English in Pharmacy for Students and Practitioners ONLINE

Understanding scientific jargon in a paper, professionally communicating with patients and colleagues, or writing a lab report – i.e. using English in a pharmaceutical context – demands special skills beyond everyday language use.

To prepare you for these challenges, we offer a course developed in close collaboration with the Department of Pharmaceutical Sciences to meet your specific language needs in the pharmaceutical and health-related fields.

As a companion to the “Scientific Writing” course offered in the spring semester by the Department of Pharmaceutical Sciences, this course prepares students to effectively and accurately communicate their professional knowledge in English. By covering all four language competences – speaking, writing, listening and reading – it acquaints students with a variety of English-language situations they will have to maneuver. Materials are drawn from authentic academic, research and professional contexts.

The course aims to:

  • expand your pharmaceutical and medical vocabulary (e.g. drug formulations, diseases),
  • enhance your reading comprehension skills (e.g. by analyzing current articles from the media and professional journals),
  • hone your listening comprehension skills (e.g. by examining authentic pharmacy and health-related talks and presentations),
  • increase your accuracy in speaking and writing in the laboratory (e.g. explaining procedures and composing lab reports),
  • develop your ability to deliver presentations on topics related to your professional knowledge (e.g. communicating research),
  • strengthen your workplace communication skills as needed in pharmacist–patient dialogues (e.g. communicating scientific information to lay people).

<b>Entry requirement:</b> min. 2 semesters of pharmaceutical studies.

Course information

Course level
C1
Date
22.09.2020 - 08.12.2020
Tuesday, 16:00 - 17:30
24 Lessons
Lecturer
Kumiko Masai, PhD
Credit points
3 ECTS
Registration deadline
Monday 21.09.2020
Course fee
Students and PhD candidates: CHF 291.00
Members of staff: CHF 579.00
Alumni: CHF 579.00
Alumni FHNW: CHF 579.00

This course will take place in virtual classrooms. To meet various requests in this regard, two to three face-to-face sessions are envisaged per course during the semester. This will depend on the evolving corona situation and available facilities.

Course materials

Script

Attendance

Number of absences allowed: 2

Coursework

Participants are expected to:
  • participate actively in class;
  • complete learning assessments;
  • spend 1-2 hours per course session on preparing and reviewing the lesson and on autonomous learning.

Credit points

To earn the credit points, students must fulfill the attendance requirement, complete the coursework, and pass the required number of assessments. The course is graded on a pass-fail basis.

Homework

± 120 minutes / week

Placement test

This course requires either an obligatory computer placement test or completion of a preceding course. If you have not attended a preceding course, a computer placement test has to be taken prior to registration.

Replacement date

The supplementary replacement date for lessons that might not take place is: 5 December 2020 from 10:00 - 16:00.

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