LECTURE NOTES

ENGLISH PROFESSIONAL
Week 1

Introduction and Overview of the

Course
 LEARNING OUTCOMES

On successful completion of this course, students will be able to:

LO 1: demonstrate the upper intermediate English listening skills both academically and
professionally

LO 3: demonstrate the upper intermediate English speaking skills both academically and
professionally.

OUTLINE:

INTRODUCTION

DISCUSSION

A. Overview of the Course

B. Listening Skill: Sharing the rules and regulation

C. Speaking Skill: Introducing self

D. Academic vs Business English

E. Listening Skill: Making a generalization

F. Speaking Skill: Restating and giving opinion

CONCLUSION

REFERENCES
 INTRODUCTION

What is English Professional? English Professional is one of the compulsory subjects in

Binus Online Learning program which is focusing at improving the students’ English skills both
academically and professionally. This English Professional subject has four big portions. They
are Listening, Reading, Speaking, and Writing. Besides those four macro skills, there will be
grammar and pronunciation discussion inside of the course. Specifically, in our first online class,
we will discuss the overview of the course, rules, and regulation, introducing self, academic vs
business English, making a generalization, then restating and giving opinion.

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 DISCUSSION

A. Overview of the Course

English Professional is aimed at providing learners with English skills related to

academic and professional English. This course will improve the students’ abilities in listening,
reading, speaking, and writing skills both academically and professionally. Each materials in this
course contributes to the graduate competencies that are divided into employability and
entrepreneurial skills and study program specific outcomes, in which students need to have
demonstrated by the time they complete their course.

There are four specific outcomes in this course. Specifically, graduates should be able to
demonstrate the upper intermediate English listening, reading, speaking, and writing skills both
academically and professionally. Furthermore, graduates should also be able to perform
employability and entrepreneurial skills consist of planning and organizing, problem solving and
decision-making, self-management, teamwork, communication, and initiative and enterprise.

Planning and organizing means graduates should be able to plan and organize their tasks
and responsibilities to achieve the goals; Problem solving and decision making means graduates
should be able to solve their challenges in this course and make the best decision based on the
task given in this course; Self-management means graduates should be able to manage their tasks
by applying self-learning; Teamwork means graduates should be able to communicate within
group to solve the problems and propose a good teamwork; Communication means graduates
should be able to express their opinion and ideas actively both in written and spoken ways;
Initiative and enterprise means graduates should be able to take an initiative in developing
innovation in the professional English.

Sixteen sessions with ten weeks forum discussion, four video conferences, and one
embedded interactive MOOC will be integrated inside of this course. Those sixteen sessions
cover: introduction and overview of the course, academic vs business English, understanding

English Professional
reading passages and pronunciation, presenting specific information and writing academic essay,
business meeting, dealing with business negotiation, composing business negotiation email,
review of session 1-8, overview of session 9-16, statement of fact vs opinion, discussion essay,
delivering business presentation, business documents, capturing ideas in different text,
summarizing and paraphrasing texts, then review and speaking examination.

Multi teaching and learning strategies are implemented in this course, the lecture might
deploy several teaching learning strategies including presentation, case studies, self-learning,
forum discussion, personal assignments, group assignments, quizzes, etc.
Four mixtures of textbooks and various additional resources are available in this course.
For academic listening, reading, speaking, and writing TOEFL IBT Book by Deborah Philips
(2014) is suggested. In the other hand, for professional listening, reading, speaking, and writing,
some books from Mable Chan (2020) with English for Business Communication; Emma Ledden
(2017) with The Presentation Book; and Lin Lougheed (2007) with TOEIC are suggested in this
lesson.
B. Listening skill: Sharing the rules and regulation
In this part, students will get the general rules and regulations related to English
Professional course. Specifically, the detail rules and regulations will be shared with the students
on the first video conference meeting. Here are the general rules and regulations in the course:
1. All communication must be delivered in English.
2. No social media jargon/ terms (emoticons, wkwkwk, hehehe, etc) during the class or
forum discussion.
3. Use formal English for spoken and written communication and assignments.
4. Avoid plagiarism. No “copy paste” from the internet. Please paraphrase the cited
statements from other resources. Paraphrase here means uses your own language by:
a. Getting the source
b. Reading it carefully and understand it
c. Writing in your own words
d. Mentioning the sources
5. No “Google Translate” without revision.

