Lesson 1: Introduction/The Basics

Welcome to Effective Emailing in English. My name is Matt Ettl, and I will be your instructor for this course.

The importance of emailing in the world of business cannot be stressed enough. The emails that you write at work ultimately reflect the professionalism of both you and the organization you work for. With well-written business emails, you can convey your company in a positive light, maintain good relations with clients, and even create new business opportunities for your organization. On the other hand, poorly written business emails can lead to a number of problems, including weakened customer relations, lost contracts, and a general sense of misunderstanding and confusion.

Who is this course for?
This online course is designed for anyone in the world of business with an Intermediate level of English or higher who writes emails in English on a regular basis and feels the need to improve their skills and confidence in this area.

Why an online English course?
Most traditional in-person language courses, including those here at Lingua Franca, focus primarily on verbal communication. Even Business English courses tend to place fairly little emphasis on writing skills. This is totally understandable, as a relaxed and communicative atmosphere greatly improves the learning process in a traditional classroom setting. However, it also means that a student’s writing skills often fail to develop at the same rate as his or her speaking skills.

By offering this course online, we are able to focus solely on improving your business email writing, helping you to gain skills that are difficult to develop in a traditional in-person classroom, such as achieving the appropriate tone for various kinds of business emails, utilizing proper email phrases instead of translating directly from the native language, and, very importantly, improving the use of diplomatic language to avoid conflict.

What is included in the course?
Through active participation in lessons with a strong “hands-on” or “learn-by-doing” component, participants in the course have the opportunity to improve and develop their emailing skills in English by looking at and responding to real-life scenarios in the world of business.

Effective Emailing in English focuses on different areas of email correspondence in each of the units. All of the units are full of useful information and resources, as well as interactive exercises and quizzes, which can be accessed throughout the 12-week subscription period. The exercises and quizzes are designed in such a way that they can be taken repeatedly, with the answers being checked by the participant. However, as this is a course based on business correspondence, 6 writing assignments will also be given, to be checked and graded by the instructor of the course. These checked assignments are returned to the participants shortly after being received, with corrections and extensive feedback on what can be done to improve the emails.

All of the Units or “Lessons” can be found in the column on the left of your screen. Feel free to scroll through explore the units, but we recommend completing the course in the order that it is presented. Although you will find useful information and theory sprinkled throughout the course, the real value of Effective Emailing in English is truly to be found in the quizzes and writing assignments, which will allow you to practice the language being taught.

Lesson 1 begins now with a brief note on the layout of modern business emails, followed by a series of quizzes on the basics of emailing to see what you already know and what you might possibly need some assistance with.

Feel free to work your way through this lesson’s Quizzes, starting with the very first one, “Opening and Closing Emails”, by clicking on the appropriate link below in in the “Lesson Content” section or by navigating the column on the left of your screen.

After you have completed each quiz, do not forget to click on “View Questions” to see your results and review any mistakes that you might have.

Lastly, if you have any questions at all regarding the course, please feel free to email me at matt.ettl@linguafranca.lv

Enjoy!!!