6 Ways to Retain Your Business English Students
- Teach relevant stuff
Prepare lessons that are connected to your students’ jobs. Focus on business English. When teaching prepositions go for “The sales report is on my desk,” rather than “The cat is on the mat”. This last sentence could make the lesson actually useless!
Show how the language applies to work; otherwise, students might find your words irrelevant!
- Give people time
When you ask a question, allow people time to process your message. Wait for a few seconds and invite them to voice their answer—showing that you respect their reasoning process.
Likewise, when you set activities, allow students minutes to prepare. Go for ease over speed.
Give your students prep time and watch them produce higher-level output!
- Provide specific feedback
Be specific. Instead of “The presentation was good, but could have been better,” keep it to “Your use of strong verbs in the introduction was very effective.”
Adequate feedback gives everyone a tangible goal to work on, so it fits the aim of keeping students engaged.
Useful feedback helps everyone!
- Teach something new
Focus your efforts on what your class still needs to know. Skip sections of the book that deal with things students have already seen.
Always teach something new; learning new things is the object of every lesson!
- Make sure they understand
Always give examples. Always use analogies. Always mention practical cases. Always correct concisely. Never miss the opportunity to give clear explanations.
And with beginners, speak in simple, clear English. If they can’t understand you, turn to the vernacular.
The clearer your explanations the more students understand them!
- Respect professional context
Teach receptionists a lesson tailored to their needs and CEOs one tailored to theirs. Maintain professionalism and discretion.
Never disclose what you shouldn’t and do not mention what other students tell you in confidence!
Want to read a bit about business English learning? Visit www.andymiles.com