Teaching Business English
Next course dates: 20 November 2008 - 20 December 2008
Term: 30 hours over 4 weeks
Fee: € 475

Future course dates:
01 February 2009 - 02 March 2009
01 May 2009 - 30 May 2009

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CONTENT
The Teaching Business English course looks at a range of useful techniques, tools and resources for teaching Business English to learners. We will consider a variety of contexts for Business English teaching, and cover issues of course and materials design, needs analysis, and performance-driven learning based on the workplace. We will also look at how to teach business skills such as presenting, negotiating, as well as written and spoken business communication skills, and intercultural competence. We will consider how new technologies may be integrated into BE teaching.

AUDIENCE
The course is aimed at all teachers of Business English (BE) worldwide, whether experienced or inexperienced in BE teaching. It is also aimed at general English teachers who may want to become involved in BE teaching. Whether you teach one2one, in-company, at a Business Studies college or university, or in any other Business English (BE) context, and whether you are new to BE teaching or not, you will leave this course with a clear idea of what BE teaching entails, and plenty of new ideas and tools to use with your own BE learners.

[ find out where our course participants come from with our participant map... ]

TIMETABLE
Our course runs over a period of 4 weeks, with a total of about 30 hours work. Participants are expected to spend approx. 7- 8 hours per week on online individual, pair and collaborative group work, including offline reading and reflection. Some tasks are optional, but the minimum compulsory course content takes about 30 hours to complete. Deadlines for task completion are weekly, and participants can log on at any point during the week to work on the course. There are no 'fixed' times to be online - apart from regular timetabled online text and voice chats - these are negotiated to suit everyone. You will receive a detailed study timetable to help you organise your workload effectively once you have enrolled on the course.

You will use our online video conferencing platform for your course chats at least once during the course  - the exact time for this is negotiated with the group. To take part in a video conferencing session you will need a headset with microphone (headsets with a USB plug are the best option), or a stand-alone microphone and speakers. If you have a webcam, you may want to connect that during the video conferencing session, but this is optional—you will be able to see and hear your tutor even if you only have a headset. Video conferencing sessions are always recorded which means that even if you can’t attend, you will be able to watch the recording later online, in your own time. Our video conferencing platform is accessed via a web page—you do not need to download or install anything to use it during the course [see also What you need below].

OBJECTIVES
During the course, you will:

• learn to effectively use the VLE (Virtual Learning Environment) Moodle as a course participant
• become familiar with the various contexts in which Business English (BE) is taught
• learn to carry out needs analyses with BE learners, and how these relate to performance-driven learning
• learn to specify course aims and how to design a tailor-made BE syllabus for BE learners
• develop lesson planning and materials preparation skills for BE teaching, for both print-based and online materials
• explore a range of authentic and especially-made BE materials, both online and print-based
• experience text and voice chat as a classroom tool.
• learn how to teach a variety of BE skills, such as presenting in English, written and spoken communication for business, intercultural skills, etc.
• expand your subject knowledge of key theories related to the business world
• explore a range of Internet-based activities that BE learners can use to improve their English
• create a final BE lesson to use with your own BE learners

COURSE STRUCTURE
You will follow the course entirely online, working closely with a tutor in collaborative groups which use individual, pair, small group and whole group work. Throughout the course you are in constant contact with course colleagues and tutor(s).

• WEEK 1: Introduction to BE; needs analyses
• WEEK 2: BE course design
• WEEK 2: BE course materials
• WEEK 4: Final BE lesson project

In addition to the main content areas covered in Weeks 1 – 4, each week will focus on one of two Business English skills (such as presenting, email and telephone skills, intercultural issues etc) and how to teach these to BE learners. Specific ideas and materials will be examined for this. Weekly optional tasks will also be offered for course participant to brush up their knowledge in key business areas such as marketing, leadership, etc.

SKILLS
The course is taught entirely online, using the VLE (Virtual Learning Environment) Moodle. You won’t need any prior experience or knowledge of online learning, although basic experience of email and Internet use would be helpful. Technical and pedagogical support is available for the entire duration of the course.

WHAT YOU NEED

• An Internet connection, preferably broadband
• A headset (best is with a USB connection) or stand-alone microphone and speakers
• A webcam is optional
• An up-to-date browser
• Adobe Acrobat Reader
• An up-to-date media player (e.g. Windows Media Player or similar)
• A word processing package (e.g. Microsoft Word or similar)

You will use our video conferencing platform at least once during the course; before taking part  in the first session, we advise you to run the online system check here to ensure that you can take part fully in the session.

LANGUAGE REQUIREMENTS
Competence in written and spoken English, whether English is the applicants’ first, second or foreign language: successful applicants’ levels of competence in English must be of a standard sufficient to enable them to fully understand and complete the course work.

CERTIFICATION
The Consultants-E will issue participants with a Certificate on successful completion of the course. Successful completion of the course is defined as completing 80% of the course work, and completion of the final lesson design, to an acceptable standard.

ENROLMENT/FEES
You can enrol online by following this link. The course fee covers all chats and tutorials, guest speaker sessions (where appropriate), evaluation of final project work and certification from The Consultants-E.