Student Instruction TM (Business) English 3 writing skills
Background
In any tourism organisation, it is vital that staff are aware of current developments at their own
location and abroad. To keep informed, professionals in the tourism industry need to look for
reliable news sources and check regularly for updates. For main news topics they need to
develop a deep understanding of the ongoing events and the background information that is
related to these events. In other words, it is not enough to skim and scan the headlines; it
makes sense to thoroughly understand the current news as driven by international political,
social and economic trends and events.
The first part of this module, (Business) English 3 writing skills, trains the student to select,
read, understand and communicate current news events and relate these to the
developments in the tourism destination—the student’s professional context.
Therefore, when it is their turn….
• One team selects a news topic and presents detailed information on this topic in a
15-minute presentation. This presentation forms the basis for the discussion, topic
glossary and news digests.
• Another team uses the news topic of the presenting team to start and lead a
discussion.
• Other teams listen actively to the presentation, posing relevant questions afterwards,
and join the discussion actively.
• A third team creates a topic glossary from the sources used for this news topic.
Each week:
• Each student will write a news digest on each of the 4 topics presented during the
lessons.
At the end of Q1/Q3, students write a written exam.
Written exam
The written exam consists of two parts. First, you write a news digest of 600 words (+/- 10%)
about a new topic of your own choice which is relevant for the tourism destination. Secondly,
you write a critical reflection on your news topic.
The news digest:
• explains the positive and/or negative impacts for at least three different tourism-
related stakeholders (individuals, social groups, businesses or other organisations).
• mentions at least three impacts which are related to DESTEP or other relevant
perspectives.
• contains at least three relevant quotes.
• contains your own words instead of copying sentences from the sources except for
the three quotes.
• is based on at least five sources for this news issue which should not be older than
two months (and refers to the APA source list presented in the substantiation).
• contains at least 15 key phrases of your own making which are highlighted.
Please note that your CANVA should be handed in at the end of the exam!
In the critical reflection, you reflect on 2 out of 4 questions provided during the exam. An
example of such a question could be “Which stakeholder is most affected by the news event”
, or “What similarities/differences do you notice compared to a similar news event in the
past’?
The two questions should be answered in two separate paragraphs.
Each paragraph:
• is 100-150 words long
• answers 1 critical question
• presents supporting arguments
• is structured as a paragraph
• contains sufficient Business English vocabulary and key phrases (C1 level)
Assessment procedure
Students are allowed to bring dictionaries and the CANVA outline for the additional news
digest. This outline needs to be handed in to the exam supervisor at the end of the exam and
should be identical to the one in the substantiation.
Assessment criteria
Students show that they
- understand a wide range of demanding, longer texts, and recognise implicit meaning
(CEFR: C1-1);
- use language flexibly and effectively for social, academic and professional purposes
(CEFR C1-3);
- produce clear, well-structured, detailed text on complex subjects, showing controlled
use of organizational patterns, connectors and cohesive devices (CEFR: C1-4).
For assessment form ‘writing skills’, see rubric on Brightspace
Scoring
You can score a maximum of 100 points for the written exam. The minimum of passing this
partial exam is 66 points. It is 50% of your final grade for (Business) English 3. The other 50%
is the result of the oral skills partial exam in Q2/4.
Substantiation
During the module students work each week on the substantiation of their work, which
includes the following items:
- The CANVA outline for the written exam
- The APA source list for the written exam (min. 5 sources)
- 4 individual news digests based on 4 out of 5 topics offered in class
- Formative feedback of the teacher on at least 1 individual news digest.
- 1 team presentation in the form of handouts
- 1 list of sources used to prepare for the presentation: min. 8 sources
- Preparation material for the discussion led by the team
- 1 topic glossary (15 key phrases)
The substantiation needs to be submitted on Brightspace before Tuesday in week 3.8
before 5 PM. Turnitin applies. The use of AI is not allowed.
Criteria for substantiation items
CANVA outline news digest
Use the following link to outline your news digest:
You should add your canva outline to your substantiation and you can bring the exact same
hardcopy version to the written exam.
APA source list written exam
Sources are max 2 months old.
