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ESL for Business - E-mail Communication

Full Description

Many times in business, your written words are your "calling card" to customers, vendors, and even associates and management within your own company. How do you feel about what you write:

Do you feel that because English is your second language, you don't communicate as well as others?
Do you find your weak writing skills leave you at a disadvantage when it comes to advancement?
Do you feel you need to improve your understanding of written English?

Welcome to ESL for Business - E-mail Communications. This is one of three ESL For Business courses which target different kinds of written communications that you use everyday: e-mail, letters and memos, and those special documents particular to your job. You can take all the courses in the series or only those that fit your needs.

You might say, "what's different about this course from other ESL courses you can take online?"

Unlike "one size fits all" courses, the lessons in this course are tailored to your problem areas. In other courses, you may only view a lesson and do self-study exercises. In this course, you have access to a teacher-tutor. In addition to doing self-study exercises in a textbook, you will have assignments that reflect real-world situations and someone who will read over your work and provide feedback on it. The teacher-tutor will assign you readings and grammar exercises to do based on the areas in which YOU need improvement rather than just a standard reading/exercise that everybody does. You may bring to class one document to work on and revise it over the four lessons, or you may submit a different document for each lesson.

Outcomes:

Upon successful completion of this course you will:

Have a better understanding of English Grammar
Write clearer and more professional e-mails
Be able to use the appropriate tone for your various e-mail audiences
Develop more confidence in your written communication skills

There is a quote which is attributed to actor Raymond Burr (when he was guest instructor at a California University): "If you can master the art of communication, you can be a success...no matter what the endeavor."

Do YOU want to be a success?

Assessment:

Student performance will be assessed by self-check exercises and written assignments reviewed by the instructor.

Course Information (see above or below lessons, outlines, activities, etc.)

Each lesson is structured to include:

PowerPoint Grammar Reviews
Reading Assignments
Self-Test Exercises
A Written Assignment

Writing Better English
by Ed Swick

ISBN 0-07-142643-4

Besides doing the assigned readings and exercises and viewing PowerPoint grammar reviews, students will write something for each lesson. The writing assignment will be based on a detailed scenario provided by the instructor.

Lesson one:

To give a foundation for the rest of the course, students will look at some "grammar basics" and think about the different business audiences for their writing: peers, management, customers, etc. Self-test exercises will help students to review the material. The written assignment in this lesson will give practice in writing work e-mails to peers.
Lesson two:

Textbook readings and exercises will be assigned as determined by the instructor based on the written assignment submitted in the previous lesson. Since people write e-mail to a variety of business audiences, we’ll look at a different one in this lesson. The written assignment will give practice in writing an e-mail to customers.
Lesson three:

Textbook readings and exercises will be assigned as determined by the instructor based on the written assignment submitted in the previous lesson. This lesson’s written assignment will give students practice in developing the tone needed for an e-mail addressed to "all staff levels".
Lesson four:

Textbook readings and exercises will be assigned as determined by the instructor based on the written assignment in the previous lesson. This lesson's assignment will give practice in writing status e-mails aimed toward upper management.

Contact Hours: 50