LINGUA INGLESE A - F
Academic Year 2025/2026 - Teacher: SANTO TOSTOExpected Learning Outcomes
Passing the examination should prove that the students have the language skills to live and work independently in an English-speaking country, study on courses taught in English and understand and produce biomedical and pharmaceutical language. Getting these skills mean that the students have gone through the logical steps in their language-learning journey between B1+ and B2.
Aims:
At the B2 level, students should be able to understand the main ideas of complex texts on both concrete and abstract topics, including technical discussions in their field of specialization. They should interact with a degree of fluency and spontaneity that makes regular interaction with native speakers quite possible without strain for either party. Not all the students will get these skills completely at the end of the course and that means further extra work on their own to get the right results.
Course Structure
Course methodology and structure.
A communicative methodological approach will be employed in order to improve all the communicative skills especially the ability of “speaking”. Particular attention is paid to new vocabulary especially the one required for pharmacy –related studies and professions. There will be an entry test at the beginning of the course as a diagnostic one to help the teacher check the overall level of the students. For weak students the teacher will give them extra work as homework. Different and varied practice exercises will be given such as reading, writing and listening activities. As for listening, this skill will be practiced widely during the class. Videos on grammar and on the specialized language will be watched followed by questions, oral and written reports and vocabulary exercises
Required Prerequisites
In order to get the B2 level of the CEFR, (Common European Framework of Reference) students should at least be an independent user of the B1+ in all language abilities:
1) Reception (listening and reading); 2) Interaction (spoken interaction and written interaction); 3) Production (spoken production and written production).
Attendance of Lessons
Attendance to the course
The course will go through 35 hour lessons. Each lesson consists of 3 hours each, except for the last one, which is made up of just two. As stated by the course is divided in two parts:
1) 10 hour grammar-language lessons;
2) 25 hour lessons related to pharmacy studies and professions.
The minimum attendance required is 70% of the course as a whole.
Detailed Course Content
The course is designed to refresh students' B2-level grammar skills and to develop specialized English vocabulary, in order to build a useful foundation for the analysis of texts in the medical-pharmaceutical field.
By the end of the course, students should be able to understand a wide range of English texts and be able to use the language flexibly and effectively in academic and professional contexts, particularly in the field medical science and health. Each lesson will be a kind of mixture between grammar and scientific English for pharmacy.
Grammar.
Contents (10 hours)
Grammar: Review of:
1) Future tenses: will, be going to, future continuous and perfect, quantifiers;
2) Past tenses: present perfect, present perfect continuous, and past perfect, past perfect continuous, used to vs. would, + be used to, and get used to;
3) Comparatives and superlatives, expressions using comparison. Have /get something done;
4) Defining relative clauses, non defining relative clauses, -ing form vs infinitive, verb+ ing form and infinitive, question tags;
5) Modals: suggestions, speculation and deductions, possibility, certainty, ability, obligation, necessity and advice;
6) The passive voice, first, second, third and mixed conditionals, like, would rather, had better, reported statements, questions, reporting verbs;
2nd Part Contents.
Specialized language for Pharmacy.
Contents 25 hours
1) Pharmacy and Pharmacists,
2) Pharmacology,
3) Types of drugs,
4) Terminology of drug action,
5) Before using medicines,
6) OTC, pain relievers, NSAID’s, Aspirin, Paracetamol.
7) What is a trial in the context of Pharmacy,
8 Most common forms of medicines,
9) Types of medicines,
10) Most important drugs: corticosteroids: mineralocorticoid, glucocorticoid,
11) Antibiotics and bacteria,
12) Hypertension: Amias-Candsartan, Angiotensin receptor blockers, Ace Inhibitors...,
13) What prostaglandins are and Coenzyme Q10,
14) Viruses,Covid 19, and vaccines.
Textbook Information
Any grammar book referring to B2 of the Common European Framework of reference for languages.
English Grammar in use Third Edition Rymond Murphy. Cambridge University Press.
A self-study reference and practice book for intermediate of English, with answers.
Grammar reference book : Grammar files Gold, Edward Jordan -Patricia
Fiocchi Publishing House Trinity Whitebridge.
