Teacher Discussion Forums

Just as a bit of closure on the subject, I did drop the class. I told them a version of the truth, which was that I had the opportunity to teach 4 classes in a row on the same day that they had their lesson. And that I simply had to economically choose the 4 classes, because the first one unfortunat...

I offer one free lesson to my private students to test it out, but never to companies. Why? Because to companies, nothing is of worth unless you pay for it. By offering a free lesson, lots of companies will wonder at how professional you really are. I normally have an initial meeting with the compan...

So, let me get this straight - he needs English for everyday conversation - is that right? So he quite fairly doesn't want to work on texts or things that aren't conversation-based. Ask him what is his learning style is and what he wants to learn. Does he learn best from seeing things written down, ...

I believe its good for the teacher to be friendly and fun, but they must also clearly be a leader for the class. Depends on what you mean by "leader". If you mean, you should be the one to control the class, the one who dictates what is learnt and what isn't, the one who is always the center of att...

I think it depends a bit on where you are going to end up working. The CELTA program is well-recognised here in Europe, so if you are thinking of coming here, I'd look into that.

There are a couple of ways to approach it. The first is, ask them "Why are you here?" and wait for the responses. If it's because the boss makes them, ask them if you should perhaps talk to the boss about finding a better time for the class because obviously 8am isn't their best learning time. And d...

Thanks Amy!

Yeah, I've googled too. The problem with doing an article is, they are usually way above the level of the article in terms of knowledge of the topic. Most aren't looking at it from the same angle as them either. The articles talk about all risks. The lawyers are only interested in the legal aspects....

Thanks sbourque, it does help. I'd love to read some more ideas from people!

This is a cross post, I also posted in Business English. I need some creative ideas of how to teach something around the concept of due diligence reports for real estate/real property. It's a class of lawyers who orginally wanted general business English, but now are asking for this (due diligence),...

I need some creative ideas of how to teach something around the concept of due diligence reports for real estate/real property. It's a class of lawyers who orginally wanted general business English, but now are asking for this (due diligence), which is a bit over my head, as I'm not a lawyer. I don'...

Thanks for the advice already given. I've decided to wait until April 1st to increase prices. No April Fools intended, just that several of my classes will have been running a year by then, and it's the start fiscal year for some, so it makes sense. Marce, yes that was right. :) Best regards from co...

I'm in Germany.

I'm in a bit of a bind. I've had an adult conversation/business English class for about 5 years now, meeting every Wednesday morning at 7:30. I'm starting to, no; who am I kidding; I am tired of them. And they are probably tired of me too. They don't really want to improve their English, they just w...

Funny, when I started teaching Business English, I certainly didn't have a typical corporate background. I had worked of course, but in enviroments far removed from an office. In fact, it was only when I started teaching that I started coming even remotely close to a M-F, 9-5 job. I found the bigges...