BUSINESS INITIATIVES

Introduction

This course introduces students to the basic language and concepts of business English and encourages them to apply this knowledge to the creation of an imaginary start-up.

Acquis d'apprentissage

The objective of this course is for students to master the fundamental language of business English as well as understand the necessary mindset of the business world, and to apply this knowledge to the creation in groups of an imaginary start-up. Students should be able to:

• Use their negotiating skills while finding ways of financing their project
• Write a job advert to recruit a team member
• Carry out some market research
• Analyse the competition
• Think up an advertising campaign
• Work in teams to handle any potential difficulty which may occur while setting up the project
• Interact effectively in an online “classroom” and webinar setting
• Assess the finances of the project
• Sell their start-up

Contenu

Each class will begin with some specific language work (listening, vocabulary, role-plays), based on the different steps of the creation of a start-up (finding the idea, recruiting, money, marketing, advertising, negotiating…). Then this knowledge will be put into practice. The students will work in groups of four and use the tools at their disposal (internet, PowerPoint).

Attentes du cours

Students should expect a high degree of interaction: I expect active participation, discussion in class and obviously the course involves a lot of group work. Students will be called on during every class to contribute and should be ready to activate their microphone when called on.
Students should arrive to class ready to participate with the necessary materials. In addition to the regular classroom materials, this includes a computer equipped with a webcam, microphone, and active high-speed internet connection for the duration of each session.

Evaluation

All Grading will be on a scale of 0 to 20, unless otherwise stated.

1/3 CF: A written response to given input, produced in an academic style
1/3 CC: Selected Classroom assignments, as detailed by the teacher.
1/3 PP: Presence & Participation (each representing 50% of the PP grade)

Presence: Students will receive credit for attending class regularly, up to a maximum of 1/6 of their total grade. Unjustified absences will thus have a direct impact on student’s overall grade.
Participation: Students will be assessed on their participation in class, according to the criteria in ‘classroom expectations’

Validating the tandem programme will add 2 bonus points to a student’s CC grade (CC) of the corresponding language course.
It is the responsibility of the student to make up for any missed work in order to avoid these absences further impacting final grades.

CEFR Grade (A1-C2)
Students will be continuously assessed as to their language level relative to the CEFR criteria.
There is NO DIRECT RELATION between a student’s CC/CF/PP and their CEFR level.
For more information, please refer to the LSH website. https://lsh.imt-bs.eu/

Programme

Programme grande école,Programme Ingénieur,Programme Bachelor

Plan du cours

The course will be composed of 3-hour sessions. All sessions are obligatory unless otherwise indicated. Sessions will generally be conducted as a mix of ‘live’ interactive webinar and self-driven autonomous work. Homework will need to be completed regularly, and will be due before the start of each following session.
Below follows a rough outline of the course structure (non-exhaustive and subject to change).
1. Setting up a business and company organisation
2. Social networks and communication
3. Management and Recruitment
4. The project and competitive analysis
5. Banking
6. Marketing
7. Advertising
8. Company performance and describing trends
9. Job interviews
10. CF1
In this session, you will sit the CF1 test: a common exam, based on the international TOEFL exam (offered by ETS). In general, you will be
asked to analyse multiple artefacts and produce an appropriate academic response in form of an analysis.