Business English Syllabus

Business English Example Syllabus Midday Class:5 hours / week - 1 hour / 5 days: Students tend to have little or no business experience Evening Class: 4 hours / week - 2 hours / 2 days. Students tend to be working now; fairly young, relatively little experience

All students Intermediate and above; semi-continuous enrolment

Input / practice:Speaking and listening is the main focus. Reading will be necessary. Writing can be set for homework.Topics Vocabulary Areas/Structure/PronunciationFunctions

Company Structure

Job titles

Departments

Present Simple Describing your job.

Describing your company.

Drawing an organigram.

Meetings Vocabulary for organising meetings (minutes, secretary, chair, etc)

Phrases for meetings

Conditionals

Modals

Stating aims

Agreeing / Disagreeing

Giving opinions

Interrupting / Dealing with interruptions

Asking for clarification

etc

Telephoning Phrases for telephoning

Politeness

Modals (Could I, Would you like to, etc)

Pron: Spelling names, addresses, etc

Requests

Offers

Complaining

Dealing with complaints

Making arrangements

Financial English Talking about cash flow Profit and loss accountants

Terminology of finance Requests

Offers

Complaining

Dealing with complaints

Making arrangements

Socialising Phrases for greetings, introductions, partings

Lexis for hobbies, interests, family

Levels of formality

Present simple

Question formsIntroducing yourself, Introducing Others, Greetings, Saying Goodbye, Talking about hobbies, interests, families

Employment/Job Applications Lexis of working conditions-perks, benefits, holidays, salary, income, K, promotions, etc.

Comparatives

Lexis describing character - hard-working, a team player, a self-starter, etc. Writing CVs and letters of application

Being interviewed and interviewing

Discussing advantages and disadvantages of candidates

E-business/ the Internet Internet vocabulary

IT vocabulary Writing emails

Management Question forms

Imperatives

Levels of formality in requests/orders Talking about Total Quality Management

Talking about different management structures, philosophies

Role play - getting people to do things more or less politely

Business ethics Modals

Lexis of corruption, rights, etc. Talking about maternity rights, business and the environment

Marketing/Advertising Marketing Lexis - brands, awareness campaign, etc Talking about adverts they know - what is effective

Discussing marketing strategies - e.g. for famous brands

Task - design a campaign

Corporate Culture/Cross-cultural relations Comparatives

Lexis to describe personality traits

Polite language Describing the culture of a business/a national culture/regional culture

Talking about experiences of culture clash/misunderstanding

Talking about your ideal company culture

Practising polite language - greetings etc.

Negotiations Conditionals

Request, Offers

Typical phrases; starting, making offers, refusing, accepting, asking for clarification, bargaining Typical functions of negotiation: Requests, Offers, Refusal, Acceptance etc.

Describing Company History Past tenses, Present Perfect

Key Lexis - (was) launched, was established Talking about the history of your company/another company

Presentations Language of presentations, OHP, slides, etc.: signalling language: dealing with questions

question forms giving a presentation

handling questions

asking questions

Business Writing Language of formal and informal letters

Language for CVs (experience, qualifications, etc)

Language for reports (if requested) Writing letters, emails and faxes

Writing CVs, letters of application

Writing letters of complaint, enquiry, etc

Writing short reports