A Basic English Course for Administration, Business and Computer Science Students

By Jonas Mualaba Citala

The present course has been designed by a team of Congolese English as a foreign language teaching (EFLT) professionals and communicative language teaching (CLT) practitioners as part of teaching English to students of other languages (TESOL) content.The main targets of this book are EFL teachers and learners whose area of studies are those indicated in the title namely business, administration and computer science. Nonetheless, as an introduction to English letters writing and to computer science English, the content of this book can be of help in the hands of any person interested in English language teaching and/or learning.

About the author
Jonas Mualaba Citala is a teacher of English as a foreign language (EFL) by profession. He was trained at Mbuji Mayi teachers’training college (ISP MbujiMay), then at the National teachers’ training college in Kinshasa (IPN Binza) where he graduated in 1989. Since then, he has been teaching English to Congolese students and designing textbooks which have been adopted (by the ministry of education) to teach English in the Democratic Republic of Congo.

Jonas Mualaba also trains his peer Congolese EFL teachers on how to use the communicative language teaching (CLT) approach.

From 2007 to 2012, Jonas studied theology at the Protestant University of Congo (UPC). In 2018, he was registered at North West University in South Africa where he is about to graduate and get a Masters degree in Christian Ethics. He is a minister of Word within the Presbyterian Church of Kinshasa (CPK) and head of the department of translation at the DR Congo national commission for UNESCO.

• Language: English
• Publisher: Jonas Mualaba Citala
• Release date: Jun 18, 2020
• ISBN: 9780463875339

Book preview

A Basic English Course

for Administration, Business and Computer Science Students

Jonas Mualaba Citala

Copyright © 2020 Jonas Mualaba Citala

Published by Jonas Mualaba Citala Publishing at Smashwords

First edition 2020

All rights reserved. No part of this book may be reproduced or transmitted in any form or by any means, electronic or mechanical, including photocopying, recording or any information storage or retrieval system without permission from the copyright holder.

The Author has made every effort to trace and acknowledge sources/resources/individuals. In the event that any images/information have been incorrectly attributed or credited, the Author will be pleased to rectify these omissions at the earliest opportunity.

Published by Anglais Sans Frontières-ASBL/Kinshasa

28 Bis/C, Avenue Lengi,  Kinshasa-Kimbanseke, Dr-Congo.

[phone]

[e-mail]

ECOBANK, Bank code: 01701,

Branch of: Kinshasa,

Account number: 0010463131092901,

Holder’s full name: Mualaba Citala Jonas,

Swift code: ECOCCDKI.

Pictures source: Ministry of Education, DRC.

Contents

UNIT 1 AN INTRODUCTION TO ENGLISH LETTERS WRITING

Chapter 1. Nine tips to improve English writing skills

Chapter 2. Four tips for letter writing

Chapter 3. Informal Versus Formal letters

Chapter 4. Some formal letters

Chapter 6. Curriculum Vitae

UNIT 2 AN INTRODUCTION TO COMPUTER SCIENCE ENGLISH

Introductory Remarks

Chapter 6. What is a computer?

Chapter 7. The Parts of a computer

Chapter 8. Short history of computers

Chapter 9. Keyboard and Mouse

Chapter 10. Basic computer abbreviations

Selected bibliography

Students’self assessment

Other publications

UNIT 1 AN INTRODUCTION TO ENGLISH LETTERS WRITING

The author gratefully acknowledges valuable contributions of his EFL colleagues and friends (whose names are indicated here after) to the development of the content of this book: Roger Cimanga Mukadi, Bernadette Cyala Kankonde, Josue Kikoko Lumumba, Justin Kabisha Kamitwele, Emmanuel Mangimela Samba, Ambroise Lumbala, Gilbert N’Kwar Maniang, Ntakobajira Cizungu Furaha, Marie A. Vuvu and Colette Mindanda Kilwa. 

Expressions of thanks and gratitude go to my brothers Willy Kajingulu Lufuluabo, Abbé Jean Louis and members of Synergie des Intellectuels de Kabeya-Kamuanga (SYNIKKA)-asbl for their support. 

The content of the present course has been designed upon request by the Democratic Republic of Congo’s TESOL teachers to have English correspondence materials to be taught to students from different areas of specialization including for example administration, business, computer science and humanities as well. Most of the materials in this book have been collected from websites, which are acknowledged in the text and/or the bibliography.

Chapter 1

Nine tips to improve English writing skills

Here are nine (9) tips to help you feel more confident with writing, and improve your English writing skills:

1. Read as much as you can

Just as we say that listening is closely related to speaking, reading is closely related to writing so our number 1 tip would be to read as much as you can! This will help you improve your vocabulary, grammar, sentence structure, and show you there are many different ways to communicate ideas. For example: If you need to write a description of a house or a bio of yourself, a great idea is to read some other bios or house descriptions, from books, magazines, brochures, the internet or whatever source you can think of. After having read others, then you can attempt to write your own. You’ll realize it’s much easier than trying to write without any previous input!

2. Keep an English dictionary

You’ll be able to look up words to clarify their meaning and to learn antonyms and synonyms so as not to repeat words or phrases, which will better your communication skills.

3. Brush up your grammar

Even though you don’t have to study grammar, your writing will improve a lot if you work on grammar exercises. Also, remember that grammar is more important when you write than when you speak because it is usually more formal and more structured.

4. Check your spelling before and after writing

How do you feel when you read something full of spelling mistakes in your own language? Poor spelling can spoil an otherwise interesting piece to read, and we generally write for other people to read what we’ve written.

5. Keep a diary in English

It will make you write every day to turn writing into a routine activity. Besides, you are writing to yourself, which can make you feel liberated and satisfied. You do not need to write elaborate sentences: you can keep them as simple as you want.

6. Learn how to expand your basic sentences into more elaborate ones

There are five basic sentence structures in English:

Subject – Verb (John studies; My friend is playing )

Subject – Verb – Object (I like apples; Mary reads novels)

Subject –Verb – Adjective (Jenny is happy; Linda is pretty)

Subject – Verb – Adverb (She speaks fluently; These flowers are everywhere)

Subject – Verb – Noun (My father was a chemist, You are a student)

Here are a few examples of how you can expand them:

John, my brother, studies at home. My long-life friend is always playing.

These small white flowers are everywhere during the summer. My father, who passed away several years ago, was a well-known chemist.

7. Learn how to organize a paragraph

Start with a topic sentence: i.e. a sentence that