English at Work for NGOs

Aim

English at Work for NGOs has been designed to help people employed by Swedish NGOs who use English as a working language. It is intended to develop the skills needed to efficiently and effectively carry out their work. To achieve this goal, this site consists not only of coursework, but also a bank of resources including useful links, and a discussion group for communication between people working for NGOs.

Rationale: Flexibility

The rationale behind this course is flexibility regarding time, relevance and preferred learning style. Flexibility regarding time means that you can do the course any time during the twelve-month period after you enrol. In that period a teacher will be available for feedback on written work and consultation. Flexibility regarding relevance means that you are free to choose the course sections, exercises and activities that are relevant for you. You do not have to do the whole course. Flexibility regarding learning style means that you can choose whether you would like to get course input by using the recorded material, the written input sections or a combination of both!

Content

Coursework

Several key areas have been identified: writing letters, participating in meetings, making presentations, preparing instructions, varieties of English and the special vocabulary needed for NGOs. These areas form the core of the course and are represented as separate units. Each unit includes an introduction, an input section including exercises and a section called “Over to you”. In the “Over to You” section you will find send-in tasks that are to give you a chance to get feedback on your work.

Contact

Under this heading you will find the e-mail addresses of your teachers and a forum for contacting other course participants. We hope that course participants will use this forum for sharing their own ideas and experiences. Language is “living”; it changes. An active exchange could be an effective tool for helping us to keep up-to-date on current usage.

Phrases

Under this heading you will find lists of stock phrases used in different situations such as, telephoning, letter writing, meetings. This is part of the reference material that you might want to print out. They are presented as printable files.

Wordlists

This section includes a collection of professional vocabulary lists. It is under construction. You may find a wordlist that is relevant for your profession.

Links

The Internet is a fantastic source of material for people interested in improving their English. Here is a selection of Internet addresses that we have found useful.

Language

If you want to practise grammar, you will find more exercises here.

Help

This section covers various areas where help might be needed. Keep a check on the Frequently Asked Questions (FAQ) section for the latest information.

Getting started

After you have familiarized yourself with the course layout and looked at the explanations under the key button on the quick index page you are ready to get started.

The best way to work your way through the course is to pick a unit that you find relevant and start to work! Clicking on “course work” will always take you back to the first page.