Teach English in Beiyuan Jiedao - Beijing

Business EnglishToday globalization is occurring throughout the world. With the advent of the internet and other fast means of communication the world is shrinking. Business is being conducted from country to country on a much wider scope and in a more rapid fashion. There are approximately 322 million native english speakers in the world and about 1 billion other accomplished English speakers. The common language of international business is English, and thus, Business English usage is growing at a very rapid pace. As such, teaching Business English is growing in popularity and courses are becoming increasingly in demand. However, teaching Business English is very different from a standard English class. Teaching business English requires a focus on the business quality of the English language. It is important to determine what type of Business English the student requires and when English is used in the student?s workplace. Therefore, it is critical that a needs analysis is conducted at the beginning of a Business English course to determine when the student is using English and in what forum. Then the course can be designed to meet the needs and objectives of the student. The needs analysis should be done by interviews and also written forms. The goal of the analysis is to determine the following: what the company expects the student to do in English, in what types of situations the students will be using the English, what English language skills are needed, how much training in English the student has had in the past, what level of confidence the student has about his/her own abilities using English and what kind of feedback the company expects from the teacher. It is important to, find out what industry the student specializes in. For instance, the students might work in an industry such as IT, banking, pharmaceuticals, etc. Each industry will have specialized vocabulary and technical terms that a Business English class should focus on. Business English students should be given practical English interaction type activities which are relevant to their particular business such as role playing, telephoning, making presentations, interviewing, interacting with a superior or someone in head office in English, functioning well on business trips or entertaining clients in English. The needs analysis will reveal when the student uses English and then the activities should be designed to meet their needs. For example, a sales person who telephones a lot in his job should practice a lot of telephoning in the Business English class. A banker should be given role playing activities dealing with clients in a banking setting. Also, brainstorming useful phrases for their job can be very helpful. Business English will usually involve a lot of correspondence whether it is in the form of emails, letters, or reports. Again, the needs analysis will reveal how much written English the student uses and in what context. The teacher can then focus on this type of writing in the class exercises. It is important to teach common written expressions and standard phrases that can be used in the student?s written English. Certainly some writing will need to be more formal than other types of written work and the teacher should call the student?s attention to formality vs. Informality. Finally it is important to establish a good, courteous and open rapport with the students of Business English. Then, the students will engage more and reveal more about their English needs and daily usages. In this way, the teacher can help the students become self-reliant users of Business English.