Study Guide

Objective

Students will learn to use essential professional vocabulary. They will be able to describe the main aspects of Finnish social welfare in English. Students will be acquainted with essential vocabulary concerning various client groups in the social field.
They will be competent in reading professional literature and in using it as reference material when writing texts. Students will learn to communicate in English in client situations and at the workplace. They will be able to improve their professional competence using the English language.

Content

- Presenting the professional field, the Finnish social welfare system and student's education in English
- English vocabulary for client groups: children, young people, families, disabled people, intoxicant abusers, immigrants, the unemployed, homeless clients and clients with mental health problems
- Describing case studies in English
- English for client interviews

Materials

Way to Welfare - English for Social Services (Kirsi & Juha Saarinen)
Online materials, articles

Teaching methods

´contact teaching, group work, independent work, online & moodle work

Evaluation scale

1-5

Assessment criteria, satisfactory (1)

Students possess adequate oral and written interaction skills for routine situations in multi-professional work communities (e.g. e-mail, filling out forms, CV, presenting the workplace). Students know how to give basic oral and, if necessary, written, instructions to various clients/groups. They know how to ask for and document essential information about clients' current and earlier life situation to ensure appropriate follow-up care. Students understand professional texts related to their duties. They make mistakes in common grammatical structures that might undermine communication, cause misunderstandings and require repeating contents. They know adequate professional vocabulary to pass salient information to the listener or reader. Students' pronunciation is comprehensible but may contain inaccuracies when using special terminology. Students can find the information they search in texts that discuss familiar topics. They know how to use common communication technology.

Assessment criteria, good (3)

Students possess adequate oral and written interaction skills required in typical workplace situations (e.g. telephone conversations, consultation, oral and written reports, oral presentations and for example insurance documents). They know how to explain and justify individual client instructions and describe common methods and processes in their professional field. They know how to explore clients' current and earlier life situation and how to ask for further details. Students document the information carefully to ensure approriate follow-up care and they are able to aswer the clients' questions. Students mostly use grammatical structures correctly and, in case of misunderstanding, are able to correct their language mistakes independently. They have good command over salient vocabulary for the social field and relatively good command over special terminology. Students make an effort to adapt their communication style to the situation at hand. Their pronunciation is rather natural and clear. They know how to skim for essential contents in various social field texts and use a variety of communication technology.

Assessment criteria, excellent (5)

Students' oral and written communication is accurate and appropriate even in demanding interaction situations in multi-professional and multi-cultural work communities. (e.g. meetings, client negotiations, feedback discussions). In counselling situations, students are able to take up issues with clients in a natural manner, paying attention to the client's' cultural background. They know how to interview clients and communicate professionally even in challenging, unexpected client situations. Students use a great variety of grammatical structures almost flawlessly. They accurately use extensive vocabulary, including special terminology for the social field. Their pronunciation is clear and natural and they adapt their communication style to the situation at hand. They are able to quickly grasp the contents of various texts and they critically evaluate the reliability of the source. Students use a variety of communication methods effectively.

Qualifications

No previous studies are required.