Ian McMaster’s workshop on helping language learners to change their behavior and not be too authentic

In this workshop, we will look some at the key communication skills needed in the modern business world. We will discuss how we can encourage students to put these skills into practice by creating an effective learning cycle and changing their behaviour. We will also look at the relative merits of authentic versus textbook language and discuss whether being authentic is an optimal strategy.

The workshop will also present practical classroom activities and look at some of the results from the most recent Business Spotlight survey of business English needs.

Bio

Ian McMaster is editor-in-chief of the bi-monthly business communication magazine Business Spotlight (www.business-spotlight.de). The magazine is published by Spotlight Verlag in Munich (www.spotlight-verlag.de). Spotlight Verlag is part of the publishing group DIE ZEIT.

Ian joined Spotlight Verlag in 1992 and was editor-in-chief of the monthly general English magazine Spotlight from 1995-2003, and from 2006-2009. He founded Business Spotlight in 2001. In 2007, Business Spotlight was awarded the title of Germany’s trade journal of the year for the category “Law, science, tax and business”. It also has a licence edition the Czech Republic.

Ian holds the CertTEB qualification as a business English trainer and is a former coordinator of the worldwide business English teachers’ organisation, IATEFL-BESIG (https://besig.iatefl.org/). He is co-author (with Bob Dignen) of Communication for International Business and Effective International Business Communication (both HarperCollins); and English for Business: 100 Tips for Effective Communication (Spotlight Verlag, e-book).