What is a Course Outline?
"There are three things to remember when teaching: know your stuff; know whom you are stuffing and then stuff them elegantly." - Lola May
A course outline performs a vital role in a prestigious English language school. It forms the basis for an agreement among the student, teacher, and school. It identifies the expectations which serve as the basis of the student's grade and gives the fundamental required components of the course which the student is assured of receiving from the ESL teacher and the school.
An excellent course outline performs the following functions:
1. It is the principal means for course planning: highlights the required components of the course.
2. It states the level for which students will be held accountable.
3. It provides coherent information and skills that are needed to prepare students in a particular subject.
4. It contains the prerequisites needed to take the course.
5. It records changes when a course is updated.
6. It acts as an agreement between the school and the student.
7. It shows that all the required components of the course are present as specified in a school curriculum.
8. It serves to maintain academic standards: demonstrates that the school provides consistent, high-quality teaching.
In general, course outlines help to identify the needs of the students and allocate resources.
Here are a few course outline examples of different subjects.
Course Outlines
Basic English
The four language skills - listening, speaking, reading and writing - are integrated. As we will see from the course outline, the Basic English includes elements of contextual grammar, active vocabulary building, paragraph writing, face-to-face communication, group discussions, public speaking, word games, pronunciation, and question-answer sessions. More...
General English
The course develops listening, speaking, reading, writing and cross-cultural communication skills. In addition, students can improve practical grammar skills. More...
Communication Skills
The course develops English for international communication skills. The textbook (with audio cassettes/CDs) by Jack C. Richards (2001) New Interchange, Book 2. English for International Communication (Cambridge University Press) is used for this course. Lots of interesting topics are covered. More...
Practical English
The course aims at enabling students to acquire basic oral and written communication skills. It is designed for non-English majors to develop spoken and written skills at a beginner’s level. More...
Academic Writing
The course improves students’ writing abilities at an essay level. They learn how to write comparison and contrast, classification, process analysis, cause-and-effect analysis, and argumentative essays. More...
Writing a Research Paper
The course develops written communication skills that are needed in an academic environment. In addition, students develop their critical reading skills, grammar skills, and expand vocabulary. More...
English for Academic Purposes
The course focuses on giving presentations, listening to academic lectures, note-taking, participating in group discussions, comprehending academic texts and lectures, summary writing, citing techniques, developing the Internet and library skills, and writing a research project. Tutorial activities include discussions of lectures and helping students to find information in order to solve basic academic research problems. More...
Public Speaking
Students develop public speaking skills. The course consists of two parts, theoretical and practical. In the theoretical part students focus on methods of delivering an effective public speech. They learn how to speak in front of many people and how to overcome fear and nervousness, how to use effective body language skills, how to prepare and how to use PowerPoint presentations. In the practical part students design outlines of presentations and give presentations to large audiences. More...
Extensive Reading
Students select texts for extensive reading. They use various strategies for comprehension and vocabulary recognition, maintain a log with details of reading accomplished each week, summarize weekly reading, and establish personally relevant reading goals. More...
Language & Culture
This is an ESL course at an upper-intermediate level that focuses on Western culture and its relationship with and influence on the development of the English language. It focuses on origins of Western culture, present-day Western etiquette, Western ways of thinking, Western cultural values and traditions. More...
Business Communication
The course introduces vocabulary that is widely used in business communication environment, spoken and written communication, telephone calls, business meetings, presentations, letters, faxes, emails, and more...
Mass Media & Communication
The course outline describes the whole process of mass communication, gives detailed definitions of mass communication and mass media, revises the development of mass media, the process of writing books, newspapers, and magazines. Other topics are related to electronic media, movies, advertising, public relations, sexism, racism, and more...
Academic Reading and Writing
Academic reading and writing course focuses on developing critical reading and research skills. Students read abridged and authentic texts, conduct online research, learn how to paraphrase, edit, summarize, and write academic essays. Read more... .
Academic English Reading and Writing
Academic English reading: reading for academic purposes, critical and extensive reading, scanning, perusing and selecting valuable reading resources. Academic English writing: academic essay writing, drafting, revising, editing and proofreading; paraphrasing, citing sources in APA format and avoiding plagiarism. Read more... .
Life and Study Skills
Personal, interpersonal, work and community service skills: self-awareness, self-regulation, internal motivation, empathy, and social skills. Preparedness for college: general college life orientation, regulations, academic policies and standards, academic honesty, formal study skills, listening to instructions, learning strategies, presentation skills, time management, etc. Read more... .
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