A course may be designed using any combination of language skills, cross cultural skills and communication skills; these three skills areas often complement one another.
Business English Language Skills
- Functional language (describing technical processes in areas such as telecommunications
& IT)
- Pronunciation
- Appropriateness (formal vs. informal language)
- Job specific language (e.g. finance, accounts, production)
- Language associated with specific business areas (e.g. IT, Telecom etc)
- General business vocabulary
- General vocabulary
- Grammar
Cross Cultural Skills
- Knowledge of own culture and its impact on other cultures
- Definitions of culture, descriptions of culture
- Communicating across cultures (presentations, audience expectations & body language)
- Communicating across cultures (meetings, language styles, direct/indirect, personal/impersonal)
- Social culture: family, class and networks; gender politics
- Communicating outside work (socialising, eating/drinking, paying, small talk, building relationships)
- Different cultural perceptions of time (i.e. making appointments and when to arrive, polychronic vs monochronic)
Communication Skills
Business Presentations (workshops also offered)
- Structuring and creating presentation, particularly emphasizing the opening and closing bridging points and visual aids
- Correct use of stress and intonation to emphasize key points
- Understanding and matching audience expectations
- Presentation delivery
Meetings (workshops also offered)
- Cultural differences in the approach to meetings
- Specific language for chairing a meeting, and dealing with an agenda
- Key expressions and phrases to communicate finer points within a meeting
- Correct use of stress and intonation to subtly change the meaning of sentences and convey key points more clearly
Negotiations (workshops also offered)
- Pre-negotiation preparation and research
- The language of negotiating, conditionals and specific jargon
- Key expressions and phrases to help the negotiation run more effectively
- Cultural attitudes toward negotiating
- Negotiation role-play
- Telephoning
- Report Writing
- Business Correspondence