Track 1 - Engineering is dealing with conflict and conflicting ideas
Phase 1 - History of bad ideas (N. FITZGERALD)
Why do we still use Daylight Savings Time which was introduced to conserve coal during WW1? Is GDP really the best global measure of how well a country is doing? Has email created more problems than it solves? And are ‘Climate Change’ and ‘Global Warming’ poor metaphors that confuse rather than clarify environmental dangers?
In this course, you will reflect on potentially Bad Ideas that persist in the modern world. You will identify more examples and look to find arguments to show why they should be abandoned.
Objective: To be able to reflect about the history of ideas and their various effects on human behaviours. Using tools drawn from Politics and History– you will explore the history of bad ideas and learn to make your case against them. The aim is to encourage a more critical awareness of how bad ideas can persist in societies despite evidence against their usefulness, as well as providing an opportunity for students to improve their English language skills in articulating complex ideas and arguments.
To achieve this, we will rely on a critical approach using various essays, videos and podcasts showing alternative views of these ideas.
Activities include:
- Researching the historical reasons behind ideas like ‘Daylight Savings Time’ and sovereignty
- Constructing a watertight argument against a ‘bad idea’ that persists in the modern era
- Preparing a video essay arguing for or against a Bad Idea
Language skills sought are especially:
- Expressing causality
- Expressing temporality
- Expressing conditionality and possibility
Objective: To be able to take a step back and analyze human conflict(s).
Using tools drawn from History, Geography, & Sociology – we will analyze conflicts at varying scales and times with a view to explaining them (and without recourse to justification or moralizing). In other words, this class aims at an objective understanding of the theme - and of cases exemplifying it - however difficult the achievement of this goal may be in practice.
The goal is to lay the foundation for a deeper awareness of the social nature of human conflict, as well as providing an opportunity for students to improve their English language skills in articulating what is often an emotional minefield. This last feature will push us towards more distant examples of conflicts – ones for which the slow passage of time has allowed a build-up of careful and reflective thought and, inversely, a cooling of the emotional white heat inevitably generated by such events.
We will rely on:
1. Historical approaches (indispensable for such a topic) - with a focus on objective analysis and establishing causality, while using reliable and trustworthy sources (time constraints mean that these will be largely secondary sources) to build as solid and factual a foundation as possible for each case studied.
2. Social studies of the nature of conflict and violence - as a theoretical support to bridge the gaps in data and understanding which inevitably arise with the breadth of our world and the course of time.
Track 2 - The Engineer As Storyteller : Developing Voice, Presence and Narrative Impact
Phase 1 - The Engineer As Storyteller: Unleashing Creative Power Through Story (J. Toulouse)
As an engineer, your ability to communicate complex ideas clearly and persuasively is just as important as your technical skills. Whether you're pitching a prototype, presenting research, or leading a team, you will need to craft narratives that connect with diverse audiences and to deliver them with the right tone.
This dynamic, hands-on course helps you develop that storytelling power through improvisational theatre techniques, tapping into the creative energy of both the individual and the group.
You will learn to think on your feet, collaborate effectively, and bring stories to life in a way that makes your message stick.- Become a more responsive listener
- Use reactive, idiomatic language with fluency and authenticity
- Train
your voice for clarity, tone, and emotional nuance
Expand your vocabulary and aim for precise, impactful word choices
Phase 2 - The Art of the radio documentary (N. Fitzgerald)
“I prefer radio to TV because the pictures are better.” — Alistair Cooke
What do fossil-hunting, the shipping forecast, the search for cosmic dust, WWE wrestling, the infinite scroll function, and Herman Melville’s Moby Dick have in common? They have all been topics of radio documentaries. A radio documentary is a spoken word radio format devoted to nonfiction narrative.
In this 6-week module, you will read and listen to a diverse range of radio documentaries that open up hidden worlds through audio beauty and joy, human experience and emotion. By exploring this genre, you will interrogate a range of narrative approaches in order to have a better understanding of how this form can be a creative laboratory for your own narrative audio experiments.● You will explore different narrative approaches (in media res, alinear, etc.) and develop your writing skills in terms of structure
● You will develop your ability to engage audiences with longer-form content
● You will hone your speaking skills in terms of stress, emphasis and tone
Track 3 - Engineering is convincing
Phase 1 - Critical Thinking (D. Paisley)
This phase involves using selected elements of critical analysis to better articulate and understand arguments. The purpose is both to develop your English language skills – particularly in relation to argumentation and critical analysis, as well as to engage more generally in the process of thinking critically.
Phase 2 - Debating (J. Toulouse)
This debating course will help students develop confidence in their abilities to research, prepare, present and defend logical arguments.
Students will learn to debate individually and in teams; they will take part in popular debating formats like Public Forum and British Parliamentary.
Objectives:
- Become confident when listening to, presenting positions and arguments, and rebutting others’ arguments
- Learn to research and prepare for a lively, long, unscripted debate
- Learn to take notes and draft responses in real time
- Grow aware of nonverbal communication, use of voice
Track 4 - Engineering is navigating languages and cultures
Phase 1 - Intercultural Communication (Caroline Dawe-Coz)
As an engineer working or doing research in a global context, you will need to understand how to handle intercultural differences and how different cultures perceive the world. In this phase you will acquire useful tips on how to react to behaviours that you might consider strange, especially when it comes to communicating, leading an international team, making decisions, building trust, giving feedback or expressing disagreement.
Phase 2 - Business Communication - (A. NORTHAN)This phase aims to increase the students’ knowledge of the sort of general professional language, especially vocabulary and expressions, which are used in the company environment and managerial positions.
Special attention will be paid to the use of register, tact and diplomacy.
The students will learn how to write a status report (a very useful tool for project work and liaising with clients) and how to put forward their views tactfully.
After that, students can put forward and select the themes that would be most interesting and useful for them (formal meetings, negotiating, written communication in companies, research articles - similar to your final year reports).
TRACK 5: Engineering is considering geopolitics, the environment and culture
Track 5 - Phase 1 - Environmental geopolitics - (M. BENSON)
As an engineer working or doing research in a global context, you will need to understand the role of geopolitics in the 21st century work place.
In this phase, you will explore the geographically diverse impacts of geopolitics with a focus on climate, resources, energy, demographics and agriculture.
Track 5 - Phase 2 - Geopolitics and language - (C. DAWE-COZ)
As an engineer working or doing research in a global context, you will need to understand the role of different languages in different contexts.
Languages play a fundamental role in contemporary geopolitics. In this track, you will explore how language is tied to regional and national identity, how dominant languages wield power, language and the colonial legacy, language as a barrier and minority languages.
Track 6 - English Boot Camp (by invitation only)
(A. Northan/M. Benson)
The idea of this course is for teachers and students to come together to help those of you who are experiencing some difficulties with your written and/or spoken English. English is not an easy language to learn which can cause a lot of stress and frustration!
In addition, not everyone has had the same learning opportunities in the past, so this course is to help “level the playing field” and give you a boost for your exams and future careers in an enjoyable way.
This course is by invitation only.