After a very hectic semester, Jesica and I have been finally able to submit our final assignment for the Teaching Business English Course – E-teacher Program scholarship.

During the course we explored and gained a deeper insight into various aspects of TBE such as needs analysis, CLT, resources, cross-cultural business communication and material design, among others. As in most online learning experiences, the greatest advantage was to collaborate with colleagues from other countries and learn about their particular culture and teaching contexts.

The aim of the assignment was to design a 6-hour workshop to share all we have learned in TBE with our colleagues. We chose to focus on the use of web-based material to design communicative activities for Business English classes. Through the wide array of authentic multimedia material that is available on the web, we can provide our students with relevant updated resources that address their specific needs and interests and enhance their motivation. Although we couldn’t include it in the current schedule, a further development would be the integration of web 2.0 tools, which have already made their way into the business setting as well. (See Blogs Will Change Your Business)

Towards TBE 2.0…

The great news was finally announced!

About a month ago, Jesica and I received an e-mail from the US Embassy in Buenos Aires telling us that we had been nominated for the E-Teacher Program,  an online program in different areas for English Language Teachers.

Yesterday we were officially announced that we have been accepted to take an online course on Business English, offered by the University of South Carolina.

Although we have a particularly hectic schedule at the moment, since we are designing an online course ourselves (and I am already teaching a TOEFL iBT Blended course), we are delighted at this new professional development opportunity.

I promise to blog more about it soon! :)