Teaching Business English Welcome Part 1 What is Business English? Part 2 Teaching Business English to groups Lunch Part 3 Teaching Business English to

Teaching Business English

WelcomePart 1 What is Business English? Part 2 Teaching Business English to groupsLunchPart 3 Teaching Business English to individuals/ 1-1Part 4 Continuing to developTo the pub

Teaching Business English Part 1: Task

Hi,JCD International has just booked a course with us. Would you be

interested in teaching it?The learners are interested in presentation and negotiation skills,

HR/ finance vocabulary and speaking practice, with some focus on grammar. Their level is intermediate.

The course will take place once a week for 20 weeks.The lessons are 90 minutes and scheduled for Thursdays at

16.00 at the company headquarters.At the end of the course, the company wants an assessment of

learners‘ progress and a levels update.Please let me know as soon as possible if you are able to take on

the group.Best regards

Teaching Business English Part 1:What is Business English?

Who will you teach?

Business professionalsPre-experience learnersQualification seekers


Where will you teach?

In a companyIn a language schoolIn an institution of higher education


What will you teach?

Business skillsBusiness vocabularyLanguage skillsGrammarPhonology

Teaching Business English Part 2: Groups

Activities Needs analysisA business skillListening and phonologyLearner progressNB Shortened versions Tips for dealing with business English learner

groups

Teaching Business English Part 2: GroupsNeeds analysis

Task Agenda1.Choose a chair person2.Read your role card3.Prepare your role4.Discuss and agree at least one course objective e.g.

to learn and practise phrases for participating in a meeting

Teaching Business English Part 2: GroupsNeeds analysis

Can be a challenge for groups with mixed needsBut is vital so that everyone feels it is their courseTipsGive everyone chance to contributeMake sure everyone can understand the course objectives

you come up with (easy vocabulary!) and agrees to themOther/alternative ideas:Priority cards, needs analysis interview, tick list or questionnaire

(see needs analysis section of the book)

Teaching Business English Part 2: GroupsBusiness skills

Business skills will probably form the biggest part of your course. What do we mean by business skills?

Writing emails (or other work documents)TelephoningParticipating in and chairing meetingsNegotiatingSocialisingGiving presentations

Teaching Business English Part 2: GroupsThe business of language

As well as business skills, you need to includeFluency/speaking practiceReading authentic workplace documentsListeningVocabularyPronunciation/ phonologyGrammar

Teaching Business English Part 2: GroupsLearner progress

Dictogloss1.Use a short text learners have read before2.Read out the text clearly at normal speed. Learners

listen3.Read out the text again. Learners make notes4.Learners work together (pairs/groups) and try to

reconstruct the paragraph

lTeaching Business English Part 2: Learner progress: reviewing

Include a review of previous content in every lesson e.g. vocabulary quizzes

Include a review lesson after every 16-20 hours of teaching covering the content of the course

Train learners to do their own reviewing e.g. looking through course notes, using self-study, learning vocabulary

Teaching Business English Part 2: Learner progress: progress checking

Some companies (e.g. JCD International) require an assessment on the learners‘ progress / levels update. Get this information from:

Monitoring during lessonsLearners‘ self-assessmentInformal testsKeep track of information you collect so that you can

easily write a report at the end of the course


Tips for teaching beginnersFollow/use a coursebook to provide structureBut supplement activities with work-related tasks

and company-specific materials


Tips for teaching advanced levelsFind out exactly what they want- they came to you for a

reason so they know they have something to learnPay careful attention to what they say and how they say

it. Record them and analyse it togetherTalk about and build on the successful learning strategies

that have brought them so far in their learningUse authentic material but take them out of their

‘comfort zone’ with challenging discussions and case studies


Tips for teaching large groupsDo a needs analysis but accept some negotiation and

compromiseDo plenty of pair and group work so participants

have a chance to speakExploit possibilities for activities which require a

minimum number of participants e.g. role plays, competitive team games


Tips for teaching ‘mixed’ groupsPlan carefully how you will pair learners, set up

groups, allocate roles for activities before the lessonMake sure senior group members do not dominateExploit differentiated resources e.g. allow lower level

learners to use bilingual dictionaries or use two different versions of the same text

Set a different number of tasks to be completed in the same amount of time

Allow pair-checking before feedback

Teaching Business English Part 3: One-to-one

TaskHow is one-to-one teaching different from teaching

groups?


