If you are still at a fairly early stage in your business career, then this is the course for you. You may have a few years’ working experience, or you may be coming to the end of your business studies and preparing yourself for the workplace. Some business experience is certainly useful, but not essential.

The following areas provide the framework for the course:

• presenting your own career, company organisation (where appropriate) and current management issues
• aspects of a company's business – eg products, services, marketing, finance
• simulated business meetings and negotiations
• simulated business telephone calls
• presenting facts and figures, graphs and describing economic and social trends
• comparing working habits and cross-cultural issues
• recruitment practice and procedures

When business people are speaking with clients and contacts, discussion often turns to broader matters. The course reflects this by providing practice in a range of topical issues such as:

• current affairs
• environmental and social questions
• political issues
• education and training
• advertising and the media
• technology and the impact of computerisation

We give participants greater confidence in taking part in and chairing business meetings and negotiations. Therefore we would cover appropriate communication strategies such as:

• agreeing and disagreeing
• interrupting
• clarifying and confirming
• asking for comments
• summarising
• asking appropriate questions
• challenging/defending an opinion
• persuading and compromising
• making proposals, offers, suggestions
• opening/closing meetings

Professional hospitality, entertaining visitors and handling social situations are important for many business people, as is confidence when using the telephone. Areas covered would therefore include:

• meeting and greeting
• receiving visitors
• socialising
• using the telephone effectively
• practice in communicating more complex ideas and discussing problems

You can expect to improve your English in the following ways:

• communicate more confidently
• speak more accurately and fluently
• participate more successfully in meetings
• improve your written English including emails
• expand your professional vocabulary
• improve your understanding of grammar
• socialise and network with greater confidence
• work successfully in a cross-cultural environment

In addition to the benefits outlined above, you can expect to expand your active business vocabulary and use English in your work with greater confidence.