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These 20 groundbreaking programs combine psychology, linguistics and instructional design, and engage learners through:
amusing situations
entertaining characters
interesting conversations
authentic language
strong storylines
high quality production
practical graded activities.
Each video has five sections
Language Functions
Explores how we do things with language such as apologizing, agreeing, comparing, giving reasons, explaining, asking etc.
Grammar
Looks at key elements of grammar and syntax, such as: tenses, comparatives, modals, questions, gerunds, conditionals and more.
Idioms
Explains common idiomatic expressions that non-English speakers often find confusing.
Vocabulary
Helps increase word knowledge by highlighting challenging vocabulary in everyday conversations.
Pronunciation
Provides help with English sounds and rhythms for those new to the language.
1. Greeting and Introducing
Learn to introduce yourself and others, and use the correct possessive pronouns - my, his, her, our, your and their.
2. Saying Where People Are
Learn the prepositions for saying where people are and use the present continuous tense for actions in progress.
3. Describing People
Learn to describe people positively and negatively, and use regular and irregular comparatives and superlatives.
4. Asking Questions
Learn to ask for information, recognize rhetorical questions and use closed, open and statement questions to get quality answers.
5. Saying What's Needed
Learn to talk about what's needed and how to use modal verbs such as have to, should and must.
6. Giving Reasons
Learn to give reasons using because and talk about past actions using irregular forms of the simple past tense.
7. Describing Feelings
Learn to express positive and negative feelings, and talk about habitual actions and events using the simple present tense.
8. Making Suggestions
Learn to make suggestions and talk about future plans using going to.
9. Talking about Rules
Learn to understand and explain rules and use appropriate adverbs and quantifiers to talk about degree and frequency.
10. Communicating Feedback
Learn to give and receive feedback and talk about what has happened using the present perfect tense.
11. Complaining and Criticizing
Learn to recognize and express criticism and complaints and use the present perfect tense with periods of time.
12. Clarifying and Explaining
Learn to explain and clarify situations and ideas and use gerunds as the subject of the sentence.
13. Agreeing and Disagreeing
Learn to agree or disagree appropriately and use the first conditional to express possibilities.
14. Discussing Responsibilities
Learn how to explain responsibilities and use the second conditional to express possibilities.
15. Giving Warnings
Learn to understand and give warnings and use imperatives without sounding offensive.
16. Expressing Ideas and Attitudes
Understand and discuss ideas and attitudes and improve your fluency using coordinating conjunctions - and, so and but.
17. Apologizing
Learn to apologize appropriately and identify verbs that take the infinitive -want, seem, attempt, demand, expect, like and love.
18. Encouraging Others
Learn ways to encourage others and check understanding using the correct question tags.
19. Comparing and Contrasting
Learn to compare and contrast people and situations and use what as the subject of the sentence rather than as a question.
20. Considering Options
Learn to discuss various options and improve your conversation skills using subordinating conjunctions.
Carol returns from vacation to find that Marcus has hired two non-English speakers, to develop diversity at work. Carol and her boss Serena have concerns about their minimum English and the consequent perceptions of Cutting Edge Corporation appearing unprofessional. Carlos and Tammy manage to retain their positions and all the staff are now required to help them improve their English.
The Cutting Edge Rule book lists rules about unprofessional behaviors:
1. Being rude - Aggression and insults
2. Taking supplies - Not legal to take things home.
3. Personal media - Distracting and privacy concerns.
4. Inappropriate dress - Not provocative.
5. Name calling - Insulting or racist is wrong.
6. Flirting - Boundaries of unacceptable behavior.
7. Relationships at Work - Should be kept out of the office.
8. Touching - Beware!
Marcus runs a training session to help staff manager anger, and invites Serena as the anger management expert, which makes Carol angry. Marcus uses a toy crocodile and some boxing kangaroos to get the messages across, but when Michael and Sam are asked to demonstrate their anger management skills the role-play escalates into an embarrassing situation.
The art of explaining concepts and information is covered in four key steps about engagement, structure, maintaining interest and ensuring understanding. While Carol is impatient and patronizing with new starters, others like Sam, Alex, Steve and Michael are more patient and creative in ensuring their messages are understood one to one or in groups.
Carol is concerned about excessive use of Facebook and Twitter at work, and initiates a social media policy, which Serena has observed is missing. Sam presents the new social media policy for the office, and they discuss inappropriate use. At the same time Michael's personal use of a dating app in the meeting triggers an embarrassing argument.
Barney, a neighbor, is irate because his car is blocked in, and gets more angry to discover staff who do not speak English and that Carlos is no longer cleaning the garage and is now the new receptionist. Carlos tries to show empathy for Barney but it backfires. Carol escalates the anger whilst Marcus demonstrates his effective conflict resolution skills to bring the situation under control.
