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[Mr.Engrish]

Hey guys, so I've been doing some English conversational classes and I have a question...

I have an upcoming class with adults ( polish english teachers) and I have never done a class with them before...

I was wondering if I can get some advice on what to do with them as I have no experience with that type of advanced group. If anyone has ever taught a conversational class like this or just know what to do in general I would appreciate some advice....

Thanks in advance

[spiral78]

They're teachers, right? Ask them what they want and need!
If/when the conversation falters, you could talk about the differences teaching English as a native speaker versus non-native speaker (benefits and challenges on both sides) and get them to give you advice (using some target language like to recommend/suggest/advise) about working effectively with Polish students.

[Mr.Engrish]

Interesting... thank you...

so in essence, talk to them about teaching methods?

Hmmm one thing i would be afraid of is that it would seem like i am looking for ways to teach students and or I am just looking for tips or something along those lines... you know what i mean?

i was hoping for maybe an interesting conversational topic or maybe something that worked for someone in a similar situation.

These students are pretty much post FC.

I read online somewhere a good method is maybe a debate? hmmm

I am open to anything right now, i will deff keep your suggestion in my head...

[spiral78]

Hmmm one thing i would be afraid of is that it would seem like i am looking for ways to teach students and or I am just looking for tips or something along those lines... you know what i mean?

Basically I was picturing you clearly as a professional in your own right, and a sort of exchange of ideas, with you to monitor and facilitate the language items they might need to talk about professional matters in English.

In business situations (which this one would be, in my eyes) it's perfectly legit to discuss the business the students are engaged in. As a starting point.

You could also negotiate further 'conversation and language analysis' topics for future lessons with the group - maybe they all want English practice for holidays or something as well.

[Kofola]

I have a pretty standard approach, which works well for me:

1. First lesson - very thorough needs and expectations analysis. I provide a list of suggestions of themes and functional language areas. We then negotiate the syllabus together. It generally takes at least an hour to do this. I also use the time to get a clear picture of what they can already do and what could be improved.

2. I then draw up a syllabus based around the functional language points and then slot in the vocubulary themes where they best fit.

Hope it helps.