Teacher Discussion Forums

I need to come up with a 10 week, one hour a week business writing course for Bank employees.

My tentative plan was to choose x number of differen types of letters and having students write letters. Then I would correct errors and 'organically' address problems that arose. i would have a small grammatical component to the curriculum.

I came up with that plan because I had about two days to come up with a whole curriculum for that and a bunch of other classes. Really, I would like to have a curriculum that was more grammar-based, since grammar seems to be the real problem with business writing around here. The 'theory' behind what kind of letter to write is easy. It is interesting and very helpful, and I plan to include it in the course, but they need me for the grammar, etc.

Without buying a book for every student, what could I do to put together a course like this?

If I did want to buy a book what would you (anyone reading this) recommend? I will have two levels. If I remember write, the lower level corresponds to the beginning and pre-intermediate levels of the Oxford Placement Test, and the next level will be the two higher levels above that. I have Oxford Placement Test scores if anyone needs any more detail.

One of my concerns is that I don't want the headache of ordering texbooks over and over, and having the supplier run out after I grow dependant on a good resource. I have had a bad experience with slow deliveries. Also, our office will be moving and we will have little storage space. So I don't want to put myself in a position where I need a lot of storage space. If there were photocopiabel resources for this,t hat would be awesom. I have nearly all the MacMillan photocopiable resources but none really cover this.

I like _The Language of Business English_ for it's explanations and breaking down English grammar, but would like more exercises, particularly related to letter-writing.

Any suggestions?

I would begin the first class with a needs assessment. Unless you know specifically that letters are the only thing your students have to write, I would include e-mails, memos, resumes, and possibly short reports. On the Web there are sites that have samples of every type of business letter you could imagine (one of my students found it as part of an assignment this semester). Have the students tell you what they have to write in English, and base your course on that.

Also, since so much of business writing is standardized in format, I would emphasize learning common fixed expressions and collocations, rather than grammar specifically. Again, you can probably find those in the sample business letters on the Net, if you Google "sample business letters" or something similar.

I find that most exec.s don't deal with letters very much at all, but most correspondence is email, of course. This, however, is not reflected in most coursebooks at all.

I would look at the specific types of correspondence that they deal with, and go into sentence structures, effective vocab etc.

Really, I would like to have a curriculum that was more grammar-based, since grammar seems to be the real problem with business writing around here.

Based on my experience, I'd say you've hit the nail on the head. Often the client thinks that the employees need a letter writing course, where what they actually need is to improve their overall command of the language.




My site: www.roadtogrammar.com