Sources should be of high quality as listed in news sources such as:
Background
In any tourism organisation, it is vital that staff are aware of current developments at their own
location and abroad. To keep informed, professionals in the tourism industry need to look for
reliable news sources and check regularly for updates. For main news topics they need to
develop a deep understanding of the ongoing events and the background information that is
related to these events. In other words, it is not enough to skim and scan the headlines; it
makes sense to thoroughly understand the current news as driven by international political,
social and economic trends and events.
The first part of this module, (Business) English 3 writing skills, trains the student to select,
read, understand and communicate current news events and relate these to the
developments in the tourism destination—the student’s professional context.
Therefore, when it is their turn….
• One team selects a news topic and presents detailed information on this topic in a
15-minute presentation. This presentation forms the basis for the discussion, topic
glossary and news digests.
• Another team uses the news topic of the presenting team to start and lead a
discussion.
• Other teams listen actively to the presentation, posing relevant questions afterwards,
and join the discussion actively.
• A third team creates a topic glossary from the sources used for this news topic.
Each week:
• Each student will write a news digest on each of the 4 topics presented during the
lessons.
At the end of Q1/Q3, students write a written exam.
Written exam
The written exam consists of two parts. First, you write a news digest of 600 words (+/- 10%)
about a new topic of your own choice which is relevant for the tourism destination. Secondly,
you write a critical reflection on your news topic.
The news digest:
• explains the positive and/or negative impacts for at least three different tourism-
related stakeholders (individuals, social groups, businesses or other organisations).
• mentions at least three impacts which are related to DESTEP or other relevant
perspectives.
• contains at least three relevant quotes.
• contains your own words instead of copying sentences from the sources except for
the three quotes.
• is based on at least five sources for this news issue which should not be older than
two months (and refers to the APA source list presented in the substantiation).
• contains at least 15 key phrases of your own making which are highlighted.
Please note that your CANVA should be handed in at the end of the exam!
In the critical reflection, you reflect on 2 out of 4 questions provided during the exam. An
example of such a question could be “Which stakeholder is most affected by the news event”
, or “What similarities/differences do you notice compared to a similar news event in the
past’?
The two questions should be answered in two separate paragraphs.
Each paragraph:
• is 100-150 words long
• answers 1 critical question
• presents supporting arguments
• is structured as a paragraph
• contains sufficient Business English vocabulary and key phrases (C1 level)
Assessment procedure
Students are allowed to bring dictionaries and the CANVA outline for the additional news
digest. This outline needs to be handed in to the exam supervisor at the end of the exam and
should be identical to the one in the substantiation.
Assessment criteria
Students show that they
- understand a wide range of demanding, longer texts, and recognise implicit meaning
(CEFR: C1-1);
- use language flexibly and effectively for social, academic and professional purposes
(CEFR C1-3);
- produce clear, well-structured, detailed text on complex subjects, showing controlled
use of organizational patterns, connectors and cohesive devices (CEFR: C1-4).
For assessment form ‘writing skills’, see rubric on Brightspace
Scoring
You can score a maximum of 100 points for the written exam. The minimum of passing this
partial exam is 66 points. It is 50% of your final grade for (Business) English 3. The other 50%
is the result of the oral skills partial exam in Q2/4.
Substantiation
During the module students work each week on the substantiation of their work, which
includes the following items:
- The CANVA outline for the written exam
- The APA source list for the written exam (min. 5 sources)
- 4 individual news digests based on 4 out of 5 topics offered in class
- Formative feedback of the teacher on at least 1 individual news digest.
- 1 team presentation in the form of handouts
- 1 list of sources used to prepare for the presentation: min. 8 sources
- Preparation material for the discussion led by the team
- 1 topic glossary (15 key phrases)
The substantiation needs to be submitted on Brightspace before Tuesday in week 3.8
before 5 PM. Turnitin applies. The use of AI is not allowed.
Criteria for substantiation items
CANVA outline news digest
Use the following link to outline your news digest:
You should add your canva outline to your substantiation and you can bring the exact same
hardcopy version to the written exam.
APA source list written exam
Sources are max 2 months old.
Sources should be of high quality as listed in news sources such as:
