| This article is about teaching business English. From a | | | | only 21 hours in a whole academic year! Luckily enough |
| personal point of view, this has always been my | | | | his secretary was really friendly with an endless supply |
| favourite form of teaching English. My experience is in | | | | of croissants. |
| Madrid, Spain but this advice covers most countries | | | | Whether you have got your hours directly with a |
| with teaching Business English. | | | | Company or through a teaching agency, make sure |
| I was lucky to have a strong business background in | | | | you find out what the cancellation policy is. Whilst it |
| law and HR so it felt like a natural route for me to | | | | may seem glamorous to have lots of senior |
| take. However many of my graduates get very | | | | executives as your students, they are more likely to |
| nervous about teaching business English, especially if | | | | have one-2-one classes and as stated above, have |
| they are new graduates with limited experience in the | | | | higher than average cancellations. In Madrid, many of |
| business world | | | | the agencies now have an 80-85% cancellation policy |
| What are you teaching? | | | | which means that you get paid 80-85% of the classes |
| The first thing to remember is that you are teaching | | | | regardless of how many they cancel. If you do have a |
| English in a business context, not teaching business in | | | | large amount of one-2-one classes, it is very important |
| English. Many of the directors I have taught have | | | | to check this out in the contract to make sure you can |
| talked about how patronizing they find it for a college | | | | still earn a decent living despite what goes on in your |
| graduate to walk into their office and start teaching | | | | students' business lives. |
| them how to give a presentation! They know how to | | | | Resources |
| give a presentation, they need help with the tone and | | | | When teaching business English, the internet is your |
| terminology in English - ensure your classes are never | | | | new best friend. If your client works for a bank make |
| patronizing. Many of the teaching text books do fall into | | | | sure you look at their internet site and the sites of their |
| this trap so make sure you adapt your classes to your | | | | competitors. Do a search and find out what articles |
| audience. | | | | have been written about them which you can then use |
| On the other hand, even with limited experience of | | | | as reading material in the classroom. Check out |
| business it means that you can be a good teacher to | | | | finance reports on the BBC that you can download |
| any student who needs business English. If you are | | | | onto your iPod. YouTube is another excellent resource |
| teaching finance English for example, the majority of | | | | for videos on meetings, presentations and negotiations |
| the help they will need is the English you already know, | | | | (for both the right and wrong way to do it!). |
| for everything else there are specialist books and | | | | Whenever you go back to your home country or |
| dictionaries. Don't get me wrong, there are always | | | | have friends and family visit, get them to collect all the |
| students who need people with specialist knowledge | | | | pamphlets they can. One man's junk mail is another |
| and skills but it is the exception not the rule. When I | | | | man's teaching resource! |
| was teaching at the Banco de España (The | | | | The text book industry has really stepped up the pace |
| Bank of Spain), I knew very little about finance English | | | | in the last couple of years and there are a range of |
| and I was very honest about this to my students. They | | | | books to suit the most junior to the most senior |
| had no problem with this as they needed help with | | | | employees. Lots of influential newspapers and |
| emails, presentations, small talk, grammar etc. They | | | | magazines (the Financial Times, the Economist etc) |
| already knew their finance terminology but needed | | | | have joined up with the publishers to produce some |
| helping putting it all together so it sounded right to the | | | | very comprehensive business text books with real |
| recipients. | | | | articles, interviews and up to date news. Make sure |
| Hours | | | | you do a proper needs analysis with your student to |
| Business English classes tend to fit around the ebb and | | | | see what they need before making the choice about |
| flow of business hours. Classes are normally early in | | | | a text book. |
| the morning 7-9 or 9.30, lunchtime 1-4 and evening 7-9. | | | | Finally, stay confident and calm. Students need to feel |
| The more senior the student, the more flexibility they | | | | that you are in charge and know what you are doing. |
| have with their schedule but this is a double edged | | | | Read up on what you are teaching the night before |
| sword as they also have busy lives, constant meetings | | | | and plan ahead. Do a comprehensive needs analysis |
| and often travel a lot which means they cancel more | | | | and level test and stay one step ahead. |
| classes. I once had a student who I actually taught for | | | | |