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Contents

The Internet and Business English (Summertown 2003) ISBN: 1-902-74177 - 3

The Internet and Business EnglishBarney Barrett, co-author, and myself are delighted to say that this book is now available. It is for Business English teachers, as well as Directors of Studies and Heads of self-access centres.

The Internet in Business English is divided into three parts: The Internet, Practical ideas and Reference. Take a look at the Summertown web-site for support material - all the worksheets from the book are available to download from there as PDFs.
http://www.summertown.co.uk/internet_business_english.html

The Internet and Business English is available to buy from from the Oxford English Book Centre.

The Internet

Sample page - Chapter 1 - Using a browser historyChapter 1 looks at the Internet and covers essential technical features and vocabulary. It is essential reading for the Business English teacher relatively new to technology.

Chapter 2 links the Internet to language teaching, examines why we should use the Web in teaching and how to do so.

Chapter 3 looks at how various aspects of Business English teaching can be practised through integrating the Web. It examines the four language skills of speaking, listening, reading and writing; a range of common business skills such as telephoning and giving presentations, and other areas of Business English such as inter-cultural training and examinations.

Chapter 4 explores how the Business English teacher can gain professional support and development through using the Internet, through forums and readily available materials.

Practical ideas

Sample page - Chapter 6 - Predicting the Future exerciseChapter 5 looks at learner training. It offers practical ideas for helping learners become familiar with terminology and with using the Internet.

Chapter 6 offers a range of practical teaching ideas. These are multi-level tasks, and each task either incorporates the use of the Web, or has a Web-based theme.

Chapter 7 is for Directors of Studies and Teacher Trainers. It provides a bank of teacher training ideas to help develop Business English teachers in the area of the Internet, and enable them to integrate the Web into their teaching programmes.

Reference

Chapter 8 is a data bank divided into two sections. Section 1 is a data bank for specialist areas, such as insurance, finance and law. Section 2 comprises a useful list of Web addresses for major companies. This is designed to help teachers access sites which may prove helpful in their teaching.

Chapter 9 offers a range of useful tips for teachers wishing to incorporate the Internet into their teaching, such as how to download a graphic or plug-ins. It also offers technical advice for common problems.

Chapter 10 provides two glossaries. The first is a list of technical terms such as ISDN or cache. The second is a list of pedagogical terms such as blended learning.

Buy this book

The Internet and Business English is available to buy from from the Oxford English Book Centre.

 

CD-ROM Dictionaries at a glance

There is now a range of exciting new CD-ROM dictionaries on the market.

Dictionary:

Features:

Macmillan English Dictionary

Visit the web-site

In Quick Search mode - which shows learners the meaning of a word, while browsing a web page; the dictionary "speaks" the pronunciation of the word at you! This feature can be turned off. "Flashcards" allows learners to test themselves. In the dictionary words are divided into red words with stars, and black words. The coding is also used on the CD-ROM. The key is as follows: Three stars - the word is in the top 2,500 commonest in the language. Two stars, the top 5,000. One star, the top 7,500.

Longman Dictionary of Contemporary English

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Colour is used to help make the most frequent 3,000 words easily identifiable. Additional information identifies if the word is in the first one, two or three thousand of spoken and written English. The dictionary contains frequency graphs of spoken and written English. Is "pardon" more frequent in spoken or written English? Includes the Longman Language Activator on the CD-ROM. Contains an extra 80,000 examples to the paperback dictionary. Over a million sentences from books, newspapers and magazines to illustrate how nearly all words are used.

Cambridge Advanced Learner's Dictionary

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The "Smart Thesaurus" provides a bank of related words. For example, clicking on "hear" provides 32 related words such as "auditory", eavesdrop", "mishear". "SuperWrite" offers the chance to check spelling while composing a document. Much improved interface to the Cambridge Learners' Dictionary.

Oxford Phrasebuilder Genie

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The Phrasebuilder Genie includes the Oxford Advanced Learners' Dictionary. Highly recommended are the collocation exercises, where you have to guess the missing word. Another highlight is the way that an intelligent look-up system uses clues in the text to identify phrasal verbs (for instance: to put somebody up) and idiomatic expressions.

Common features

Quicksearch: all four CD-ROM dictionaries use software which enables learners to access meaning of a word on a web-page, providing that the word is in the dictionary. Audio: all four CD-ROM dictionaries allow learners to: listen to word in English or American; record yourself, compare your recording to a model, then re-record as many times as you wish.

If you have any questions about the content of this e-bulletin or ideas about what should be in the next one, please click here, fill in the form and send it to Pete.

Thank you for your interest.

 
 
   
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