Preparing our students for business in Europe

Posted by Frank Preiss, on 3 June 2010. Comments: 0

A wake-up article in the Times newspaper on May 31st described how European companies, and British companies with business in Europe, tend to ignore UK applicants for jobs because they don't trust their language skills. ESB wants to play a part, however modest, in putting that right.

The benchmarks used in most of Europe for assessing language skills are the 6 levels of the Council of Europe's 'Common European Framework of Reference for Languages' (CEFRL). Almost all good language courses and examinations in mainland Europe are nowadays structured around the CEFRL.

ESB distributes a very wide range of excellent courses in French, Spanish, Italian, German and Portuguese, all conforming to appropriate levels of the CEFRL. In terms of target age-group, content, speed of progression and design, we offer an unrivalled choice.

These courses are designed for an international market, and benefit from their authors' experience with students of many different mother-tongues, and in many different classroom conditions. But they are entirely in the foreign language, and the explanations and instructions, especially in those that use the latest communicative methods, can be daunting for beginners. So, in collaboration with the publisher, ESB has adapted what we hope will be the first of several of the latest and best courses for English-speaking beginners. These are Aula Internacional (Spanish) and Version Originale (French).

Inspection copies will be available in a few days, and your comments will be welcome.