Introduction

This is the course Anglès tècnic corresponding to the studies of the CFGM of ‘Gestió administrativa’. It is composed of two parts: the written material and the web material. The written material includes the basic grammatical and lexical contents, as well as texts related to business and administration. The web material is composed of online activities and exercises to practise the contents of each unit.

Each unit is composed of three separate sections: “Companies”, “Company operations” and “Careers”. And each section includes readings related to the administrative field, grammar reference and explanations about oral and written language and multiple examples, such as emails, letters or conversations.

Apart from grammar, the material includes vocabulary related to the administrative world, and examples of the language used for greetings, making requests, making suggestions, and other functions of the language. You can practise the contents of the written material with a variety of interactive exercices and activities in the course website and in the web material. However, you should be aware that the characteristics of a distance course make it very difficult to get enough practice of the oral skills (listening and speaking), so you will need some extra practice on your own.

The course contents are divided into three units, and each unit is composed of different texts, conversations, etc. with the vocabulary used in your professional field.

The written material is conceived as a manual. You do not have to study and learn all the contents in the book, though it is advisable to read it, and meet the characters that appear in every section. They will guide you through your learning process. The aim of this book to offer you the vocabulary and language tools that you might need at your workplace.

Here are some tips about the best way of using this course:

• Check and write down the deadlines for submitting the activities (you will find the course schedule in the ‘Pla de Treball’).
• Look at the contents page in the written material to see what the unit is about and which topics you will practise.
• Go to the self-correcting exercises and the activities on the web to practise the contents of the unit.
• Go to the course website and check the activities that you will have to submit. You will find two oral activities (speaking and listening), an interactive grammar quizz and some written exercises in a text file, which you will have to download and submit for correction.
• Use all or some the resources available for you: written material, web material, complementary material, websites, reference books, etc., and then do the exercises as well as you can. You can start doing the activities in the order that you prefer, but do not leave everything for the last day.
• Submit your activities before the deadline.

You can use a dictionary if you have problems with the language, but you should also make an effort to understand the main ideas of a text without knowing all the words. As for automatic translators, they are very useful to understand short written texts (like the instructions of an exercise), but do not use them to translate the whole material or to write a text in English. The idea of presenting the written material in English is that you can learn the language by using it, so it makes no sense to use an automatic translator to do the work for you. Remember also that you can ask your teacher or your classmates anytime you need their help.

Apart from all these technical resources, it is very important that you adopt a specific attitude to be successful in this course. We understand how difficult English is for many of you, but we can assure you that if you work hard, you do all the activities and you are patient, you will have no problems with English.