Welcome to BESIG

BESIG, the Business English Special Interest Group of IATEFL, is a truly professional body representing the interests and serving the needs of the international business English teaching community.

BESIG's members are mainly teachers of Business English and include both native and non-native speakers of English. We have members in over 65 countries in Europe, the Americas, Africa, Asia and Oceania. BESIG offers you ways to improve your expertise in teaching Business English and a link with other people in the profession. We do this through our annual international BESIG conferences, regional workshops, regular newsletters and reports describing conference papers/workshops in detail.

Please follow the links on the left to read more about BESIG and to find out how to become involved in our events. For information of current interest please see below or follow the links on the right.

2010 Annual Conference

The 2010 Annual Conference will be held in Bielefeld, Germany over the weekend 19 - 21 November and registration is now open and takes place via the IATEFL website (see below)

Further information & Registration

Please click here for further conference and registration information

Sponsorship and Exhibitor Options

We are offering a range of sponsorship opportunities, including, for the first time, a commercial poster space for smaller exhibitors. This is aimed at smaller providers who want to be present but have limited personnel or cannot be there all the time. In addition, we are offering our customary deals on exhibition stands and advertising opportunities. The deadline for IATEFL BESIG to receive your submission is Thursday 30 September 2010.

Click here: Exhibitors' guidelines and click here: Sponsors and exhibitors form

Call for committee members

BESIG is accepting nominations for two positions on its Executive Committee. The terms for these voluntary positions will run from the AGM at the Annual Conference in 2010 until the AGM at the 2012 conference, renewable by mutual consent for two more years. The positions are:

Treasurer

Administration & Development Coordinator

For details concerning the responsibilities attached to these positions and the quailites candidates should have, please click here to download the following document: Call for committee members

To nominate a candidate for the position of Treasurer, please click here to download the following document: Treasurer nominations

To nominate a candidate for the position of Administration & Development Coordinator, please click here to download the following document: A & D Coordinator nominations

Please note that nominees need to post a hard copy of the nomination form to Marjorie Rosenberg (see the above forms details), but send their statement and photo in digital format by email to Marjorie Rosenberg.

International Business English Summer Conference 2010

The IATEFL BESIG Rome Summer Conference was held on25 / 26 June 2010. Please click here for further details.

BESIG Webinar: The best teaching resource? Our students?

BESIG's first ever online event was set up to explore and discuss the implications of the current move in Business English towards totally needs-based, learner-focused language training. Four leading business and general English professionals were invited to share their views and discuss with an online audience the demands and benefits of individually tailored language training. Please click here for further details and to view the recordings of the session.

Information about BESIG at the IATEFL 2010 Conference now available

As part of the IATEFL 2010 Conference, BESIG held a full-day Pre-Conference Event and a full Programme Day. To find out more about these events and view recordings of many of the talks please click here: BESIG in Harrogate

New BESIG Ning Network

IATEFL BESIG has created a new online platform to give members the chance to meet and network online in the periods between and leading up to events organised by the SIG. Click here to join: IATEFL BESIG Ning

Cert IBET scholarship - 2010 applications now being accepted!

BESIG, Trinity College London, English UK and The Consultants-E are pleased to announce that applications are now being accepted for the joint scholarship for an online course leading to the Certificate in International Business English Training (Cert IBET). For details on the Cert IBET, the course and the scholarship please click here. Please note that the application deadline for the 2010 scholarship is 30 July 2010.

David Riley Award

David Riley was a teacher, writer and publisher of Business and ELT materials. He was renowned in the ELT world for his creation of materials for a range of publishers, big and small. David passed away in 2007 leaving a big gap in the ELT world. To remember him and his rare talent, BESIG and Macmillan are honoured to launch a new industry award - ‘The David Riley Award for Innovation in Business English and ESP’. The winner of the David Riley Award for Innovation 2009 was English for Law Enforcement by Charles Boyle and Ileana Chersan (Macmillan). Congratulations to the winners!

Entry details for the 2010 award are available on the David Riley Award page.

BESIG Facilitators Scholarship

This new scholarship, funded by the IATEFL Business English Special Interest Group, is for a teacher to attend the IATEFL Conference for the first time and to give a presentation on the BESIG Programme Day. It will be awarded to someone who is also interested in starting up and facilitating local business English events in his or her home area and contributing to BESIG through articles for Business Issues or web-based communication tools. Click here for more details: Scholarship

For links of current interest please follow the links on the right.