Why I’m Building a Different Kind of Business English Book — and Looking for Beta Testers

After more than 20 years of teaching Business English, I have finally done something I had been thinking about for a very long time.

I have written a book.

The first complete manuscript is now finished, and it has grown directly out of thousands of conversations with professionals who use English every day at work.

People working in finance, technology, project management, hospitality, pharmaceuticals, design, retail, HR and international business.

Different industries. Different countries. Different levels of responsibility.

But again and again, I noticed the same problem.

Many professionals know far more English than they believe they do.

They understand meetings. They read reports. They write emails. They know the grammar.

Then someone unexpectedly asks:

“What do you think?”

And everything changes.

They need to explain an idea.

Defend a decision.

Ask a difficult question.

Tell a story.

Clarify something they do not understand.

Challenge an assumption.

Disagree without creating conflict.

Explain why something has gone wrong.

Or simply keep a conversation moving when there is no prepared answer.

That is the gap I wanted this book to address.

This is not a book you simply read

I have never wanted to write another Business English book filled with pages of explanations followed by exercises that have little relationship with the conversations people actually have at work.

The book I have created is designed to be used.

Readers are placed inside realistic professional situations and asked to respond.

Sometimes there is incomplete information.

Sometimes there are several possible answers.

Sometimes the apparently obvious solution is not necessarily the best one.

The purpose is not simply to find the “correct English”.

It is to communicate.

To think.

To respond.

And sometimes to change your mind.

What does that look like?

Here is a deliberately small example.

Imagine this situation:

A client asks your team to bring a delivery forward by one week.Your team believes this is technically possible, but doing so could increase the cost and reduce the time available for final quality checks.The client says:“It’s only one week. Surely that shouldn’t be a problem?”

What would you say?

Would you immediately explain why it is difficult?

Would you agree and work out the consequences later?

Would you refuse?

Or would you first try to understand what is actually driving the request?

What information would you want before committing to anything?

What might the client not know?

What might you be assuming?

There is no vocabulary list that can answer that conversation for you.

And that is exactly the point.

The book contains many situations where the reader needs to use English to explore, explain, question, negotiate and decide — just as they would in a real workplace.

Why I wrote it

Over the years, I have become increasingly convinced that one of the biggest improvements a language learner can make is not simply learning more English.

It is learning to do more with the English they already have.

A stronger question can completely change a conversation.

A clearer explanation can prevent a misunderstanding.

One well-timed follow-up question can reveal something important.

A concise story can make an idea memorable.

And knowing how to say:

“I’m not sure we know enough to decide that yet.”

can sometimes be considerably more valuable than knowing another twenty business idioms.

The material in this book has evolved from real teaching.

Activities have often started with something a learner said during a lesson, a difficult meeting they experienced, a client situation, a misunderstanding, a decision or a problem they needed to explain.

Over time, those conversations became exercises, scenarios and communication challenges.

Eventually, I realised I had something much larger.

Now I need people to test it

The manuscript is complete and I am now preparing the book for publication.

Before the final version is released, I would like a small number of professionals to test selected material.

I am particularly interested in people with approximately B2–C1 English who regularly use English professionally.

You might use English for:

• meetings;

• international projects;

• client communication;

• management;

• presentations;

• negotiations;

• problem-solving;

• teamwork;

• or everyday conversations with international colleagues.

You will not be asked to read an entire manuscript.

Instead, selected beta testers will receive a short advance selection of activities.

I am interested in very practical feedback.

Were the instructions clear?

Did the situation feel realistic?

Did it make you think?

Did it make you want to respond?

Could you use the activity without a teacher explaining everything first?

And perhaps most importantly:

Would you want to continue?

What I am not looking for

I am not looking for people to tell me that everything is wonderful.

Useful feedback can be as simple as:

“I didn’t understand what I was supposed to do here.”

or:

“This situation felt exactly like something that happened at work last month.”

Both are extremely valuable.

The purpose of beta testing is to discover what happens when the material leaves my classroom and reaches somebody who has never worked with me before.

Interested?

If you use English professionally and would like to take part in the first beta-testing group, please contact me.

Tell me briefly:

1. What do you do?

2. How do you currently use English at work?

3. What would you estimate your English level to be?

I will select a relatively small group for this first stage.

The advance material will be supplied specifically for private testing and feedback and will not be for redistribution.

The next step

Writing the manuscript has been a significant project.

But seeing somebody encounter one of these situations for the first time, stop, think and then begin to work their way through it will probably be an even more important moment.

Because ultimately, that is what the book is supposed to do.

Not simply give people more Business English to study.

Give them better conversations to have.