In this Business English Pod lesson, we’re going to look at language for negotiating a contract. As we’ll be discussing contracts, you might want to check out our Video Vocab lessons on contract law to refresh your memory. A lot of business is done with a verbal agreement and a handshake. But it doesn’t take [...]

Not long ago, learning was different. It occurred in a classroom furnished with just the basics – a chalkboard and chalk, textbooks, pen and paper, the students and the teacher. Now, thanks to mobile learning (or mLearning), we’re in the midst of a paradigm shift in the way people learn. Do you think mobile learning [...]

Check out the latest developments in mobile learning from Business English Pod: iPad Optimized | Desktop/HTML5 If you’re looking at these demos and saying to yourself, ‘they look pretty much the same as the normal quizzes’, that’s exactly the point. For the first time we can bring all the interactive features of our Flash quizzes [...]

The Skills 360 podcast is now available in iTunes: Free Subscription Welcome back to the Skills 360 podcastfor the second part of our look at getting the most out of your negotiations. Today we’re going to tackle the actual negotiation. What should you be thinking about and saying when you’re sitting down at the table [...]

The Skills 360 podcast is now available in iTunes: Free Subscription Welcome back to the Skills 360 podcast for today’s lesson on getting the most out of your negotiations. Negotiation is something we all have to do on some level. You might be part of a team discussing a huge contract, or on the phone [...]

Welcome back to Business English Pod for today’s lesson on doing business at a trade show. If you’ve ever worked or attended a trade show, you know that there are a lot of people and companies competing for attention. And you can stand there all day having casual conversations with people but never make a [...]

This is the third lesson in our Business English Pod series on doing business at a trade show. Trade shows are great opportunities for finding potential customers. And if you’ve got the right attitude and communication skills, you should be able to make some sales. Now, if you’ve managed to make a connection with a [...]

Previously, we looked at some of the main ideas and vocabulary for bonds, including such terms as yield, coupon, and maturity. In this lesson, we’ll look at different types of bonds. And we’ll explain some of the key terms related to how bonds are priced and traded. Premium Members: Study Notes Review Quiz

Bonds have been a hot topic in the news recently. But what exactly are bonds and how do they work? In this lesson, we’ll explain some of the main ideas and vocabulary, starting with key terms such as yields, coupons, and maturity. Then we’ll get into different types of bonds. And finally we’ll look at [...]

The value of ‘likes’ and ‘tags’ grew exponentially when Facebook filed its S-1 papers last month. Facebook will launch an Initial Public Offering (IPO) in May, paving the way for 27-year old founder Mark Zuckerberg, his staff, and even a graffiti artist to become exceptionally wealthy. This month’s Business English News lesson features lots of [...]

Review key language and techniques from our recent series on language for job interviews (BEP 204 and BEP 205). This challenge has 10 questions. For each correct answer you receive 10 points. For each wrong answer you loose 5 points. Your total score at the end of the quiz is the amount of time you [...]

This is the second of a two-part Business English Pod lesson on job interviews for when you’re changing jobs or switching careers. You can’t do the same thing for your entire life. That’s why you’ve chosen to make a change, to take your skills and experience and apply them to something new. But this comes [...]

This is the first of a two-part Business English Pod lesson on job interviews for when you’re changing jobs or making a career shift. You’ve racked up a lot of work experience and you’re proud of your special accomplishments. And you know enough to have clear opinions about how things should be done. But it’s [...]

Welcome back to Business English Pod for today’s lesson on doing business at a trade show. If you can connect with the right people at a large event like a trade show, you can get a lot of great sales leads and maybe even close some deals. Making these connections is all about your attitude [...]

Welcome back to Business English Pod. My name’s Atalie, and I’ll be your host for today’s lesson on working at a trade show. Trade shows can be fantastic opportunities to meet good prospects, network with others in the biz, and even close sales. But there are definite dos and don’ts about working the trade show [...]

The battle for smartphone supremacy has reached new heights in recent months, with industry heavyweights Apple and Google leading the charge over long-time mobile powerhouses like Research in Motion and Windows. Get the low-down on the brief, but constantly developing, history of the smartphone market in this month’s Business English News lesson. We feature lots [...]

