English for Working Life

The estimated student workload in this course is as follows:

• Start webinar and info videos: 5 hours
• Familiarization with online course environment, self-study and learning assignments: 70-80 hours
• Group discussions: 5 hours
• Preparation for the exam: 5-10 hours

Total 108 hours (ca. 7 hours of work/week)

This is an online implementation (August 31 – December 13 2026) that is based on independent, yet guided and timetabled work in Moodle. The target group of the implementation is students studying in Finnish degree programmes.

Please read through the following course description carefully.

The course has an introductory webinar on ZOOM on Mon August 31 4.00 - 5.15 pm. After the start webinar, there will be four voluntary webinars that introduce the next study unit and the exam. All webinars are recorded and available in Moodle. The students are required to watch the recordings if they cannot attend the webinars.
The course is in five parts and is timetabled as follows:

• Unit 1: Introduction (August 31 – September 6)
• Unit 2: Studies and Opinions (September 7 – September 20)
• Unit 3: Job search and Working Life Communication (September 21 – October 4)
• Unit 4: Group Discussion (October 5 – October 25)
• Unit 5: My expertise (October 26 – November 15)
• Exam: weeks 47-50

You need to finish each part in the order given and by the deadline for the part. Note, passive students are deleted from the course after the first week of study.

The course includes several assignments that contribute to the final mark. You will have both written and oral learning assignments. The oral assignments are videos. There are also group assignments (two on a discussion forum, one live online) and a written exam. You can sit the exam either at Rajakatu campus or in an EXAM Studio during weeks 47-50. Not following the instructions and schedule lowers the mark and thus, most likely, the course grade.

The topics of the course are as follows:

• studies and job search
• communication in working life, for example, e-mails, opinions, group discussions
• professional writing
• field-specific terminology
• professional presentations

Online courses are recommended for students who have strong English skills, and who are able to use English in their everyday lives, as the course does not provide a similar English-speaking environment that the classroom on a contact implementation creates. You also need good time-management skills, basic computing skills, web camera and microphone. Note that according to degree regulations, on online implementations, priority is given to part-time students (=monimuoto) and students in their final phase of studies.

The level of this course is B2 (https://europass.cedefop.europa.eu/sites/default/files/cefr-fi.pdf(Opens in a new tab)), which is upper-intermediate level. The course is conducted fully in English.

LEARNING MATERIAL

The teacher's material will be used in the course. The material is available in Moodle and additional support material can be provided if needed.

EXAM

The written exam can be completed either in an EXAM Studio during weeks 47-50 (by Dec. 13), or in a classroom at Rajakatu campus. The course includes two re-sit opportunities:

• Re-sit 1: by January 31 2027
• Re-sit 2: by February 28 2027

WORKLOAD

The estimated student workload in this course is as follows:

• Start webinar and info videos: 5 hours
• Familiarization with online course environment, self-study and learning assignments: 70-80 hours
• Group discussions: 5 hours
• Preparation for the exam: 5-10 hours

Total 108 hours (ca. 7 hours of work/week)

EVALUATION

Besides the exam, the course includes several assignments that contribute to the course grade. Not following the instructions and schedule lowers the mark and thus, most likely, the course grade.