Business English, but not too much! | TeachingEnglish | British Council

TeachingEnglish

Business English, but not too much!

Submitted by carladelia on 30 March, 2009 - 13:09

Teaching English in companies has been a very common practice all over the world. Teachers use their business English coursebooks, which can be so very useful and helpful to the teacher as well as interesting to some students. As a business English teacher in Brazil, I face the following reality:

1- Students need specific vocabulary to perform daily tasks at work

2- They need to be able to communicate in meetings and conference calls

3- They must learn how to write e-mails effectively

4- They should be exposed to specific material on their work field

However, students also have weekends, holidays, informal conversations etc. They also enjoy films, music and many other kinds of entertainment. So I believe it is important to know how to balance business and everyday/general English in the classroom by bringing other types of activities that can be perfectly tied to what they are learning at the moment.

What do you think about it? How do you balance your classes?

Best Wishes

Tag

carladelia's blog
Login or register to post comments

Comments

bhordubey

business english focuses on more specific areas

Submitted on 31 March, 2009 - 18:01

I think both general English and work place related activities should be there but when it comes to training students in a focused area as business English then language assumes a certain level of formality which might not be required for day to day conversations.......may be that's my view..

What do you say ?

carladelia

I couldn't agree more

Submitted on 6 April, 2009 - 13:57

I do agreee with you, bhordubey, when you say that when it comes to training a student in a focused area you will need to deal with specific levels of formality. And I think those levels should be worked with over and over. I just believe that there's alsways some space for teaching a bit of everyday English, because all students will need to have casual convertasions at least once in their lives. So, I would focus on the studen'ts special needs and occasionally, I'd work with everyday language.

Thanks for your comment!

Best wishes

Carla D'Elia - English Teacher

Pete Sharma

Business English, but not too much!

Submitted on 8 April, 2009 - 21:26

I do a find a lot of business English students can talk about their field (forever, sometimes!) but have real problems socialising - making small talk, talking about last night's football match, or telling you about a film they saw recently.

To do business well, you need to be able to socialise.

So, I agree totally that there's room on a business English course for some general stuff, in my view.

OK - I confess! I am co-writing a new book on....networking!.....

Anne Huscroft

Introduce balance

Submitted on 9 April, 2009 - 08:51

Whilst we're asked to teach Business English for specific purposes, I mix my sessions with useful "daily life" activities. This helps to increase each student's vocabulary bank, word understanding and general language use.

My students tell me the mixture is perfect for their requirements, which is why I stick to that formula.

carladelia

Thank you, Pete

Submitted on 9 April, 2009 - 13:18

Dear Pete,

Thank you for your comment. Language and networking are totally related and we, English teachers, must always remember that the students' needs go beyond their work routine at the office.

Best Wishes

Carla D'Elia - English Teacher

carladelia

I do that too!

Submitted on 9 April, 2009 - 13:19

Thank you Anne for your lovely suggestion. Finding the balance between business and everyday talk is essential to be able to have effective English classes.

Best Wishes

Carla D'Elia - English Teacher

annie12

Thanks for the post. Keep the

Submitted on 2 February, 2010 - 09:08

Thanks for the post. Keep the great work.