Business English materials in the digital age: what’s new?

BESIG Bielefeld – PCE

I have long been fascinated by business English teaching materials – authentic, framework, published, digital; even the absence of materials….. for many years, I taught without published materials, then worked promoting in-house materials in one specific organisation.

I became a writer for my sins, and really enjoy writing the In Company e-lesson – one of the things I’ll be looking at during the PCE. So, over the last few years have been sashaying down the dimly-lit paths trodden by publishers. I have been involved in many a digital product (the DVD-ROM for The Business, CD-ROMs for In Company) and I watch with dark fascination as the great publishing houses wrestle with the digital future. Just recently, PSA was involved in a developing a new course for editors, writers and designers.

The PCE I will be running will look at a range of current materials, including the exciting and the innovative, such as the award-winning eWorkbook for Global (Macmillan). One of my contentions is that developments outside of business English – electronic dictionaries, for instance, are often cutting-edge and merit our attention.

I will steer clear of M-Learning, or learning ‘on the move’ as I talk about that on Sunday.

The whole venture will be given a twist as the conference finishes with a look at Dogme, published materials and all things digital – I’ll be defending the software.

I love BESIG and hope to see many familiar faces next month in Bielefeld – maybe even at the PCE…