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Subscription FAQs

12 Dec 2006
To view or download a comprehensive Content and User Guide for Workplace English Training E-Platform, please click on the image below:

SUBSCRIPTION QUERIES

How can I subscribe to Workplace English Training E-Platform?
How much does it cost to subscribe? Are there any discounts?
What are the payment methods?
How do I renew my subscription?

USAGE QUERIES

Are there any limitations for subscribers when they log in?
Can subscribers log in from different computers?
Can subscribers print out the content of lessons?
Can subscribers download listening files to an mp3 player?

POST-SUBSCRIPTION QUERIES

I have forgotten how to login. Can you give me instructions how to do this?
How can subscribers retrieve their password if they lose it?
How can subscribers check their subscription period?
What happens when my subscription expires? How can I renew it?
What do you mean by podcast?
Can subscribers send documents for us to correct?
How reliable is your server?

How can I subscribe to Workplace English Training E-Platform?

Workplace English Training E-Platform is designed as a corporate language training product. We offer the product to companies to provide cost-effective English language training to all company staff within a given location.

If you are an individual and would like to subscribe, please use the online subscription form.

How much does it cost to subscribe to Workplace English Training E-Platform? Are there any discounts?

We offer 1, 2 and 5-year teacher and student subscriptions to individuals. Please see the online subscription form for further information.

What are the payment methods?

Payment must be made be through Paypal. All major currencies are accepted.

How do I renew my subscription?

We use a recurrent billing system. This means that your subscription will be automatically renewed at the lowest price available at the time of renewal.

One month before the expiry of your subscription you will be reminded of this and you may cancel the automatic renewal at that time.

Are there any limitations for subscribers when they log in?

Individual Subscribers are restricted to accessing the Subscribers area from ONLY 4 different IP addresses within a 24-hour period.

If individual Subscribers exceed this number their account will be automatically locked.

We feel that 4 IP addresses is adequate as most individual users only require one IP address from their office and one from home or laptop within 24 hours.

This security measure prevents users buying one subscription and passing the login information to friends or colleagues. So please, keep your subscription details private.

Repeated abuse will result in a subscription being terminated.

Can subscribers log in from different computers?

Individual users can access from 4 different IP addresses (i.e. 4 different computers) within a 24-hour period.

Can subscribers print out the content of lessons?

Yes. Downloadable PDF files are available for each lessons including lesson study notes, dialogue transcript, exercises and answer key. These files can be printed.

Can subscribers download listening files to an mp3 player?

Yes. All listening files are recorded in mp3 format, so they can be easily downloaded to any mp3 player or PC.

I have forgotten how to login. Can you give me instructions how to do this?

Click here and enter your Username and Password:

Username (type) XXXXXXXX

Password (type) XXXXXXXX

How can subscribers retrieve their password if they lose it?

Subscribers can request their Username and Password to be sent to the email address which they registered with at any time by requesting their password/username at the login page.

How can subscribers check their subscription period?

Once a subscriber has logged in they will see their subscription information at the bottom of their Membership Information page under 'Payment History'.

How can subscribers print out the complete PDF version?

Subscribers need to click on the 'Printer Friendly Version' link located on the menu page of every issue. They can save the PDF file to their computer. To print out the file, they will need Adobe Acrobat Reader (click here for free download).

What happens when my subscription expires? How can I renew it?

Your subscription will be automatically renewed at the lowest price available at the time of renewal.

One month before the expiry of your subscription you will be reminded of this and you may cancel the automatic renewal at that time.

What do you mean by podcast?

Our podcasts are audio lessons in mp3 format related to the business listening content of each volume. They include additional tuition not included in the online volume and provide additional examples as well as speaking practice opportunities. The mp3 files can be played on a PC or downloaded to an MP3 Player.

Can subscribers send documents for us to correct?

We are afraid we do not provide this kind of service.

How reliable is your server?

Workplace English Training E-Platform is hosted in the United States. Our hosting providers have guaranteed us 99.9% up-time! We also use a powerful dedicated server, meaning we are the only website on the server.

  

Technical FAQs

12 Dec 2006

What are the minimum technical requirements to run Workplace English Training E-Platform?

To be able to view the interactive exercises in Workplace English Training E-platform you will require:

  • Windows XP, Vista, 7 
  • A modern Web browser

  

How can I listen to the audio content of Workplace English Training E-Platform?

