Biz-E-Training

BCS – Siemens – Lesson 1 Self-study

Self-study guide

Some of the activities need a little preparation before the lessons. These are marked with this icon: . Do these activities in the time leading up to the course, and then quickly re-do them just before each lesson. This will help greatly in ensuring that you get the most from the course.

Vocabulary

One of the most important aspects of the course will be the acquisition of new business and general vocabulary. To help you get started, try the following:

  1. Use this page to review production-related vocabulary: Vocabulary for talking about products and production
  1. Use the word list at the back of your coursebook Career Express (B2) 2nd Edition (page 134). This will be helpful in our lessons, but can also be used to learn the vocabulary in the coursebook.
  1. Make a list of new vocabulary from Unit 5.
  1. Use your preferred method for learning the new vocabulary (e.g. the Quizlet app, a vocabulary notebook or cards).
Reading

When the course begins, we will be using the coursebook – Career Express (B2) 2nd Edition in our lessons.

Some of the activities need a little preparation before the lessons. These are marked with this icon: . Do these activities in the activity leading up to the course, and then quickly re-do them before each lesson.

  1. Go to page 45, Section 7 How it works: Product Management.
  1. Prepare activities A and B for lesson 2.

We will review your answers in the lesson.

Online exercises

Use this link – Online exercises – to do the following Career Express online exercises:

  • Unit 5: Vocabulary practice 1 – 4
  • Unit 5: Grammar practice 1 – 4
  • Unit 5: Getting it right: 1 -2
Student consulting presentations

The student consulting component is an integral part of your Business Communication Skills course. Its aim is to bridge the gap between the classroom and the workplace. And on this course, it provides the opportunity to prepare and practise the important business skill of presenting in English.

As part of your workload for this course, you have been allocated 40 hours to carry out research on an area of business that relates to business and then present your findings in a formal presentation in English.

This presentation will represent 50% of your final grade for the course.

Carefully read the instructions below to see what you need to do to start work on this part of the course.

Instructions for preparation

  1. Form a group of three to prepare and deliver your presentation.
  1. As a group, decide on a business issue or topic in accordance with the following criteria:
  • The topic should be of interest to all the group members and should be of benefit to the class as a whole
  • The topic should have some practical value and not only be theoretical.
  1. As a group, prepare a short text (maximum 100 words) describing your student consulting presentation topic and the reason(s) why you have chosen the topic. If it’s possible at this early stage, add a title for your project.
  1. One group member should add your text and the names of the other group members to the Student Consulting forum.
  1. Note that ALL the group members should register on the website so that they can view the feedback they and other groups receive in the forum. This is important because in this way you can all learn from each other and make sure that we have a good spread of presentation topics.
  1. Your tutor will give you feedback on your choice of topic and once he or she has given you their approval you can continue your preparations.

Instructions for the presentation

  1. Each speaker needs to speak for 5 minutes. So, if the group consists of 3 speakers, the presentation as a whole should last exactly 15 minutes. Note that points will be deducted from all the group members if
  • the presentation is longer or shorter than the required time
  • one of the speakers speaks more or less than the other presenters.
  1. The presentations have to include the use of PowerPoint (or Keynote slides).
  1. The slides need to be submitted to the trainer at least 2 days before the presentation takes place.
  1. Each group needs to produce a handout with a list of new/difficult vocabulary used in their presentation with a German translation for each term. This handout is for the trainer and the other members of the class as a whole (hard-copy).
  1. Each group needs to produce a bibliography listing the sources used in their research for the presentation. Again, this is for the trainer and the other members of the class as a whole.