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.

Грамматика

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

Словарный запас

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
  • Словарный запас: Common phrases and terminology used in an office environment
  • Чтение: The role of a secretary and the skills required
  • Прослушивание: Dialogue between a secretary and a manager
  • Написание: Crafting professional emails
  • Выступление: Being a secretary
  • Произношение: Anxious and Chess + connected speech

Module 2

  • Making and Receiving Calls
  • Grammar: Past tenses
  • Словарный запас: Telephone-related terminology and phrases
  • Чтение: Telephone communication in secretarial work
  • Прослушивание: Sample telephone conversation
  • Написание: Taking messages
  • Выступление: Effective phone communication
  • Произношение: Beats and Beach + connected speech

Module 3

  • Organising Meetings
  • Grammar: Going to and Will
  • Словарный запас: Terms and phrases related to meetings and scheduling
  • Чтение: Steps to effectively plan and schedule meetings
  • Прослушивание: Dialogue about meeting setup
  • Написание: Writing minutes
  • Выступление: Inviting participants and confirming meetings
  • Произношение: Bet and But + connected speech

Module 4

  • Office Management and Administrative Tasks
  • Grammar: Present perfect
  • Словарный запас: Office management related phrases and terms
  • Чтение: Overview of administrative responsibilities
  • Прослушивание: Administrative tasks
  • Написание: Creating task lists
  • Выступление: Asking for and giving directions within an office setting
  • Произношение: Bud and Bird + connected speech

Module 5

  • Handling Correspondence
  • Grammar: Countable and uncountable nouns
  • Словарный запас: Terms related to business correspondence
  • Чтение: The importance of proper handling of office correspondence
  • Прослушивание: Conversation about sorting and prioritising mails
  • Написание: Writing an email of apology
  • Выступление: Discussing correspondence-related issues and queries
  • Произношение: Book and But + connected speech

Module 6

  • Document Preparation
  • Grammar: First conditional
  • Словарный запас: Document-related vocabulary
  • Чтение: Preparing, organising, and filing documents
  • Прослушивание: Talk about document review and revision
  • Написание: Preparing office documents for everyone
  • Выступление: Document preparation
  • Произношение: Cart and Cut + connected speech

Module 7

  • Customer Service and Communication
  • Grammar: Passive
  • Словарный запас: Customer service terms
  • Чтение: Customer service and good communication skills
  • Прослушивание: Example interaction with client and customer
  • Написание: Writing an internal email
  • Выступление: Effective verbal communication with clients and customers
  • Произношение: Day and Ray + connected speech

Module 8

  • Advanced Secretarial Duties
  • Грамматика: Second conditional
  • Словарный запас: Specialised terminology for advanced secretarial tasks
  • Чтение: Executive secretary responsibilities
  • Прослушивание: Talk regarding complex secretarial tasks
  • Написание: Summarising a report
  • Выступление: Office discussions and presentations
  • Произношение: 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.