Presentation Skills

Level: B2/C1

Dates: Fridays, 14.11., 21.11., 28.11., 05.12., 12.12., 19.12., 09.01., 16.01., 23.01., 3:00 PM - 5:30 PM

Lecturer: Kimberly Oppenheim

Topics:

• The aim of this course is to provide the opportunity for PhD students and post docs to practice presenting their work in English. The course will help participants gain the confidence to hold presentations at international conferences, present their results a department meetings, defend their dissertation, or even teach courses in English. The focus of the course will be on presenting your ideas clearly and concisely, while working on tone, body language and general delivery. Additionally, we will work with the language for presentations, with an emphasis placed on stating your purpose, signposting and describing visuals. The use of rhetorical devices such as repetition and alliteration will also be addressed. Each participant will receive both peer and instructor feedback on organisation and structure, grammar, pronunciation and vocabulary.

Registration by November 14, 2025

Academic Writing Workshop

Level: B2/C1

Dates: Fridays, 21.11., 12.12., 04.04.25, 4 PM - 7 PM (online course via Zoom)

Lecturer: Arnold Borsutzky

Topics:

• This academic writing course is designed to support scholars who are in the process of completing a PhD thesis in English. The focus of the workshop will be the work-in-progress of each individual student—whether that is perfecting a difficult chapter, preparing a journal article for publication, or contemplating a paper for an upcoming conference.
• The course will pay particular attention to structure, word choice, punctuation, and style. We will also look at common mistakes, as well as tips for improving your academic writing skills. Activities are based on a variety of materials and exercises prepared by the tutor. Students can also submit several pages of work over the course of the sessions to be proofread.

Registration by November 14, 2025

The Language Center also offers individual feedback sessions for academic papers. The 45-minute appointments can be booked via the booking tool.A maximum of 1,500 words should be submitted at least one week before the appointment (to Sonderkurse.sz@uni-hamburg.de), as this will form the basis of the feedback session.
If no text is submitted one week prior to the appointment, the session will be automatically canceled.

Lecturer: Arnold Borsutzky
Dates: 23 January 2026, 20 February 2026 — each session lasts 45 minutes.

Presentation Skills

Level: B2/C1

Dates: Fridays, 14.11., 21.11., 28.11., 05.12., 12.12., 19.12., 09.01., 16.01., 23.01., 3:00 PM - 5:30 PM

Lecturer: Kimberly Oppenheim

Topics:

• The aim of this course is to provide the opportunity for PhD students and post docs to practice presenting their work in English. The course will help participants gain the confidence to hold presentations at international conferences, present their results a department meetings, defend their dissertation, or even teach courses in English. The focus of the course will be on presenting your ideas clearly and concisely, while working on tone, body language and general delivery. Additionally, we will work with the language for presentations, with an emphasis placed on stating your purpose, signposting and describing visuals. The use of rhetorical devices such as repetition and alliteration will also be addressed. Each participant will receive both peer and instructor feedback on organisation and structure, grammar, pronunciation and vocabulary.

Registration by November 14, 2025

Academic Writing Workshop

Level: B2/C1

Dates: Fridays, 21.11., 12.12., 04.04.25, 4 PM - 7 PM (online course via Zoom)

Lecturer: Arnold Borsutzky

Topics:

• This academic writing course is designed to support scholars who are in the process of completing a PhD thesis in English. The focus of the workshop will be the work-in-progress of each individual student—whether that is perfecting a difficult chapter, preparing a journal article for publication, or contemplating a paper for an upcoming conference.
• The course will pay particular attention to structure, word choice, punctuation, and style. We will also look at common mistakes, as well as tips for improving your academic writing skills. Activities are based on a variety of materials and exercises prepared by the tutor. Students can also submit several pages of work over the course of the sessions to be proofread.

Registration by November 14, 2025

The Language Center also offers individual feedback sessions for academic papers. The 45-minute appointments can be booked via the booking tool.A maximum of 1,500 words should be submitted at least one week before the appointment (to Sonderkurse.sz@uni-hamburg.de), as this will form the basis of the feedback session.
If no text is submitted one week prior to the appointment, the session will be automatically canceled.

Lecturer: Arnold Borsutzky
Dates: 23 January 2026, 20 February 2026 — each session lasts 45 minutes.

Level C1+

Dates: Thursdays, 12:15 – 1:15 pm from 23 Oct 2025 (online event)

Lecturer: Dr. Peter James Witchalls

Themen im Kurs: 

• Presenting & Discussing in English with Confidence & Competence

Would you like to be able to both present and discuss more confidently in English?
In this course we will be demonstrating good presentation and debating practices through diverse voice, language and nonverbal training exercises. You will then have the opportunity to give a short talk on an academic topic that is important for your professional life after which we will launch into a dynamic discussion, with troubleshooting on the language used. You will become more fluent and proficient, understanding the underlying principles of good communication and have ample opportunity to discuss many topics connected to Universität Hamburg. Look forward to seeing you in class!

Level B2

Dates: Tuesdays, 12:15 – 1:15 pm from 21 Oct 2025 (online event)

Lecturer: Orla Mac Mahon

Topics:

• The language of telephoning
• Writing emails and letters
• Intercultural differences
• Providing information on the faculty/your area of work
• Presentation techniques
• International meetings with suppliers/universities etc.
• University-specific vocabulary

Level B2/C1

Dates: Wednesdays, 12:15 – 1:15 pm from 22 Oct 2025 (online event)

Lecturer: Dr. Peter Witchalls

Topics:

• Writing stylistically correct official emails and letters
• Intercultural differences
• The language of telephoning
• University-specific vocabulary
• Providing information on the faculty/your area of work
• Presentation techniques
• International meetings
• FAQ
• etc.

This six-week course is designed for B1-level English speakers from across the University, especially those who have not used English for some time. Its main goal is to build confidence and get people back into the habit of speaking English.

• Date: Fridays 11:00-12:00 from 07.11.2025 (Online).

 

Topics will include email vocabulary, formality and tone, and how to effectively use online translation and AI tools when writing emails. 

• Dates: 09:15-12:30, 04.11.2025 and 11.11.2025 (in-person)

Topics will include “false friends”, sentence structure, comma usage, and other common mistakes.

• Dates: 09:15-12:30, 06.11.2025 and 13.11.2025 (in-person)

This workshop will look at how to structure an effective administrative presentation, including the use of connecting words, describing data and the use of presentation software. 

• Dates: 09:15-12:30, 25.11.2025 and 02.12.2025 (in-person)