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.
Grammar
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
Vocabulary
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
- Vocabulary: Common phrases and terminology used in an office environment
- Reading: The role of a secretary and the skills required
- Listening: Dialogue between a secretary and a manager
- Writing: Crafting professional emails
- Speaking: Being a secretary
- Pronunciation: Anxious and Chess + connected speech
Module 2
- Making and Receiving Calls
- Grammar: Past tenses
- Vocabulary: Telephone-related terminology and phrases
- Reading: Telephone communication in secretarial work
- Listening: Sample telephone conversation
- Writing: Taking messages
- Speaking: Effective phone communication
- Pronunciation: Beats and Beach + connected speech
Module 3
- Organising Meetings
- Grammar: Going to and Will
- Vocabulary: Terms and phrases related to meetings and scheduling
- Reading: Steps to effectively plan and schedule meetings
- Listening: Dialogue about meeting setup
- Writing: Writing minutes
- Speaking: Inviting participants and confirming meetings
- Pronunciation: Bet and But + connected speech
Module 4
- Office Management and Administrative Tasks
- Grammar: Present perfect
- Vocabulary: Office management related phrases and terms
- Reading: Overview of administrative responsibilities
- Listening: Administrative tasks
- Writing: Creating task lists
- Speaking: Asking for and giving directions within an office setting
- Pronunciation: Bud and Bird + connected speech
Module 5
- Handling Correspondence
- Grammar: Countable and uncountable nouns
- Vocabulary: Terms related to business correspondence
- Reading: The importance of proper handling of office correspondence
- Listening: Conversation about sorting and prioritising mails
- Writing: Writing an email of apology
- Speaking: Discussing correspondence-related issues and queries
- Pronunciation: Book and But + connected speech
Module 6
- Document Preparation
- Grammar: First conditional
- Vocabulary: Document-related vocabulary
- Reading: Preparing, organising, and filing documents
- Listening: Talk about document review and revision
- Writing: Preparing office documents for everyone
- Speaking: Document preparation
- Pronunciation: Cart and Cut + connected speech
Module 7
- Customer Service and Communication
- Grammar: Passive
- Vocabulary: Customer service terms
- Reading: Customer service and good communication skills
- Listening: Example interaction with client and customer
- Writing: Writing an internal email
- Speaking: Effective verbal communication with clients and customers
- Pronunciation: Day and Ray + connected speech
Module 8
- Advanced Secretarial Duties
- Grammar: Second conditional
- Vocabulary: Specialised terminology for advanced secretarial tasks
- Reading: Executive secretary responsibilities
- Listening: Talk regarding complex secretarial tasks
- Writing: Summarising a report
- Speaking: 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.