Financial English

Introduction

Financial English 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 finance. The course blends grammatical structures necessary for this level, with vocabulary, reading, listening, writing, speaking, and pronunciation.

Γραμματική

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

  • Use the present perfect tense to describe situations requiring a link between the present and the past
  • Describe what someone has said using reported speech
  • Use modal verbs to talk about the functions of obligation and possibility
  • Correctly use adverbs to describe events happening over time
  • Select the correct past form to talk about actions happening before now
  • Use the present continuous form to describe situations in the future
  • Use relative pronouns and clauses to link simple ideas into more complex sentences
  • Distinguish and be able to correctly describe countable and uncountable nouns

Λεξιλόγιο

By the end of the course, students will have learned approximately 120 lexical items used in a financial setting.

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 financial contexts.

Unit Summary

Module 1

  • The Financial World
    Grammar: Present Perfect
  • Λεξιλόγιο: General finance vocabulary
  • Ανάγνωση: The interconnected world of finance
  • Ακρόαση: Dialogue: It’s a small world
  • Γράφοντας: International travel in the finance industry
  • Μιλώντας: How can the finance industry help fight climate change?
  • Pronunciation: Minimal pair: /ə/ and /e/; dealing with connected speech

Module 2

  • Understanding Financial Reports
    Grammar: Reported Statements
  • Λεξιλόγιο: Vocabulary commonly encountered in financial reports
  • Ανάγνωση: Aventis Steel financial report
  • Ακρόαση: Dialogue: Aventis feedback
  • Γράφοντας: Writing an easy-to-understand financial report
  • Μιλώντας: How to get the main points from a report quickly
  • Pronunciation: Minimal pair: /e/ and /ʌ/; dealing with connected speech

Module 3

  • Budgeting and Forecasting
    Grammar: Talking about obligation
  • Λεξιλόγιο: Budgets and forecasting vocabulary
  • Ανάγνωση: Forecasting: predicting the future
  • Ακρόαση: Talk: Lower your costs and maintain a happy workplace
  • Γράφοντας: How to make accurate financial forecasts in an unstable world
  • Μιλώντας: Keeping budgets under control in a profit-making company
  • Pronunciation: Minimal pair: /a:/ and /ʌ/; dealing with connected speech

Module 4

  • Banking and Investment
    Grammar: Adverbs of time
  • Λεξιλόγιο: Vocabulary used in the banking sector
  • Ανάγνωση: Banking employment roles
  • Ακρόαση: Dialogue: Ghost banks
  • Γράφοντας: What do people like and not like about banks?
  • Μιλώντας: What’s the best investment advice in an unstable world?
  • Pronunciation: Minimal pair: /d/ and /r/; dealing with connected speech

Module 5

  • Business Communication in Finance
    Grammar: Past tenses
  • Λεξιλόγιο: Vocabulary necessary for talking about effective communication
  • Ανάγνωση: Effective communication
  • Ακρόαση: Dialogue: A lack of communication
  • Γράφοντας: How to complain to your boss without losing your job
  • Μιλώντας: Face-to-face or online meetings: which are best?
  • Pronunciation: Minimal pair: /f/ and /v/; dealing with connected speech

Module 6

  • Taxation and Compliance
    Grammar: Talking about possibility
  • Λεξιλόγιο: Vocabulary used in taxation
  • Ανάγνωση: Taxation: a comparative study
  • Ακρόαση: Dialogue: An auditor speaks
  • Γράφοντας: What would a tax-free society be like?
  • Μιλώντας: Do we punish tax cheats enough?
  • Pronunciation: Minimal pair: /g/ and /j/; dealing with connected speech

Module 7

  • International Finance and Trade
    Grammar: Relative pronouns and clauses
  • Λεξιλόγιο: Vocabulary used to talk about international trade
  • Ανάγνωση: Politics and trade: friends or enemies?
  • Ακρόαση: Talk: Free trade
  • Γράφοντας: Has protectionism locked Africa into a cycle of poverty?
  • Μιλώντας: Is international trade damaging the environment?
  • Pronunciation: Minimal pair: /ɑː/ and /æ/; dealing with connected speech

Module 8

  • Careers in Finance
    Grammar: Countable and uncountable nouns
  • Λεξιλόγιο: Vocabulary useful for careers in finance
  • Ανάγνωση: How to get a job in the financial sector
  • Ακρόαση: Dialogue: My chat with human resources
  • Γράφοντας: How to fail a job interview
  • Μιλώντας: Acing your job interview
  • Pronunciation: Minimal pair: /v/ and /b/; dealing with connected speech

Follow-up

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