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Intermediate
John Allison with Paul Emmerson
Macmillan
978-1-4050-8369-0
The Business is a thorough topic-based course aims to help students learn "how to do business in English", as well as provide the language needed. It is for students studying in the tertiary sector, studying business at college or university, as well as people already in work who are especially interested in following a topic-based course. Somewhat radically, it overtly aims to input "content knowledge" in various business fields: marketing, finance, management and other areas. There are Regular "Internet research" tasks which add a further dimension to the printed course-book material.
The Business is of interest in that it follows a a "Blended Learning"
model. The actual DVD-ROM is groundbreaking. For instance, the listenings
are available as mp3 files, allowing users to listen on the move. The video
quality is good. The design of the disc is, like the course book, excellent.
The tasks on the disc include the ever-popular text-reconstruction activity,
which goes to prove a point about technology in language teaching: "It's
not so much the program, more what you do with it." This famous observation
was made a long time ago (Jones: 1986) and it still, in our view, holds
true. The DVD-ROM opens with a clear index page. The interactive workbook
covers vocabulary, grammar, pronunciation, writing and vocabulary.
Sample screen showing a vocabulary exercise.
Sample screen showing pronunciation exercise.
Sample screen showing the start of a business maze. The students have to make choices, and depending on these decisions, they work through the problem.
Although all publishers work as a team, much credit must go to Steve Hall for the excellence of this disc.
For free "The Business" resources such as PowerPoint presentations, podcasts and progress tests visit Macmillan's Business English Online website