English For PAs And Secretaries: Top Tips, Recommended Courses and Material

PAs And Secretaries: Studying English In Portsmouth (Hampshire)

You have succeeded in getting the job as PA to the boss of a large company. You used your best English and you beat many other candidates. Now you have to do the job! What language will you need? How can you ensure that your English is actually good enough?

This article will discuss the essential language needed, how to survive and how you can improve your English skills.

‘What skills does a PA need?’ Google gives this answer:

"Duties, Responsibilities, & Functions. A personal assistant helps with time and daily management, scheduling of meetings, correspondence, and note-taking. The role of a personal assistant can be varied, such as answering phone calls, taking notes, scheduling meetings, emailing, texts etc."

We can see that a PA’s position is to ensure the smooth running of the office and to take care of the manager’s diary. So if we break this down, the main skills are:

• Answering the telephone, writing emails and letters and making arrangements

In an English context this mainly translates into telephone English, email and written English and general business English.

To increase your general business English, in the context of your job will require work on your part. What is the company you will work for? Which department will you be in? What will be the subject area? Try and break it down into manageable areas.

For example, if your new job is in an electronics firm, and your job is in the training department, you will need to know which products they work on, which will be easy enough to find out, and then the language surrounding ‘training’ which you can find by searching on the internet. This is probably the easiest area of language to organise. Generally, company websites have all the main language used by their company in their ‘about’ section. If not all, it will give a good indication of where you may have gaps in your knowledge.

Using the telephone in English is very challenging for many foreign students. Speaking on the telephone is a particular skill, particularly important for many professionals, and made more difficult because of having no facial gestures to guide you. When we speak face to face, we use a lot more than just the words spoken to understand the message. It has been said that only 7% of communication is actual words, and the rest of the message is body language, gestures, facial signs, head nods etc. However true the statistics are, it is certainly true that understanding the other person on the telephone is a great deal more difficult than speaking face to face.

So, how can you improve your performance on the telephone? The following are a few tips that we give our students when they come on our business English courses here in LSI Portsmouth, and can really make a difference.

• Listen to the Radio. It doesn’t really matter which station you listen to, and you don’t really need to concentrate, it just needs to be playing in the background, so subconsciously your ears ‘tune in’ to the ‘melody’ of the language. You will find after a month or two you can follow spoken English at a much faster pace.

• Prepare. Think about the conversation you are going to have. Try and predict the questions you might be asked and then have the answers ready. Think about the language and vocabulary you might need.

• Pinterest – Yes really. Type ‘Telephone English’ in the search bar and you will find lots and lots of suggestions with ‘set phrases’ you can use on the telephone.

• Don’t be afraid to ask someone to repeat, once, twice, three times, as many times as necessary. If you cannot understand the phrase they are saying, ask them to use other words. Tell them you don’t understand. The aim is to understand, not to pretend you understand.

• Finally, ensure you use a lot of ‘Please’ and ‘Thank you’ when you are speaking to native English speakers, then even if your English is not perfect, they will know that you are trying to be polite.

Email writing – the principles are very similar.

• Read! Read as much as you can. The more you read the more your brain will recognise the order of the words. Read emails from native speakers, underline phrases that you keep seeing and make a note of them.

• Keep your emails short, the shorter they are the fewer mistakes you are likely to make.

• Pinterest – again it is a fantastic resource for set phrases, and it’s free, type in the search bar: ‘Email English’.

• Again use a lot of ‘Please’ and ‘Thank you’ if you are writing to a native speaker, and they will know you are trying to be polite even if you are making mistakes in your grammar.

Of course, another very effective way to improve your professional English is to ask if you can be sent on a Business English course, one where they teach English for PAs and secretaries and the communication skills that are required. Here at LSI Portsmouth we run a variety of professional courses, and one specifically for PAs and Secretaries, where they improve their English for telephoning, email writing, general business English as well as meeting skills and presentation skills. Many companies see this as an investment in their professionals, they know that the skill of speaking English is invaluable in today’s workplace, and it is not easy to learn corporate English in a general English classroom. However, often a company will want to invest in employees who have already proven their worth with a few years loyal service under their belt. Therefore, if the opportunity is not available at the start of your job, putting the suggestions above into practice should certainly help you manage your position.

The Best Things About Business English

Main Differences Between General English And Executive English Courses

Business English? What is it?

I was asked this morning what Business English is? ‘What is the difference between Business English and ordinary English?’ they asked.

Well, that is a really interesting question, which a lot of people have different opinions about. (This is after all just an opinion blog). To answer this question a little better, it might be easier to compare the differences between the General English and Business English courses that we run here at LSI Portsmouth.

Firstly as a language school in England, the basics are the same for all our students. They are immersed in an English environment, where they have to use their English, whether they like it or not. The benefit of this cannot be underestimated. Seeing and hearing the language spoken all around every day is such a boost to anyone’s language learning. No leaving the classroom and reverting back to your own language here, you have to use what you have learned and more, and you will see it and hear it all around you, the street signs, on the radio, on the TV, in the shops, there is no getting away from learning English while you are here.