For a fully comprehensive guide for listening to and downloading our audio content, and subscribing to our podcast lessons, please read the Podcast/Audio User Guide.

All the audio files featured in Workplace English Training E-Platform are in mp3 format. Click on an audio link to listen to an audio file.

If the file is in the form of a text link, it will automatically open in your Windows Media Player unless you have set another media player as your default audio player.

We use an embedded Quicktime Player in some older pages and an embedded Flash player in more recent pages. You will need Quicktime and Flash installed on your PC to enable the embedded players to display correctly. Click here for links to the free players.

You can listen to an audio file as many times as you want by clicking the play button on your Windows Media, Quicktime or Flash Players. You can pause a file at any time by clicking the pause button.

If you would like to download the mp3 files to your PC or mp3 player, right click the text audio link and 'Save Target As'. Then save the file the directory where you would like to store it.

 

How can I view/print offline worksheets and transcripts from the site?

You will need “Adobe Acrobat Reader” to open, view and print out all offline worksheets and transcripts. If you don’t have “Adobe Acrobat Reader”, you can download it for free by following the link in 'Downloads' above.

 

How can I set up the Clarity Sound Recorder on my computer?

At the bottom of every page on the site you'll see the icons for the Clarity Sound Recorder. Clarity have kindly allowed us to incorporate the sound recorder into the E-Platform. With this facility you can listen to an audio file, record your own voice and compare it with the original recording. This will help you to improve your pronunciation and intonation.

  • The first time you use the E-Platform, you'll see a button at the bottom of your screen with a picture of a microphone on it.
  • To set up the recording device, click on web link on the button.
  • From Clarity's website, download a small set up programme for the sound recorder.
  • Install the recorder on your PC (in settings it's best to set it to open on start so that it is always running. Just keep in minimised.)
  • Once installed, you'll see a red recording button beside the microphone.
  • Always ensure that the Clarity Sound Recorder is running when you use the device.
  • Press the red button to record, and the square green button to stop and the green arrow button to play
  • Sound recordings cannot be saved.

 

Note: if you have any technical queries regarding the site, please visit the Technical Support page. First check the Knowledge Base. If you can’t find an answer to your query there, submit a ticket and we’ll give you and answer within 24 hours.

 

 

Podcast/Audio User Guide

12 Dec 2006

Image  

  

Three ways to listen to mp3 files explained.

1. Listening to our mp3 Podcast Lessons on Site

You can listen to our podcast lessons on our website using the embedded mp3 Flash player on this page (click here... ).

Beside the mp3 Flash player, there’s a text link ‘Play in Pop Up’. Click on this link if you would like to play the audio file in a pop up window. The mp3 Flash player will become visible within the pop up window. If for example you would like to navigate away from the podcast page (e.g. to read the podcast transcript) while listening to an audio file, you should play the file in a pop up. 

When playing an audio file using the Flash player, you can pause it, rewind/forward wind it at any time. 

2. Downloading our mp3 Files

Downloading lets you save a copy of your chosen audio file onto your computer. You can then listen to this whenever you want, or even transfer it onto your portable MP3 player.  

However, you cannot download mp3 files directly from the podcast page (click here... ).

To download an mp3 file you need to enter the Subscriber’s area of the website and find the relevant Business Speaking Skills topic. On the podcast lesson page, you’ll find a text link to the mp3 file. 

To download the file you need to right click the download link. You should then see a list of options including either "Save Target As…" or "Save Link As…". If you select this option (or a similar option containing the word "save") you should be able to save the audio file (MP3) to your computer.  

Remember to save it to a folder you'll be able to find again later.  

If you click on the Download link using the left hand button on your mouse, the audio will usually play. How this happens will depend on the set up and settings of your computer. Usually your default media player will open and the audio will start playing automatically.  

3. Subscribing to our Podcast Feed 

Podcasting lets you automatically receive the latest podcast lesson as soon as it's available. You need to "subscribe" to receive a podcast, rather like you might subscribe to a magazine and get it delivered each week. An important difference is that all of our Business English podcasts are free, and you can stop receiving the files at any time.  

In order to sign up for a podcast you need an internet connection and a piece of podcast software which is usually available free of charge. This software can check Workplace English Training E-Platform for new podcast lessons and automatically download them for you.  

