Educational Activity
The Foreign Languages Centre is an interfaculty unit whose main function is to provide courses in foreign languages to students of the Silesian University of Technology. The Centre offers a variety of courses at all levels including English, German, French, Spanish, Italian and Russian as well as Polish as a foreign language. Every year, employees of the Centre teach approximately 1200 groups at full-time, part-time and doctoral courses at University Centres in Gliwice, Katowice and Zabrze.
Moreover, our offer comprises preparatory courses for German exams in Goethe - Institut run by the German Teachers Team and a wide variety of paid courses in the field of business, technology and leading to international language certificates (TELC). University employees and doctoral students participate in our courses.
The Centre conducts English, German, French and Spanish exams designated for doctoral students, required for the defence of doctoral thesis as well as exams for students applying for exchange programmes (IASTE, ERASMUS). We are an approved and authorised examination centre for TELC. TELC exams are recognized by the European Union Member States as the confirmation of knowledge of English at all levels (A1 – C2), pursuant to the Common European Framework of Reference for Languages.
A substantial part of our activity involves translation and simultaneous interpretation. The Centre employees work as interpreters at conferences, seminars, workshops organized by University Faculties as well as at official and informal meetings with foreign partners of our University. We do translations of official correspondence for the International Relations Office, the Rector’s Office and various Faculties. We also translate and proof-read a broad range of our University employees’ publications, commemorative albums, leaflets, topics and summaries of diploma thesis and diploma supplements of our graduates.
In order to ensure high educational standard, Foreign Languages Centre employees prepare supplementary materials for their technical courses to include content adequate to a specific field of study. Thus, several publications were issued to serve that purpose. In 2006, Selected Aspects of Technical English were issued for students of Geology, Environmental Engineering, Power Engineering, Physics and Chemistry. In the following years, a few more titles were published such as Progress in Technical English, Vocabulary and Practice in Technical English, Technical English Vocabulary Guide, How to Build a House and the monography How to write a paper in German comprising vocabulary and expressions necessary to write a paper and present it. Moreover, a set of ‘regional’ exercises was created to enrich students’ knowledge of German language and culture. Currently, Examination Dossier for teaching German as a foreign language is being prepared based on the Common European Framework of Reference for Languages.
Following the latest trends, Foreign Languages Centre started Distant Learning Platform to extend the range of teaching methods.
Our employees constantly improve their professional qualifications, taking up post-graduate courses, participating in conferences, workshops and training courses both at home and abroad. Close collaboration with publishing companies ensures access to the latest textbooks leading to high standard of education.
