English Medium Instruction (EMI)

An increasing number of higher education institutions are adopting English as the medium of instruction for parts of or entire programs. This means that vital academic exchanges are now taking place more frequently in second languages (L2) from both the teacher and student side. While this clearly enhances not only the international reputation of the university but also the degree of proficiency and confidence in the language of instruction (English, the lingua franca), it can also prove challenging for all parties concerned and thus inhibit communication and ultimately know-how transfer between teachers and students. Currently the University of Freiburg offers 15 Masters programs taught either partially or entirely in English. As this trend is bound to continue, a project team has been established to offer guidance and support to lecturers/academic staff who teach in English.

The Sprachlehrinstitut (SLI) (link) has launched a program to address this growing field in Europe. In an effort to support academic staff entrusted with teaching and guiding international students in English, two native speakers (link to our uni-pages) with extensive backgrounds in language instruction as well as experience in multicultural settings will be providing numerous services to this target group.

Services offered

• General courses to clean up inconsistencies, practice speaking and hone subject specific vocabulary (link to description/Anmeldung)
• Specific courses such as
  • Language and structuring tips for international classroom settings (link)
  • Audience management- fielding and responding to questions and fostering classroom discussion (link)
  • Vocal and oral pronunciation training (link)
  • Intercultural aspects dealing with critical incidents (i.e., cultural expectations in academia) (link)
  • Departmental courses/block seminars to work on subject specific issues (upon request- link to request form)
  • Presentation workshops for academic and research conferences (link)
• Coaching sessions individually tailored based upon initial evaluations (link)

The benefits

• Fine tune your target discourse
• Retool teaching strategies adapted to second language skills
• Incease confidence in delivering quality lessons in English
• Develop and hone skills to cope with student communication difficulties in the classroom
• Become more aware of cultural aspects at play in the classroom and be better prepared for the multicultural learning environment
• Enhance language soft skills when engaging and guiding students in workshop like environments as well as outside the classroom
• Build communities of practice among colleagues (i.e., sharing best practices and experiences)

The next step

If you are interested in our course offers, feel free to click on the links above and register for the class. Upon request, a classroom observation can also be arranged to allow the EMI facilitators to get a personal picture of the classroom dynamics as well as the lecturer's language and soft skills. This voluntary measure helps us to better tailor our courses to perceived needs.

If you are interested in accessing our coaching services, click on the link above to set up an initial meeting where needs and goals are determined before conceiving and scheduling sessions and discussing any additional options.

For any further enquiries or general questions, please feel free to contact us at:

Gregg Dubow– gregg.dubow@sli.uni-freiburg.de

We look forward to working together with you!