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| British Council launches Jobseekers – A unique product to enhance India’s Employability skills |
British Council India and Avon Mobility Solutions have recently joined forces to create Jobseekers, a product with a unique approach to mobile learning which aims to help subscribers develop their English language abilities and skills related to employability. Jobseekers follows four characters, Neha, Arun, Farah and Rohit, as they learn how to tackle job applications and interviews and present themselves in the best possible light to potential employers. Subscribers will receive one video card per day direct to their mobile device and each video card contains an instalment in the story following the four Jobseekers, with a specific focus on three or four focused vocabulary items. By following the story, subscribers are also introduced to key skills to enhance their employability, such as writing a successful letter of application, improving the format and content of their CV and answering difficult interview questions. The audio also provides models of clear pronunciation with a focus on difficult sounds and intonation patterns. The language content is aimed at pre-intermediate level learners of English, however the input on employability skills will be relevant to all. This product is available exclusively for Tata DOCOMO users via their educational platform Tutor On Mobile (TOM). Tata DOCOMO users can access the content at a cost of only Re 1 per day by sending an SMS SEEK to 5333300. Avon Mobility Solutions is looking forward to extending this service with other telecom operators shortly. The content can also be accessed on www.enrichyourenglish.com/jobseekers.html |
Learn English Pathways
LE Pathways are online courses at three levels (Pre Intermediate, Intermediate and Upper Intermediate). They are self-study, self-access courses that can help you improve your English language skills. The courses are available free of charge on the ALISON web site. British Council can also arrange for advertising-free versions of the courses to be hosted on a secure Moodle platform for closed groups in companies.
Learn English for Business and Work
Our free Business and Work section of Learn English provides a wealth of practice activities aimed at helping you reach your professional aspirations by developing your English skills. You can find our series of podcasts and articles on a great range of business and professional topics, all accompanied by language practice activities to help you to improve your workplace English. You can also find a video series that covers the process of recruiting. You can even register as a user and discuss the activities with other learners from across the world!
English on Your Desktop
The British Council can assist you to link content from Business and Work to the learning portal web site of your company or organisation, by providing a dedicated web page that takes the user directly to the learning materials. We can also provide free, regular syndicated content (articles of professional interest with language exercises) for your web site. Having a dedicated page on your intranet will encourage your employees to use the site regularly and improve their English skills.
A Case Study
Infosys, one of India’s largest IT companies with revenues of US$4 billion has joined with British Council to bring ‘English on Your Desktop’ to professional and student audiences in the corporate sector in India. The agreement, signed in July 2008, provided for a web banner on the Infosys Campus Connect portal and on Sparsh, the Infosys intranet website.
The Campus Connect portal reaches out to 4829 faculty members and 120,795 students as of December 2008 in around 500 engineering colleges spread across the country. The LEP banner on Sparsh will reach a further 100,000 ‘‘Infoscians’ (or Infosys employees worldwide) who access the Sparsh intranet on a daily basis.
Through this innovative initiative, both British Council and Infosys aim to address the crunch the employment sector is facing in finding recruits with the right competencies. Both Campus Connect and Sparsh provide teachers and learners with resources that support self development. The British Council online learning materials are helping individuals reach their professional aspirations by developing English skills required at the workplace and helping them prepare for English language exams.
For more information about online learning options for professionals, contact Philippa Baker
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