7 Tips For Teaching Business English Like A Professional

Looking for tips for teaching Business English? Look no further!

The thought of teaching Business English is enough to strike fear into the hearts of even the most experienced English as a foreign language (EFL/ESL) teacher. 

Thank goodness we’re superheroes who can accomplish anything given a few hours of prep time! 

There’s no doubt Business English is big business.

English is the most widely spoken second language in the world. It is used as a language of trade and commerce all over the world.  Proficiency in English is becoming more and more necessary for getting job or progressing in a career.

But first things first, a very common question we get asked is: Can I be a Business English teacher if I have no business experience?

And the answer: Yes!

If you think about it, we often teach topics that we have no knowledge about – global warming, technology, medicine – but we don’t question our ability to do that. Business English, though, seems to be so foreign and unknown that many teachers don’t believe they can teach it, even though they can.

First of all, you don’t need to know terminology relating to business. Well, you do, but you can learn that. You also don’t need to know exactly how a particular business, or commerce in general, works. After all, you’re not going to do their job for them! 

And anyway, your Business English learners will be so varied that there is no way one person can know everything there is to know about all aspects of Business English.

Not convinced? Let’s look at this in more detail.

What are the basics of teaching Business English?

In other words, what does a Business English teacher do?

Your Business English class depends entirely on your students. You may be teaching a team of accountants from Hong Kong, a CFO from France, or the HR department of a German company. Each class has their own needs, and they might not be what you think.

The usual topics for a Business English class are:

• Writing emails
• Speaking on the phone
• Dealing with customers
• How to participate in meetings
• Conducting and having interviews
• Giving presentations
• Negotiating
• Presenting in a meeting or conference
• Writing reports

Plus, depending on your students, your classes can include lessons on specific topics related to the specific career – specific terminology related to a particular business or aspect of business, paperwork particular to a specific job role, or communication skills.

Business English teachers teach not only language but culture too. Culture is an integral part of any business dealings. You may be asked to focus more on the social and cultural side of things. Many businesspeople need to communicate regularly with people from other countries, using English as their language of communication so they need to be able to have small talk and chat in a social setting as well as communicate appropriately in a business context.

Now that we know exactly what we’re doing in a Business English classroom, let’s look at a few of our top tips for teaching Business English.

Top tips for teaching Business English

1. Fake it til you make it

Even EFL/ESL teachers with no experience in the business world can be successful Business English teachers. There are coursebooks and endless online Business English resources to help you. There’s no doubt you’ll get the hang of it after your first lesson. Until then, fake it til you make it!

2. A needs analysis is essential

In a Business English class, your students will need to use the language they learn in your lessons in real life. These Business English lessons are to prepare them for their working environment. Because of this, it’s vital that you do a thorough and effective needs analysis with your students.

Find out:

•  what they need for their jobs,
• what they are capable of doing in English, 
• their work experience, 
• their learning experience,
• Their expectations,
• how best they learn, and 
• what they would and wouldn’t want to do in your lessons.

Personalising your lessons like this will help your students improve their English and also help them notice their improvements, which is important. After all, happy students make a happy teacher!

Read more: How to Make a Needs Analysis Questionnaire for ESL Students

3. Be professional

It is more important than usual for the EFL teacher to be professional when teaching Business English. This is in terms of dress as well as behaviour. While your students need opportunities to collaborate and work together during the lesson, Business English lessons are often not the place for the usual fun and games we are used to. 

Of course, you can be light-hearted and crack a joke or two, but make sure your lessons are focused and on-topic. There is no room for fluffy lessons or doing activities just to pass the time. Activities need to have a purpose. 

4. Be motivational

Your Business English students might only see you after a long day at work, or they may be taking time out for your lessons. They may be tired or distracted. Even worse, even though they may have a lot of extrinsic motivation to learn Business English this does not necessarily translate into intrinsic motivation – they may be in your lessons purely because they’ve been told they need to be. 

It’s part of your job to keep the energy levels in the class up and make the lessons entertaining and engaging enough to help your students focus on the lesson at hand. 

5. Use authentic texts

Because our Business English learners are in the classroom for their real-world experiences at work, it makes sense to use authentic materials in your lessons. 

Coursebooks are quite general in their topics (so as to appeal to a wide audience) but this means that the topics may not appeal to your Business English students. Rather than use a coursebook (unless it’s a Business English coursebook), find authentic materials which relate directly to your students. 

The best way to do this is to source the materials from your students themselves, in the form of emails, Powerpoint presentations, leaflets, company papers etc. Just make sure it’s not confidential information that you’re dealing with!

Read more: Authentic Texts: How To Find Them And How To Use Them

6. Teach language as an afterthought

This might sound counterintuitive but when you think about it, Business English students are there for a very specific purpose – to write emails or speak on the phone or communicate with customers. Of course there are language elements to all of those but focus on the outcome rather than the language. 

For example, if you teach a lesson on expressions of purpose, your students may feel demotivated because they cannot see the relevance to their work. But if you deconstruct an email and introduce expressions of purpose to be used in the email then you are killing two birds with one stone.

7. Don’t only teach language

Engagement and participation are key to success in a language learning situation. If your students see that you are bored they will be bored too. You are by and large responsible for the mood in the classroom. If you loosen up and do what you do best (teach English) you should find yourself genuinely enjoying it anyway!

Let’s face it, in the EFL world you never know what is going to be expected of you. There’s actually quite a good chance that you will end up teaching some sort of English for Specific Purposes class – and it could very well be Business English! 

Charlotte Peet is a TTA alumna teaches Business English in Rio de Janiero, Brazil:

I mainly teach Business English one-on-one to adult students in large corporate businesses. These are the people who really require a high level of English as they want to perfect their speaking skills for both professional and personal advancement. The Business language schools provide the brightest students as well as the highest salaries. With a minimum requirement of a degree and TEFL qualification, taking the course opened up the best opportunities.

It is very common for TEFL teachers in Rio to work for a handful of language schools in order to accumulate a decent network of contacts. I am working for 3 different language schools and have a selection of private students. English-native teachers are hugely sought after in Rio, and most students tend to say they prefer the British accent to the American. The diversity of teaching students of all levels and abilities, accompanied with the relaxed and fun Carioca attitude, make coming to work a pleasure.

Teaching Business English online

Business English is a fast-growing industry, but teaching Business English online is massive. Business English learners make up a large portion of online learners, presumably due to the constraints of full-time employment. Teaching Business English online is a bit more flexible than teaching in-person or in-company because students can be more flexible around the employment.

Read more: What Are The Requirements For Teaching English Online?

Many consider Business English as one of the most in-demand niches within English language teaching. So this could be the perfect opportunity for you right now!

If you know you’re interested in teaching Business English or if you’d like to upskill yourself with the hopes of attracting Business English clients, The TEFL Academy offers a Top-Up Course: Teaching Business English which is exactly what you need!