English Applied to Business Sciences I

Students should have an A2/B1 level of English (according to the Common European Framework of Reference for Languages).

Although there will be some moments in the classes with a focus on a theoretical approach to the syllabus, more active activities will be privileged, aiming not only a more global participation of the students but also the practice and development of the several necessary skills in a foreign language learning and consolidation process. Therefore, discussion moments, group tasks, and the use of digital platforms of interaction will be proposed as classroom activities.

Skills: a secretariat professional must develop, among other skills, their communication ability, both oral and written. Making phone calls and managing business correspondence are some of the several tasks that they have to perform in their professional daily routine efficiently.

Goals: Throughout this Curricular Unit, several different activities will be offered to the students, aiming to develop the before mentioned skills, and therefore seeking to reach the desired aims: to make students able to make phone calls in the working context, as well as to write business letters and emails, following the necessary structures.

I – Telephoning

1. Preparing to make a telephone call

2. Receiving calls

3. Taking and leaving messages

4. Asking for and giving repetition

5. The secretarial barrier

6. Cross-cultural communication on the telephone

7. Problem-solving on the telephone

II – Business correspondence

1. The structure of a business letter/email

2.Whatsapp

3. Specific vocabulary

III. Grammar

1. Verb tenses (Present Simple, Present Continuous, Past Simple, Past Continuous)

2. Time and place prepositions

3. Degrees of adjectives

• - Test - 40.0%
• - Test - 40.0%
• - Final Work - 20.0%

• - Exam - 100.0%

NAO

ASHLEY, A. (2003) A Handbook of Commercial Correspondence. Oxford: Oxford University Press.

MACRAE, Paul (2014) Business and Professional Writing – A Basic Guide. Peterborough: Broadview Press

LOUGHEED, Lin (2003) Business Correspondence: A Guide for Everyday Writing (Intermediate). Longman.

TALBOT, Fiona (2016) How to Write Effective Business English. S.l.: Kogan Page Publishers.

VINCE, Michael (2003) Advanced English Practice: English Grammar and Vocabulary. Macmillan.

WILSON, James M., Teresa Lameiras e Raquel Cardoso (2004) Manual de Correspondência: Inglês-Português. Coimbra: Almedina.