Business English courses are designed to help students improve with their reading, writing, listening and speaking skills within the context of business. No prior knowledge of business studies is required. Key concepts in business and economics are covered using a variety of reading, speaking, listening and writing activities based on a wide range of materials including current financial newspapers, magazines, radio and television programs and the internet.

 

 COURSE OUTLINE 

 

BEGINNERS LEVEL

 

LEARNING TRAINING

• Talking about language

• Learning vocabulary

• Using dictionary

 

NUMBERS

• Numbers and years

• Ordering numbers, parts of numbers

WORK

• Jobs

• Places, departments and industries

• Types of work

• Work and numbers

• Getting to work

• Who’s the boss?

• Getting to the top

• Skills

• Qualifications and training
   

Time

• Numbers and time

• Timetables

• Days and dates

• Time expressions

• Do you have time?

• Free time and holidays

 

MONEY

• Numbers and money

• Prices

• Notes and coins

• Can I afford it?

• Pay and benefits

• Banks

 

PRODUCTS AND SERVICES

• Product details

• Service companies

• Where’s it made?

• Where’s it sold?

• Where was it developed?

• Product instructions

• Problems with products

 

SOCIALIZING

• Socializing 1: nice to meet you

• Socializing 2: at the restaurant

• TELEPHONING

• Telephoning 1: starting and ending

• Telephoning 2: spelling and numbers

• Telephoning 3: checking information

• Telephoning 4: messages

MAILS, FAXES AND LETTERS

• Emails, faxes and letters 1: business writing

• Emails, faxes and letters 2: the message

• Emails, faxes and letters 3: emails

 

PRESENTATIONS

• Presentation 1: getting started

• Presentation 2: the main part

• Presentation 3: charts and graphs

• Presentation 4: site tours

 

MEETINGS

• Meetings 1: organizing a meeting

• Meetings 2: chairing a meeting

• Meetings 3: opinions and explanations

 

INTERMEDIATE LEVEL

JOBS,PEOPLE AND ORGANIZATIONS

• Work and jobs

• Ways of working

• Recruitment and selection

• Skills and qualifications

• Pay and benefits

• People and workplaces

• The career ladder

• Problems at work

• Managers, executives and directors

• Business people and business leaders

• Organizations 1

• Organizations 2

 

PRODUCTION

• Manufacturing and services

• The development process

• Innovation and invention

• Making things

• Materials and suppliers

• Business philosophies
   

MARKETING

• Buyers, sellers and the market

• Markets and competitors

• Marketing and market orientation

• Products and brands

• Price

• Place

• Promotion

 

MONEY

• The Internet and e-commerce

• Sales and costs

• Profitability and unprofitability

• Getting paid

• Assets, liabilities and the balance sheet

• The bottom line

• Share capital and debt

• Success and failure

• Mergers, takeovers and sell-offs

 

FINANCE AND THE ECONOMY

• Personal finance

• Financial centers

• Trading

• Indicators 1

• Indicators 2

 

DOING THE RIGHT THING

• Wrongdoing and corruption

• Ethics

 

PERSONAL SKILLS

• Time and time management

• Stress and stress management

• Leadership and management styles
   

CULTURE

• Business across cultures 1

• Business across cultures 2

• Business across cultures 3

 

TELEPHONE, FAX AND EMAIL

• Telephoning 1: phones and numbers

• Telephoning 2: getting through

• Telephoning 3: messages

• Telephoning 4: arrangements

• Faxes

• Emails

 

BUSINESS SKILLS

• Meetings 1: types of meeting

• Meetings 2: the role of the chairperson

• Meetings 3: points of view

• Meetings 4: agreement and disagreement

• Meetings 5: discussion techniques

• Presentations 1: preparation and introduction

• Presentations 2: main part

• Presentations 3: closing and questions

• Negotiations 1: situations and negotiators

• Negotiations 2: preparing

• Negotiations 3: furthering negotiations

• Negotiations 4: difficulties

• Negotiations 5: reaching agreement
   

ADVANCED LEVEL
 

THE HUMAN DIMENSION

• World of Work

• Management styles

• Management styles

• Employment and employability

• Flexibility and inflexibility

• Work-life balance

• Managing talent

• Team building

• The right skills

 

QUALITY

• What is quality?

• Quality standards

• TQM and JIT

• Quality and people

• The management of change

• Striving for perfection

 

COMPETITIVE STRATEGY

• Strategic thinking

• Competition

• Companies and their industries

• Key strategic issues

• Innovation

• Preparing for the future

 

MARKETING

• The four Ps and the four Cs

• Customer satisfaction

• Knowing your customers

• Knowing your customers

• Brands and branding

• Global brands

 

IT AND ITI USES

• The IT revolution

• Internet security

• E-commerce: after boom and bust

• Knowledge management

• Intellectual property
   

COMPANY FINANCE

• Measuring performance

• Profit and loss account

• Balance sheet 1

• Balance sheet 2

• Cashflow statement

• investment ratios

• Shareholder value

• Accounting standards

 

CORPORATE RESPONSIBILITY

• Ethics and business

• Social reporting

• Social reporting

• Green issue

• Corporate governance

• Ethical investment

 

THE GLOBAL ECONOMY

• Global forces

• Investment and debt

• Trade

• International aid

• Sustainable development