Teeline Shorthand

Course review:

Be able to take notes of conversations and meetings after about 60 hours of study - within four or five months if you can only study outside working hours - faster if you can spend time every day...

Teeline Shorthand is one of the easiest shorthand systems to learn. It is designed to be effective for minute-takers, journalists and anyone who needs to take notes of conversations quickly and efficiently.

Our Teeline Gold Shorthand course is intended for anyone who wants to gain skills in this widely-used system, but who can't attend one of our Maegis Training Centres. Through Distance Learning we support learners anywhere in the world, and they study where and when they wish. Our Teeline students include staff from large corporate clients - the BBC, many NHS units and trusts and the Trinity Mirror Group to name three. Many private individuals who want the skill to improve their careers have also chosen the Maegis system.

The course uses the latest materials, and includes audio instruction CDs, as well as personal guidance from our tutors and assessors who mark your work as you procede through the course. For your day-to-day learning you are steered through the materials by instructor commentary on CDs that you can play anywhere (on your HiFi, PC or CD Walkman if you like). The CDs also carry all the dictation exercises, so you don't have to ask colleagues to read them for you...Your course includes the Teeline Gold Manual, Gold Workbook, Word List, Notepad,all the CDs that act as your instructors, and entry into our Certification Exam at the completion of your course.

You can copy the lectures to your IPod if you like

Optionally, we can also offer all the instruction as .mp3 files if you want to play them on your I-Pod or personal music-player and listen on the metro, tube or bus...or you can download our CDs to your equipment using ITunes or similar software.

No internet Connection needed

You do not have to be connected to the internet to study - this course can be studied anywhere that you can get some peace and quiet in which to practice.

You will get constructive feedback from our tutors on your work, which you will be sending to us throughout the course...assessment exercises are completed at five key points in the course and you will be given personal feedback on every exercise.

Unlike some more basic systems on the market our materials are designed to enable you to reach speeds of at least 60 - 70 words per minute - or even higher speeds with the optional add-on practice disks that can take you to 110 wpm for only £20.

The inventor of Teeline - James Hill - said “If you can write, you can write Teeline.” James created Teeline in 1966 after training people in Pitman Shorthand since 1929 - and with his experience of teaching shorthand he managed to eliminate the complexities that can make the Pitman system very hard to learn. You could complete the course in 60 hours of study - if you complete a unit every week then you will be proficient in about 6-7 months - many students are halving this time.

There are no entry requirements other than being able to use a pencil...

We can also discount and bundle in our on-line Keyboard Skills system to improve your touch-typing to keep pace with your new Shorthand Skills.

Course Outline

The course has thirty-two units that are studied in four main groups. They should be studied in fairly quick succession to maintain the impetus of the learning process. Each stage is validated by one or more test papers within or at the end of the stage. You should plan on studying little and often rather than some pattern like one afternoon a week - practice is essential to learning the system.

The four stages of the course are:

• Stage 1: Units 1 to 8 - Introduction to Teeline alphabet and outline keys.
  • The Teeline Alphabet
  • Writing in Teeline
  • Additional Teeline characters
  • S and Plurals
  • Word Groupings
  • T, D and Y
• Stage 2: Units 9 to 16 - Training to reach 40-50 wpm with a reasonable vocabulary
  • Vowels and Vowel Indicators
  • Blends
  • Special Word Endings
• Stage 3: Units 17 to 24 - Completing the theory of Teeline; training to reach 50-60 wpm.
  • Business groupings
  • Numbers, currencies, colloquialisms
  • More on blends
• Stage 4: Units 25 to 32 - Speed building and vocabulary extension; training to reach 60-70 wpm
  • Blends again!
  • Special Word Beginnings
  • Metric measurements
• Practice tests and final test papers

Training System

Each student is issued with our Teeline Distance Learning Pack (so heavy it costs nearly £6.00 to post) containing the books needed to complete the course and all the support CDs for Stage 1. The course guide and Student CD steer the learner through the materials in the workbooks.

After completing the first four units, a practice worksheet is completed and for marking and comments to ensure that you have the correct basis for proceding.

This cycle of learning, testing and feedback is continued throughout the course, and at various points, more guidance CDs including timed dictated documents are sent out. Students take down the dictation, using the pacing of the CDs, and the worksheet is again sent to Maegis, marked and feedback given.

If you are going to take the OCR Exam, then after satisfactory completion of two practice exams, we will enter you for the OCR Speed Skills Certificate at an Examination Centre near your address..

• Gain essential shorthand skills - shorthand speeds of up to 70 wpm - or higher with our optional practice disks - up to 110 wpm.
• You study when you like - No fixed training times - so work pressure and different individual learning speeds and styles can be handled easily.
• No getting left behind in a lectured class...
• Get Shorthand onto your CV....