Our academic team has recently followed a group of working learners in cross-border operations and foreign trade sectors. 80% of the questions we received are related to English application in workplace scenarios, so today we will answer the most frequently asked questions in detail.

"Last week during the cross-departmental alignment meeting, the headquarter supervisor from overseas asked me about the project progress. I held back for three minutes and only uttered three words. It was so embarrassing."
This came from Xiao Zhou, a cross-border e-commerce operation specialist who came to us last month, with the goal of being able to independently communicate with overseas suppliers within 3 months.

01Do I need to memorize all BEC/TOEIC vocabularies before speaking English at work?

This is really a misunderstanding that 90% of working people fall into. They always think that they need to accumulate thousands of vocabularies before they dare to speak, but after memorizing words for three months, they still get stuck when they have meetings.

Take Xiao Zhou as an example. At the beginning, he memorized TOEIC vocabulary books for half a month, and his vocabulary test result was more than 4,000. But when we simulated a meeting scenario, he didn't even know how to say "delivery delay". To put it bluntly, the core of workplace English is to be sufficient for your specific scenarios, not the larger the vocabulary, the better. The solution we gave at that time was to first sort out 30 high-frequency expressions commonly used in his position, such as MOQ, lead time, logistics delay, etc. He practiced dialogues in corresponding scenarios with foreign teachers in each class, and after two weeks, he was already able to handle basic communication with suppliers.

If you have certification needs, you can also take the TOEIC Special Course to practice simultaneously, which is much more practical than memorizing words blindly.

02How is the effect of one-on-one speaking courses, and who is it suitable for?

Many adult English learners have this concern, fearing that the course will be ineffective and a waste of money. Based on the student data for the whole of last year, we calculated that 90% of the students who can坚持 attend 4 classes a week for 3 months can achieve their initial goals, whether it is communicating with clients smoothly or giving independent English presentations.

Frankly speaking, not everyone is suitable for one-on-one speaking courses. These groups of people will get more obvious results after signing up:

  • Working professionals who are busy with work and cannot squeeze out more than 1 hour of continuous time to study
  • People with specific workplace scenario needs (such as foreign trade negotiations, overseas meeting presentations) who need to improve quickly
  • People who dare not speak when self-studying and need someone to correct their pronunciation and authentic expressions in real time

I personally recommend that you choose institutions with physical foreign teacher bases. For example, all foreign teachers of Campus Top work in our physical campus in Manila, Philippines, which is much more stable than scattered part-time foreign teachers. Coupled with the high-frequency question training of the Callan Method, it can quickly help you get rid of the habit of translating from your mother tongue, and your speaking reaction speed will be at least twice as fast.

03How to arrange time for workplace English improvement without giving up halfway?

Many people are very ambitious at the beginning, setting a plan to study for 1 hour a day, but they give up in less than a week. We also mentioned in Can't Stick to Learning Spoken English? We Analyzed 2,000 Student Records to Find the Solution that the completion rate of high-frequency short courses is 3 times higher than that of long courses.

You see, Xiao Zhou is a typical example. When he first signed up, he said that he was too tired to do anything after work every day and couldn't squeeze out time to study at all. Later, we arranged 25-minute high-frequency short courses for him during the lunch break every day. He can take the class while sitting at his desk after lunch, no need to go to the study specifically, and no need to prepare for a long time in advance. He persisted for 4 months, and last week he specially came to tell us the good news that he just completed a 10-minute full English project report independently, and the headquarter supervisor even praised him for his clear expression.

Finally, we have sorted out 4 practical tips that you can use right away:

  • First sort out 30 high-frequency business expressions commonly used in your position, memorize them and practice scenario dialogues first, no need to wait until you have accumulated enough vocabulary to speak
  • Choose courses that fit your learning rhythm, and give priority to 25-minute high-frequency short courses, which have a much lower persistence threshold
  • Spend 3 minutes after each class to review the expressions corrected by the foreign teacher, write them down in your portable memo, and you can use them by flipping through it before meetings
  • If you have certification needs, you can match TOEIC special training, which can be used for job hunting and internal promotion

If you don't know what learning plan is suitable for your level, you can also book our free trial class, let the foreign teacher give you a free level test, and help you customize an exclusive learning plan.