Job Discussion Forums

[Bill Shagley]

Hi,
I have a teaching related question. This may be unfashionable but I am sure that there are many well qualified and experienced teachers who can give me some guidance.
I am currently teaching company classes. I can deal very well with the lower and intermediate groups. Progress has been swift and visible. Two months ago, some of them could barely say "hello". Now they can have simple conversations. The intermediates are developing accuracy, fluency and an enhanced vocabulary.
However I am running out of ideas for the advanced group. They have a good vocabulary. They express themselves well, but are a litle sloppy on thier tenses.
I would like to ask for some suggestions about how to increase grammatical awareness.
Also I would like some general guidelines on how to teach an advanced group. I want to pay particular attention to oral and written expression. Furthermore, I would be interested to hear suggestions on texts and activities.
I am looking for advice on the teaching of general English. These are not Business English classes.
I am also looking at other websites so you can rest assured that I am not asking you to do my job for me.
At the moment I am using newspapers and some other real life texts.
I await your wisdom.

[Minhang Oz]

Bill
I take a 3 hour class of mostly advanced speakers, all of whom are middle to upper level managers. I use the BEC series, and the most appropriate is "Advanced business contacts". Its really about communication in the business world rather than business practice or economic concepts. There are lots of useful exercises, and it appears to be written by native speakers who know something about EFL AND business- an uncommon mix. Have a look at it. Like you, I do a lot of current affairs stuff, drawing on South China Morning Post in particular for observant non-CCP commentary on what's going on in China. A "freetalk" with each student relating some event from their week, some structured group work aimed at increasing awareness of group dynamics and leadership models, and the time flies. Incorrect tense use is the biggest grammatical weakness among otherwise competent speakers. Chinese verbs don't change, and just add the "le" participle. English verbs almost have to be learned on a tense by tense basis, and so are difficult. Setting a particular time-based scenario, e.g. " What would happen if....", gives students the chance to practice the future possible tense to achieve consistency, and have some fun too.
Regards, Andrew.