UPE Courses

The Unit for Professional English offers courses and workshops for Uppsala University employees. These can take various forms: longer courses (roughly 15 hours over the course of four to eight weeks), shorter courses (roughly 8 hours over the course of two weeks), and workshops (half-day or full-day).

We design and offer new courses as our resources permit and as interest is expressed. We also develop custom courses for specific departments within the university. If our current courses do not suit your needs, feel free to contact us to discuss what courses you would like to see offered. Here are the regular courses we currently offer. See below for more information about each of them.

Cambridge English: First Course

This is a general English course at an intermediate level with the aim to improve your flexibility and confidence when using English. This course will help prepare you to take the internationally recognised Cambridge First Certificate in English exam, should you wish to do so. More information regarding the exam will be given at the start of the course. Whether you decide to take the exam or not, you will be given a course certificate on successful completion of this course.

Format

You will practice and improve your speaking, writing, listening and reading skills in English through various classroom activities. We will provide you with a coursebook which is the basis of the course, and you will be expected to do homework (approx. 2-3 hours per week). Depending on the location of course participants, this course may be held on Zoom.

Terms

The course is open to all university employees. The cost is paid by the employing department. See above for rules that apply to all courses.

Mastering Academic Writing

At Uppsala University, researchers in a wide variety of academic disciplines are asked to communicate and publish in English. Being able to successfully produce academic texts in English has thus become increasingly important.

This course is designed to help university staff improve their writing in formal English genres such as research articles. The course focuses on text structure, grammar, vocabulary and register awareness. The course also introduces corpora (i.e. large databases of language data) as a tool to help participants improve their academic writing in English. During this course, participants produce texts and submit these for feedback (which focuses on language proficiency and the effectiveness of the presentation, rather than on the subject of the text).

Upon completing the course, participants will have enhanced their understanding of:

• General English proficiency (how to find the right word or avoid common grammatical errors)
• Register (how to write in a style that is appropriate for academic discourse)
• Reader-friendliness (how to write an accessible text)
• Structure (how to organize a text)
• Genre-specific texts (how to write clear and effective abstracts, for example)

Format

This course consists of seven meetings of two hours each, spread out over several weeks. The meetings involve a combination of lecture, discussion, and practical language training. Participants do homework assignments after each class, ranging from shorter texts to grammar exercises. Participants should be prepared to do approximately 20 hours of work in addition to the time spent in class.

Terms

The course is open to all university employees. The cost is paid by the employing department. See above for rules that apply to all courses.

Writing in English at Work II

Designed specifically for administrative staff, this course focuses on written communication in common work-related situations, developing skills taught in the course Writing in English at Work I. The course assignments focus on organizational language and practice typical workplace writing (descriptions, recommendations, and reports). In class, we will discuss typical language issues and communication problems and how to handle them.

Format

This course consists of seven weekly meetings of two hours each. Much of the material is generated by the participants themselves. The meetings involve a combination of lecture, discussion, and practical language training. Participants do three written homework assignments. Participants should be prepared to spend about 20 hours on the course in addition to the time spent in class.

Terms

The course is open to all administrative staff. The cost is paid by the employing department. See above for rules that apply to all courses.

Speaking English at Work II

Designed specifically for administrative staff, this course focuses on spoken communication in common work-related situations. It develops skills taught in the course Speaking English at Work I.

This course builds upon the knowledge and skills practiced in Speaking English at Work 1. In SAW2 the emphasis is on course participants taking part in various communicative activities. These activities will practice dealing with the types of language needed in different work-related situations. The course aims to build the participants’ confidence in the language and further improve their fluency and accuracy in English.

Format

This course consists of seven weekly meetings of two hours each. Much of the material is generated by the participants themselves. The meetings involve a combination of classroom instruction, discussion, and practical language training. Participants prepare and deliver one short presentation, do smaller spoken class assignments and participate in classroom discussions. Participants should be prepared to spend about 15 hours on the course in addition to the time spent in class.

Terms

The course is open to all administrative staff. The cost is paid by the employing department. See above for rules that apply to all courses.

Fundamentals of English Proficiency

Uppsala University is an international work environment where much of the communication is in English, even though this is a foreign language for most of the staff. This course is for international staff members who have come to Sweden from abroad and wish to improve their spoken and written English proficiency. Specifically, the course is designed for those with a basic or intermediate level of English.

The course has a special focus on improving fluency and comprehension. Areas of focus include general and academic vocabulary, important aspects of English grammar, and differences between formal and informal English.

Format

This course consists of one two-hour meeting every week for eight weeks. The meetings involve a combination of lectures, discussions, and practical language training. There will be spoken and written homework assignments, and participants should be prepared to spend about 20 hours on the course in addition to the time spent in class.

Terms

The course is open to all international staff including teachers, researchers, and PhD students. The cost is paid by the employing department. See above for rules that apply to all courses.

Giving Excellent Research Presentations

This workshop, consiting of two half-day sessions, is designed to teach effective presentation techniques and strategies for scholars presenting their research in English. Presenting papers at international conferences is a central activity by which researchers communicate with a wider academic community and elicit feedback on their work. It is a very demanding undertaking which requires the ability to express ideas with authority and credibility in English, under severe time constraints and in the manner expected by the international community. The aim of this workshop is to prepare researchers to give such presentations by increasing their awareness of best practices in content selection, clarity of presentation, visual support, verbal delivery, body language, and dealing with questions.

Format

This course consists of two half-day meetings, usually one week apart. In the first meeting, we will talk about what is expected in international research presentations, go over best practices in several different areas, and ask you to reflect on your own experiences of presenting. In the second meeting, you will give a presentation and receive feedback on it from both an instructor and fellow participants. You will also be asked to give feedback to other participants.

Terms

The course is open to all research personnel (professors, lecturers, researchers and doctoral students). The cost is to be paid by the employing department. See above for rules that apply to all courses.

Everyday Grammar

Are you sometimes unsure about English grammar? Is it is or are? That or which? Should or would? It or there? When do I use –ing? When using English, it is natural to be uncertain of the correct grammar sometimes.

In this course, the focus is on practising certain common grammar points in speaking and writing activities related to work.

No previous formal knowledge of grammar is required. Each participant is provided with a grammar exercise book for the duration of the course. Every week participants are assigned homework from the exercise book.

The course is at an intermediate level and aimed towards participants who feel fairly confident using English but who want to strengthen their grammar.

Format

This course consists of seven weekly meetings of two hours each. We will use the book English Grammar in Use by Raymond Murphy. You will be given a maximum of 2-3 hours homework a week.

Terms

The course is open to all university employees. The cost is paid by the employing department. See above for rules that apply to all courses.