Cultural contrasts in business (part 2)
The second part of this two-part article on cultural contrasts in business. Topics covered are Presentations, Socializing, Restaurants, Telephoning and Emails. Read and Comment
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Cultural contrasts in business (part 1)
Here is a summary of cultural differences in business, with the world divided into three broad groups. This first post covers general business culture, discussions and meetings, and negotiating. Problems with this approach are discussed in the Introduction. Read and Comment
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What is Business English?
Are we a big happy BE family, or are we separate tribes? This article suggests some clear differences between pre-experience and in-work contexts, but draws no firm conclusion as to whether we are tribally different. Read and Comment
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Some thoughts on ELF
Here are my thoughts on ELF (English as a Lingua Franca) Read and Comment
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Colour-coded language activities
This is the second of two articles by Simon Mumford. In this article Simon suggests using the 'text highlight colour' function in Word to draw our students' attention to features of language. As in the first article, many examples are GE but are easily adaptable to BE. And again, these activities are great for students doing work on writing. Read and Comment
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Playing With Sentences
In our task-based BE world we surely don't give enough time to the careful study of sentence structure. This article has ten creative games to do just that. It is written with General English examples, but is easily adaptable. Very valuable for students who want to do work on writing. Read and Comment
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Two out of three ain’t enough
This article is a written-up version of a talk given by Michael Swan, posted here with Michael's kind permission. It argues that a balanced language course should consist of three kinds of Input (extensive, intensive and analysed), and similarly three kinds of Output (extensive, intensive and analysed). Michael argues that too many language programs focus on only some of these elements while ignoring others. Read and Comment
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What is IT?
What is IT? This post answers the question by means of a mind map, ready-to-go for classroom use (print it from the pdf). The post includes some background to key terms from the mind map, and other graphics for classroom use. Read and Comment
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Report from the frontline of IBE #1
A report on International Business English (IBE) as I was exposed to it via my students. This report includes both language (lexis used by the students) and content (in this case issues discussed at Board meetings). Read and Comment
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Using mind maps in BE
This very practical article suggests four ways that you can use mind maps in class. Read and Comment
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L1 in the classroom: Keep Your Friends Close
I'm very happy to have Saidaly as my first guest contributor. I saw an earlier version of this in IATEFL Voices and immediately wanted it for the site. L1 in the classroom happens, let's accept that and use it in a principled way. Read and Comment
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ROLO: Reformulate Output Lightly but Often
ROLO is diagnostic language feedback, and this longish piece launches the Articles section of the site. It is a topic that I have been talking about at conferences and seminars for years, and is the product of a lot of thought. Enjoy! Read and Comment
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Introduction to the site
Here is an introduction to the site for first time users and anyone else who is interested. Read and Comment
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