Conference in Vienna at the Competence Center for Business English.

Michelle attended the 10th Austrian UAS Language Instructors' Conference, hosted by the Competence Center for Business English, on Friday 10th June.

ABSTRACT:

When the university scrapped all business English courses, I transitioned to teaching the interdisciplinary, core module course: Communication in Business. Going beyond BE teaching to EMI (English Medium Instruction) content delivery has been an adventure. In this talk I shall share my experiences of what was transferable from the traditional BE course to the updated EMI communications course. And vice versa. Some things worked better than others – and then we had to go online!

Presentation summary:

Introduction: Taking on the new Communication in Business course required me to step out of my BE teacher’s comfort zone. I shall touch on 3+1 learning points, giving examples from my classes of what worked well and what could have gone better.

Learning #1: communications theories are really interesting and add academic substance to the language we teach in BE.

Learning #2: students pick up on when your knowledge lacks depth – you have to keep expanding your knowledge.

Learning #3: communication is ALL about language - our technical skills, knowledge and training from the realms of BE is invaluable.

Extra learning from moving online: you can bring in outside speakers for added kudos and authenticity in the business communications class.

Download a handout version of the presentation slides from here:

The conference theme was "In the Classroom and Beyond: Teaching and Learning in ESP Higher Education. The aim was to address various dimensions of English for Specific Purposes (ESP) within new learning environments as well as new and innovative approaches in tertiary education.