The goal of the course Rights and Responsibilities is to help adult learners use oral and written discourse to deal competently with real-life situations in mattersrelated to their rights and responsibilities. This course develops adult learners’ language proficiency by involving them in a variety of speaking, listening, reading and writing activities that provide adults with an opportunity to put language skills into practice in situations related to exercising their basic rights and fulfilling their obligations in different areas of their lives. It is not the intention of this course to make adults experts either in complex legal matters or legal discourse, but rather to provide them with the opportunity to construct the language resources they need to consult appropriate agencies and documentation that are accessible to the average citizen. By the end of the course, adult learners will be able to understand and produce simple informative and expressive texts related to their rights and responsibilities. Theywill, for example, understand booklets and brochures, basic contracts as well as lectures and short television debates and commentaries. They will produce letters of complaint or inquiry and simple opinion texts in order to obtain and give pertinent legal information and advice. They will also be able to request assistance, express their needs, share their concerns, and exchange their opinions and points of views with others about matters pertaining to their rights and responsibilities.
