Korean Job Discussion Forums

[chronicpride]

I start a new gig next week, teaching business english to a company in Gangnam. I'm in the middle of an early draft of my first syllabus and lesson plans, but am curious to talk to some other people out there that are teaching at corporations.

I've taught and planned lessons for everyone from kindy to adults, and have taught business english one on one. And I have a business degree and background, so I know I'll be able to teach in this environment, but am curious to get in some PM or posting discussion with teachers doing the same thing as me, just to bounce ideas off of.

Maybe even meet for lunch now and then, as I know Jack and Squat of people who live and work in Gangnam.

Any corporate teachers here?

[Juggertha]

I've been at the same company (gig) for the last 2.5 years. I have taught a number of different depts. there and have had varying degrees of success.

For me honestly I think if you want to keep adults going past the 6 month drop off point then you have to keep it interesting and dynamic. There are some decents texts out there and for beginning and intermediate adults they're not too bad, but for advanced IMO it takes some ingenuity.

I have done everything from carving pumpkins and describing (in detail) various N American social events (as a majority of my students travel to the US on Business) to Grammar review (most of them DO NOT need grammar lessons but review and a re-focusing often does wonders).

All in all I try to make it interesting. I've incorperated videos into the class (Matrix was a long but fun review) and as of last week I started a book club.



not sure if this helps but i'd like to see what others add as well.

[chronicpride]

Actually, I think that I've got a good handle on the material and methods area. I'm just concerned about activities about keeping it fun and interesting. I have a deep reserve of ecducational activities, but most are for kids. I've always taught adults, relatively seriously, as that's what they were paying me for.

This time, it's different. The company is paying me to teach english to their staff. I'm concerned that I have to incorporate more fun than usual to these adults, as the lessons are on the company's dollar.

Any good business english activities that I can mix in, if their eyes start to glaze over?

[johnriley007]

I have been teaching at a company in Kangnam for a few months now. Perhapsmy situation is a little different from yours in that most of my students are really young (24-2. I have lower level classes and some really advanced classes. I've definitely had to adjust to teaching business people and I agree that you have to be really creative to keep your students coming to class and enjoying it. Remember, they are often working really long hours and don't need to be stressed or bored.

You really have to be sensitive to each class individually. For example, some of my classes really thrive when I make the lessons and activities playful. Other classes have a hard time letting loose and prefer a more conservative approach.

A couple of activities:

1.) (beginning -intermediate) Pick a short conversation off of the internet (Randall's ESL cyber listening lab) or something that you can play for class (actually I record a conversation onto my MP3 player and put it on my laptop). Usually, the first part of the lesson has gone over the vocab (pronunciation, stress, conversation in groups etc..). The I post the conversation around the classroom and the students in partners have to read it with each other (this gets them moving around and more energetic). Then, we listen to the recording several times and then read it together. We usually finish with some comprehension (t/f, answer ?, fill in the blank). At first, I made these exercises a bit too difficult, but it is easier to keep it simple and have the students feel like they are being successful, which they are.

2.) (advanced). I have some classes where the students have spent significant time abroad or whose English is just really great. I started something new that I have never done before. First, I pick a t.v. show that they are interested in. Then I watch it and pick out all of the vocabulary that they might not know, as well as phrasal verbs and expressions. I introduce the vocab similar to the other class and we practice using these words and expressions. Then we watch a 20 minute clip from the show with the Korean subtitles (even for advanced classes, because parts fo the show can be too hard to follow otherwise). Since the class is 2 hours long, we have plenty of time left over. Usually, in teams, they have to pick several scenes from the show and retell the story, or create a dialogue from some of the characters using the expressions and words. We really focus on telling a whole story than just listing sentences (which is what I found typical of most Koreans). This is hard, even for the advanced students to put complete ideas together. (btw, the show we are doing right now is called "ALIAS". it's got a lot good vocab in it, and the students really enjoy it. also, the episodes are 40 minutes so we usually do one episode per 2 classes).

Sorry that was such a long post, but I have found that my students really like this approach more so than a more classical teaching style.

let me know what you think, and if you have any suggestions!