Korean Job Discussion Forums

[Khenan]

I've never taught business English before, but I've been thinking about looking into it. Can any of you pros out there tell me what a company or group of individuals would expect from a business English course? Honestly, I'm not even sure I'd enjoy it - I suppose I'm more curious than anything else. I don't have a background in business, but I have a sense that this wouldn't really be a problem as far as the actual teaching goes.

What kind of things do business students prefer you to focus on?

What kind of activities do you engage them with?

[lovebug]

business english can vary...most of what i did was edit people's emails/ppts and other writing in english before it was sent out. a big part of business english is clarifying levels of formality and professionalism through the language.
many people have problems with phone conversations because listening is such a hard skill. i've found that working a lot on pronunciation helps with listening skills.

business english is nice because it's immediately applicable to them. have them write mock emails/ppts/brochures/memos/etc and edit them together. you'll start to see patterns with their mistakes. then you can start to really focus on their needs in relation to their work.

also, sometimes people taking business classes are pretty good at the work-related lexis, but really are lacking in the type of conversation topics one would have at a meeting/lunch/tour around an office. i was often doing non-business english with business english clients...

it should be noted that this was almost all one-on-one work. good luck!

ps: i definitely don't have a background in business and i was fine. if you have a strong sense of what's appropriate in terms of tone and formality, then you'll be fine. having them tell you about what they do and what the work entails will be informative for you and good practice for them!