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 Overall, the lecture will respect and appreciate every effort you make as well as it comes
from your original ideas and proper citations. Beside this course rules, please look over your
general rules and regulations guidelines for Binus Online Learning Program to avoid
misunderstanding. Check your grading points, forum discussion standard, assignments deadlines,
attendance, and examination flows.
C. Speaking Skill: Introducing Self
In your career and education, interaction with many people will help yourself grow up.
Having an excellent professional introduction ready gives you a competitive advantage when you
meet people like partners, managers, supervisors, or lecturers and supervisors. It is essential to
create a great image of yourself in people’s minds such that they feel comfortable and see the
professionalism while interacting with you.

An appealing self-introduction is important. It is crucial to convey essential details about

yourself clearly and directly to the speaking partner. Knowing how to introduce yourself
professionally helps people identified your positive capability and reputation. With a captivating
opening, the conversation becomes more engaging to gain employment, drive sales, acquire a
mentor or make a new professional connection. Shortly, here is the steps for introducing yourself
professionally.

1. Clearly state your purpose

Commonly, people introduce themselves by stating their name and current job title.
However, you can consider starting with your name, and mention what your goal is for the
meeting such as finding someone to collaborate with, proposing a new project, promoting your
business, etc. Quickly summarize who you are and why you are there based on the appropriate
context. For example, if you’re at a networking event you might simply start by shaking a new
connection’s hand and giving them your first and last name. Then begin a conversation by asking
and answering questions about their background and your own.

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 2. Maintain your body language

Next, control your body language, your words and your body language make an impact
on the first impressions. Controlling your body language is essential to stay balanced and
professional in a new introduction. For example, when you approach a new coworker in your
department, start with a strong handshake, and maintain eye contact during the conversation.
Doing this, shows the other party you are engaged in your interaction. Speaking in a clear and
audible voice during your conversation, maintain natural body language with relaxed shoulders
and open arms by your side or stand to greet someone who walks in the room can demonstrate
that you are confidence and polite in your professional introduction.

3. Show your uniqueness and cultural understanding

Explaining that you are valuable adequately can be one of the interesting way to
introduce yourself professionally. You can convey your unique experience and qualifications to
make it more memorable. Don’t forget to consider and understand the culture of your speaking
partner is important. Before introduce yourself to native or non-native speakers, local or foreign
speakers review their culture to make your professional introduction run smoothly and
appropriately for your potential client.

4. Introducing yourself professionally

a. Example 1: Meet the Classmates

Hello, my name is Anna Sunshine, please call me Anna, I took International Marketing
major because advertising is my passion and Binus Online Learning is the appropriate place for
me to study, improve my skills, find an inspirational, and innovative community for elevating
my career. I have a rich background in analysing audiences for messaging optimization and
experiencing in public relations for 5 years. It will be a great opportunity to have you all in this
class. Hope we can learn and collaborate during the course.

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 b. Example 2: Meet the Interviewer

Good morning, I’m Paul Simon and I enjoy promoting small companies to help them
increase their profits. I’m excited for the opportunity to be part of a team that increases
awareness of the businesses in Cisco. I have a strong background in public relations and would
love to tell you about the strengths I could bring to this position.

c. Example 3: Meet A New Client

Hi, my name is Jimmy, and I am reaching out from Customize Bags to inform you of the
services we provide. Our company sends out automatic shipments of a variety of takeout bags to
restaurants each month so you will always have enough for your customers. We offer different
packages based on your needs, so I would love to set up a time to speak with you and give you
more information.

d. Example 4: Meet A Co-Worker

Hi, I’m Anita Sue, just call me Anita. I work in the marketing department as the social
media manager. Our teams hold weekly meetings, and I look forward to working together in the
future. Please let me know if I can help with anything as you orient yourself with the office.

A. Academic vs Business English

1. Academic English

Academic English is the type of English needed for Higher Education or further
academic study. Academic English is also the genre of English used in the world of research,
study, teaching, and universities. If you read an article in an academic journal or listen to
someone giving a presentation or a talk about an academic subject in an academic environment,
Academic language is mostly being used there. Academic language refers to the oral, written,
auditory, and visual language proficiency required to learn effectively in universities and
academic programs.

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 In addition, this genre needed by students to understand and communicate in the
academic disciplines. Academic language includes such things as specialized vocabulary,
conventional text structures within a field such essays and lab reports and other language-related
activities typical of classrooms, such as expressing disagreement, discussing an issue, or asking
for clarification, etc. An Academic English course will teach you how to understand academic
materials as well as giving you the skills you need to produce academic language confidently
about your subject.

2. Business English

In general, Business English is a form of English especially suited to international trade,

commerce, and finance. Business English is used in, business meetings, sales presentations,
negotiations, business correspondence, business reports, executive summaries, etc. This English
genre is part of English for Specific Purposes. It is studied by many non-native English speakers
who wish to do business with English speaking countries or with non-English-speaking countries
using English as a lingua franca.

