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Intensive business workshops, seminars and specialist courses can be an effective means to develop language skills in a concentrated manner.
We had extremely good feedback from one of our customers: the Testing department asked us to improve their English skills because they had projects with OEMs and global suppliers. The training included the team supervisor and 5 members with language abilities ranging from CEF A2-B1 level. The main topic was FMEA (Failure Mode Effect Analysis) and related processes.
The team members were working on different projects, but everything was discussed or written in English. Some team members had never formally learned English before. Therefore, the focus was on communicative fluency, use of very specific terminology and functional language for meetings and presentations. Project-related email and FMEA documents were integrated into the training. And, because the project teams were of mixed nationalities, some intercultural training was given to help them understand the different communication patterns and behaviours they were experiencing. This helped the teams to develop special strategies to reduce communication issues with their foreign partners.
Because the team didn’t have much time
the course took place over two weeks. In the first week, two and a half days were dedicated to learning, and the same amount of time in the following week. This structure reduced interruption to daily work, yet enabled learning to be transferred directly to FMEA projects.
Intensive language training benefits:
- Training was more effective as it only focused on FMEA-related projects and had a direct impact on daily work.
- Peer group learning strengthened teamwork so members could give each other on-the-job support later.
- Specific resources and a glossary were developed for later use thus improving accuracy and saving time.
- Not only was the team better able to perform, they also developed confidence and were happier doing their jobs.