Socialising with other students is also the same whatever type of course you do. You may choose to stick with people on the same type of course as you, but you will still more than likely be talking to other students from all over the world, you will hear different accents, different viewpoints and have a greater cultural awareness from this simple and fun fact.
        

Our Executive Course Students socialising
in the Executive coffee lounge

Very often the students, both General and Executive, stay with a homestay. Here there is a slight difference; those on our general English course will stay with a standard homestay, while those on a Business English course will tend to stay with an Executive homestay, families who offer high levels of comfort and convenience (all have broadband wifi and are within walking distance of LSI); most of our homestays are current or retired professionals

When you learn general English you look at grammar, structures; tenses and word order etc., vocabulary, and pronunciation. You would also look at the typical functional language that you would need in an everyday situation, like buying a train ticket, shopping, maybe going to the hairdresser? Of course, there are skills that are necessary as well like listening, understanding fast speech, being able to read a newspaper or social media.

The students who study General English are very often studying it for pleasure or possibly because they want to have a better level of English for now or in the future, but not necessarily for any specific purpose. They may have taken time out of a course and often stay with us for an extended period, often for a month or two at least, sometimes up to a year.

By contrast, most of the students who come and study on our Executive or Business English courses are working people. Of course, this makes life a bit more difficult to take months away from, so their courses are much shorter and are concentrated, more intensive. They have a wide range of grammar, skills and functions fitted into their one or two weeks.  On average our Executive students stay with us for two weeks, some for shorter some for longer.

Of course, the basics are still needed as above, so the grammar and structure, the pronunciation and the skills are the same, but your course would be focussed on the specific field you were in.

For example, a Journalist would want to look at different writing styles, the terminology in their field, whether it is newspapers, magazines, social media or broadcast journalism. The type of language that is specific to that area. A broadcast journalist would probably have practice speaking English in a broadcasting role-play, maybe being filmed so as to be able to discuss this after, looking for ways to improve. An Export manager though would look at the language of transport and distribution logistics, export documentation, possibly the language of customs requirements and tariffs. They might look at the functional language of telephoning to give and receive information, speak at length in detail, negotiate a contract or email writing.

        

A small group on the Business English Course
practising 'meetings' language.

In order for our students who are on the Executive English courses to have a tailored course, specific to their requirements, they would generally have a one to one teacher for part of the day, so their exact needs were analysed and met. Maybe for a part of the day they would join a small group of similar level and needs business students. At LSI Portsmouth the small group element of the business course comprises no more than four similar level students, each with similar requirements. The benefit of studying with a few other students is being able to hear other accents, and hear other opinions, but not be intimidated when trying out new elements of the language. The added benefit of a small group is that there is plenty of opportunity to speak. In the smaller group lessons the students will practice the function language, for example leading and having a meeting. This is then very close to a real life situation for many of them, with a variety of different accents to understand.

Over the last 35 years here, we have managed to perfect our courses that deal with corporate English, and our feedback from our students to the question ‘What would you change about the course?’ nine times out of ten says ‘Nothing’.

So, in short, what is the difference between a Business English course and a General English course? A Business English course will be tailored to be specific to what the student needs in a work situation, in order to be able to communicate easier in a corporate environment, whereas a general English course is more to raise the general level of English used in everyday life. If you are a working person? Then the Business English course is probably exactly what you need ;-)

The Simplest Ways To Make The Best Of English For Business Communication

How To Learn English For Business Communication 

We all know that there are so many Business English courses to choose from out there but how do you know that you are getting the best course available? Here are some ways to help you differentiate.

The first point is to make sure that the language school specialises in corporate English training. This means that you will be with professionals from different companies and countries who are your contemporaries. A good sign is to ask for a list of their clients and see how many names you recognise.

Another key to a successful business English course is that it is adapted to your professional needs. As an example, if you are a project manager who needs English for managing international teams, you will need English for meetings, English for presentations or English for negotiations; you will need exposures to different accents; you will need the intercultural awareness and soft skills to manage these international teams effectively. By analysing your needs before the business English course starts, and then during it and being able to react quickly and flexibly to those needs, the course will be adapted to your corporate English needs.

A company is only as good as its employees so look at the business English trainers at the centre: they should not just have teaching qualifications but real experience in the business world. A good corporate English trainer can put your language practice in contexts that you will recognise from your job – and this will make your course far more effective.

Finally, ask your friends, colleagues and HR personnel – have they done a business English course? What did they think was effective? A personal recommendation is worth its weight in gold, as we would say in English ;-) At LSI Portsmouth, we are happy to welcome many students who have been recommended to us as well as to welcome so many friends of friends; this creates a very unique atmosphere, professional but warm.

LSI Portsmouth is happy to provide potential clients with references from some of the biggest companies in the world who have chosen us as their preferred supplier for business English courses. They have chosen us because our experience in corporate English training over more than 30 years have made us one of the market leaders. Come and see why J

6 Reasons Why Your Company Will No Longer Survive Without Outstanding English Business Communication

Learning English For Business Communication

Why learn English for business communication?

