The do's and don'ts of the business english class?

[jus]

ok, So I've got a demo lesson to give to a prospective employer, about Marketing.
they've given me a text book to work out of, and told me to come up with a 2 hour lesson plan, which is coming along nicely, buuuut..

seeing as I have never taught business class to adults, I come beseeching hairier faced men then I about the best way to go about it. Please give me some tips if you will about teaching business english.

also, hows does this activity sound for a class like this:
- arrange students into pairs/groups
- get them to draw a card/object out of a bag
- in their groups, discuss how to effectively sell the item using vocab and set phrases from a printout as a guide
- given time to practice
- presentation.

cheers!

[Spevna]

Au info about their general level? They might help us give more specific advice.

Your idea sounds fun and interesting, and therein lies the problem. I would imagine a lot of silence if these salary men are anything like the ones I gave taught.

[me_in_japan]

Regardless of topic/students, I've found that the following tends to work:

1) demo what you want them to do. Not explain - demonstrate.
2) have key phrases easily visible throughout the activity, and at lower levels do repetition drills with them before you start on your activity proper.
3) have them do a once-run-through before you let them rip on it for real (in this case, you could elicit an example sentence from each student before doing the actual activity.)
4) keep it structured. (always move from simple to more complex. The first thing you do with the class should be achievable by all of them, even the dumbasses. The last thing you do with them should also be achievable, as long as they were paying attention.)
5) praise success.
6) at the start and end of the lesson, say what they are going to achieve today/ have achieved today.

My 2 yen.

Ps

7) tell your potential employer that 2 hours is a stupid length of time for a language lesson and that his staff will be brain dead after about an hour, hour and a half max, and that's if they're coming at it fresh and highly motivated.

[Primarch]

At Jus - Are you coming to Ogaki tomorrow? I can go through it with you if you bring the textbook.

I will post more later, I am in the middle of a business english class now. (Breaktime)

[Spevna]

Regardless of topic/students, I've found that the following tends to work:

1) demo what you want them to do. Not explain - demonstrate.
2) have key phrases easily visible throughout the activity, and at lower levels do repetition drills with them before you start on your activity proper.
3) have them do a once-run-through before you let them rip on it for real (in this case, you could elicit an example sentence from each student before doing the actual activity.)
4) keep it structured. (always move from simple to more complex. The first thing you do with the class should be achievable by all of them, even the dumbasses. The last thing you do with them should also be achievable, as long as they were paying attention.)
5) praise success.
6) at the start and end of the lesson, say what they are going to achieve today/ have achieved today.

My 2 yen.

Ps

7) tell your potential employer that 2 hours is a stupid length of time for a language lesson and that his staff will be brain dead after about an hour, hour and a half max, and that's if they're coming at it fresh and highly motivated.

Sage words, especially about lesson length.

[jus]

@spevna: hmm i'm not sure about the level of english, the textbook they are using says pre-intermediate, but seems very advanced to me. Talking about stuff like market share, and consumer behavior.

is every salaryman as quiet as the next?

@mij : yeah cool thanks for the advice, those sound like sage words. Mostly its running through a text book for the first hour, I was thinking. That activity was supposed to be the 2nd hour/practical side of thing. I don't think the lessons usually go for that long, its just that they want you to prepare it for the demonstation, just to see if you can do it and then conduct the lesson in 30 minutes to a few staff members at the office to see that you actually know what you are doing.

@prim: I don't think I can make it to ogaki tomorrow, but its market leader unit 7.

also...should I try and dazzle them with sleight of hand as an opener? "Marketing is all about...making money" /produce coin from behind an ear.

[Spevna]

@spevna: hmm i'm not sure about the level of english, the textbook they are using says pre-intermediate, but seems very advanced to me. Talking about stuff like market share, and consumer behavior.

is every salaryman as quiet as the next?

@mij : yeah cool thanks for the advice, those sound like sage words. Mostly its running through a text book for the first hour, I was thinking. That activity was supposed to be the 2nd hour/practical side of thing. I don't think the lessons usually go for that long, its just that they want you to prepare it for the demonstation, just to see if you can do it and then conduct the lesson in 30 minutes to a few staff members at the office to see that you actually know what you are doing.

@prim: I don't think I can make it to ogaki tomorrow, but its market leader unit 7.

also...should I try and dazzle them with sleight of hand as an opener? "Marketing is all about...making money" /produce coin from behind an ear.

Not so much that they are quiet, more than being creative/spontaneous us not something they have much experience with. The idea of coming up with a sales pitch could work well as some kind of final activity/application where they get to practice using wherever the target language of your course/class was.

[Primarch]

2 hours is pretty much the standard for me, which means it will be the standard for Jus as well. Some classes go for 3-4 hours. Most students start to get tired towards the end of the second hour, but given that all of them are dodging work to be in the class they have no trouble with 2 hour classes. It's a refreshing break for many of them.

