Communicating Effectively in English

General and working English for professionals

Typical course participants

This course is for professionals who want to develop their English in a work and social context, but who don’t need a strong commercial focus. Typical participants include:

• Engineers
• Architects
• IT professionals
• Doctors
• Administrators
• Public officials
• Journalists
• Academics
• Military and police

– in fact, any working professional who needs to develop professional English communication skills.

Course content summary

This intensive course is less commercially focused than the International Business Communication course and is available from a fairly low level. However, there is still a strong focus on developing practical skills such as the English used for meetings and presentations alongside more general communication skills.

You can choose to do the full day, or follow the morning-only programme (15 hours per week). Some people taking only the morning programme choose to follow a combination course, which offers individual tuition in the afternoons. The morning-only option is also ideal for those wishing to combine serious study with the opportunity to do other things in London.

Benefits of doing this course

Whichever course you take with us, 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 communicate more confidently in a range of life and work situations, participate more effectively in meetings, make better presentations, and use the telephone for effective communication.

Course content

Course participants can expect the following areas to be covered in the course:

• presentation about one's own work and organisational structure
• simulated meetings
• communication in a professional environment
• presenting figures and graphs and describing social and political trends
• comparing national economies, working practices and social conditions
• aspects of international relations including intercultural understanding

When working people are speaking with their counterparts, discussion often turns to broader matters. The course reflects this with practice in the context of a range of topical issues such as:

• current affairs
• social, political and environmental issues
• political systems and developments
• education and training
• advertising and the media
• technology and society

In order to give participants greater confidence in taking part in discussions and handling meetings and negotiations, time is usually spent looking at 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 professional people. Areas include:

• meeting and greeting
• dealing with enquiries and offering advice
• arranging and cancelling appointments/social engagements
• travel arrangements, bookings and reservations
• giving and understanding directions
• restaurants and pubs
• small talk

Sample timetable

View Sample timetable.

View Sample Combination course timetable.

Course dates in 2009

Course dates in 2010

Más información:

T.: 902 100 870
united@united-languages.com
www.united-languages.com