The advantagesYou can work on exactly what your learner needs as

there are no other participants to take into consideration

You can work with the learner’s own work documents e.g. emails, presentations

You can focus on individual problems e.g. pronunciation, lack of confidence when participating in a meeting


The challengesYou may need to be very flexible and “think on your

feet” e.g. if learners bring in documents to work onNo pairwork or changing partners to add varietyRole plays e.g. for meetings can be challengingLearner expectations of you can be high, especially

as these kind of lessons are usually more expensive Turning what can appear ‘conversation’ into a

learning opportunity


Tips for teaching one-to-oneAdd variety by including frameworks, card-matching,

online resources, using the roomInclude both audio and video listening so the learner

does not only listen to youMove around - get the learner to stand up and write on

the board or give you a presentationLeave the room - let them prepare a presentation or read

an article aloneTake part in role-plays. It is hard to take notes at the

same time so record the learner as a basis for feedback


TaskSort the cards into 3 groups. Words I know I think I know ? I don’t know

Teaching Business English Part 3: One-to-oneFinancial statements activity Current assets = Cash and other assets expected to be converted to cash within a

year Marketable securities =Securities that are easily convertible to cash because there

is high demand allowing them to be sold quickly Trade accounts receivable = Money that a customer owes a company for a good or

service purchased on credit. Inventories = The raw materials and the products made from them that a company

possesses and intends to sell in short order Equity method investments =A method of accounting for an investment in another

company in which the book value of the investment reflects a share of the acquired firm's increases in retained earnings

Intangible assets = In accounting, any asset that cannot be seen or touched. Included things like patents and brand recognition, which add value to a company, but are difficult to price.

Accounts payable = Money owed for a good or service purchased on credit Current liabilities = Any liability expected to be paid off in one year or less Reinvested earnings = The amount of a publicly-traded company's post-tax

earnings that are not paid in dividends Total equity =What the company has to its name if all debts were liquidated.

Because of this, it is an alternative term for a stock


Financial statements activityThis works well with a one-to-one learner because:Card matching activities add variety (good for

kinesthetic learners)The financial statement can be from your learner’s

own company (personalised/relevant)You don’t need to be an expert in the figures- get

your learner to explain it to you. An excellent opportunity to find out more about their company


Work materials Documents and materials learners produce, use and

need to understand for their jobs e.g.Promotional brochures EmailsFlyers ContractsVideos Action plansAdverts ReportsManuals Company websitesMinutes and agendas PresentationsFinancial statements


Tips for using work materialsIf possible, obtain them in advance so you have time

to prepareAsk learners relevant questions- why do you

want/need to look at this? What do you need to do with it: Read and understand it? Write something similar? Reply to it? Learn the vocabulary? Discuss it?

Exploit the materials in the lesson e.g. agendas generate vocabulary to prepare for a meeting, promotional brochures generate vocabulary for product presentations, financial statements generate vocabulary for a report


Fluency/Grammar at work framework activityThis works well with a one-to-one learner because:Learner has time to prepare and make notes, so their

reply will be full and detailedTeacher finds out more about the learners’ companyLearner needs to use a variety of tenses to do the task.

Teacher take notes while they are speaking and:- Use them for feedback that lesson- Use the information to inform future lesson planningAll information comes from the learner so it is

personalised, relevant and interesting for them


Framework materials – why use them?Frameworks are worksheets with space for the

learners to add their own ideas and informationThey provide guidance and structure for learners in

speaking activitiesThey are very learner-centredThey demand little preparation from the teacherThey can meet learner expectations of getting “a

worksheet” and are helpful for visual learnersThey are particularly good in one-to-one situations

Teaching Business English Part 3: One-to-onePersonal Action Plan

Things I will do in English Date I will do this by What I need to do

Read Business Spotlight magazine

December Go to station and buy one

Listen to BBC World Business Report podcasts

The end of next week Look at website www.bbc.co.uk/podcasts/series/wbnews

Read a novel My next holiday Join the international library


Action plans work well with one-to-one learners because:

They are often too busy to do ‘homework’. Offering them choices of things to do out of lessons which interest them is more likely to be successful

Teaching Business English Part 3: feedback

ScenarioYou have a 60 minute lesson with a Senior Manager who

wants to focus on speaking/fluency. TaskWhat kind of spoken, written and non-verbal comments/feedback can you give to help this learner

improve his/her English?

Teaching Business English Part 3: Giving one-to-one feedback

Immediate feedback: echoing, reformulating , gesturing work well

Take notes. You can go through them on paper after a fluency activity. Note down good language, missing language and language to be improved

Record learners and go through it together. These recordings can also be used later in the course to determine how much progress has been made

Teaching Business English Part 3:Giving feedback to groups

Give immediate feedback while monitoring e.g. if you overhear something good or something which needs immediate correction

Take notes. Use the flip chart / whiteboard to share good language, clarify missing language and work on language to be improved

Peer feedback e.g. using a list of performance criteria while watching another learner give a presentation

Teaching Business English Part 4: Continuing to develop

Task: What have you learned today?What activities can you use in your own teaching?Part 1 What is Business English? Part 2 Teaching Business English groupsActivity ideas for groupsPart 3 Teaching Business English to individuals/ 1-1Activity ideas for one-to-one

Teaching Business English Part 4:Continuing to developReading:Business news Teaching resource booksManagement self-help books / biographiesProfessional journals and websites for teachersWriting:Writing and sharing classroom materialsPublishing in journals or online

Teaching Business English Part 4:Continuing to develop

OtherConferences and training e.g.BESIG, MELTAQualifications in teaching business English e.g.

CertIBETOnline forums for business English teachers What else can you do?

Teaching Business EnglishFor more ideas and information

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