English Conversation for Business and Workplace Success

In this fun and dynamic class you will:

•     Act out workplace situations
•     Build Vocabulary
•     Practice asserting yourself in a business context
•     Build confidence in social conversation (crucial to success) 
•     Review technical writing for resumes and presentations 
•     Learn how to match yourself to a job posting.

Our online classes consist of a pre-assignment, independent coursework, and final assignment, as well as live online class sessions with your teacher/other au pairs. Credit for J-1 visa students is 36 hours. Students earning J-1 visa credit must attend all sessions and complete all homework.

Students will receive a pre-assignment one week before class begins. Other independent coursework can be completed at your leisure before the deadline one week after online class ends. 

With over 15 years of ESL teaching experience, Alexis Tenenbaum is energetic, compassionate, and excited to both teach and learn from her students. She has a master’s degree in Applied Linguistics from the University of Liverpool and a bachelor’s in Criminal Justice from American University. Alexis has climbed Mount Kilimanjaro and is passionate about travel.  

Business is built on relationships. In this class, you will improve your English conversation and writing skills needed to develop those meaningful business relationships, building a work-life based on integrity, community, and authenticity. Class includes interactive activities focusing on workplace communication and review of case studies to sharpen business communication skills.

In this class you will: 

• Collaborate with other students to create group presentations
• Build advanced workplace vocabulary
• Read about companies and their leaders
• Listen to and analyze real interviews, presentations, and phone calls 
• Review case studies of actual workplace issues.

Our online classes consist of a pre-assignment, independent coursework, and final assignment, as well as live online class sessions with your teacher/other au pairs. Credit for J-1 visa students is 36 hours. Students earning J-1 visa credit must attend all sessions and complete all homework.

Students will receive a pre-assignment one week before class begins. Other independent coursework can be completed at your leisure before the deadline one week after online class ends. 

Wendy Trach has been teaching ESL/English for over eleven years.  In addition to teaching Learning Across America courses at BMCC, she teaches in the Language Immersion Program at a CUNY school in Brooklyn during the week.  She holds a bachelor's degree in English and mass communication from the University of Florida, a master's degree in English education from Queens College, and a Cambridge University CELTA certificate.  Wendy loves working with students and exploring language, literature, culture, and life.  

Business is built on relationships. In this class, you will improve your English conversation and writing skills needed to develop those meaningful business relationships, building a work-life based on integrity, community, and authenticity. Class includes interactive activities focusing on workplace communication and review of case studies to sharpen business communication skills.

In this class you will: 

• Collaborate with other students to create group presentations
• Build advanced workplace vocabulary
• Read about companies and their leaders
• Listen to and analyze real interviews, presentations, and phone calls 
• Review case studies of actual workplace issues.

Our online classes consist of a pre-assignment, independent coursework, and final assignment, as well as live online class sessions with your teacher/other au pairs. Credit for J-1 visa students is 36 hours. Students earning J-1 visa credit must attend all sessions and complete all homework.

Students will receive a pre-assignment one week before class begins. Other independent coursework can be completed at your leisure before the deadline one week after online class ends. 

Wendy Trach has been teaching ESL/English for over eleven years.  In addition to teaching Learning Across America courses at BMCC, she teaches in the Language Immersion Program at a CUNY school in Brooklyn during the week.  She holds a bachelor's degree in English and mass communication from the University of Florida, a master's degree in English education from Queens College, and a Cambridge University CELTA certificate.  Wendy loves working with students and exploring language, literature, culture, and life.  

For English as second language learners.

This course covers three major areas that help you achieve confidence and success: Presentation Skills, Speaking Techniques, and Pronunciation. Classes focus on a combination of skills needed to enhance your business and your personal lives.  

Keep reading for more information or click here to sign up.

Interview Strategies

• Do you freeze when you are asked: “Tell me about yourself” during an interview?
• What is Really Listening? Are you too nervous to Really Listen?
• How do you answer awkward questions?
• What questions can, and should, you ask?
• Telephone interviews; ZOOM interviews. How are they different from face-to-face interviews?

Speaking Techniques

• Pronunciation: Are certain sounds, words, or combinations of words difficult to say? Does the last word of your sentence get lost?
• Projection: Are you asked to repeat yourself when you order something? Can people hear you easily?

Presentation Skills

• Most people fear giving Public Presentations. Do you?
• Learn various techniques to overcome your specific fear of speaking.
• Learn types of breathing to relax; breathing to energize.

For English as second language learners.

This course covers three major areas that help you achieve confidence and success: Presentation Skills, Speaking Techniques, and Pronunciation. Classes focus on a combination of skills needed to enhance your business and your personal lives.  

Keep reading for more information or click here to sign up.

Interview Strategies

• Do you freeze when you are asked: “Tell me about yourself” during an interview?
• What is Really Listening? Are you too nervous to Really Listen?
• How do you answer awkward questions?
• What questions can, and should, you ask?
• Telephone interviews; ZOOM interviews. How are they different from face-to-face interviews?

Speaking Techniques

• Pronunciation: Are certain sounds, words, or combinations of words difficult to say? Does the last word of your sentence get lost?
• Projection: Are you asked to repeat yourself when you order something? Can people hear you easily?

Presentation Skills

• Most people fear giving Public Presentations. Do you?
• Learn various techniques to overcome your specific fear of speaking.
• Learn types of breathing to relax; breathing to energize.

Off to a Fresh Start-Up: How to Design the Business of your Dreams

This is an introductory business course designed to provide students with the tools necessary to start their own successful side hustle or startup in a post-Corona world.

Keep reading for more information or click here to sign up.

It is a guide to creating your own business if you are considering entrepreneurism as a means to survive this new landscape. We will cover topics necessary for successful business creation including: mindset, ideation, planning, action, and strategy. 

We will use a series of practical exercises that will guide you through the process. 

Part I We begin by focusing on generating or refining a business idea that is both innovative and actionable. 

Part II We explore various tools that can help transform an idea into a product or service that creates value for others. 

Part III Finally, we review case studies from some of the most successful, innovative and disruptive companies in the world today. We will not only examine their successes but also discuss how these innovations will need to be reframed for a post-COVID world. This discussion will help you to plan and shape your own businesses for the world we will inherit post-quarantine. 

By the end of this course, you will no longer be one of many ”wantapreneurs." You will have taken the first important step towards creating the business of your dreams. 

Your course will consist of a pre-assignment, independent coursework and final assignment as well as live online class sessions with your teacher/other au pairs. Credit for J-1 visa students is 36 hours. Students earning J-1 visa credit must attend all sessions and complete all homework.
 

"I've already recommended it to my other friends because it is so informative! "

"You never think an online class would be so interactive but this was. Professor Brown made sure every single one of us spoke and made sure we understood one another… so that made me feel super comfortable and special. "

 

About your instructor: Mikaila Brown is a fashion anthropologist, who has a doctorate in Anthropology and Education from Columbia University and over 10 years of work experience with domestic and international non-profits.

During these years of working as a consultant, she honed the skill of identifying the needs of a particular community and aligning them with the services provided by their local agencies. She applied these same skills when she left the nonprofit sector to pursue a lifelong dream of working in the fashion industry.

After working for designers like Oscar de la Renta, Pamela Roland and Betsey Johnson, she launched a socially conscious fashion line in 2011. Most recently, she has further integrated her anthropological background and fashion experience to create The Common Thread Project, which highlights cultural diversities within the fashion industry by investigating the style trends of local, underrepresented fashion communities. She shares this knowledge with the public by offering cultural shopping tours through AirBnB's new experiential arm.

She is also currently a senior lecturer in Cornell's Fiber Science and Apparel Design department.