Carol runs a training session on overcoming fear and changing their presentations from BLAND to GRAND. Carol tells Serena she is being long winded, the L in BLAND. Carol invites everyone to present on a 'surprise' item, then gives feedback on their performance, linking it to her formula. Steve is the only one to make a GRAND presentation using great body language and tone
Marcus introduces Brittany, a personal trainer, to help the team with stretching exercises that can be followed by viewers in real time:
1. Shoulder Reset
2. Finger and Hand Stretch
3. Over the Rainbow
4. Neck Stretch
5. Loosen Up
6. Back Stretch with Ball
7. Stretching Legs with Band
8. Hamstring Stretch
9. Flat Back Stretch
10. Hanging Stretch
Supervision mistakes are being made - Marcus is vague, Carol bullies and gives poor feedback and Serena makes the fatal mistake of starting an inappropriate discussion with Carol because she is attracted to a client. Effective supervision skills are shown and include using goals to achieve results and measuring the success, listening and supporting staff, acknowledging good work and focusing on building skills.
Marcus creates an award for the most supportive employee of the month and challenges the team to be supportive, saying everyone will be judged on who offers the most support to Tammy. People offer various forms of support and the outcome results in more winners and losers than expected. Marcus feels everyone is a winner.
Risk taking and accidents are occurring at at Cutting Edge. Safety awareness is the focus of a special training session Marcus has planned to coincide with a surprise party for Serena's 50th birthday. The event is filled with dramatic incidents and even a possible romance - but being safe and avoiding accidents remains the focus.
How often have you asked someone how the meeting went, only to hear: a total waste of time! Yet meetings can be a powerful business tool, bringing people together to solve problems, share ideas, or focus everyone's efforts on a common goal.
So how do you go from "total waste of time" to "powerful business tool"? By training your employees on proper meeting-management techniques to prepare and run effective, focused and successful meetings.
This video, freshly produced by a talented cast and crew, starts with the common pitfalls that often derail meetings. Then you'll see proven methods that can have a dramatic impact on the effectiveness of your organization's meetings.
Advance preparation:
Define specific goals
Create a clear agenda
Provide materials up front
Set expectations
Meeting management:
Stick to your agenda
Guide participation
Control problem attendees
End on time
You'll learn how being properly prepared allows you to encourage engagement and teamwork while keeping the meeting on time and on track. And you'll see specific techniques for a variety of specialized situations, including web meetings.
We're all busy these days and we can't afford to waste our time with nonproductive meetings. Use this new video to learn how to run a meeting well. Set a company-wide standard for meetings that reach their goals - and end on time.
This DVD will improve any manager's ability to handle difficult work situations and conversations effectively. Verbal and non-verbal techniques are demonstrated in a variety of scenarios, from dealing with challenging people to communicating bad news, and will be invaluable to participants both inside and outside of the workplace.
Scripted by a subject expert and trainer, this innovative training DVD is comprised of short clips which allow the trainer complete flexibility and control to intervene at any point and jump around to relevant scenes. Scenes demonstrate good practice and bad practice and cover the following areas:
What's appropriate behavior? Fun and entertaining, this 30+ slide PowerPoint presentation provides helpful reminders to apply civility. Covers tips on personal manners, school manners, and public manners.
Career-advancement candidates must carefully address many issues regarding business etiquette. Is there a standard of dress that is appropriate for every industry? How should employees act in the typical everyday situations to make the right impression? Do global business relationships require different etiquette practices? Authorities such as human resources directors, designers, executive search professionals, marketing management leaders, and chief executive officers address various facets of proper business etiquette, and how it can maximize one's potential for success
Communicating in the business environment involves presenting information. This Microsoft PowerPoint presentation illustrates how to deliver an effective business presentation. Students learn to present and deliver various presentations, such as sales, reports and proposals.
The telephone: It's something we all use countless times each day. Can you think of any more basic or essential business tool? Because we use the telephone so often and so easily, we rarely pause to ask whether we're getting the most from our telephone time. But all of us should consider ways to improve our telephone skills and productivity. Improving phone skills can save you time, make you more money - and help you build valuable relationships.
The new DVD Make the Connection will help you become a master telephone communicator as you discover how to:
Establish instant rapport on the phone - even with people you've never met
Correctly use the essential "hold" button
Stop those endless rounds of phone tag once and for all
Calm irate callers - and win customers for life
Skillfully handle interruptions and background noise
Take complete and accurate phone messages
Keep calls short and end them gracefully
And much more!
Put these proven strategies into practice, and you'll become a more professional communicator. Master them, and you'll make stronger connections with customers and others, and become more productive and effective on the phone.
