1. “Business English” (Business Language) as a separate course in the study of a foreign language in lyceums, gymnasiums and schools with in-depth study of foreign languages.
2. The proposed material can be used in a lesson or as part of a practice-oriented project.
3. “Business game.”
Materials.
Depending on the level of students’ preparation, the material can be introduced in one or more lessons, taking into account the fact that children already have experience with “business vocabulary” (“business” English).
4. Main aspects and objectives of teaching the domestic methodology:
A. The educational and practical aspect, when students master the basics of “business” English as a means of communication and must learn to use it orally and in writing.
b. The educational aspect of training involves the formation of morality, responsibility, and business ethics.
V. The educational aspect of training involves the acquisition basic knowledge on negotiations; the structure of various firms and organizations; financial and banking documents.
d. The developmental aspect involves the development of communication skills.
5. Modeling the life situation of negotiations between a “buyer” company and a “seller” company with students choosing the optimal solution to the problem and its implementation:
A. Making your own dialogues
b. Modeling a problem situation and finding ways to solve the problem
V. Materials for the gradual development of the game:
1. Introductory part: beginning of negotiations, students composing the first dialogue;
2. Main part: the main task of the negotiations (purchase of equipment), drawing up the second dialogue;
3. The final stage is preparing the material for the role-playing game using dialogues.
At each stage, the corresponding vocabulary and material for use in situational dialogues are preliminarily worked out.
To consolidate new vocabulary, you can invite students to compose and solve crosswords and “puzzles” (an example of one of them is attached).
At the present stage, an important place is given to specialized training of students. In teaching English, the “Business Language” course can be distinguished as a separate aspect of study. Below we offer material that can be used in class as part of the practice-oriented project “Business Game”
This lesson involves preparing a business game (A business meeting).
The lesson is divided into several stages.
First of all, it is necessary to prepare students for some points at the beginning of the meeting:
- how to start a conversation and establish a businesslike and trusting atmosphere,
- how to get to the main part of the conversation,
- how to end a business meeting.
It is important to pay attention to the use of business vocabulary, the ability to construct dialogues correctly (not only from the point of view of the use of lexical and grammatical material, but also taking into account business etiquette).
Further work is divided into several stages:
- accompanying introduction of vocabulary
- Students receive instructions for work at every stage.
The first stage is the beginning of the meeting
1. You cannot get down to business immediately after the greeting.
It is necessary to establish a certain friendly contact with your partner.
Usually these are so-called “general” or “secular” topics about the weather, mutual friends, flights, a visit to your country (sights, etc.). It must be remembered that the procedure for “small talk” during negotiations may be different in different countries. For the British, this part of the negotiations is natural, because... For them, the first topic in any conversation is usually the weather. Germans tend to get down to business quicker, while in Middle Eastern countries the start of the meeting is more thorough.
2. In this part of the negotiations the following words and constructions are used:
How are you? (how are you/health?)
I'm fine, thank you. (OK, thank you)
Nice weather, isn't it?
I think (I think)
I suppose (I suppose)
I believe (I believe / believe)
I hope (I hope), etc.
Common phrases that help get to the business part:
Let's get down to business (let's get down to business)
I believe we may get down to business (I believe we can get down to business)
The second stage is the composition of the dialogue by the students themselves.
Participants in the dialogue should be friendly and establish business contacts prior to negotiations.
Mr. Brown (Br.) / Mr. Ivanov (I.)
Br.: Good afternoon, Mr. Ivanov
I.: Good afternoon, Mr. Brown. How are you?
Br.: I’m fine, thank you. Nice weather, isn't it?
I.: You're right. It's very warm today.
Br.: I hope you are having a good time.
I.: Oh, yes. I like it here very much
Br.: Have you gone sightseeing yet?
I.: Unfortunately, I haven’t seen much yet. I've just been to Tower and St.
Paul's Cathedral. It made a great impression on me (it’s really a masterpiece of architecture).
Br.: Glad to hear it. And what can I do for you? I believe we may get down to business.
