Korean Job Discussion Forums

[chest rockwell]

I had my first company class on Wednesday and Im still not really too sure how to approach this one. Has anybody else out there taught company classes before?

[Pak Yu Man]

I have in the past and am doing so now.

1) Dress up. I wear a shirt and tie. ( I explain the whole summer thing and then I don't wear a tie). Company types like a dressed up teacher.

Remember...if you look like a good teacher that's just as important as being a good teacher (Korean POV, not mine).

2) There is no way to tell you how to teach. Some classes will be full of tight asses (or a higher up tight ass will be in the class).
I've had boring classes like this and I've also had a class where they wanted to talk about whiskey and women all the time.

You'll have to take a little time getting to know the class and then choose a book or teach them from newspapers/magazines if their lvl is high enough.

[oldfatfarang]

Best to be very tactful with the 'older' guys (Director/Manager). They may not have had the expensive English education the younger exec's have had. If you pitch the class above their level then everyone will lose face. Very embarrassing. Just watch how and who the younger guys kow tow to.

My BIG mistake with business class was trying to teach them a bit about Western culture. I'm a business man back home and thought they would want to know how their Western customers think (as well as talk). NO. NO. NO. They just want to learn ENGLISHEEE. Good luck. It's all fun.

[chest rockwell]

I think their boss is making them come to this class (bar one or two). I asked them,

"Do you like studying English" -silence-

"Did you like studying English at school?"

"No."

"Do you want homework?"

"No!"

So thats why Im not really to sure how to approach it. Its probably just a matter of building a rapport (sp?) with them, but I do that through the text and lesson that Im teaching from. But again, I dont really know what to teach them from.

So thats why Im a bit stuck.

[jinju]

Tailor it to their needs.

I teach a really basic level class and we go by the book for an hour and I bring stuff to help them with some grammar and conversation and we do that for the 2nd hour.

I also teach a class of really advanced manager level guys at an engineering company. We mostly do free talking about engineering issues and do the book supplied by the company.

I also teach a doctor and we usually stay on medical/scientific topics as thats what he is interested in.

[chest rockwell]

Cool. Only thing is this class had books previously but it didnt work for them. So now its all just free-talking. Good idea about talking about things to do with their job though.

[Hotpants]

Perhaps you can get some ideas from my business English links selection on my website (below).

I had a terrible group class who were quite non-responsive when I asked them questions as a whole class. But, when I gave them worksheet based activities to get on with in pairs, they seemed to brighten up and become chatty. The only time they seemed to light up as a group was when I used some kids-style team games. I was taking the mickey to see how they'd react, but surprisingly, they worked really well.

If you've tried a variety of things and the class still doesn't take off, then you can view it as a group dynamics failure rather than a failure of your own.

Good luck!