Identity Upper intermediate B2 O.U.P:2)
English for Pharmacy
2) “English for the pharmacy students, di Luisa Benigni, società editrice “Esculapio”
Course Planning
| Subjects | Text References | |
|---|---|---|
| 1 | 1st part: Grammar. Contents (10 hours) Grammar: Review of: 1) Future tenses: will, be going to, future continuous and perfect; 2) Past tenses: present perfect, present perfect continuous, and past perfect, past perfect continuous, used to vs would, + be used to, and get used to;3) Comparatives and superlatives, expressions using comparison. Have /get something done;4) Defining relative clauses, non defining relative clauses, -ing form vs infinitive, verb+ing form and infinitive ,question tags; 5) Modals: suggestions, speculation and deductions, possibility, certainty, ability, obligation, necessity and advice;6) The passive voice, first, second, third and mixed conditional, the gerund and the infinitive, like, would rather, had better, reported statements, questions, reporting verbs.2nd Part . Contents: specialized language for Pharmacy. Contents 25 hours 1) Pharmacy and Pharmacists, 2) Pharmacology, 3) Types of drugs, 4)Terminology of drug action, 5) Before using medicines, 6) OTC pain relievers: NSAID’s, Aspirin, Paracetamol, 7) What a trial is in the context of Pharmacy,8) Most common forms of medicines, 9) Types of medicines, 10)Most important drugs: 11) Most important drugs: Corticosteroids:mineralocorticoid, glucocorticoid. 12) Antibiotics, bacteria, viruses 13)Hypertension: Amias-Candsartan, Angiotensin receptor blockers, AceInhibitors , 14) Viruses and Covid 19 and vaccines. | Books in use:1) Any grammar book referring to B2 of the Common European Frameworkof reference for languages. English Grammar in use Third Edition Rymond Murphy. CambridgeUniversity Press. A self-study reference and practice book for intermediate of English, with answers. Grammar reference book: Grammar files Gold, Edward Jordan -Patricia Fiocchi Publishing House Trinity Whitebridge. Identity Upper intermediate B2 O.U.P:2)2) Language for Pharmacy: “English for the pharmacy students, di LuisaBenigni, publishing house “Esculapio”. |
Learning Assessment
Learning Assessment Procedures
Tests and assessment
The course is made up of 35-hour lessons as a whole. The first part consists of 10-hour grammar lessons while the second part is made up of 25 hours about pharmacy-related studies.
The course includes an entry test, and a final written test on both grammar and on topics related to pharmacy studies based.
The test consists of five open questions about the language related to the pharmaceutical field.
In reference to the grammar test the students have to do the following type of exercises: gap fill exercises, transformation sentences, reordering sentences, translation, vocabulary exercises, etc...
Test score: each open question is worth three points, with 1.5 points for grammar and vocabulary correctness, and 1.5 points for the relevance of the answer to the question.
In reference to grammar, 1.5 points are awarded for each correct sentence, and no points for incorrect sentences. The test takes 50 minutes.
The results of the final written test will determine whether students have passed their final examination.
The students who, for any reason, do not attend the language course and the students of the previous courses, will take a written test both on grammar and on topics related to the studies and professions of “ biomedical and pharmaceutical language”,
Attendance to the course is COMPULSORY.
Examples of frequently asked questions and / or exercises
Example of questions of the written test for the English for pharmacy.
1. What is the difference between the primary and secondary Hypertension?
2. What does DNA consist of ?
3. What do you know about antibiotics and antibiotic resistance?
4. What is the difference between Gram positive and Gram negative?
6. What is the difference between Pharmacy and Pharmacology?
7) What do you know about OTC and pain relievers?
8) In a patient with a hypotension condition, what kind of drugs would you give and why?.
9) What are the main drugs to treat Stroke and heart attacks ?
10) What do you know about NSAIDs?
11) What is the difference between DNA and mRNA?
12) What do you know about Covid 19 and vaccines?
13) What does aldosterone do in the body?
14) What do you know about corticosteroids?
Esempio di test di grammatica
Choose the correct alternative:
Will you say/tell us what is wrong?
What is the journalist saying/ telling?
The have made/done their beds
Are you making /doing a living as a flexibly worker?
Grammar.
Translate the following sentences:
Se fossi una farfalla volerei alto nel cielo.
Magari vincessi la lotteria
Complete the sentences
If I had .......................the lottery, I would .........................a new house.
This person,....................son is an actor, lives in Hollywood.