The third stage considers the main task of the negotiations.
The purpose of this meeting is to agree on the purchase and sale of the product ‘Model FK-15’ (symbol of the product) and its delivery. The buyer (Mr. Ivanov) has already made an inquiry for the product and is interested in purchasing it, but finds the price too high. The seller does not reduce the price, but offers favorable delivery conditions (c.i.f.)
In this part of the meeting/negotiation, it is appropriate to use the following words and expressions:
to be interested in – to be interested in..., to be interested
a buyer - buyer
a seller - seller
a representative (of) – representative
enquiry (for)=inquiry – request
to enquire/inquire – to request
the talks - negotiations
to have talks with – negotiate with...
material – material
materials – materials, documents
an appointment - meeting
to make an appointment - make an appointment
to go through materials/catalogues/price-lists – view, get acquainted with materials/catalogues/price lists
price – price
at the price of – at the price
high/low prices – high/low prices
demand - demand
to be in great demand – to be in demand
to reduce – reduce, reduce
to reduce the prices of the goods - reduce the prices of goods
offer - offer
to accept - accept
to accept an offer - accept an offer
to accept a price - accept the price
to accept terms of delivery – accept delivery conditions
to accept terms of payment – accept payment terms
acceptable - acceptable
to require – demand (sya)
any time you say - at any time
During meetings and negotiations, it is necessary to respect the boundaries of business communication and smooth out straightforward and harsh moments in speech structures.
For example:
I want – I would like
I can do it – I could do it
To be afraid is used to soften the categorical nature of the statement.
I’m afraid you are not quite right.
I'm afraid I can't do it now.
After working with the vocabulary, you can once again return to the tasks assigned to the buyer and seller. The class is divided into pairs or groups of four. It is desirable that students themselves clearly understand and are able to formulate the goals and objectives of each group and each participant in the business game.
The role of the teacher at this stage is to guide students and ensure that children use the vocabulary they have learned as much as possible when composing dialogue 2.
The final stage is preparing the material for the role-playing game using dialogues 1 and 2.
For this purpose, the most successful options for the role-playing game are adjusted and selected.
I.: We sent you our enquiry for Model FK – 15 last month. We are interested in it because we are going to use it in our computer class.
Br.: Have you got all necessary materials?
I.: I’ve gone through your catalogs and price – lists. I suppose (believe) we can buy from you 6 Models FK-15 (& 6 Models FK-20). But there is one
point, your prices are too high, I’m afraid.
Br.: I see. But our goods are in great demand and we usually sell them at these prices. Besides, we have sold FK-Models at these prices lately. I'm afraid we can't reduce them. But we can offer you the goods c.i.f. Moscow.
I.: Well, I’ll have to contact our director and let him know your answer. I hope he'll find that your terms are acceptable to us.
Br.: When do you require the equipment?
I.: We’d like to have them in June.
Br.: That’s all right. Can I see you on Tuesday?
I.: Of course. Is 11.00 convenient to you?
Br.: Any time you say.
In addition, at the teacher’s discretion, work can be done to consolidate vocabulary in the form of crosswords, chainwords, etc.
Below is an example of a “puzzle” ( Appendix 1“Puzzle”, appendix 2 “Key”).
Bibliography
- V.A. Milovidov, “ International business”, Moscow AST publishing house, April 2004.
- K.V. Zhuravchenko; V.G. Darskaya, “New Business English”, Moscow Veche Publishing House, 2004.
Salary negotiation –Discussion salaries
Good morning, Miss Swan. I am here to inquire about my request. Probably you know that I applied for a salary increase last month.
Yes, Mr. Jackson. I’ve seen your request and forwarded it to our Human Resources manager.
I hope you will consider the matter. I have been here long enough and my last 2 annual performance reviews were perfect, so I suppose my salary no longer reflects my contribution to the company development. And I haven’t had a salary hike for 2 years.
I am aware of that, but the salary issues are handled entirely by Human Resources Department.
I must admit it’s really disappointing. I am sure it’s high time to ask for a raise.
