How to Use these Course Contents
This course has been designed to minimize educational barriers and embrace open access to knowledge in the era of generative artificial intelligence (GAI).
Designed for Human and GAI Use
All instructional content is written in Markdown format and made freely available for several key reasons:
- GAI Integration Reality: Students will copy course content into GAI systems regardless of format restrictions
- Accessibility: Information should be easily accessible to both humans reading on the web and GAI systems processing the content
- Future-Proof Format: Markdown ensures content remains readable and portable across platforms and time
- Seamless Learning: By providing content in GAI-friendly formats, we remove friction from the learning process
As Andrej Karpathy noted in his 2025 Y Combinator talk, writing instructional content in Markdown is becoming a best practice. Instead of making information difficult to access through PDFs or complex display systems, this approach provides content optimized for interpretation by both humans and machines.
This project reflects a belief that educational barriers should be minimized. Students will find ways to access and use content with GAI assistance anyway—we might as well design the experience to be excellent for everyone and every system involved.
Using the Course Materials with GAI WITHOUT a GitHub account
As previously stated, all course content is written in Markdown format (.md) for easy integration with AI learning tools. Content written in markdown format can be better “understood” by generative AI tools, as the hierarchy and emphasis of content is clearly communicated through symbols.
To download any lesson as a markdown file for use with GAI tools:
- Visit our course repository: github.com/alainamb/uic_tr-35-business-english-II
- Navigate to any lesson file (files ending in
.md) - Click the file name to open it
- Click the three dots in the top right
- Click download
- Double-click on the downloaded file to open it in a text editor.
📓 GAI Study Tip
Once downloaded, copy the entire file content and paste into ChatGPT/Claude or your preferred GAI tool with prompts like:
- “Explain this lesson in simpler terms”
- “Create practice exercises based on this content”
- “Help me understand this with Mexican business examples”
Using the Course Materials WITH a GitHub account
GitHub not only allows you to download materials, but also to contribute to the course’s ongoing development and create your own personalized version for professional practice or teaching.
Forking the Repository
Forking means creating your own complete copy of the course where you can experiment freely. This functionality is especially valuable for both educators and students.
| Educators | Students |
|---|---|
| - Adapt content for their own use - Modify examples for specific regional contexts - Add supplementary materials for their students - Maintain different course versions for different semesters - Customize structure according to their academic program needs |
- Create a personal space for practice and experimentation - Add their own notes and language analysis - Document additional examples they discover - Develop personalized specialized glossaries - Build a demonstrable work portfolio |
How to Fork the Repository
- Create a GitHub account: https://github.com/
- Visit the course repository: github.com/alainamb/uic_tr35-business-english-II
- Click the “Fork” button in the upper right corner
- Confirm creation of your personal copy
- Customize your fork according to your educational or learning needs
You can easily publish your version of the course via a website hosted on GitHub Pages.
Contributing Improvements to the Main Course
Found an error? Have an excellent example? Want to suggest additional resources? Contributions from students and educator colleagues are welcome:
- Identify an improvement (correction, clarification, new resource)
- Make changes in your fork following the established Markdown format
- Create a Pull Request from your fork to the main repository
- Describe your contribution clearly in the PR description
- Wait for review and possible integration into the course
This is real professional practice—translators in the industry collaborate exactly this way on localization projects, using version control to manage multilingual content.
Advantages of the GitHub Workflow
- Version control: Track changes and content evolution over time
- Professional collaboration: Learn to navigate tools used in real projects
- Demonstrable portfolio: Your fork and contributions are visible evidence of your work
- Learning community: Observe how others approach the same challenges
- Educational reuse: Open content allows continuous adaptation and improvement
Congratulations! You’ve completed the Course Overview section. Next, please check out our class Emerging Trends Zine. You’ll contribute to a class issue or a special individual release in week 15. :)