Apart from that M_i_J's comments were spot on.

Some extra things to bear in mind:

You aren't there to teach business. Either they know what the subject is and can do it or they dont and will never need to. Don't try and teach marketing. You can teach them about marketing vocabulary, but that is the theme for the lesson, not the function. Try to pick out the grammatical point to the class and work on that. Activities should focus around practicing those structures and the vocabulary presented in the book.

Market leader is not a bad textbook, but it does aim high for it's material. Be prepared to explain a lot, have the students give examples based on their own experience and knowledge and generally assume that they wont understand marketing at the end of the class any more than they did at the beginning.

A typical lesson plan for my classes is:
Chat to the students for a few minutes, ask about their week etc.
Give the students some things to discuss about the lesson theme. In this case "Have you seen any interesting adverts on TV recently?" And "How does you company advertise? How about your competitors?"
Then get on with the textbook. You DON'T need to do all of the activities and Market Leader gives you a lot to work with. If you have lots of listening tasks, give them time to practice reading them with a partner. If possible get them to read them again but to use their own ideas and information. In a typical class with Market Leader I would expect to cover half a unit.
Have the students do something that will allow them to use the target language/grammar in some way. If you ghave to do the case study, look for ways that you can simplify it if, for example, you have engineers in the class, not salesmen.
Your idea for the activity sounds good, so try to develop that so that it fits the lesson material. You will also need to allow for a 5 minute break.


As for students being quiet, a lot depends on what they do. Engineering types usually aren't too chatty. Sales types are much more talkative. Making jokes is good, as is offering some cultural points to the lesson.

And the final, most important point. Business English is a lie. You are there to teach English. There is nothing special about Business English apart from some jargon and a tendency to say please and thank you more. If your students dont speak regular English, business english doesn't matter one bit. Focus on getting the students to improve their listening and conversational skills. If they happen to learn some business stuff along the way, so much the better. Most students are already experts in their own field and probably use most jargon in katakana anyway. You can tailor classes to fit once you know your students, but communication is the main aim. Business English is just a means of marketing the class.

[me_in_japan]

Wise words from the Primarch, especially that last line.

[kojibear]

Wow, we should start our own school fellas.

Both MiJ and Prim have really fantastic advice.

Before I give my advice, I'd like to add to what the others have said - As a professional I would ask this employer to clearly explain what the students' backgrounds, levels and goals are. If they do not provide this, you could always make it up and tell them that you have prepared a lesson to match a fictional situation. Having this information gives you the direction you need to prepare a class. It is a shame they did not have the sense to provide it.

My company usually operates on a strictly 'customised solutions' philosophy. None of this 'business English' stuff that Prim expertly summarised.

I guess I can add the following:

1. Establish a purpose for the trainees to be there. If they don't know because their company has ordered them to be there, this can take time. Establish some goals they want to achieve both short and long term. This will depend on their level within the company.

2. Explain how achieving a workable confidence in using the language can help them reach these goals, whether they be internal or external. Become familiar with each individual's situation/goals and keep referring to them during the class to maintain motivation as much as possible.

3. It is tried and true - maximise trainees' output of the language as much as possible whilst tailoring each activity as much as possible to their goals and business environment. Agree with MiJ in setting students up for success and not failure when creating tasks.

4. I treat the members as trainees not students and I usually keep with a philosophy of 'adding value' to themselves and thus to their company. With each skill or situation they encounter and become comfortable with, they are increasing their value within the company and ensuring a greater success and profitability.

5. Discussing culture as someone has mentioned is a very favourable activity and well received by trainees. The value of this knowledge is also easily identified.

6. It is really up to you and your time, but I often ask trainees to bring authentic material from their work to class and prepare classes based on this. They should be aware of confidentiality issues though.

7. Do not insist on 'English only, at all times, death be to those who utter a Japanese word' rule. These are adults, and an emersion approach will only succeed if they are attending English lessons every day for 8 hours a day and most probably in an English speaking country. Of course, as much English as is possible and making use of all their communication 'tools', such as gesture and simplification, should be used first, but using the first language to confirm understanding is not only normal, but very productive. The final output task, however, should maximise the use of the taget language to achieve the goal.

8. Listening activities can be VERY demotivating due to the Japanese strive for perfection. Make sure you really set these up well or tailor the activity to meet the level and needs of the students. Listening and pronunciation are arguably the most difficult skills to master in a second language environment such as studying English in Japan. Even merely making the trainees aware of this can have a positive and motivating effect.

9. If, however, they are only coming to the lessons to have a break from work, have a good yarn and joke around, you can probably just ignore everything I just said after at least trying step 1 and 2 above. Such individuals will probably be satisfied if you just come into the room and say hello and make an 'oyaji' joke or two.

Hope there is something useful in my bit Jus