanding of the structural use of technical language

Methodology

Sessions demonstrate and train technical English approaches, methodologies, techniques and knowledge. An interactive communicative approach is applied, which provides participants with their own experiential learning of the activities and methodologies. Input sessions are in the form of hands-on workshops and involve brainstorming, analysis, problem-solving, and role-play, both in pair work and group work. Participants are actively involved in the sessions to maximize their learning and to experience activities from their learners’ point of view.

Teachers are asked to reflect on the activities, inviting discussion with regard to their own pedagogical knowledge and skills, teaching methods and contexts, and on adaptation of activities to their own teaching and learning situations. Participants are also introduced to key resources related to the further development of their teaching skills and personal professional development. Both teaching and learning are explored, analyzed and discussed, further enabling the participants’ use of their teaching skills in technical English.

Follow Up

The course ends with an evaluation session, where teachers are asked to reflect upon the value of the knowledge gained on the course. They are also encouraged in this session to create a Personal Development Action Plan, and select activities which they would like to try out in their own classes. They are invited to join the York Associates Community, which allows networking and contact with the trainers and fellow colleagues, and with participants from other courses.

Sample Course Programme