Welcome back to Business English Pod for the second part of making the most of your meetings. What’s the difference between a good meeting and a bad meeting? An effective meeting and one in which people talk but nothing really gets done? In many cases, the difference is in the person running the meeting. Whether [...]

Hello and welcome back to Business English Pod. My name’s Edwin, and I’ll be your host for this episode on making the most of your meetings. Today’s lesson is officially our 200th BEP episode and this week we’ll also be rolling past 30 Million downloads. So a hearty thanks to every one of you for [...]

Introducing Course Builder: search, select & save lessons into your own personalized course. Course Builder is available to all premium members.

The Skills 360 podcast is now available in iTunes: Free Subscription We’ve been looking at how to deal with problem people. These are the people in your office that drive you nuts because they’re so difficult to get along with. Last week we talked about how to deal with specific incidents. Today, we’re talking about [...]

The Skills 360 podcast is now available in iTunes: Free Subscription The New Year is a really important time for most people. For one thing, we use it as a time for setting goals. And if you want some help doing that, be sure to check out the Skills 360 podcast on ‘achieving your goals’. [...]

In this Business English Pod lesson, we’ll continue our look at language and techniques for controlling a telephone call. If you’re like most people, talking on the telephone is a basic part of work life. We talk with colleagues, customers, potential clients, suppliers, company reps… the list goes on and on. In fact, the telephone [...]

In this Business English Pod lesson, we’re going to look at language and skills for controlling a telephone call. The telephone has become an essential part of doing business, and not just for customer service representatives and receptionists. No matter what type of work you do, chances are that you spend a part of every [...]

Free Resources: Study Notes | Online Practice The eurozone was thrown into renewed crisis this month as EU leaders struggled to agree on new stability measures. As reported by the Guardian, “A world recession has drawn closer after the G20 summit failed to agree to fresh financial help for distressed countries and debt-ridden Italy was [...]

The Skills 360 podcast is now available in iTunes: Free iTunes Subscription The end of 2011 is fast approaching, and it’s the season for performance reviews and end-of-year appraisals. Few people actually look forward to sitting down with their supervisor and talking about the past year. For most, it’s quite a nerve-wracking experience. But today [...]

This is the second in our two-part Business English Pod lesson on delivering workplace training. Delivering training requires you to lead and control a group. This is no easy task, as you’ll know if you’ve ever done something similar such as delivering a presentation. You need to engage people, you need to make the topic [...]

This is the first of a two-part Business English Pod lesson on delivering workplace training. At some point in our work, we all have to teach others how to do something or explain a certain topic. So how can we do this effectively? How can you make sure that the participants are following what you [...]

This episode of Video Vocab is the second of our two-part series on vocabulary related to contract law. In our last episode, we looked at some of the basic principles of contracts. Today, we’ll focus on specific terms and language found in contracts. Premium Members: Study Notes | Online Practice

This episode of Video Vocab is the first of our two-part series on vocabulary related to business contracts. In this lesson, we’ll look at the key principles behind contracts and contract law. Premium Members: Study Notes | Online Practice

Free Resources: Study Notes | Online Practice Business English News is a new show on Business English Pod about current events, especially things happening in the business news. As a company built and run on Mac computers, and with an audience that mainly uses Apple products to listen to our podcasts, it’s only fitting that [...]

This is the second of our two-part Business English Pod lesson on small talk, or casual conversation, in business situations. Imagine you’re sitting in a room with several co-workers. You’re waiting for a meeting to start. Does silence feel comfortable? Probably not. You should be talking. But about what? Well, this is where the art [...]

Welcome back to Business English Pod for the first in our two-part series on small talk before a meeting. This is a situation you’ve probably experienced countless times: you arrive for a meeting 10 minutes early. There are several people already there. You say hello and then… what do you talk about? What do you [...]

Welcome back to the Skills 360 podcast. The Skills 360 Podcast is now available in iTunes: Free iTunes Subscription In this lesson, we’re going to look at some more tips and ideas for making the most of your personal learning. Last week, we looked at setting yourself up with a system of personal learning. Today, [...]

Welcome back to the Skills 360 podcast. The Skills 360 Podcast is now available in iTunes: Free iTunes Subscription We’ve got a great lesson today on making the most of personal learning. We’ll start by looking at setting SMART goals and personalizing your studies with a personal learning plan. We’ll also look at how you [...]

