This course provides students with the quickest route to communicative competence in English and is organised around the professional tasks and work-related situations of busy executives wishing to improve their English language competency for business related activities. Practical assignments will draw on the varied interests of the clients themselves and lessons will respect the sophisticated knowledge and expertise of the students, especially in areas such as leadership, innovation and human relationship. The key concepts of the course include topic-based situations that help to reinforce vocabulary, speaking, writing and social English. Our aim is to offer a flexible approach to the basic interaction patterns used by business people in their work. Topic-based learning units will cover a wide range of business situations, such as using good commercial English in collecting information, drafting reports and preparing presentations, managing a job interview, writing business letters and e-mails, telephone conversations, decision making and problem solving.
20 Group Lessons (15 hours per week)
Period of operation: All year round
Level: Pre-Intermediate to Advanced
Duration of 1 Lesson: 45 minutes
Lessons per week: 20 lessons / 15 hours
Average number of students in class: Winter (January – May & September – December) 3 students
Average number of students in class: Summer (June, July & August) 6 students
Maximum number of students in class all year round: 8 students
In Business English all four language skills – listening, speaking, reading, writing – are developed through a wide range of tasks which closely reflect the world of doing business. Subjects covered include personal development, setting goals, management skills, self-awareness and the importance of good communication in business, corporate image, corporate social responsibility, supply chain and managing conflict (which is also an important subject in business as it is encountered frequently at workplaces be it in small family-run companies as well as large multinational organizations). Other topics covered in Business English include marketing and brand awareness related topics such as strategic marketing, marketing plans, identifying your right audience, etc. Subjects such as risk management and investments are also included in the more Upper Intermediate/Advanced level programme and would include listening/reading tasks followed by a discussion on topics such damage control and crisis management. As students go along covering these Business English topics, they will also have the opportunity to widen their Business English vocabulary which will help them to better express themselves both in writing as well as when speaking about certain topics with peers in the workplace, university or Business school. In other words the Business English course will increase understanding, fluency and communicative power in English.
The school makes use of a variety of Business English books such as the New Business Matters, The Business Macmillan Series, English 365, Company to Company, New International Business English, English for Business Studies, Further Ahead, Getting Ahead, Market Leader and other books for specific and specialised areas of Business English such as the Oxford Handbook for Commercial Correspondence, E-mail English and Presentations in English to name a few. On the first day at school, a language placement test will be carried out to enable the school to decide which level of the Business English classes is best suited for the student in question.
After finishing a Business English Course students may opt to take the BEC (Business English Certificate) Cambridge ESOL Examination: BEC Preliminary (CEFR Level B1), BEC Vantage (CEFR Level B2), BEC Higher (CEFR Level C1). Our teachers will recommend which level is the most appropriate one for the student's level of competence.
For more information regarding the BEC Cambridge ESOL Examination please visit:
http://www.cambridgeenglish.org/exams/business-english/
https://www.cambridgeenglish.org/exams-and-tests/business-vantage/exam-dates/