Course 2: Improve your business English

Can you write plain, clear, accurate English? Or do you struggle with your sentences, get confused over punctuation, ramble, waffle and make embarrassing mistakes? Being able to write well is a valuable business skill - and a surprisingly rare one. Command of language helps you make an impact on customers, colleagues, your boss, your bank manager and potential employers. You'll find this course useful if:

  • You work in a business environment that demands a great deal of writing
  • You're worried about poor English skills affecting your career
  • You find formal writing a headache
  • You're never quite sure how to phrase letters, reports and marketing materials

    • If you're an employer or manager, you may be frustrated by the poor English skills of your workers - especially if they are recent graduates. In these circumstances, the course can be easily integrated with hectic schedules. You can be sure that your staff will get the training they need without any adverse effect on their work.

    Structure

    Because all learners are different, the course does not follow a set structure. However, each course will consist of five key elements:

  • An initial assessment of your needs, based on examples of your writing
  • Agreement of an outline course structure, time frame and milestones
  • Between 8 and 12 (depending on length) written assignments
  • Detailed written feedback and tuition, via email and phone
  • Three months' post-training support

    • If you're learning as part of your job or to enhance your business, many of the assignments can be based on real-life projects.

    A typical course will last between four and eight weeks. During that time you will need around forty hours for completing assignments, reading and responding to feedback and receiving help and tuition over the phone. Depending on your needs, topics covered may include:

  • Matching tone and audience
  • Sentence structure and grammar
  • Paragraphing
  • Word choice
  • How to avoid clichés
  • Planning and structuring a piece of writing
  • Formal letters, business plans, emails and reports
  • Spelling strategies
  • Punctuation
  • Rhetorical writing (speeches and presentations)
  • Improving readability and style


    • Fees and requirements

    The course fee is £450, payable in advance. If, after the initial stages of assessing your skills I decide that you're not suited to the course, I reserve the right to cease tuition. If that happens I will, of course, refund your fee in full. For more information, see my general terms and conditions.

    To get the most out of the course you will need:

  • A reasonably fast internet connection
  • Access to phone or VoIP while in front of your computer. In most cases, I'll call you and pay the phone bill - though I'll let you have my number, too, in case you need to call for help!
  • MS Word 2002 or later. We can work with earlier versions of Word, or other word processing applications, but we'd need to come to an agreement about how tracked changes and marginal comments are handled when I'm giving feedback on your assignments.
  • Pen and paper

    Signing up

    If you want to improve your business English, please get in touch - I usually respond very quickly. If you're not sure, drop me a line anyway - I'm happy to call you back and answer any questions you might have about the course without obligation.

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