Why does there seem to be one set of rules for how we behave when were with people and a whole different set for how we act when were on the phone?
When we interact with others on the phone, its easy to lose touch with the basic rules of common courtesy. The truth is, all too often, the telephone becomes an easy excuse for not connecting with people.
Are You With Me? is a refresher of how to use common courtesy on the phone.
The program uses dramatized supervisor-employee discussions to demonstrate how to give criticism effectively by avoiding the personal aspects and focussing on goals and areas of agreement and how to avoid the usual fight or flight reactions when receiving criticism.
Part 1. The art of giving criticism
Part 2. The art of taking criticism
This video offers dozens of tips you can use right away to avoid grammar and usage errors that can ruin your chance to make a good first impression. It identifies mistakes that can make you sound unintelligent - mistakes that could cost you a job or promotion.
In today's business world, mass communication throughout the office can be accomplished through something as simple as sending out a business letter or memo. This presentation describes when to use a letter versus a memo, and the purpose of each. Also, it illustrates how to format the different documents in order to attain the most effective response. Finally, it analyzes the various ways in which the letter may be distributed.
Clear communication within and outside an organization is an important factor in operating a business. In this presentation, students will recognize the differences between Business Reports & Newsletters and learn what information should be included in each. To promote clarity of information when reaching an audience, the format for each document is also examined. Additionally, different modes of distribution are discussed to illustrate the effectiveness of various delivery methods.
Differences is a short program created to help people explore and discuss their own differences through the "voices" of dogs. Thisvideo begins by exploring our differences...and ends by discovering how much we have in common.
In Life and Work: A Managers Search for Meaning, James Autry explores with breathtaking insight and sensitivity the emotional and spiritual issues involved in managing a work force.
In a pressurized atmosphere of downsizing, restructuring, and intense competition, management must be viewed as an act of faith - and every job should reinforce an employees sense of work and dignity. With courageous candor, Life and Work addresses the most troublesome challenges that arise in both work and life. It offers invaluable guidance toward the successful integration of who we are and how we live with what we do.
Avoid embarrassing errors and make your best impression on customers and colleagues.
Email is fast becoming the preferred method of contact for sharing information and resolving problems. The impression you leave with others about the quality of your organization and your own personal competency is largely based on the courtesy and professionalism of your email correspondence.
Learn about:
Email etiquette and best practices.
Openings and closings.
Proper formatting and subject lines.
Grammar and punctuation.
Writing "bad news" emails.
Email customer service.
No matter how long you've been using email, you'll learn some very important guidelines in this video - guidelines that will protect you from catastrophes and ensure your messages are professional, every time.
This presentation will inform students of the benefits of using telemarketing as a form of advertising. Students will be become familiar with the different types of telemarketing a business can use, along with telemarketing rules and guidelines. The basic steps required in creating a valuable telemarketing campaign are also outlined.
Master today's key skills and strategies for effective telephone use.
Good common sense telephone techniques and old-fashion courtesy - especially in today's digital age - often define crucial business moments. Poor telephone skills can cause customer dissatisfaction or loss of customers, damage the organizational image, and threaten overall caller goodwill. In this training program, your employees will learn how to apply 14 key call-handling skills that will boost not only your organization's credibility and bottom line, but also their own professionalism and value.
You'll Learn To:
Provide great service, turning phone calls into relationship builders
De-magnify conflict over the phone through sensitivity
Overcome the two root causes of poor telephone communication
Vary timing, tone and word choice to enhance caller comfort
"Check phone use attitude," follow the "two-ring rule" and more!
The Second City is well known for their improv comedy, their TV shows, and their scores of famous alumni. But what do you and The Second City have in common? Both of you improvise every day!
Second City Communications has facilitated successful business training for over 45 years. Their training program, Working Without A Script, teaches how the basics of improvisation will help your organization communicate better, build stronger teams, and create a positive work environment. Just like an improv troupe, organizations need to know how to work together when the plan doesn't go as planned.
Hosted by Keegan-Michael Key, TV personality and Second City alum, along with a talented ensemble cast, Working Without A Script emphasizes that good communication starts with a "yes, and" philosophy. "Yes, and" means embracing and building upon new ideas. It fosters open mindedness and empowers people to think on their feet and take risks.
When an organization commits to the "yes, and" philosophy, good things will happen!
It's no secret that we live in a world full of negativity. Negativity surrounds us - in our workplaces, in our communities, even in our families. But sometimes? it's our own negativity that stands between us and success.
Understanding the sources of negativity; both our own and others', is essential for people to work together effectively. Yes Lives in the Land of NO will guide participants through their own journeys in the land of NO. This animated program will help viewers deal with negativity faster, more effectively, and with a lot less discouragement and despair.