Brush up your business English

NIC HUMPHRIES, First Secretary (Educational Services), British Council, says his job profile is to promote British educational services, raise awareness of British qualifications and, where possible, help organisations and institutions to adopt them. Based in New Delhi for the past two years, he has made headway, apart from "enjoying Hrithik Roshan films and the rich cultural life on offer".

Humphries was in Chennai recently, on a two-day programme to sign a memorandum of understanding with three city colleges to provide training for and conduct the Business English Certificate (BEC) examinations. In the confines of the BC, cooled to a steady 19 degrees Centigrade, he described work at his ports of call. Before touching down here, it was Bangalore and a seminar on "Strategies for successful schools" that highlighted private school networks, management and IT skills. "But I must tell you about the other cities too," he says.

The City of Guilds is the United Kingdom's largest body involved in testing vocational skills, and last week, in New Delhi, Humphries launched its qualification in hairdressing. In Bangalore, again, it was to launch a qualification in performance offered by the Royal Schools of Music.In Mumbai it was to help school teachers learn to tango, courtesy the Imperial School of Dancing, while Kerala saw Humphries deal with teleconferencing in a teachers training programme.

"The Jammu and Kashmir programme was most rewarding," he says, "as it was to help reform the curriculum, update the syllabus and write textbooks for primary schools. It was a phase during Kargil and we had to shift to Jammu. What was impressive was that teachers walked long distances and in snow to attend classes everyday.

The conversation drifts back to Chennai and Humphries describes the visit as one to develop strategy for new areas and zero in on young learners. BC's Cambridge Young Learners English Test is a three-level formulation which involves activity with fun. Testing writing, listening and speaking, in age groups 7-12, it has seen 450 students sit for it.

However it is the tertiary level that provides opportunity, says Humphries.

"Superior business English skills are crucial in the workplace today and the natural progression is to offer the BEC in colleges. Through ELCOT, BC will offer the certificate to engineering/IT education colleges in the State. The Sri Krishna and Velammal Engineering Colleges and Stella Maris have been the first to formalise this relationship with the BC."

Any tips in preparing for BEC, I ask Humphries.

"BEC, a BC offering in cooperation with the University of Cambridge, is a three level suite of examinations in reading, writing, listening and speaking. As it is recognised by most multinationals, higher grades do help. The World Health Organisation, for instance, looks for an 'A1' pass." One is advised to go through the recommended book list and 30 hours of tuition is ideal. BEC, which has been international for seven years, enhances the value of a CV and that is precisely why corporate response has been encouraging.

MURALI N. KRISHNASWAMY

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