As our site grows every day we want to share some information with you on the way we are operating the project. We call this section «Business Blog» as it is similar to doing a log book where data is recorded in a chronological order. «Blogging» is gaining popularity with more and more people picking up the habit of publishing their experiences and thoughts on the Internet. Our Blog covers various topics — from TOEFL, TOEIC, MBA, GMAT, ESL/EFL test preperation to cultural traditions and current political events.
There will also be some Internet marketing terminology and if you have any questions regarding the information simply let us know.

The Business Blog is written by Torsten Daerr and edited by Alan Townend.

2005 — October 15
Alan's latest newsletter is all about advertising and the «power of persuasion». He writes about how companies promote their products and services through the media and refers to a commerical that is currently running on British TV. Interestingly enough on our readers has already posted a question on forum regarding the newsletter and because Alan is in France at the moment, it will take a little time until we get an answer. Meanwhile you can participate in other forum discussions such as this one about the current situation in Belarus the current situation in Belarus — a European country that has been unknown to most people so far.

2005 — October 11
An interesting discussion is going on in our forum on the question how EU money should be spent more usefully. I was quite surprised to learn that in Poland they have a government run employment agency too. If you organize further education programs for people who don't pay for them you will be faced with the challenge to motive your class to learn. That's why we are trying to create and offer services to companies who understand that training and education are vital business assests. This week I'll give a trial training session to a Germany based software company that employs more than 700 people in 10 countries. Now the marketing department at headquarters in Leipzig is looking for a new English language training and on Thursday I'll have the opportunity to convince the HR manager and the head of the training and education department that I'm capable of doing the best job for their company. Here is my lesson plan: Who, Why, What and How? First every team member has to introduce one of their colleagues to me. I think this is a good team building exercise: Tell me something about your co-workers and I'll learn a lot about yourself. Then we'll take a look at the reasons for improving our communication skills and we'll agree on topics to be covered in our training sessions. Finally, we'll exchange ideas on how to achieve our goals. I'm really looking forward to this first session. It goes without saying that the TOEIC test will be a part of our training program too.

2005 — September 16
Looking at our website statistics it is obvious that the popularity of the TOEIC test is constantly growing. So far more than 2000 people have found our pages by using a search string that contained the acronym TOEIC. We also decided to integrate the TOEIC test into any of our training services. For example we will be preparing another group of German professionals to start a job in the UK by the end of 2005 and part of their program will be the TOEIC.

2005 — August 13
One of the best methods of learning English is to work in a British company. Now, of course it's a bit of a challenge to find a job in the UK when you live abroad. That's why we have now teamed up with a company that organizes work placements in the UK or Ireland. The programme consists of two parts — a preparation course and the work placement itself. It goes without saying that if you want to work in a company in the UK your knowledge of English should be practical. But what exactly does that mean? How can you measure your standard of English? I think one of the ways you can do this is with the TOEIC test. We are going to try to make it part of our training programme so that our job candidates will have a better idea of what might be required of them. For some groups it might be good to use the TOEIC Bridge exam — a simpler version of the actual TOEIC test. So far I have helped to prepare about 30 people for their work placement in the UK and about half of them have found paid jobs after completing their work placements. Most of them are working in York, a bustling city in the north of England.