Collins Business Skills Understanding English however it is spoken Ian Badger, BMES, Bristol UK IATEFL Glasgow

Collins Business Skills English for Erasmus Medical students in the UK (from Austria, Spain and France) English for logistics process integration (Finland and Russia) English for users of new global IT production/maintenance systems (Finland, Germany, France and Austria) English for IT Helpdesk integration (Finland, Poland, China and India) Current and recent projects

Collins Business Skills Listening challenges The value of using authentic recordings Key features of the Collins ‘Listening’ titles Sample recordings Helping the listener/Helping the speaker Scottish Eleven! Some references and resources Content

Collins Business Skills Which speakers of English do you/your learners find difficult to understand? UK speakers? American? Australian? Indian? Chinese? French? Spanish? Russian? Others?

Collins Business Skills Today’s learners of English have to understand speakers from all over the world, many of whom do not speak with the pronunciation, grammar and clarity which have traditionally been taught in schools and colleges.

Collins Business Skills ….but discovering a ready supply of 'authentic' business/professional listening material is not easy. Most organisations — let alone individuals — would be reluctant to have their meetings, discussions, presentations, phone calls and social events recorded for classroom use by publishers, schools or teachers — and in any case most such recordings would be extremely difficult to use once devoid of context. Simon Sweeney

Collins Business Skills

All the recordings in the Collins ‘Listening’ titles were made before the learning material was written; there are no scripted dialogues read by actors. The books aim to sensitise learners to the varieties English they need to understand in the real world.

Collins Business Skills Range of accents Fragmented sentences False starts Standard/non-standard grammar Mistakes Features of authentic recordings

Collins Business Skills Seamus, a sales manager from Northern Ireland Communicating clearly

Collins Business Skills Voic s Catrina voic Jindee voic Nick voic

Collins Business Skills Samples from ‘Listening’ Adapting to local customs Tourist information Booking a hotel room Directions to the hotel New Zealand/Australia Tube announcements

Collins Business Skills Helping the listener Don’t speak too fast Give people time to think/respond Be aware of who you are talking to Avoid unnecessary idiom and complex grammatical structure Explain acronyms and abbreviations when necessary Check others have understood your points Don’t overwhelm the listener with information

Collins Business Skills Ask the speaker to clarify when you do not understand Ask the speaker to slow down Ask the speaker to speak up Ask the speaker to be more specific Be empathetic Rephrase what the speaker says ‘Active’ listening

Collins Business Skills Badger, I ‘Listening’ in the Collins English for Business series, Harper Collins/Collins ELT App for I Pad and IPhone published in 2012 App for I Pad and IPhone Badger, I ‘Listening’ in the Collins English for Life series, Harper Collins/Collins ELT 2012 Sweeney, S. ‘Authentic materials’ in Business Issues, 2/2006 Wilson, JJ. How to teach listening, Pearson Further recordings of ‘Business Listening’ speakers – People from around the world recording the same paragraph in English – Examples of regional UK accents and dialects -Video examples of English accents around the world References and resources