Course Contents

UNIT 1 – INTRODUCTIONS Making introductions • Make effective self and peer introductions • Take useful introductory notes Requests and enquiries • Make appropriate requests and enquiries • Respond to enquiries • Listen for specific information in English. Practice Practical Classroom English • Use different classroom language routines (functions) for effective classroom management • Develop effective classroom language by following the given examples/ situations • Demonstrate and practice practical classroom language routines. UNIT 2 – SOCIAL INTERACTION Greetings • Greeting friends and family on different occasions/reasons • Responding to a happy event • Using formal greeting expressions appropriately Saying thank you • Using formal/ informal expressions of gratitude appropriately • Reading a story which uses expressions of gratitude • Writing a formal letter to say thank you to a teacher/parent/friend Inviting people • Demonstrating the use of formal and informal expressions of invitation • Developing verbal and written skills for invitations • Responding to invitation requests (accepting and declining) Regrets • Expressing regrets orally and in writing in an appropriate manner • Saying sorry and accepting apologies UNIT 3 – GIVING AND FOLLOWING DIRECTIONS Following and giving directions • Following directions from a map • Giving directions for a location in oral and written forms • Reaching a destination Giving clear instructions • Carrying out instructions • Structuring instructions • Writing clear instructions Designing instruction manuals • Exploring instruction manuals of different products • Comparing instruction manuals for developing a critical understanding of the essentials of a manual • Designing an instruction manual for a new student enrolling in college. This could be a group project. UNIT 4 - SHARING EXPERIENCES Sharing narratives • Reading short stories • Reading excerpts; comic strips, interviews, etc. Sharing unique experiences • Summarizing/Narrating true stories • Solving word puzzles to develop language awareness • Reading short stories followed by exercises/worksheet • Converting an event into a short story • Using pictures as stimuli for narrative creation • Using songs as examples of personal experience Imaginative texts • Identifying imaginative texts • Developing imaginative texts by giving engrossing stories and descriptions of scenes UNIT 5 – FUNCTIONING IN ENGLISH Writing styles • Changing narration: converting a dialogue into a report • Converting a story into a news report • Converting a graph/picture into short report/story Writing mechanics • Punctuation and structure • Sentences, Fragments and run-ons • Subject-predicate and pronoun-reference agreement • Project presentations • Course Revision

Course Synopsis

Functional English course gives students an opportunity to learn to interact socially as well as academically. It also gives learners' an opportunity to use language for various purposes i.e according to their needs for instance to request, apologize, order etc.. At the same time, functional English course aims to improve learners' oral, interpersonal and writing skills. This course aims at polishing the real-life language skills of the learners through a task-based methodology.

Course Learning Outcomes

At the end of the course learners will be able to: 1. Understand the importance of context with reference to language expression 2. Use appropriate language knowing the context (what to say, how to say) 3. Improve their language usage for social interaction and academics settings 4. To improve their writing and oral skills to enable them to be autonomous learners