Welcome

1. Welcome English Language Dr. Sergio Pizziconi Academic Year 2013-2014

2. Plan of the day Today, I will sound your entry level. • My introduction • Your introduction (speaking and writing activities – submission) • Introduction to the course • Your specific needs • If we have time, two commercials

3. Introduction 1/4 • I graduatedin Communication Sciences at/from… • With concentration in Corporate Communication • I defended a thesis about TV fiction production analyzing the teleplay writing and the case study “Star Trek- The original series”

4. Introduction 2/4 • I earned a dottorato di ricerca in Linguistics and Applied Linguistics at the University for Foreigners of Siena • I defended a dissertation about the language of patents of inventions. • I completed a Ph.D. in English at Texas A&M University-Commerce, in the USA • With emphasis in Rhetoric & Composition and TESOL (Teaching English to Speakers of Other Languages) • I defended a dissertation about teaching English as L1, in particular a curriculum for grammar

5. Introduction 3/4 • In Italy, I taught classes in: • Composition, Sociolinguistics, General Linguistics, Italian Linguistics, Communication, Technical communication; I am currently working within the English program of the Department of Communication and Social Research of La Sapienza (Business English and English for the media) • In the USA, I taught classes in: • Composition, Modern Grammar, Psycholinguistics, Intro to Linguistics (undergraduate) • General Linguistics, Structures of the English Language (graduate)

6. Introduction 4/4 • My research interests: Linguistics, Cognitive Linguistics, First and Second Language acquisition, Educational linguistics, Languages for Specific Purposes (Academic, Technical-Scientific Languages, Business ). Specific fields: Advertising, Marketing, Movies, Patents of inventions, Psychopathologies and dreams • Other interests: Movies, Literature, Science Fiction, Tennis.

7. Introduce your-selfin speaking • Choose one of the school fellows close to you. Someone you do not know already. Introduce yourselves to each other.

8. Introduce your-selfin writing • Write maximum five lines to introduce yourself • In few more lines, make certain you specify the following pieces of information: • Degree program you are enrolled in • Main interest/s within the university program • Main interest/s outside school • Your English language curriculum and competence • Whether you would like to see news on a dedicated Facebook page. • You will have to submit this piece of paper • Write First Name, Last Name, Date

9. Syllabus: Textbook and other material Giordano, W. English for Business Communication. Milano: EGEA, 2012 (secondedition) Always bring to class: • the textbook • some writing utensils (paper and pen) you will be requested to submit your worksheet for the in-class activities

10. Syllabus: Educational objectives At the end of this course, you will be able: • to detect and use major grammatical structures with a particular focus on linguistic variation; • to use readily available tools to improve your linguistic skills autonomously (such as reference grammars, dictionaries…); • to use effectively the professional language of economics, in particular: • analyzing case studies and reporting about them • reading of charts and other non-verbal texts • writing business letters • organize specialized lexicon • reading academic articles and writing academic papers (?) • writing your CV/resume

11. Syllabus: Activities Methodologies: Lectures, class discussions, exercises (speaking and writing). You are expected to participate actively in any in-class activity you will be involved in during the lesson. • You will be asked to speak with your peers in pairs and to the class, • You will be asked to do some team or individual work and to submit reports/exercises, • You will be asked to complete the typical activities to create a conference-like presentation (from the abstract to the oral presentation)

12. Syllabus: Activities Portfolio. At the end of the course you will be asked to submit your portfolio which will comprise at least the following material: • Exercises and reports of the in-class activities with my comments and initials (at least: 60% of all the exercises/reports you will be requested) • Texts generated for your project (at least: abstract/proposal, final paper, slides for a presentation) • A lexicon structured according to your own organizing criteria (this should look like a map with clusters) (mandatory) • Your curriculum vitae (mandatory) • Two cover/application letters: one for a corporate position, the other for a graduate program abroad (at least one) • A statement of goals for a graduate program, such as an MBA (Master’s of Business Administration) (mandatory) • A table of contents and commentary (at least 400 words) on the material included in your portfolio (mandatory)

13. Syllabus: Organization of the final examination The exam will be organized as Professor Giordano has always done in recent years with a written test and a spoken exam. Here is an excerpt from his syllabus: PROVA SCRITTA SI COMPONE DI 4 SEZIONI. 1 -sezione dedicata alla interpretazione dei grafici (rif. cap 5 del libro di testo consigliato) 2. sezione di reading and comprehension (rif. cap. 4 libro di testo consigliato) 3. sezione di grammatica (rif. testo grammatica) 4. lettera commerciale (rif. cap. 6 libro di testo consigliato) La prova scritta è uguale per tutti, corsisti e non corsisti. […] § per nessun motivo sarà consentito di "congelare" il voto della prova scritta; § allo scritto, non è consentito l'uso del dizionario.

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