Business English, improve your English for the workplace and learn about business
topics to help you work more effectively and make the most of career opportunities. Business
English communication skills are essential for getting ahead at work. By understanding the
communication skills needed in the workplace, you can gain the confidence to build strong
relationships with your colleagues and clients.

B. Listening Skill: Making a generalization

Learning how to make generalizations is an academic skill that, as a learner, you have to
master. This important skill will assist you to have an in-depth understanding of texts. When you
pay attention at all the parts of a text, you will learn to recognize the important information and
then summarize it in such a way that gives an encompassing explanation of the idea. Making
generalizations based on common knowledge and texts leads to your application of
generalizations in your life.

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 A good generalization is supported by specific pieces of evidence that are significant to
the generalization. Making Generalizations can be stated as a broad statement about a group of
people or things. It states something they have in common. Be careful to make sure your
generalization is valid. Valid means true and supported by facts. It also agrees with what you
already know about the topic; uses logic and reasoning; and proven with several examples. Pay
attention for signal words such as some, most, might, sometimes, often, probably, typically,
many, rarely, few, none, all, always, never, everyone, nobody, etc.

C. Speaking Skill: Restating and Giving opinion

Restating means expressing the same idea in different words, but not necessarily in a
shorter form. It is different with summarizing. Summarizing means quickly going over main
ideas in a shorter from than the original idea. Restating an idea is just saying it in different
words. A restatement uses different sentence structure. When you want to restate an idea, don't
start with the original phrasing and try to change it. In fact, don't look at the original phrasing at
all. Instead, think of the idea in your head and try to come up with a different way of putting it
from scratch.

Giving opinion is showing the argument of statement to the other people about a specific
thing. In this part you need to know how to restate and give opinion related to the first lecturing
or video conference. Shortly, you are expected to express the given information in your own
words and deliver ideas or opinion towards the essence of the information. Here are some
phrases of giving opinion that can help you in this part:

1. After much thought, …

2. After weighing up both sides of the argument, …

3. Although I can see both points of view / Although I can understand the opposite point of
view, …

4. As I see it, ...

5. Correct me if I’m wrong, but …

6. For me/ From my point of view, …

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7. Frankly, …

8. I am not very familiar with this topic, but …

9. I do believe/ feel/think …

10. I have come to the conclusion that …

11. I might change my mind later, but …

12. I reckon/suppose …

13. I tend to think that …

14. I’m not sure I’m the right person to ask, but/ I have very limited experience of this, but …

15. I’m pretty confident that …

16. I’ve always thought that …

17. If you ask me, …

18. I'm (absolutely) convinced that …

19. In my humble opinion / IMHO, …

20. It could be said that …

21. It seems clear to me that …

22. It would seem to me that …

23. My initial reaction is …

24. Not everyone will/would agree with me, but …

25. Personally speaking / Speaking for myself, …

26. The way I see it (is) …

27. To be (perfectly) frank, …

28. To the best of my knowledge, …

29. What I think is …

30. You could say …

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 CONCLUSION

In this first meeting, it is important to know the course objectives, outcomes, topics,
activities, and textbooks before going to the complete discussion. Acknowledging the general
rules and regulations are crucial to finish the course smoothly. Introduce yourself individually
and professionally can elevate your business career and professionalism. Differentiating
Academic and Business English can help you to reach the target of your study and job. Finally,
making a generalization, then restating, and giving opinion are relevant to be used in this section.

English Professional
 REFERENCES

1. Deborah Phillips. (2014). Longman Preparation Course for the TOEFL Test: IBT. 3rd
Edition. Pearson Longman. New Jersey. ISBN-10: 0133248127/ ISBN-13: 978-
0133248128
2. Emma Ledden. (2017). The Presentation Book: How to Create it, Shape it and Deliver it!.
Pearson Business. Harlow, United Kingdom. ISBN: 9781292171982
3. Lin Lougheed. (2007). Longman Preparation Series for the New TOEIC Test: Advanced
Course, Fourtg Edition. Pearson Longman. New York. ISBN 0-13-199311-
9https://soenglish.me/introduce-yourself/
4. https://www.indeed.com/career-advice/career-development/introduce-yourself-
professionally
5. https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=1yMkQa_bpGI
6. https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=a3gERqaaXZk
7. https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=AXGpiQZ_MHA
8. https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=fTHaALnWE0U
9. https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=pC1IkuYYIhI
10. https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=tYGXNT4p8H4
11. https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=V1xt7zgnuK0
12. https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=zp6HyVBQ1tU

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