The English Skills for Higher Education Staff Members Summer School is designed for academic, non-academic, administrative and technical staff members in Higher Education institutions:

• who are in search of ways of improving their English proficiency;
• who want to gain more insight into English as a medium of communication in Higher Education institutions;
• who want to keep up to date with developments in global communication in English;
• who want to improve their communication in English;
• who want to reflect on and develop their intercultural communication skills.

The English Skills for Higher Education Staff Members Summer School workshops include topics such as:

• diverse methods of improving your vocabulary;
• grammar features typical for Higher Education institution setting;
• levels of formality in speaking and various speaking situations;
• levels of formality in writing and various writing genres;
• language of giving and accepting feedback;
• creative and critical thinking;
• intercultural communication.

Programme & Timetable

The programme provides
- 30 hours of tuition comprising presentations, group work and discussions
- 10 hours of individual work and consultations

(Monday to Friday)
09:00-10:30 Workshops
10:30-11:00 Coffee Break
11:00-12:30 Workshops
12:30-14:00 Lunch Break
14:00-15:30 Workshops

This summer school is based on the need for insight into communication strategies in English, given the internationalisation of Higher Education and the growing use of English as lingua franca. Targeting all academic, non-academic, administrative and technical staff members in Higher Education institutions with English as a second language, it consists of a series of participative seminars with activities to encourage reflective analysis on both professional practice and professional performance.

Content centres on language as well as non-language aspects of communication, it includes vocabulary, grammar, speaking and writing as well as communication-related soft skills, such as critical and creative thinking, feedback giving and accepting or intercultural communication. It is expected that participants in the week’s sessions will broaden their own repertoire in English, deepen their insight into learning strategies, and raise their contribution to communication quality standards in the university sector.

The English Skills for Higher Education Staff Members Summer School offers you a highly professional language development experience at Masaryk University. The course is carefully structured to give you a unique learning and study experience of an English Summer School in the Centre of Brno. A group of international and Masaryk University experts will provide you with an opportunity to develop an understanding of ways to approach internationalisation processes and communication in university and Higher Education institution settings. Those five days will help you to get practical insight into how to improve your vocabulary and grammar useful in Higher Education institution setting; how to identify and work effectively with various levels of formality in both speaking and writing, how to get engaged in critical and creative thinking in English or how to be effective in communication in the international academic environment in general.

Your days will consist of stimulating and informative seminars which will be combined with interactive and highly practical workshops. In three distinct sessions each day, you will have a chance to interact, discuss, practise and reflect on your English language and communication practice with your university colleagues. You may also discover and explore new areas of communication and thinking skills in English which you have perhaps not had the chance to focus on before.

The Summer School will also give you an opportunity to get to know Brno and the region, to professionally network and make new friends or simply enjoy a special learning experience in a beautiful atmosphere of Masaryk University.

Certification

All participants will receive a Masaryk University Language Centre Certificate of Attendance on successful completion of the programme.

Important dates:

Early bird registration: 30^th April 2023
Standard registration: 20^th June 2023
The closing date for applications: 20^th June 2023
Pre-summer school information package: 3^th July 2023
Summer school: 17^th-21^th July 2023