Read, practise and progress

Class-e has developed a bank of self-access materials for you to use when you need a little extra support with your English language challenges at work. Easy to access and totally free to use.

Language Toolbox Series – 20 useful phrases to manage online meetings in English

Does the idea of chairing an online meeting in English make you feel nervous? Sometimes it's just a matter of confidence. These 20 phrases will help you manage meetings professionally in English and make you feel more confident when you are leading a meeting with multiple participants.

Language Toolbox Series – 20 ways to manage difficult questions at work in English

What do you say when you are asked a question you don't know the answer to immediately? Difficult enough in your mother tongue. These 20 phrases will help you manage those questions professionally in English.

Language Toolbox Series – 20 ways to disagree politely in English

There are always moments in life and in business where we don't see eye to eye with someone. But the problem is often finding the right language to say "you're wrong" without causing unnecessary offence. Expressing disagreement politely is essential for maintaining positive relationships, fostering effective communication, and upholding personal and professional boundaries. With this language toolbox we hope to provide some language that will help you to handle those difficult discord moments gracefully.

Language Toolbox Series – Writing Informal Emails

Writing good emails in a second language can be a time-consuming process. Even when you are communicating with someone you may know quite well, hitting the correct tone is sometimes a tricky business. With this language toolbox we hope to make the whole process a little less painful and allow you to write informal emails with more confidence.

Language Toolbox Series – Managing Online Meetings

Online meetings are part of our daily professional lives. Participating in meetings in English as your second language can be a challenge. We have created a language toolbox to help you feel more confident using English in your work meetings with some common, natural English key phrases.

How to: use Presentation language – summary, conclusion, thanks and inviting questions

Giving a presentation in English – whether online or in a face-to-face meeting, can be a challenging task. Preparation and practice is the key to a confident and clear presentation. Here is some language you can use in the final part of your presentation to summarise your points, thank your audience and invite questions.

How to: use Presentation language 4 – body of the presentation and referring to slides

Giving a presentation in English – whether online or in a face-to-face meeting, can be a challenging task. Preparation and practice is the key to a confident and clear presentation. Here is some language you can use in the main body of your presentation to signal transitions between points and to indicate your slides.

How to: use Presentation language 3 – indicating the time and referring to questions

Giving a presentation in English – whether online or in a face-to-face meeting, can be a challenging task. Preparation and practice is the key to a confident and clear presentation. Here is some language you can use to advise your audience how long your presentation will take, and how you will approach answering their questions.

How to: use Presentation language 2 – introduce the topic and outline the main points

Giving a presentation in English – whether online or in a face-to-face meeting, can be a challenging task. Preparation and practice is the key to a confident and clear presentation. Here is some language you can use at the introduction stage of your presentation to introduce the presentation topic (perhaps give background and reasons why it is important/relevant) and outline the main points (in order).

How to: use Presentation language 1 – greeting, introducing yourself and engaging the audience

Giving a presentation in English – whether online or in a face-to-face meeting, can be a challenging task. Preparation and practice is the key to a confident and clear presentation. Let's start with greeting your audience, introducing yourself and engaging the audience before you begin your presentation.

How to: use Presentation Language – overview of a presentation structure

Giving a presentation in English – whether online or in a face-to-face meeting, can be a challenging task. Preparation and practice is the key to a confident and clear presentation. Here is some advice to help you review the structure of a presentation.

Grammar Check-up! – The Present Continuous tense – check out your knowledge and understanding.

The Present Continuous Tense - In which of these situations do you think we use the present continuous (progressive) form..? To talk about..

Grammar Check-up! The Simple Present tense – check out your knowledge and understanding.

In which of these situations do you think we use the simple present form in English..? To talk about...

10 POLISH TRANSLATION MISTAKES – Are you making these mistakes?

Directly translating from your language to English can result in some ‘classic’ word choice or word order mistakes, and often some ‘missing’ words! Are you making these mistakes?

10 POLISH TRANSLATION MISTAKES – answers and grammar information

It's important to understand why you can't always translate directly from your own language into English. For 10 Polish translation mistakes, here are the answers and some grammar information.

10 Common Spelling and Grammar Mistakes to avoid in your writing

Accurate spelling and the correct use of grammar and vocabulary is very important when you are writing – whether it’s an email, a report or a power point presentation.

10 ITALIAN TRANSLATION MISTAKES – are you making these mistakes?

Directly translating from your language to English can result in some ‘classic’ word choice or word order mistakes, and often some ‘missing’ words! Are you making these mistakes?

10 ITALIAN TRANSLATION MISTAKES – answers and grammar information

Here are the answers and some grammar information to explain why:

10 GERMAN TRANSLATION MISTAKES – are you making these mistakes?

Directly translating from your language to English can result in some ‘classic’ word choice or word order mistakes, and often some ‘missing’ words! Are you making these mistakes?

10 GERMAN TRANSLATION MISTAKES – answers and grammar

Here are the answers and some grammar explanations to explain why.

10 FRENCH TRANSLATION MISTAKES – are you making these mistakes?

Directly translating from your language to English can result in some ‘classic’ word choice or word order mistakes, and often some ‘missing’ words! Are you making these mistakes?

10 FRENCH TRANSLATION MISTAKES…answers and grammar

10 French translation mistakes - here are the answers and some grammar information to explain why.

10 SPANISH TRANSLATION MISTAKES…are you making these mistakes?

Directly translating from your language to English can result in some ‘classic’ word choice or word order mistakes, and often some ‘missing’ words! Are you making these mistakes?

10 SPANISH TRANSLATION MISTAKES – answers and grammar

10 Spanish translation mistakes - here are the answers and some grammar information to explain why.

How to: Improve your reading skills – dealing with unknown vocabulary

Reading authentic English texts (where none of the language has been simplified) can be difficult, especially when there are a lot of unknown words or phrases.

How to: Improve your reading skills – skimming and scanning

Reading is an essential skill to develop in English, particularly when you need to understand news articles, or long reports, without spending too much time.

How to: Improve your listening skills – listening for detailed information

Listening and understanding everything you hear in English is not an easy skill, from listening to an announcement at an airport to catching important information or instructions in a meeting.

How to: Make ‘small talk’ in social situations

When you have a work -related social function, or even find yourself in an informal online group meeting, how do you engage conversationally with others in English? What topics are suitable?

How to: Open and close a business email

Ask yourself these questions before you start writing your email...

How to: Introduce yourself and the topic of the meeting

When you have a meeting with someone or a group of people – in person or online – how should you introduce yourself in English? And how do you introduce the topic of the meeting?

How to: Write or respond to an enquiry email

Here are some standard phrases you can use/adapt to write a short email to enquire about something, or to respond to one you receive. Don’t forget to be polite even if you don’t want to be too formal!

How to: Be diplomatic in an email

Do you have a sensitive or potentially difficult situation to address in an email? Or do you need to give some ‘bad news’ to a client or customer? Here are some tips and phrases that can help you produce a diplomatic tone.

How to: Write a complaint email

Here are some standard phrases you can use/adapt to write a short email when you want complain about something. Start in a polite way and increase formality if your complaint is not resolved in the first communication

How to: Improve your listening skills – listening for general understanding

Listening and understanding everything you hear in English is not an easy skill, especially when you listen to a long presentation or are in an online meeting.