The manager responded that it’s not our policy to increase salary by 30%. We cannot provide you such a hike.
I see. Can I expect a 25% increase on my base then?
Well, I wish you could. I will talk to the manager again about it but unfortunately 10% is a standard in our company. We cannot pay you more than your colleagues, Mr. Jackson.
Thank you, Miss Swan. I really want to keep working for the company but I should also be able to afford it. And if I don’t get any positive responses from my boss there is probably some way that you can look at my bonus system? Some non-financial benefits like a longer vacation time or paid education, for instance?
Translation
Good morning, Miss Swan. I came to inquire about my request. You may know that I applied for a salary increase last month.
Yes, Mr. Jackson. I saw your application and forwarded it to our head of HR.
I hope you will consider my case. I've been here quite a long time and my last two annual reports have been excellent, so I feel like my salary is no longer commensurate with my contribution to the company. And I haven't had a salary increase in 2 years.
I know about this, but only the HR Department deals with salary issues.
I have to admit, it's very sad. I'm sure it's time to ask for a raise.
The head of the department responded that our standards do not support a 30% salary increase. We cannot provide you with such a lift.
It's clear. Can I then hope for a 25% increase in my salary?
I wish it were so. I will talk to the boss again, but unfortunately 10% is our company standard. We can't pay you more than your colleagues, Mr. Jackson.
Thank you, Miss Swan. I really want to continue working for this company, but I also need to be able to afford it. And if I don't get any positive response from the boss, is there perhaps some way to reconsider the bonus system? Any non-financial benefits, such as longer vacations or paid training?
Greetings my dears.
If you remember that there are many in business English, then learning them in dialogues will be much easier. Therefore, today I have prepared business dialogues in English for you, where you can use familiar - or not so familiar - expressions as much as possible. All of them will be given with translation into Russian. By the way, you can read and listen to them at the same time - which will allow you to compare and analyze what you hear.
- Dialogue 1 - Discussion of contract terms
A: And now I’d like to discuss with you the year results of our new contract with the “TechArt Group”.
B: So the contract was signed 10 months ago and in the beginning the outcome was under a big question. We provided them with high quality raw materials for their production chain but one supply was with a large percentage of waste.
A: So how did you solve the problem?
B: We changed the delivery and suggested them a discount on the following dispatch. Now our total turnover is over 2 billion dollars. It is 5% higher than what we expected.
A: That is a good outcome. Are they going to sign a contract for the next year deliveries?
B: Yes, they certainly will. They are happy with our delivery terms and payments. And what is more, we are discussing their new project now.
A: It is great. Keep working this way.
Translation:
A: And now I would like to discuss with you the results of the year under our new contract with TechArt Group.
B: So, the contract was signed 10 months ago and at the beginning the income was questionable. We have provided them with high quality raw materials for their production chain, but one of the deliveries had a high percentage of expenses.
A: So how did you solve this problem?
B: We changed the shipment and offered them a discount on the next shipment. Now our total turnover is more than 2 billion dollars. This is 5% higher than we expected.
A: This is a good result. They are going to sign a supply contract for next year?
B: Yes, of course. They are satisfied with our delivery and payment terms. Moreover, we are now discussing their new project.
A: That's great. Keep up the good work.
- Dialogue 2 - Discussion of budget and finances
-So we gathered here to discuss budget planning for the next year expenditures. What I want to underline is that basing on the latest research we are going to face some financial difficulties. So we need to prepare and cut the budget.
-First of all I would like to say that no redundancy will take place. We are staffed better than ever before. All our employees correspond to the required level and do their job well. Besides, we cannot cut down production financing. As even a small decrease in the quality of raw materials largely results in the goods quality.
-So what is going to be cut down is the marketing budget. I appreciate what the marketing department does for the company. What is more, I realize that this is going to create huge difficulties for the marketers. But we all understand what will happen if we don’t do this way.
Translation:
So, we are here to discuss planning your spending budget for the next year. This is what I want to emphasize - based on latest research we will face some financial difficulties. So we have to prepare and cut the budget.
