
6 Resources for Business Video Lessons English Learners Should See
Some days, it’s one meeting after another.
Other days, there’s a flight to catch and calls to make.
For busy professionals, it can be hard to find time for anything but work.
How will you make room in your hectic schedule for business English classes?
Well, if you’re a professional who’s always on the move, here’s the solution: learn business English using video resources.
They’re readily available and fit in with your busy life, because you can learn when you want—or more importantly, when you can!
Videos provide great visual aids, which can help to speed up the learning process. And the best thing is, you can pause the lessons and watch them over again and again.
Let’s take a look at some techniques and resources for learning business English from video lessons.
Download: This blog post is available as a convenient and portable PDF that you can take anywhere. Click here to get a copy. (Download)
Watch and Learn! Simple Steps for Learning from Video Lessons
First, let’s explore a quick guide on how to learn English effectively from video lessons.
- Get the gist. Watch once (without subtitles) and get an overall understanding, remembering to note down what you can on vocabulary, grammar and expressions. Don’t worry if you didn’t understand everything the first time.
- Get the details. Now watch the video again with helpful tools such as subtitles or a transcript, if one’s available. Pay attention to each part of the lesson. Pause the video at key points to process the new language that’s being presented.
- Practice and apply. Practice what you’ve learned in your own context by writing and speaking English. Try to use key new vocabulary and expressions by writing an essay, a journal entry or an email. Try using the language in your next meeting, or just talk to yourself in the mirror. If the video comes with any recommended activities, be sure to follow them.
- Refresh and test. When you feel comfortable with what you’ve learned, go back again for another complete viewing to refresh your memory and test yourself on what you remember.
Build an International Career with 6 Fantastic Resources for Business English Video Lessons
With those simple steps in mind, let’s take a look at some great video resources that’ll help you on your way to launching a career on the international stage.
Business English Pod
This website provides comprehensive podcasts and video lessons for business English. Most of the material you can enjoy for free, and those who sign up for a membership can access additional material such as online practice and transcripts.
The “925 English” series covers day-to-day skills such as “How to Say Hello” and “Starting a Conversation,” so they’re great for beginner to intermediate learners. The full transcript is displayed in the video as you listen, which makes it easy to follow.
Business English Pod also has a sub-site called Video Vocab, which is dedicated to lessons on technical vocabulary from various industries and areas of expertise. Video Vocab lessons include “International Trade” and “English Vocabulary for Manufacturing.” Vocabulary is displayed in the video and comes with definitions, examples of use and practice activities.
TESOL Rich English
This YouTube channel created by Rich Walton, a general English and business English educator, targets a particular set of language that’s used often in daily communication, especially in business. The content is engaging, easy to follow and provides clear visual cues that are vital to effective video lessons.
His lessons introduce topics such as describing and comparing trends, which teaches useful phrases and expressions that’ll help you master business skills in English.
Australia Plus
Even if you’re not planning to travel to or work in Australia in the near future, Australia Plus is a rich resource for learning English. And if you happen to be preparing to go to Australia, then even better! Australia Plus has a broad range of playlists that are great for general listening practice, learning about life in Australia and of course targeted English education videos.
The business English collection contains 15 episodes and covers all the fundamentals in business English and daily communication skills, from reporting on progress to negotiating.
Each episode provides a conversation followed by a breakdown that drills into the grammar and vocabulary featured. It’s great for reinforcing your knowledge of English tenses and their use in business.
Coursera
There’s an increasing number of websites that offer free learning through Massive Online Open Courses (or MOOCs), such as Coursera.
All courses are provided by universities, most of which are completely free. Just register as a user and sign up for the course. Take note that some courses only run for a certain period of time, but they are usually brought back again later.
You could sign up for “Business English for Non-native Speakers,” a series of courses created by the Hong Kong University of Science and Technology. It includes five courses in total, which aim to provide non-native English speakers the knowledge to communicate effectively in business English. Visit the Coursera site to see if this course currently being taught!
The biggest advantage of video lessons from MOOCs is that they also come with a community platform, giving you the chance to exchange notes and interact with other learners from around the world.
TED-Ed
Everybody should know about TED by now! They are the producers of thought-provoking conferences and content from around the world, and they’re also a great resource for learning business English. TED-Ed is TED’s education initiative, which provides original video lessons on a wide range of topics.
TED-Ed’s videos on business English are fun to watch and great for learning new words and expressions related to your professional field. Sorting the videos by topic, such as business and economics, will give you a neat set of educational, beautifully designed and delightful lessons.
Let’s take a quick look at one of the videos, “What Causes Economic Bubbles?” This one introduces key vocabulary related to economics. You can also expand your knowledge by doing some activities, such as answering comprehension questions with the “Think” feature or using “Dig Deeper” for extra reading.
engVid
There’s a huge number of video lessons available from engVid. These videos are presented by different teachers, and the best part is they’re completely free. The business English lessons are grouped for beginner, intermediate and advanced learners so you can choose the videos that are suitable to you.
An advanced level lesson features topics such as “Discussing Advantages and Disadvantages,” which teaches key phrases that can be used in business reports, debates, presentations and more. Each video also has quiz questions to check your understanding and a comments section where you can post your thoughts on the lesson.
It’s like going for a five-minute business English class without having to leave your home!
Next Steps: Build Your Own Business English Video Library
Those are just some of the many awesome video resources you can find on the internet. Once you start to explore some lessons, you’ll discover the ones that are best for you. You may want to follow through with a series or pick and choose videos from different resources. Either way, it’s always useful to get organized and build your own video library so you can access your favorites whenever you want.
- Subscribe. If you find a resource that you like, remember to subscribe to it so you can receive updates on new episodes or courses.
- Create a playlist. Many business English video lessons are available on YouTube, so you can easily create a playlist with selected videos that you want to go back to for further learning.
- Bookmark it. Another option would be to create bookmarks of useful videos on your web browser so you have easy access to them for reviews.
Learning business English doesn’t have to be complicated or costly.
With these video lessons, a little time and plenty of determination, you’ll be on your way to opening up new doors, advancing your career and going international.
Download: This blog post is available as a convenient and portable PDF that you can take anywhere. Click here to get a copy. (Download)