AnnaAnna has to give a key presentation in New York

Anna works for a multinational in Barcelona. Next month she has to give a very important presentation in New York. She must present a proposal for the expansion of the firm in Spain to the board of directors. Anna knows her level of English is good, but in spite of that she’s worried and has been sleeping poorly for weeks.

Anna needs help to put the presentation together in English, and to rehearse the oral part in language that is correct, clear, and persuasive. She needs to convince her listeners.

In addition, while in New York she’ll be attending other meetings, lunches, dinners and maybe even a cocktail party with top-level colleagues and members of the board.

After her diagnostic meeting and level assessment, Barnsdale Business Language Training recommends the following for Anna:

• A Barnsdale Barcelona trainer will help Anna rehearse and put the final touches on her oral presentation, in 4 two-hour sessions.
• Barnsdale Barcelona will provide Anna with a series of good examples of presentations in English like the one Anna has to give. Barnsdale will also give her a concise, clear and practical set of guidelines on how to make and give top-notch presentations in English.
• Barnsdale Barcelona will correct her written English and the structure of her presentation, giving suggestions for further ways of enhancing it.
• Anna will have lunch at a restaurant with her trainer, before or after one of her training sessions, in order to practice small talk. This is a key part of her preparation, as Anna has said she gets more nervous using English at social events than she does at work. It’s quite likely that the success of her trip to New York will end up depending as much or more on social relations than on the presentation itself.

AndreuAndreu is set to start working for a Dutch multinational

Andreu is excited! He’s been offered an exceptionally motivating job at a Dutch multinational with a large office in Barcelona. The only problem is that he’ll have to speak English quite a lot, much more than in his last job, and his level of English isn’t as good as it should be for the new position. With his company’s approval, Andreu asks Barnsdale Barcelona for advice. After the diagnostic meeting and his level assessment, Barnsdale recommends the following:

• A week's total immersion in English. Andreu will live with an English-speaking family from Monday to Friday. His home for the week will be a beautifully restored country cottage in one of the most attractive parts of the Garrotxa region. During his week’s stay, Andreu will:
  • Hear only English. The parents (Brian and Helen) and three children always speak to each other in English.
  • Have four hours of class each morning with Helen
  • Spend time in the afternoon doing the homework that Helen assigns him
  • Eat breakfast, lunch, and dinner with the family, always communicating with them in English
  • Listen to the radio and watch TV in English
• After his week’s immersion, Andreu will have daily two-hour training sessions focused on his specific job. Thanks to our method of Blended Learning, he will keep advancing at a rapid pace. This phase will last three months, and will be centred on:
  • Telephone calls
  • Small talk for entertaining colleagues from Holland
  • Meetings: Improving his listening comprehension and ability to take part in presentations and discussions
• During the three-month period, Andreu will receive emails and letters in English, and his trainer will correct his written replies.

JordiNext month he’s going to China on a sales mission

Jordi is thrilled. His company has chosen him to join a sales mission to China organised by PIMEC, the association that promotes micro, small and medium-sized businesses and freelancers in Catalonia. Jordi wants to do his best. He knows that he is facing a major challenge and that a great deal is expected of him. But he is also aware that he knows next to nothing about China. “It’s such a different culture,” he thinks. He decides to get in touch with Barnsdale Business Language Training.

Barnsdale’s Chinese culture expert, LiJuan, suggests that he take three four-hour cultural training sessions. We are not going to perform miracles in 12 hours, but we can guarantee that Jordi will gain elementary knowledge about Chinese language and culture that will enable him to stand out above the rest of the delegation. By the end of the sessions, Jordi will be able to:

• Follow Chinese etiquette. That is, he will be able to distinguish appropriate, polite gestures and clothing from more informal ones.
• Utter basic courtesy phases in Mandarin Chinese.
• Know the basic outlines of Chinese history and geography.
• Distinguish between the most elementary do’s and don’ts of Chinese business culture.
  

OriolHe is travelling to Germany within three weeks

Oriol has found a great job. The only problem is that the company is located in Germany and his German is mediocre at best. He decides to take advantage of his three remaining weeks to study German.

After his intake session (goals, fears and desires in his use of professional German), Barnsdale proposes that he take an intensive 35-hour course in one week.

During this week, Oriol’s days will look something like this:

• 9:00-10:00 Discussion on the homework the teacher assigned the day before (writing reports, reading newspapers, Internet searches, writing and understanding emails, etc.)
• 10:00-11:00 All-round Business German (including business skills and socialising, the language of meetings, telephone talk, the language of business)
• 11:00-11:30 Coffee break. The breaks are used to practise chit-chat in German.
• 11:30-13:30 Business German
• 13:30-14:30 Lunch: social language. Oriol and his teacher will talk during the entire lunch hour about topics not related to the classes.
• 14:30-15:00 Strolling and chatting. Relaxed conversation.
• 15:00-16:00 Business German. Analysis of the day’s progress and homework for the next day.
• 17:00-19:00 Oriol works on his own to consolidate the concepts and extend his vocabulary.
  

MireiaShe runs a company that is shifting part of its production to India.

Mireia runs a family-owned company with more than 200 employees. For some time they have been weighing the pros and cons of shifting part of the production to India. She has even visited a plant in Pune, the Indian high-tech capital. Offshoring production would enable the company to cut costs and take advantage of the incredible mental agility and solid professional and academic training of young Indians. But Mireia has not taken the step yet because she is held back by problems: first, she can’t find Catalans willing to move to India, plus she is afraid that the managers she hires in India won’t see eye to eye with her and her management team in Catalonia.

Mireia gets in touch with Barnsdale Business Language Training. Instead of language training, what we suggest for her is high-quality cultural coaching throughout the entire process of internationalising her company. Here are just some of the ways that Barnsdale can help Mireia and her company:

• Barnsdale has a team of native Indian associates, cultural training experts, who are perfectly aware of the economic, social and cultural reality of their country. They also know the variations between the different states in India: it is often said that India is a continent disguised as a country. The same holds true of China.
• Barnsdale suggests that Mireia hire a team of Indian university graduates to assemble her management team for the new plant. Barnsdale guides Mireia’s company in the hiring process.
• The six young Indians who are finally hired will come to Catalonia for three weeks to learn how to the company works and to attend a Spanish immersion course and classes on the way business is done in Europe. They will be the managers of the company in India, and dialogue with them must be ongoing and fluid.
• In parallel, Mireia will take a cultural training course where she will learn the basics about the conventions of Indian culture and the way business is done in India.

With this training, the company and its members will be posed to tackle the internationalisation process successfully.

RosaRosa wants to go to Africa with a charity organization

Rosa knows what sort of work she wants to do. She wants a job that will fulfil her. A year from now, when she finishes her degree at the Autonomous University of Barcelona, she wants to travel to Africa as an aid worker with an international organization. She knows she will need to have an excellent command of English, but right now her level is not very high. She decides to contact Barnsdale Barcelona.

The team at Barnsdale Barcelona recommends an English course of Blended Learning, with four hours of class a week. This course will combine sessions with a trainer and sessions of e-learning (i.e. through the use of Internet, audio and video material, teleconferencing, videoconferencing, CD-ROMs, etc.). At the end of the academic year:

• Rosa will have made a quantum leap in all communication skills: speaking, listening, reading, and writing.
• She will be able to express her ideas very easily in formal language, so that she will be able to carry on meetings and write reports, among other things, without any difficulty at all.
• Thanks to her great progress in use of small talk and informal English, Rosa will be prepared to lead a satisfying and successful life in Africa. And above all, she will be able to touch people’s lives.