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Top Tips for Teaching Business English
Teaching Business English for the first time can seem a daunting task. Nadia Zehni breaks through this barrier to show that it's simply a question of preparation.
It's a common misconception that teaching Business English is a lot more
difficult that teaching general English. Granted it will take a bit more
research depending on what business sector your students are from, but
preparation is the key to seeming confident and knowledgeable in front of your
students. The following tips should help you feel more prepared when you take on
a Business English class for the first time.
1. English Needs Assessment
Before you start any course I highly recommend a needs assessment session in the
first lesson. Not only will it break the ice and get people talking, it's also
imperative to find out what the students are hoping to achieve from the course.
This way, with the information you have collected you can pick out interesting
lessons in the books (instead of following it from Chapter 1 all the way
through). For example, one group I taught was mostly secretaries and admin staff
so they wanted to focus on phone conversation skills and email writing.
Another important thing to ask students is about any specialist vocabulary they
need in their day to day work that you can teach them. That means you'll be able
to go back and do research straight away and find out similar terminology that
they may need in their sector. This comes hand in hand with researching the
company your students are from as well as reading up on their sector and finding
specialist terms.
2. Books
If you're asked to buy or choose books for classes I can recommend the In
Company series by Macmillan. I found them really good with the audio CDs and the
worksheets at the back of the teacher's book. These worked well from
Pre-Intermediate to Advanced, although if you think that your students will be
moving up classes a lot, the topics tend to be the same throughout the books.
Another series I have used is Powerbase by Longman - this was good for absolute
beginners and elementary groups. I had my own material as well of course to
complement the book, and the internet is always full of ideas and activities.
3. Areas to Focus On
One area which I would definitely recommend you focus on is Telephone Talk
through role plays. What I found useful were role play cards where, for example,
one person is a receptionist and the other wants to speak to someone in the
company and leaves a specific message. Put students back to back when doing
these exercises. It will force them to listen to each other more carefully as in
a phone situation. Role play activities are excellent practice too which will
allow them to act out common situations such as meeting someone for the first
time, or what to say at a dinner party. Make sure that all these activities are
as relevant to their real job as possible.
Another very important topic is Email writing. Give your students the tools and
confidence to start and end emails in a professional way. Go over phrases that
they will come across and get them to practice writing each other emails that
they would need to write in their every day jobs.
It's always more beneficial to tailor the lessons to students' specific needs
rather than follow a book too closely. I recommend you be open with your class
and ask them what they would like to learn and get regular feedback about how
they feel they're progressing. During lessons also keep a note of other areas or
terms which may need a bit of work on as they come up. I hope these tips have
been of use!
Nadia Zehni has extensive experience teaching English as a Foreign Language in England, Malta and France. She is a regular contributor to EnglishForums.com, the world's busiest EFL community, which receives over 30,000 visits a day. It's an excellent resource for EFL teachers looking for information about grammar, phonetics, EFL jobs and teaching tips. English students on the other hand can learn English by posting questions and getting help from volunteer EFL teachers, as well as speaking with other learners. To benefit from this fantastic resource sign up for free at englishforums.com!
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Downloadable activities
Grammar teaching ideas
Cambridge Business English Activities:
Serious Fun for Business English Students!
This photocopiable resource is packed full of ready-to-use, interesting
activities, saving the teacher valuable preparation time. It offers a variety of
pair and group activities to practise the most common functions and language of
business, from socialising and eating out to negotiation and marketing.
comments
Sue said...
"Many thanks - I always worry about teaching business english if it is in a
field in which I am unfamiliar with the terms in English. You are right that
planning is the key!"
Kate said...
"Thanks for the great ideas - do you have any more information on the teaching
of email writing? I haven't yet found any good resources on this and am always a
bit lost about where to start when a client asks me to 'teach them to write
emails'."
