English for Secretarial staff

Introduction

English for Secretarial Staff is an online course, consisting of 56 units of English, and providing approximately 60 hours of study for students.

Course aims

To give students at Intermediate, CEFR B1/Upper Intermediate B2 level practice in general and business-oriented language required for business contexts at this level, specifically tailored towards the specialisation of secretarial duties. The course blends grammatical structures necessary for this level, with vocabulary, reading, listening, writing, speaking and pronunciation.

Граматика

By the end of the course, students will be able to:

  • Use present and past tenses correctly
  • Use the appropriate conditional forms to talk about situations and consequences
  • Use the present perfect to describe a link between past and present events
  • Use going to and will to talk about future predictions and intentions
  • Use the passive form correctly
  • Distinguish and be able to correctly describe countable and uncountable nouns

Речник

By the end of the course students will have learnt approximately 200 expressions used in secretarial duties.

Skills

By the end of the course students will have had exposure to and practice in reading and hearing formal and informal English from a variety of accents and secretarial duty contexts.

Unit Summary

Module 1

  • Introduction to Secretarial Duties
  • Grammar: Present tenses
  • Речник: Common phrases and terminology used in an office environment
  • Четене: The role of a secretary and the skills required
  • Слушане: Dialogue between a secretary and a manager
  • Писане: Crafting professional emails
  • Говорене: Being a secretary
  • Pronunciation: Anxious and Chess + connected speech

Module 2

  • Making and Receiving Calls
  • Grammar: Past tenses
  • Речник: Telephone-related terminology and phrases
  • Четене: Telephone communication in secretarial work
  • Слушане: Sample telephone conversation
  • Писане: Taking messages
  • Говорене: Effective phone communication
  • Pronunciation: Beats and Beach + connected speech

Module 3

  • Organising Meetings
  • Grammar: Going to and Will
  • Речник: Terms and phrases related to meetings and scheduling
  • Четене: Steps to effectively plan and schedule meetings
  • Слушане: Dialogue about meeting setup
  • Писане: Writing minutes
  • Говорене: Inviting participants and confirming meetings
  • Pronunciation: Bet and But + connected speech

Module 4

  • Office Management and Administrative Tasks
  • Grammar: Present perfect
  • Речник: Office management related phrases and terms
  • Четене: Overview of administrative responsibilities
  • Слушане: Administrative tasks
  • Писане: Creating task lists
  • Говорене: Asking for and giving directions within an office setting
  • Pronunciation: Bud and Bird + connected speech

Module 5

  • Handling Correspondence
  • Grammar: Countable and uncountable nouns
  • Речник: Terms related to business correspondence
  • Четене: The importance of proper handling of office correspondence
  • Слушане: Conversation about sorting and prioritising mails
  • Писане: Writing an email of apology
  • Говорене: Discussing correspondence-related issues and queries
  • Pronunciation: Book and But + connected speech

Module 6

  • Document Preparation
  • Grammar: First conditional
  • Речник: Document-related vocabulary
  • Четене: Preparing, organising, and filing documents
  • Слушане: Talk about document review and revision
  • Писане: Preparing office documents for everyone
  • Говорене: Document preparation
  • Pronunciation: Cart and Cut + connected speech

Module 7

  • Customer Service and Communication
  • Grammar: Passive
  • Речник: Customer service terms
  • Четене: Customer service and good communication skills
  • Слушане: Example interaction with client and customer
  • Писане: Writing an internal email
  • Говорене: Effective verbal communication with clients and customers
  • Pronunciation: Day and Ray + connected speech

Module 8

  • Advanced Secretarial Duties
  • Граматика: Second conditional
  • Речник: Specialised terminology for advanced secretarial tasks
  • Четене: Executive secretary responsibilities
  • Слушане: Talk regarding complex secretarial tasks
  • Писане: Summarising a report
  • Говорене: Office discussions and presentations
  • Pronunciation: Fine and Vine + connected speech

Follow-up

Students completing the English for Secretarial Staff course should feel confident in tackling any upper intermediate course, including our Upper Intermediate Business Power course.