The steps you go though in order to subscribe to a podcast will vary depending on which software you choose. You can read more about this in our Step by Step guide to getting a podcast.

 

Step by step guide to getting a podcast

 

There are three steps involved in setting up your personal computer to receive podcasts.  

 

1. Get some podcast software  

You need to install a piece of software which will search the web to find the latest episode and automatically deliver it to your computer.  

This software is usually free, and these three are popular: 

  • iTunes
     
  • Juice
     
  • Doppler

2. Subscribe to podcasts

Once you have the software installed you need to subscribe to some podcasts.

How you do this will vary depending on which software you have chosen. Here is a rough guide to how this might work:

You can subscribe to some podcasts through the iTunes Podcast Directory.

If you can't find the podcast that you want in iTunes then you can follow the same method as outlined below for Juice, Doppler and other podcast software.

If you have Juice, Doppler or another piece of software then this is likely to be the method you will need to follow. This is also the case if you can't find the podcast you want in iTunes.

In all of these cases you need to add the "feed" of the podcast to your software. The feed is really just the address of the podcast, which the software will go to each time it wants to check for a new episode.

You can find the feed to our podcast by clicking on the orange RSS buttons under the heading ‘Subscribe to Podcast’ on the right of the page. The feed address will appear in the address bar as this: http://feeds.feedburner.com/workplace-english-training-emagazine

You will need to copy this feed address and paste it into your podcast software. How you do this will depend on your software, but you should look out for buttons or links that say "Add" or "Subscribe".

3. Listen to the audio

After you have subscribed to the feed, when a new podcast lesson becomes available, your software will automatically download it. You can then listen to this podcast lesson on your computer or transfer it to your portable player to listen to later.

You may want to check the settings of your podcast software for details including how often it will check for new podcasts, whether it will keep old podcasts for you etc. This will vary depending on the software you have chosen, and your personal preferences.

If you decide that you no longer want to receive podcast lessons then it should be very easy to unsubscribe. Again, how you do this will depend on your software, but you should look for "Clear" or "Unsubscribe" options.

Terms of Use

Workplace English Training E-Platform allows you to freely download our podcast lessons.

You may not copy, reproduce, edit, adapt, alter, republish, post, broadcast, transmit, make available to the public, or otherwise use this audio in any way except for your own personal, non-commercial use.

You may not download, or use this file for the purpose of promoting, advertising, endorsing or implying a connection with you (or any third party) and Workplace English Training E-Platform, its agents or employees.

Workplace English Training E-Platform will not be liable for any loss or damage which you may suffer as a result of or connected with the download or use of this file.   

E-Platform Content and User Guide

12 Dec 2006
To view or download a comprehensive Content and User Guide for Workplace English Training E-Platform, please click on the image below (the User Guide is a PowerPoint Show): 

(9.23mb)

What is Workplace English Training E-Platform?

Workplace English Training E-Platform is an interactive, online training resource for the staff of companies who want to develop and improve their business English skills.

The E-Platform is available by annual corporate subscription. With a corporate subscription, all staff within a given location can access the product online from our website or from a corporate intranet server.

The E-Platform provides continuous and flexible learning for all staff at any time from any location.

What does Workplace English Training E-Platform include?

The E-Platform includes 54 volumes of Workplace English Training E-magazine as well as 48 issues of The Language Key magazine. Business Word/Phrase of the Day and Business English Tip of the Week are published through the public area of the site. Learners can create their own courses through the Learning Path and Business English Courses modules.

Each volume of Workplace English Training E-Magazine is packed with interesting lessons, learning worksheets and interactive self-correction exercises to help you improve your English for the workplace. The following sections are included in every volume of the E-Magazine:

