Korean Job Discussion Forums

[Milwaukiedave]

Does anyone have a recommendation for a Business English textbook? I have a higher level class of "government officals" who I will be teaching next term. The class will be a total of 17 weeks and I do have some of my own material that I can use in different places.

I tried using the search function, but it is worthless as usual.

[jackson7]

If it is a conversation-based class, Let's Talk Business English is a good start. You could supplement that book with some more traditional material of your own and you class would probably be happy, as would you, as the book is well laid-out and allows for a solid 20-30 minutes of discussion as long as you're doing a good job recognizing tangents and leading the class on them

[Milwaukiedave]

Jackson,

Thanks for the suggestion. I used that one earlier this year so I'm pretty familiar with it. I've had both good and bad experiences with that one. It somewhat depends on the motivational level of the students. One class I had was a group of LG Engineers and they were very nervous at first and got better as time went on. The other group was a group of MBA students that are taking all of their course in English. Their motivation level, for lack of a better term, stunk (I hate to say it, but it's true). The latter experience makes me very hesitant to use that book again.

I'm going to keep that one in mind though and continue to think about other books.

Any other suggestions?

[KoreanAmbition]

The problem with a class of MBA students learning English is that they don't have time to dedicate to the class. Most likely their MBA leaves them with little free time, and the last thing on their minds is to study English. Granted, that's if their MBA program is a hard one.

[ddeubel]

Take a look at what other teachers recommend at our bookstore - http://eflclassroom.ning.com/books

Also check our resource section and our scribd area.

I think it all depends on the level. I've used Business Objectives over the years to much success - it has a large communicative focus.

Cheers,

DD
http://eflclassroom.ning.com

[Fat_Elvis]

I know some people don't like it, but I often use Market Leader. The case studies work well for fluency practise, which is what most of my students want. Some things are best skipped and some things need to be supplemented but that's the case with any textbook.

[Milwaukiedave]

Thanks DD and Elvis, I'll take those things into consideration.

Went to the bookstore here in Gwangju today to research books. I came out feeling like I had pretty much hit my head against a wall.