— First of all, I would like to say that there will be no excess. We are better staffed than ever before. All our employees meet the required level and do their job well. In addition, we cannot cut production funding. Since even a slight decrease in the quality of raw materials significantly affects the quality of goods.
— The only thing that can be cut is the marketing budget. I appreciate what the marketing department does for the company. Moreover, I understand that this will create enormous difficulties for marketers. But we all understand what will happen if we don't do this.
Do you want to understand speech and grasp the meaning of dialogues in English? And also improve your speaking skills in communicating with foreigners? Feel more confident and overcome your language barrier? Then I can suggest you go through an excellent online intensive “English for communication” . If you are not ready for large amounts of knowledge and super-fast results, you can try part of this intensive course in the form of a course « Development of spoken language» .
Most likely, you will also find the following courses useful: Marketing Basics in English , English for Entrepreneurs , English for IT business , Business English .
- Dialogue 3 - Talking on the phone about a meeting
–Hello. May I talk to the Chief Executive Officer (CEO), please?
-Good morning. Mister Browson is busy at the moment. He is holding a meeting. Do you mind leaving the message for him, please?
–No, I don"t. It is Mr. Sparrow calling. We arranged to meet for discussion of our new contract. So I"m calling to confirm.
–Oh, yes, Mr. Sparrow. I was looking forward to your call. Mr. Browson asked me to confirm that he would meet you at the Brew at 2 p.m.
-It is very good. Thank you for information. Looking forward to meeting him.
Translation:
Hello. Can I speak to the CEO please?
Good morning. Mr Browser is busy at the moment. He is holding a meeting. Would you mind leaving him a message please?
Of course not. This is Mr Sparrow. We agreed to meet to discuss a new contract. So I'm calling to confirm this.
Oh yes, Mr Sparrow. I was waiting for your call. Mr. Browser asked me to confirm that you are meeting at the Brew Cafe at 2 p.m.
Very good. Thanks for the information. I'm looking forward to meeting him.
- Dialogue 4 - Discussion of delivery and costs
–The recent research of average customer consumption revealed that we are going to face the upcoming problems.
-Our turnover decreased by 15% while the profit is 7.5% lower than last season. So we need to change the way we are working now. And the sphere we need to pay lots of attention to is logistics and delivery.
-The goods departure needs to become cheaper. Transportation and storage costs need to be cut down. That is the main and the most obvious thing to do.
-As we can’t influence custom duties we need to think over what else we can do to reduce our logistics expenditures.
Translation:
“A recent study of average customer spending showed that we face challenges ahead.
— Our turnover decreased by 15%, and profit was 7.5% lower than last season. So we must change the tactics we are currently using. And the area we should pay attention to special attention, this is logistics and delivery.
— Shipping goods should become cheaper. Transport and storage costs must be reduced. These are the main and most obvious things that need to be done.
— Since we cannot influence customs duties, we must think about what else we can do to reduce logistics costs.
- Dialogue 5 - Discussion of future cooperation
–Hello, Mr. Collins.
-Good morning, Mr. Evans.
-So we’ve met to discuss our mutual future development.
-Yes. Our businesses can produce much more together rather than by themselves. You specialize in marketing and we specialize in producing high-quality goods. That is going to give an amazing synergy.
-I hope it will. Have you seen the contract yet?
-Yes. My lawyers looked through and I am ready to sign and start working.
-That's great. So I suggest celebrating such a move in our development. In our company we have a tradition to meet outside the office on a yearly basis. So why don’t we commit this year gathering to our agreement?
-That is a very good idea.
Translation:
Hello Mr Collins.
— Good morning, Mr. Evans.
- So, we met to discuss our future joint developments.
— Yes, our business developments can provide much more together than on their own. Do you specialize in Marketing and we specialize in producing high quality goods. This will give amazing interaction.
I I hope so will. Have you seen the contract yet?
- Yes. My lawyers have reviewed it and I'm ready to sign it and start working.