Our Business Skills 360 Podcast is now available in iTunes: Free iTunes Subscription Business Skills 360 lessons provide essential tips and language for communicating in English. Free transcripts, quizzes and PDF downloads are available on the myBEonline website. Free iTunes and RSS subscription links: Subscribe with iTunes: http://itunes.apple.com/podcast/business-skills-360-podcast/id465088372 Subscribe to the RSS feed: http://feeds.feedburner.com/Skills360

Time Idioms Marathon It’s a race against the clock as you test yourself on the idioms from our lessons on time idioms. Are you going to play for time or make good time? Click the “Launch Quiz” button to play Time Idioms Marathon.

This is the second of our two-part Business English Pod series on idioms related to time. Time is a very precious resource. And for this reason, time management is a very important issue at work and in business. We’re always thinking about how to better manage our time, get our work done, juggle deadlines, arrange [...]

Welcome back to Business English Pod. In this lesson, we’re going to take a look at idioms related to time. At work and in business, time is always a concern. We rush to get to the office “on time,” we work hard to finish projects “in time” and we sometimes have to work “overtime” to [...]

Here’s a free online quiz to review our recent Business English Pod lessons (BEP 189-191) on expressing your ideas clearly and tactfully in meetings. Over the summer, we’re focused on building a learning management system (LMS) for members on our new community site myBEonline.com (myBusinessEnglishOnline). Registration is free and there is already an active community [...]

This is the third and final part of our Business English Pod series on getting your ideas across in meetings. Meetings are a great opportunity to get your ideas across and influence other people. But doing that is no easy task. You need the right combination of tact, frankness, confidence, and humility. And you need [...]

This Business English Pod lesson is the second of our three-part series on expressing your ideas clearly and tactfully in meetings. Meetings are a great opportunity to present your ideas and become engaged in the decision-making process. Meetings often involve open-ended discussion among different types of people. For this reason, there is no easy formula [...]

This is the first in a three-part Business English Pod series on getting your ideas across in meetings. Meetings are an important part of most people’s jobs. And doing well in meetings requires very effective communication skills. You need to make sure you are getting your ideas across clearly with the right amount of subtlety [...]

Welcome back to the Skills 360 podcast. Communicating effectively on the phone is an essential skill. And whether you’re talking to a client, a colleague, a supplier, your boss, or a bicycle courier, you need to make sure your purpose and the information is clear. Last week, we focused on your telephone attitude. Today, we’ll [...]

Welcome back to the Skills 360 podcast. Today, we’re going to take a look at an activity we do every day: talking on the telephone. We’ll look at how to start the call off on the right note by using a positive attitude, smiling over the phone, being polite, and speaking clearly. Discussion Questions 1. [...]

This is the second in a two-part Business English Pod lesson on hosting visitors. Today, we’re going to look at drawing the evening to a close. Hosting visitors is a great way to get to know the people you do business with. Sharing a meal and drinks in someone’s home can really help strengthen a [...]

This is the first in a two-part Business English Pod lesson on hosting a dinner party for overseas visitors. Have you ever had the good fortune to be invited to someone’s home during a business trip? Perhaps it was a client or a prospective client. Maybe it was a colleague or potential business partner. And [...]

This Video Vocab lesson is the second of our two-part series on Business English vocabulary related to Internet technologies. In our last episode, we looked at the basic tools and concepts behind Web 2.0. In this lesson, we’ll focus on the programming of websites and web-based applications. Premium Members: Study Notes | Online Practice

This Video Vocab lesson is the first of a two-part series on Business English vocabulary related to Internet technologies. In part one, we’ll have a look at some of the basic tools and concepts that allow the Internet to function. Premium Members: Study Notes | Online Practice

Welcome back to Business English Pod as we continue to look at the language and vocabulary of air travel. Air travel relies on a very complex system of scheduling. Unfortunately, that means that travel plans don’t always work perfectly. The possibility of problems goes up whenever you have one or more connecting flights. What if [...]

In today’s Business English Pod lesson, we’re going to look at language and vocabulary related to air travel, particularly checking in to your flight at the airport. You’ve probably been in this situation before. You are taking a trip, either for business or pleasure, and you’ve already reserved your ticket. It’s the day of your [...]