'Professional Skills in English' is a method that focuses on practical English. All chapters have a specific theme like The Front Office or Job Search. Every chapter is built up by tasks and levels. A student either starts at level A2 and finishes the chapter at level B2 or works through all the A2 levels of all chapters before moving on to level B1 and level. B2. Each task is suitable for all students studying at the MBO because all tasks have a general approach. However, some tasks are suitable for specific courses like for instance The Restaurant task.
A teacher can set out a structure of tasks for students to do. They can add extra tasks to the website or use them next to the book.
Every task is built up in the same way: Introduction, Task, Skills, Sources, Process, and Words and Phrases. Depending on the level, the tasks get more profound and complex.
The method is based on the Common European Framework. Each task is based on skills described in the CEF. The method starts at Level A2 as all students in the Netherlands have had English for a couple of years.
In addition to the paper version of Professional Skills in English, there is a website which offers a wonderful electronic learning environment. The website has the same content as the book but offers more possibilities such as listening to dialogues, doing some exercises and sending in assignments; it also provides a digital portfolio for students to work with.
Professional Skills in English
The authors
Mariska Schaap has graduated with a double Masters degree in English and Education from the University of Amsterdam. After her return from Canada, she taught English at MBO level to Tourism and Hotel school students for several years. Currently she teaches English at the Hogeschool of Amsterdam to students from the Media and Information Management course.
Wya Hilarius has been a teacher for over 22 years. She taught English on MBO level to students from Business courses such as commercial, clerical and retail studies as well as ICT. She has been teaching English to students from the Tourism course at MBO level for four years now. She wrote Anything Else and It's a deal, a method for English for the retail and wholesale courses.