Though we offer more than 100 languages in Transparent Language Online and the CL-150, our most requested language continues to be English. We’re excited to continue expanding our collection of English materials.

We have traditionally supported beginner and intermediate level learners, from elementary students who need basic, age-appropriate vocabulary to get through their school to intermediate level ESL learners preparing for life in an English-speaking country, including renting a home and acing a job interview.

For high-intermediate to advanced English learners, we now offer Medical, Finance, and Sales/Marketing Courses.

The Advanced Conversations in English courses are the most advanced materials among our English offerings. They were created for high-intermediate to advanced English learners—both students and professionals—who are interested in business and medical topics and want to work with more complex texts, speech patterns, and cultural nuances.

Advanced Conversations in English contains 16 hours of study (16 topical units) covering three main topics: medical, finance, and sales and marketing.

The Medical course includes 4 units, covering:

• Vital signs with a nurse
• Talking to a doctor about an injury
• Getting an x-ray
• Diagnosis and next steps

The Finance course includes 4 units, covering:

• Auto Insurance
• Lease or Finance a Car
• Investing in Stocks vs. Mutual Funds
• Understanding a Paycheck

The Sales and Marketing course including 8 units, covering:

• Inbound Marketing
• Search Engine Optimization
• Pay-Per-Click Advertising
• Market Research
• Retail Store Exchange
• Taking an Order from a Customer
• Meeting a Prospect at a Trade Show
• Trade Show Shipping

Advanced Conversations in English prepares learners to understand and use written and spoken language in business settings.

These courses are centered around conversations that challenge learners to understand concepts and recognize contexts for domain-specific words. Learners will also be exposed to and asked to interact with business language in the form of reports, presentations, negotiations, telephone conversations, emails, blogs, websites, and more.

Conversations in a business setting contain many important language strategies needed for fluency: identifying yourself, making small talk, stating initial positions, making clarifications, discussing concessions, giving the history or results of a situation, brainstorming solutions, and more.

Skills practiced in the courses include:

• Intensive listening
• Speaking
• Textual/situational analysis
• Writing/spelling
• Idiomatic language comprehension
• Tone, style and knowledge of communication methods

Units get progressively more challenging, requiring learners to read, listen to, and analyze domain-specific scenarios.

Each unit contains the following lessons:

• Lesson 1 involves reading and analyzing text and images and drawing conclusions.
• Lesson 2 involves a conversation about the unit topic, between people in roles where they would naturally talk about it.
• Lesson 3 requires the student to analyze the meaning and intent of part of a conversation and provide an appropriate, logical, and grammatically-correct response.

For example, in the Finance course, Auto Insurance unit:

• In Lesson 1, the learner starts by answering comprehension questions about a car insurance quote and pricing information.
• In Lesson 2, the learner then gets listen to and participate in a conversation about a customer clarifying what certain coverages her car insurance insures her for with an insurance representative.
• In Lesson 3, the learner gets to complete a conversation between an insurance representative and an insured driver who was involved in a car accident.

These courses are not meant to serve as a comprehensive how-to guide in the domain, but rather to deliver written and spoken material in business situations and allow learners gain familiarity with new terms in context. Students are required to use their logic and language skills to complete the lessons.

Explore the rest of the course in the free trial or in a library near you.