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.

Gramatika

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

Žodynas

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
  • Žodynas: General finance vocabulary
  • Skaitymas: The interconnected world of finance
  • Klausymasis: Dialogue: It’s a small world
  • Rašymas: International travel in the finance industry
  • Kalbėjimas: 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
  • Žodynas: Vocabulary commonly encountered in financial reports
  • Skaitymas: Aventis Steel financial report
  • Klausymasis: Dialogue: Aventis feedback
  • Rašymas: Writing an easy-to-understand financial report
  • Kalbėjimas: 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
  • Žodynas: Budgets and forecasting vocabulary
  • Skaitymas: Forecasting: predicting the future
  • Klausymasis: Talk: Lower your costs and maintain a happy workplace
  • Rašymas: How to make accurate financial forecasts in an unstable world
  • Kalbėjimas: 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
  • Žodynas: Vocabulary used in the banking sector
  • Skaitymas: Banking employment roles
  • Klausymasis: Dialogue: Ghost banks
  • Rašymas: What do people like and not like about banks?
  • Kalbėjimas: 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
  • Žodynas: Vocabulary necessary for talking about effective communication
  • Skaitymas: Effective communication
  • Klausymasis: Dialogue: A lack of communication
  • Rašymas: How to complain to your boss without losing your job
  • Kalbėjimas: 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
  • Žodynas: Vocabulary used in taxation
  • Skaitymas: Taxation: a comparative study
  • Klausymasis: Dialogue: An auditor speaks
  • Rašymas: What would a tax-free society be like?
  • Kalbėjimas: 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
  • Žodynas: Vocabulary used to talk about international trade
  • Skaitymas: Politics and trade: friends or enemies?
  • Klausymasis: Talk: Free trade
  • Rašymas: Has protectionism locked Africa into a cycle of poverty?
  • Kalbėjimas: 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
  • Žodynas: Vocabulary useful for careers in finance
  • Skaitymas: How to get a job in the financial sector
  • Klausymasis: Dialogue: My chat with human resources
  • Rašymas: How to fail a job interview
  • Kalbėjimas: 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.