- Amazing. Therefore, I propose to celebrate this step in our development. Our company has a tradition of meeting outside the office every year. So why don't we coincide this meeting with our agreement?
- This is a very good idea.
If you prefer an individual approach, the supervision of a qualified teacher and tracking your progress in English, then I advise you to take Individual course Business English via Skype at EnglishDom school — 20 lessons of communication with a tutor, who will be selected for you during the introductory lesson, will significantly advance you in the topic. Your first step is sign up for a free introductory lesson .
Well, my dears, you have consolidated all the learned phrases and expressions from business English on the topics of sales, contracts and deliveries. Of course, this is not all that exists in the English language. Therefore, study, study and study again. And to make this easier, subscribe to my blog’s newsletter and receive the most useful and latest news.
An example of a dialogue during a job interview, at the beginning - English version: Dialogue - Job interview.
someone knocked the door
- Exuse me, may I come in?
- Yes, of course. Sit down. So, what's your name?
— My name is James Smith.
— How old are you?
— I am 20 years old.
— Well, James, where did you work before?
— I worked as a cashier in McDonald's.
— Are you quit yourself or someone fired you?
- I quit myself. The work distracted me.
- Okay. So you haven`t got experience in selling cars.
- That's right.
— You must understand that we need skilled workers.
— It seems to me, that I won`t get this job. But, I think that there is a good candidate for this place!
-Who are you talking about?
— My father knows the machines well. Moreover, he has a lot of free time!
- Okay, how old is your father?
-He is 45.
- Hmm... I think we’ll call you back later.
- Okay. Be sure to call. Here is his number: 81341341313.
— I need to write down his name and surname.
- Oh sure. His name is George Smith.
- Thank you so much.
- Thank you.
— Have a nice day!
- Bye!
- Bye!
Read it - it will give you additional vocabulary.
Now let's translate it into Russian.
someone knocked on the door.
- Excuse me, can I come in?
- Yes, sure. Have a seat. So, ?
- My name is James Smith.
- How old are you?
- I am 20 years old.
- Okay, James, where did you work before?
— I worked as a cashier at McDonald's.
— Did you quit of your own accord or were you fired?
- I quit myself. Work distracted me.
- OK. So you have no experience in selling cars?
- That's right.
— You must understand that we need qualified workers.
- Looks like I won't be able to get this job. However, I think that there is an excellent candidate for this place!
-Who are you talking about?
— My father is good at cars. Moreover, he has a lot of free time!
- Okay, how old is your father?
- He is 45.
- Hmm... I think we'll call you back later.
- OK. Be sure to call. Here is his number: 81341341313.
— I need to write down his first and last name.
- Yes, sure. His name is George Smith.
— .
- Thank you.
— Have a good day!
— !
- Goodbye!
Job interview in English
Another dialogue, an example of how a good resume, the presence of the necessary competencies and an adequate employer speed up the process.
- Hello Anna.
- Hello.
— You are applying for an editorial job.
- Yes.
— You have a wonderful resume. Tell me more about your work in the newspaper.
— I started working as a reporter. For the year I grew up to be an assistant editor. My specialization is economic news, interviews with key persons of companies.
- This is exactly what we need. Do you know the conditions that we offer?
- Yes, I read it on the site.
—Are you satisfied with everything?
— Yes, but I would like to have a more flexible schedule.
- Good. If everyone is happy with everything, then congratulations, you are accepted, bring the documents to the personnel department. Welcome to the team.
- Hello, Anna.
- Hello.
— You are applying for the vacancy of an editor.
- Yes.
— You have a wonderful resume. Tell us more about your work at the newspaper.
— I started working as a freelance reporter. Within a year, she was promoted to assistant editor. My specialization is economic news, interviews with key people in companies.
- This is exactly what we need. Do you know the conditions we offer?
- Yes, I read it on the website.
— Are you satisfied with everything?
— Yes, but I would like to have the opportunity to have a more flexible schedule.
- Fine. If everyone is happy with everything, then congratulations, you have been accepted, bring the documents to the HR department. Welcome to the team.
