Home : Programmes : Skills-based  
 


Choose from these programmes: Presentations, Negotiations, Meetings, Writing Skills

Presentations  
 
This course includes work in the following areas:

  1. Introduction/ Initial Preparation:
    • Sharing past experience in presentation-giving
    • Identifying problem areas
    • Choosing presentation topics for application session
    • Defining the objectives of a presentation (‘Why am I giving this presentation?’)
  2. Preparing a Presentation
    • Identifying the nature and expectations of your audience
    • Preparing for cross-cultural presentations
    • Creating a structure
    • Writing notes for presentations
  3. Preparing a Presentation
    • Formality - written versus spoken language
    • Practice of speaking from notes
    • Choosing the right equipment
  4. Opening a Presentation
    • Grabbing attention,
    • Greeting the audience and introducing yourself
    • Stating the purpose and giving an outline
  5. Content
    • How to involve the audience
    • Referring to visuals
    • Vocabulary for moving from one topic to another
  6. Content
    • Key words (finding word partnerships for your key words)
    • Vocabulary for referring to other parts of the talk
    • Word families
  1. Practice and Revision
    • Practice of skills learned so far
    • Sample presentations from the opening to the middle
  2. Visuals Aids
    • Using graphs and charts
    • Language for explaining trends
    • Pronunciation practice focused on numbers and statistics
    • Comparing and contrasting
  3. Summarising and Concluding
    • Summarising clearly and concisely
    • Making recommendations
    • Concluding and thanking
  4. Dealing with Questions
    • Inviting questions
    • Clarifying points and questions
    • Disagreeing tactfully
    • Avoiding answering questions
  5. Presenting Yourself
    • Body language
    • using your voice
  6. Application
    • Short presentations by participants (preparation begun in first session)
    • Analysis and evaluation
<< BACK TO PREVIOUS PAGE

 

Negotiations
 


This course includes work in the following areas:

  1. Definitions: What is a negotiation?
    • Introduction
    • Sharing past experiences of negotiating
    • Identifying common negotiation situations
  2. Preparing to negotiate
    • Identifying issues
    • Identifying your interests
    • Identifying the other party’s interests
    • Identifying common ground
    • Clarifying objectives
    • Distinguishing between interests and positions
  3. Establishing rapport
    • Welcoming visitors
    • Cross-cultural negotiations
    • Creating a good atmosphere
    • Introducing yourself and your colleagues
    • Making ‘small talk’
    • Application – roleplay
  4. Beginning the negotiation
    • Eliciting information from the other party;
    • Question forms
    • Agreeing agenda
    • Explaining and clarifying
    • Application - roleplay
  5. Making proposals:
    • Asking for opinions
    • Agreeing and disagreeing
    • Giving reasons
    • Making suggestions
    • Responding
  6. Questions
    • Importance of questions in negotiations
    • Types of questions
    • Forms of open/closed/probing/direct/indirect questions
    • Responding to questions
    • Avoiding a direct response
    • Application - roleplay

  1. Focus on listening:
    • Identifying ‘signals’
    • Exploring the subtleties of language
    • Remaining positive
    • Diplomatic language
  2. Language focus
    • Focus on conditional statements
    • Talking about hypothetical situations
  3. Bargaining
    • Linking offers to conditions
    • Making and obtaining concessions
    • Soft, hard and principled negotiators.
  4. Settling:
    • Agreeing
    • Clarifying
    • Understanding
    • Arranging future action
    • Ending the negotiation
  5. Body language
    • Positive/Negative body language
    • Gestures
    • Mirroring
    • Cultural differences
  6. Application and Analysis
    • Participants engage in a series of negotiations at varying levels of difficulty.
<< BACK TO PREVIOUS PAGE

Meetings
 
This course includes work in the following areas:

  1. Preparing for meetings
    • Defining the purpose
    • Identifying different types of meetings – planning, brainstorming, updating, problem-solving, present/exchange information
    • Focus on listening: listen to a sample meeting and analyse
    • Language focus: making arrangements
  2. Arranging Meetings
    • Telephoning
    • Writing short memoranda
    • Formal v informal invitations to meetings
    • Meetings preparation checklist
    • Preparing an agenda
  3. At the meeting 1
    • Do’s and don’ts of effective participation
    • Focus on listening: active listening
    • Effective note-taking
  4. At the meeting 2
    • Interrupting
    • Asking for clarification
    • Expressing opinions and making suggestions
    • Agreeing and disagreeing
  5. At the meeting 3:
    • Focus on questions: Question forms
    • Open-ended and closed questions
    • Asking positive questions
    • Being diplomatic
  1. Chairing a meeting:
    • Role of the chair
    • Introducing a meeting
    • Stating the purpose and setting the ground rules
    • Managing the meeting
    • Encouraging participation and dealing with conflict
    • Closing the meeting
  2. Intercultural meetings
    • Building rapport
    • Introducing yourself and your colleagues
    • Making ‘small talk’
    • Modifying language
    • Signaling
    • Checklist for intercultural meetings
  3. Formal meetings
    • Planning a formal meeting
    o Preparing agenda
    o Motions, proposals and amendments
    o Voting
    o Speaking through the Chair
    o Focus on formal language
  4. After the meeting
    o Writing minutes of a meeting
    o Uses of action plan
    o Evaluation checklists
  5. Application and Analysis
    o Roleplay meeting (preparation begun in first session and continued throughout);
    o Analysis of progress and achievement
<< BACK TO PREVIOUS PAGE


Writing Skills
 


This course includes work in the following areas:

  1. Introduction: Preparing to Write
    o Identifying problem areas for students
    o Preparatory questions:
    i. Who is the reader?
    ii. Why do I need to write?
    iii. What form do I use – letter/email/memo/fax/email
  2. Brainstorming and functions - focus on useful phrases
    o Brainstorm effectively for a useful outline
    o Phrases for making reference/recommendations and giving opinions
    o Phrases for generalizing and explaining
    o Phrases for contrasting, giving examples, sequencing and listing, stating conclusions and summarizing
  3. Writing emails and memos
    o Layout of emails and memos
    o Focus on informal polite language
    o People’s names and how to use them
    o Application – produce an effective reply to a fax
    o Feedback
  4. Writing a formal letter: focus on tone
    o Layout of a formal business letter
    o Focus on formal language: listening/reading exercise
    o Phrases to begin and end letters
    o Strong, neutral and tentative tone
    o Application – produce an effective formal letter
    o Feedback
  5. Focus on listening
    o Effective note-taking
    o How to produce effective minutes/reports from your notes
  1. Grammar: Focus on students work
    o Analysis and discussion of students’ own work
    o Grammar focus for common difficulties
    o Analysis of common errors
    o Feedback
  2. Report writing
    o Structure/layout of reports
    o Summarising
    o Planning, writing and editing a report
    o Application: authentic situation, report to be produced
    o Feedback
  3. Using and interpreting graphs and charts
    o Language for describing graphs and charts
    o Language for describing change
    o Application:
  4. Cohesion
    o Connectors for adding points and giving reasons
    o Sequencing ideas
    o Writing a good paragraph
    o Linking paragraphs
    o Headings and sub-headings
  5. Review
    o Sample letters
    o Feedback on work produced
    o Revision
    o Questions and Answers
<< BACK TO PREVIOUS PAGE


Related Information