SECTIONS

CONTENT

Business Speaking and Listening

 Lessons on business speaking, such as negotiations, meetings, telephoning, business small talk, etc. Training involves pre-listening, interactive listening tasks, focus on functional language, and further interactive tests on the key language. Each topic also includes the complete lesson as a podcast (a downloadable mp3 file), allowing you to listen and learn while on the move.
Business Writing Lessons on business writing, such as letters, emails, reports, minutes, and business grammar, focusing on common errors. The theory and model examples are presented first, followed by a variety of interactive exercises to test your understanding.
Business Reading and Listening Business news and culture articles are presented through listening activities. Pre-listening tasks focus learners on the topic. Listening activities allow learners to listen to get the gist and then listen for specific information. The focus is then on words and phrases from the articles followed by interactive exercises to test your understanding.
Business Vocabulary This section focuses on key areas of business, such as employment, banking, administration, or on specific vocabulary areas, such as phrasal verbs and functional business expressions. Challenging interactive exercises encourage you to think about the new language terms and how they should be used in a business context.
Editor's Corner Tania Roberts, the editor of the E-Magazine, answers learners' questions about business English, and gives useful advice about learning English.
Business English Tips Short, condensed tips provide learners with useful advice about how to improve their business English.
ESL Product Reviews Reviews of English books and CD-ROMS from the best-known English language publishers, with a focus on business English. Also, there are reviews and links to some useful websites where learners can further improve their English.
Business English Fun Crosswords, language puzzles, word games, simplified jokes, business etiquette and culture tips, etc. Learners can improve their English while having fun!

Business Grammar and Usage Tests

Timed multiple choice tests focusing on business English usage or grammar. The tests will give you some idea of your business English proficiency.
Printer-Friendly Version You can download a fully-searchable PDF version of each issue. This version can be printed.

What are the learning goals of Workplace English Training E-Platform?

The learning goals are:
  • To provide learners with a greater understanding of the language structures that they can realistically and accurately use in their daily work;
  • To make learners aware of the errors that they make when using English in the workplace; and
  • To encourage learners to improve their proficiency in English through interactive learning methods. 

What does the Subscriber's Area Include?

The Subsciber's Area includes the following sections:

Past Volumes Archive All 54 past volumes of the E-Magazine can be found in the past volumes archive.
The Learning Centre

The Learning Centre is a library of reference material for business English. 

Covering all aspects of business English, you'll be able to download lessons and exercises on business writing, speaking, listening, grammar and vocabulary.

In addition, the speaking/listening archive contains hundreds of authentic listening files which will give you endless hours of practice.

The Learning Centre is divided into two main sections:

1) INTERACTIVE TOPICS where you can complete exercises, many including audio, online.

2) PRINTABLE TOPICS from our archive of past training resources.

Both of these sections include topics on the following areas: 

Writing Skills:

  • Grammar review articles (with exercises and answer key). Articles highlighting common grammatical errors made in business documents (with exercises and answer key).
  • Informative condensed articles on a wide range of business writing skills topics (also with exercises and answer key).
  • In depth reference articles on a range of business English topics.
  • Analysis and correction of business documents - comparisions of good and bad examples of business writing.
  • A large collection of sample business documents, including emails, memos, faxes, business letters, minutes, reports etc.

Speaking and Listening Skills:

  • Audio recordings of sample of dialogues (with transcripts) of general business conversations.
  • Audio recordings of sample dialogues (with transcripts) of business telephone conversations.
Search Content Database

The site has been designed so that you can find topics of interest to you quickly and easily.

For a general search, use the 'Keyword search'. This will search the whole site including the text within documents. The results, however, may not take you to the article or topic that you need.

If you are unsuccessful with the keyword search, click on 'Search Content Database'. This facilty searches the tags that we have added to all Learning Centre topics. Furthermore, you can search catagories and sub-catagories of topics. The display results give a brief description of each topic.

 In addition, the subscriber's area includes:

  • Access to 500 free model business documents (under the Business Document Templates section)
  • Access to the Student Helpline where you can post your queries about learning English.
  • Access to our business English level test which will give you a benchmark level and a description of what you can do in English.
  • Access to the Learning Path and Courses module.

How often is the E-Platform updated?

Workplace English Podcast lessons are published twice a month. Business Word/Phrase of the Day and Business English Tip of the Week are published through the public area of the site.

Who is Workplace English Training E-Platform suitable for?

The E-Platform is for anyone who needs to use English at work and for students who will later need English in their chosen professions.

The E-Platform is for learners from Pre-intermediate to Advanced levels.

The interactive exercises are graded according to their level of difficulty. 

Who develops Workplace English Training E-Platform?

Workplace English Training E-Platform is developed by a team of highly experienced corporate trainers who are currently teaching Business English to multinational corporations.    

Can I see a sample volume of 'Workplace English Training E-Magazine'?

Yes. You can view a complete sample volume [ click here ... ]

  
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