Saturday, May 13, 2006
ESL Classics 02: Longman Business English Skills
Even the highest-level clients of mine in Taiwan (some of them C-level executives and business owners) were unsure what to say in certain situations in English. How to negotiate. How to disagree. How to talk through an hour of charts. How to get a meeting back on track. Etc. That is to say, even with good vocabulary, grammar, and pronunciation, they were unsure _how_ to say some things. This was an often desperate need for these professionals. For years I found these books of the Longman Business English Skills series to be fabulous resources for them:
Presenting Facts and Figures, David Kerridge, ISBN 0-582-09307-4 (intermediate)
Socializing, Mark Ellis and Nina O’Driscoll, ISBN 0-582-85259-5 (intermediate)
Negotiating, Philip O’Connor, Adrian Pilbeam, and Fiona Scott-Barrett, ISBN 0-582-06443-0 (advanced)
Giving Presentations, Mark Ellis and Nina O’Driscoll, ISBN 0-582-06441-4 (advanced)
Meetings and Discussions, Nina O’Driscoll and Adrian Pilbeam, ISBN 0-582-09305-8 (intermediate)
Let’s take a closer look at how these work. For example, Meetings and Discussions has eight chapters:
· Starting and Controlling Meetings
· Presenting and Supporting Opinions
· Balancing Points of View
· Making Suggestions
· Presenting Alternatives
· Accepting and Rejecting Ideas and Proposals
· Building Up Arguments
· Summarizing and Concluding
This covers everything you need for the average business meeting, except describing how you like your coffee! Each book approaches its task in a similarly systematic, comprehensive way. This is what even advanced learners often lack. This series of books excels in empowering them. Presenting Facts and Figures is especially good for one of the most difficult tasks: explaining sales figures and forecasts, and analyzing the meaning of raw data.
The dialogues, often a continuing story arc across more than one chapter, are rewarding. I remember one client, a product manager in Taiwan, who loved to read between the lines of the characters and their dialogue, telling me what they “really meant”. How many audiocassette materials have you ever seen elicit that intense a response?
Each book came with a cassette valuable in itself for high-end business listening comprehension. I used these for years with high-level corporate professionals, and they found them great! They helped me help product managers, medical managers, and general managers to the next level in their careers, and they will help your clients too. Oh, wait, they’re out of print! Perhaps some day someone will reprint them; they hardly need updating!
Why are they classics? Because they retain their great value, and nothing better has come along (that I have seen). I wish I had materials like this for Chinese and Russian.
Recommendation: Pray that Longman reprints them.
Presenting Facts and Figures, David Kerridge, ISBN 0-582-09307-4 (intermediate)
Socializing, Mark Ellis and Nina O’Driscoll, ISBN 0-582-85259-5 (intermediate)
Negotiating, Philip O’Connor, Adrian Pilbeam, and Fiona Scott-Barrett, ISBN 0-582-06443-0 (advanced)
Giving Presentations, Mark Ellis and Nina O’Driscoll, ISBN 0-582-06441-4 (advanced)
Meetings and Discussions, Nina O’Driscoll and Adrian Pilbeam, ISBN 0-582-09305-8 (intermediate)
Let’s take a closer look at how these work. For example, Meetings and Discussions has eight chapters:
· Starting and Controlling Meetings
· Presenting and Supporting Opinions
· Balancing Points of View
· Making Suggestions
· Presenting Alternatives
· Accepting and Rejecting Ideas and Proposals
· Building Up Arguments
· Summarizing and Concluding
This covers everything you need for the average business meeting, except describing how you like your coffee! Each book approaches its task in a similarly systematic, comprehensive way. This is what even advanced learners often lack. This series of books excels in empowering them. Presenting Facts and Figures is especially good for one of the most difficult tasks: explaining sales figures and forecasts, and analyzing the meaning of raw data.
The dialogues, often a continuing story arc across more than one chapter, are rewarding. I remember one client, a product manager in Taiwan, who loved to read between the lines of the characters and their dialogue, telling me what they “really meant”. How many audiocassette materials have you ever seen elicit that intense a response?
Each book came with a cassette valuable in itself for high-end business listening comprehension. I used these for years with high-level corporate professionals, and they found them great! They helped me help product managers, medical managers, and general managers to the next level in their careers, and they will help your clients too. Oh, wait, they’re out of print! Perhaps some day someone will reprint them; they hardly need updating!
Why are they classics? Because they retain their great value, and nothing better has come along (that I have seen). I wish I had materials like this for Chinese and Russian.
Recommendation: Pray that Longman reprints them.
