Objectives and Philosophy

All Managerial English courses are designed to enable you to communicate more confidently and successfully in English-language management situations. These situations are necessarily diverse, and what exactly you are expected to do in them varies. You may, for example, be asked to write an effective complaint e-mail, give a persuasive business presentation, chair a productive meeting, make a professional telephone enquiry, design clear presentation slides, compose an attractive CV and much more...

Two things about these situations do not vary, however. First, you will always need good English language skills, meaning the ability to avoid major mistakes in pronunciation, spelling, vocabulary and grammar. Language skills are your building blocks. Second, you will always need good communication skills, meaning the ability to deal appropriately with the social and cultural norms that apply in management communication. Communication skills are your building plans.

Building a real house requires that you combine the heap of building blocks with a set of plans, and this is also true for Managerial English: One set of skills is not very effective without the other. What use, for example, is your mastery of the future perfect in the passive voice (as in "By this time next year, much progress will have been made.") if you are unable to 'do the right thing' in a job interview? Conversely, what good will it do you to design perfectly clear presentation slides if on the same slides you are unable to spell essential words correctly (is it "lose" or "loose", "quite" or "quiet", and "Polish" or "polish")?

Thus, courses in Managerial English are as much about learning to avoid major language mistakes as they are about becoming a better communicator. A 'better' communicator, though, is not a person who speaks and writes English that is entirely free of mistakes. Rather, it is a person who is (and not only comes across as) cooperative, realistic, persuasive, organized, clear, friendly, perceptive, trustworthy, open-minded and compassionate - professional, in short.

To improve both your language and your communication skills in Managerial English, active participation in class and extensive self-study are the keys to success. Even though all classes are interactive seminars and not lectures, you should not expect miracles from simply attending class once a week. Improving your skills requires continuous effort and practice outside of class.

What the courses in Managerial English have to offer is a non-threatening learning environment, some guidance and 'food for thought', room for discussion (and also disagreement), many practical examples and challenges, and - hopefully - some fun as well.