Well, if you do not, you will be at a serious competitive disadvantage in the international global market. For better or for worse, English language has become the global language for business and professional communications and the standards are changing. Today, small, medium and multi-national companies, educational establishments and even governments are investing heavily in increasing and accelerating their staff’s knowledge and communication skills in this area. It is a game-changer. Why? Because even if you are excellent in your work and offer products and services of the highest quality, it may not be enough! Experience shows that someone who is not as good as you but can communicate his or her message more effectively in business or professional English, has a greater chance of winning international business, defending a budget or perhaps even gaining promotion instead of you. 

Is it best to do this training in my own country or go to an English speaking country to do it?

Ideally both. Extensive training can happen in your own country through in-company or private lessons, telephone English classes and on-line learning. Then a visit to a specialist Business English training centre in an English speaking country is highly recommended. An intensive course for at least one week and, if possible, up to four weeks or more can facilitate a tangible increase in your levels of confidence and speaking, listening, reading and writing fluency and enable you to be much more effective in your work.

A specialist centre? So is English for business and professional communication training different from general English training then?

Yes, definitely. It is more intensive and tailored to your specific business and professional needs. Often teaching takes place on a one-to-one basis or a small group basis (or a mixture of both) and focuses not only on your specific language and work-related vocabulary requirements, but also soft skills, cultural awareness and situations relevant to your present and future work needs.

But how do I know what is the best business communications course or training centre for me?

Ask for recommendations from people you know who have done training like this before. Speak to agents or your HR department, look on-line, in the UK look at BEUK or EL Gazette recommendations. When you find a potential centre, look at the listed companies and clients they deal with and how long they have been teaching Business English courses, too.

Another key indicator to consider when looking at a specialist centre’s web-site is the actual training process. Is there a detailed needs audit? What types of courses do they offer? What is the experience of the teaching team, the course content, flexibility, range of nationalities in groups, ages of students, the resources & facilities available, the price and the after course service.

Is there anything else you should consider?

Yes, the location. Do you want to study in a large metropolis where there are many distractions, many people who may speak the same language as you? Would a quieter place, with a slower pace of life, a more relaxing environment perhaps by the sea or in the country be more suitable for your Business English studies?

In addition to this, hotel or executive host family accommodation, the cost of living, the centre’s after class social programme, places of historical and cultural interest, transportation links to airports and places of interest should also be considered carefully before making your decision.

If you had to summarise the importance of learning English for your professional communication needs in one sentence, what would you say?

In these increasingly challenging and globally competitive times, We’d say invest in your future; invest in learning English for Business and Professional Communications now.

Day Four of Farringdon's Visit to LSI Portsmouth

Day Four of Farringdon's Visit to LSI Portsmouth.
Lovely time in the Exec centre and then out for a meal and then some music with Lea Brophy the Vice Principal.

Business English UK - Business English UK is a national, not-for-profit organisation, offering independent advice on finding the right English and communication training course in the UK

Day Three of Farringdon's Visit to LSI Portsmouth

Day three of Farringdon's visit to LSI Portsmouth.
A packed day today, sight seeing and sport as well.

Business English UK - Business English UK is a national, not-for-profit organisation, offering independent advice on finding the right English and communication training course in the UK

Day Two of Farringdon's Visit to LSI Portsmouth

Farringdon's second day in LSI Portsmouth.

Business English UK - Business English UK is a national, not-for-profit organisation, offering independent advice on finding the right English and communication training course in the UK

Farringdon Bear from BEUK comes to visit LSI Portsmouth

We have a very special visitor this week at LSI Portsmouth - Farringdon Bear from BEUK (See below).  As always we love having visitors and so we are going to show him a fabulous time in this amazing city we live in and of course extend the biggest welcome to him from our stunning school and particularly from the Executive Centre.

Emma met him and had a little chat with him to explain what makes us so good.

If you want to join the LinkedIn Alumni group click here

Business English UK - Business English UK is a national, not-for-profit organisation, offering independent advice on finding the right English and communication training course in the UK

Our Brand New Executive Centre Lounge - Revamped

The Face lift!

Our stunning new Business Centre Lounge - note the unusual lights! - designed by Steve Fury and hand crafted by Mark Hendry.

We decided to start the new year with a big bang and to completely update our Executive lounge. Since January we have been updating, or rather giving a complete makeover to our executive centre lounge.  Below you can see the whole process. So now our students who come to learn Executive English in Portsmouth can do it in style!

The Before Pictures:

Before

Work started

Work started

The During the Process Pictures: 
With our extraordinarily talented builders Mark (Hendry) and Rick (Elliot) - who also made the front of the building the beautiful feature that it is!

The boys at work.

During.

During 

Some More 'Reveal' Pictures of our Executive English Centre Lounge.

Charlies Angels anyone ;-)

We have to give credit to:

Steve Fury for the scoping and design concept http://www.designfury.co.uk/

Richard Jones  for the furniture: http://www.apresfurniture.co.uk/

Mark Hendry and Rick Elliot for all the building work and amazing lights.

Adam Travers and Terry Thorne for all the fiddly bits (and doing the electrics and organising the external contractors).

So a massive thank you to; Steve, Richard, Mark and Rick, Adam and Terry who all helped to create the whole look and transform the whole area – many thanks to all of them from LSI for doing such an amazing job!