Publisher: Macmillan
Authors: John Allison et al
Components reviewed: Student’s Book, DVD-ROM and online components
This is a smart and well presented, thoroughly modern Business English course book which addresses all the difficult and dubious issues of BE at advanced level with accuracy and style.
Written for advanced level students of Business English, this book meets the need for material based on current issues with up to date language usage. Although necessarily a little dense, as BE books at this level tend to be, the material is presented in such a way as to be easily accessible – in bite sized chunks.
This book has eight units, each containing modules entitled About Business, Grammar, Vocabulary, Management Skills, Writing and Case Study – that’s 48 modules altogether. There’s a review section after every two units, additional material for each unit included in a separate section, a grammar and practice section for each unit, handy little internet research projects throughout, a very useful word list, and a phrasal verb list, so plenty of scope for extending classroom practice or recommending independent work for dedicated students.
The contents pages, at the front of the book, are colour coded for easy reference. The DVD-ROM provides a wealth of further grammar, vocabulary, listening, pronunciation and business problem-solving practice and also a large collection of reference and other printable materials.
The companion website includes monthly podcasts and PowerPoint presentations complete with worksheets, teacher’s notes and tape scripts in PDF format – I tried some of these out on an unsuspecting class who happily enjoyed a slightly different activity.
What did I particularly like about this book? I loved the way the material was arranged in bite sized chunks – it made lesson planning easier, it was easier to get the material out of the book and adapt it for use in my classroom with my students, and it facilitated the book as a source of homework activities. I also loved the fact that there is really a lot of material in this book. I love that the phrasal verb list is arranged in such a way that students look up one word verbs and then find the appropriate phrasal verbs listed with them, thus enabling students to actively seek out and learn phrasal verbs instead of trying to understand phrasal verbs they come across in texts of one type or another. I love that the wordlist contains some seriously tricky expressions like “comfort zone”, “oligopoly”, and “whistle-blower” – and a number of other items that I might struggle to explain adequately. The handy little internet research projects attached to each unit provide a homework assignment, the basis for a project or presentation, or an extension to your class work – another great idea.
Was there anything I wasn’t so keen on about this book? Well, it’s a Business English course book… Also, the CD insisted on installing itself- which was okay for me, at home, on my laptop, but clearly useless if you don’t have administrator’s rights on your school network. Oh, and the illustration on the front – a woman in a business suit on roller blades…!
This book would be a really useful addition to any school’s resources where Business English is taught at this level because it’s up to date in a fast moving field, it’s usable as it is, and it lends itself to both class work and homework, whilst being very adaptable. It’s a great book for those of us who are English teachers rather than business people and, not having the benefit of any specific BE training; need a little help with this particular genre of English.
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