On this course, participants will learn:

• to communicate with others in practical, business-oriented situations
• to express themselves in English with greater fluency, accuracy and confidence
• to handle themselves in English in a variety of business contexts, from negotiating, to using the telephone, to making presentations, to socialising

The content will be supported by systematic work on core grammatical structures, vocabulary patterns, listening comprehension and  pronunciation. Actual content depends on pre-course needs analysis.

Introductions

• Course outline and approach

• Describing your role and responsibilities

• Typical & critical scenarios you use the target language in key issues

Meetings

• Chairing, setting the agenda, controlling the conversation

• Participating, turn-taking, listening and taking notes

• Being diplomatic, agreeing and disagreeing

Business Correspondence

• Emails – register, style, standard phrasing

• Notes and memos

• Business-specific language phrases

Telephoning

• Checking & clarifying information

• Finance-specific scenarios

• Listening to different accents, intonation

Making Presentations

• Introducing a topic effectively

• Linking and sequencing ideas

• Concluding

• Responding to questions

Process Management

• Describing processes, cause and effect

• Criticising, recommending

• Quality assurance, continuous improvement

Negotiating

• Key negotiating language, framing your argument

• Negotiating with suppliers

• Negotiating with customers

Reports

• Skim reading reports and news feeds

• How to report information and ideas

• Writing reports – style, register, conventions

Social English

• The first five minutes

• Speed networking – the elevator pitch

• Small talk, turn-taking

• Business conventions

Some examples of other areas of language that could be covered

• Case studies

• Writing effective proposals

• Managing teams

• Cross-cultural awareness

• Discussing the wider economic picture