Oral Training One is designed to enhance each student`s communicative competence in English. Each course build upon the grammatical and lexical competencies the students have already obtained in high school. Fluency in English is fostered by introducing some of the aspects of communicative competence, such as: sociolinguistic competence, discourse competence and strategic competence.
The first year students are taught using a situational/notional/functional approach. These are communicative methods of instruction which are student-centered rather than teacher-centered. These approaches require the students to interact in small group discussions and activities.
The teachers also focus on providing the basic principles of correct English pronunciation. Students learn in a controlled environment where the focus can be upon the essential fundamentals of correctly spoken English. Attention is given to the segmental vowel and consonant phoneme pronunciation, as well as, the suprasegmental features of stress, rhythm and intonation.