General & Business English

The Programme

The General & Business English programme is the perfect balance between our General English 20 Programme and Business English courses. Using English effectively in business meetings, negotiations and business presentations is essential in achieving success. The GBP course consists of General English G20 course in the mornings plus 6 business group lessons in the afternoons.

Who is the course for?

The General and Business English course has been developed especially for students who need to use their English in the workplace or business arena. This programme starts every Monday and can be booked for a minimum of 2 weeks and it is the perfect option for students wishing to improve their fluency and confidence using English in a short period of time.

This course combines our G20 morning programme with 3 afternoons of Business English classes in international groups. You will also have plenty of time to explore Galway city and take part in our social programme where you will have the opportunity to practise your English a variety of situations.

Course Objectives

The morning part of this course focuses on improving students General English communication skills focusing on the more practical areas of English language learning.

The afternoon course in particular is designed to help learners interact more effectively in a business environment. We welcome clients from many varied backgrounds including junior business executives, learners of business at university level or clients who have an interest in business and wish to increase their business English terminology.  The Business English part of the programme is a task-based course involving situational role play to simulate real-life experiences in the business world.  

Course Content

Morning lessons - General English 20

The core course content for our morning general English classes has five principle areas:

1. Oral communication skills. These classes focus on improving the fluency and pronunciation skills of the student.
2. Listening skills where the focus will be on the development of the student’s listening skills in the classroom so they can function successfully in real-life listening situations.
3. Written communication skills, with an emphasis on enhancing the student’s written communication skills by focusing on the strategies needed for the production of a variety of different types of written text
4. Reading skills. Various strategies such as reading for detail, skimming, scanning etc. will be used to advance the student’s reading skills.
5. Language appraisal. The student’s range of language will be the core focus, with particular stress on grammar and vocabulary and the everyday language needed to function in an English speaking environment.

Course content for Business English lessons includes:

• Coordinating and chairing meetings         
• Selling in English
• Improving telephone communication skills
• How to write for business purposes e.g. formal emails, reports, presentations
• Dealing with customers
• Negotiations
• Marketing

At the end of the course students should have increased their business vocabulary, be more confident in their communication skills, be able to understand key business language concepts, speak with greater accuracy and confidence and have developed their practical English skills.