How to bring soft skills into the business English classroom

Richard Cleeve
A woman standing at a whiteboard in a office with two others sat down.

Anyone who’s ever taught a business English class knows that their students are busy people. Sometimes they get sidetracked by their other tasks - even during class. This means we have to make the most of the time we have with our learners and focus on what they really need.

How you do this depends on the sector your students work in (or plan to work in), their previous experiences studying English and their own strengths and weaknesses.

Teachers often focus on teaching hard skills, such as writing reports or running meetings. We do this because it can be challenging for many business students to do these things in English and also because hard skills have an immediate and positive impact on their workdays.

But, if there’s one thing that all business people can benefit from, it’s soft skills.

Soft skills are interpersonal or people skills. They include things like active listening, teamwork, decision-making and influencing skills. Mastering these skills will help students progress more rapidly and become more independent learners. However, isolating the specific vocabulary or grammar structures that these skills use is complex and they often get overlooked in language learning classes as a result.??

Bringing soft skills into the Business English Classroom
Play
Privacy and cookies

By watching, you agree 色猫AV can share your viewership data for marketing and analytics for one year, revocable by deleting your cookies.

Five essential communication skills for business students

1. Listening actively

People mistakenly think that communication is just about speaking. However, one of the best ways to be a good communicator is to listen to the person you are talking to.?Learners can show interest in what someone is saying by asking clarifying questions and rephrasing what they've said to ensure they've fully understood.

2. Influencing others

In order to manage employees and clients effectively your students will need to be able to influence others. This can be done by building rapport, explaining why they are doing something, asking the right questions and selling themselves in a certain way.

3. Negotiating successfully

The key to closing sales, obtaining a favorable price for a product or service, or maintaining a cohesive team lies in the art of negotiation.?Successful negotiators determine their objectives before starting, prepare fully to support their positions and always leave their emotions at home (or in the office).

4. Dealing with different communication styles

In the world of business, students will come across people who communicate differently. The three basic communication styles are aggressive, passive and assertive. They’ll need to know how to deal with these different styles if they want to succeed.

5. Speaking clearly and concisely

Students need to learn to express themselves clearly and convey their message in as few words as possible. It’s easy to ramble when you are nervous, so?encourage them to think about what they want to say and, if necessary, make some brief notes beforehand.

How they apply these skills will depend on the issue at stake, the situation and who they're talking to, so they will need to adjust their behaviour accordingly. The more time you spend on this in class, the easier it will become.

If you need any guidance there are courses like?Business Partner, which is a?business English course that teaches real-world language and business skills which helps to teach the above skills mentioned. The course raises students’ awareness of different communication styles to help avoid misunderstandings and so they can be more perceptive and adapt their own styles according to the audience.

Read our post 'Tips for teaching business English to low-level learners'

More blogs from 色猫AV

  • A class of children with tablets standing and talking

    Supporting wellbeing using AI in the classroom

    By Charlotte Guest
    Reading time: 3.5 minutes

    According to , 2012 students with higher levels of emotional, behavioral, social, and school wellbeing, on average, have higher levels of academic achievement and are more engaged in school. It’s no wonder that fostering wellbeing in the classroom has become a priority for educators. The rise of technology brings up new challenges and issues, but with AI, there are now innovative ways to support student wellbeing like never before.

    In this guide, we’ll explore how AI can be a powerful ally in promoting learner wellbeing. From suggesting wellbeing exercises to providing personalised support, AI offers a variety of tools that can help you create a more supportive and engaging learning environment.?

  • A woman on her phone smiling outdoors in a city

    Understanding accents and their role in language learning

    By Charlotte Guest
    Reading time: 4 minutes

    Accents are a fascinating aspect of language that can reveal a lot about a person's background and experiences. For language learners, accents often become a central focus, sometimes to the detriment of more important language skills. In this post, we’ll explore what accents are, why people have them, and why intelligibility is more important than mastering an accent.

  • A woman stood in a square, holding a map looking around

    Essential English phrases to blend in like a local on your holiday

    By Charlotte Guest
    Reading time: 5 minutes

    Summer has arrived and you might be gearing up for a holiday soon. Knowing some of the local language is always helpful, but to genuinely speak like a native English speaker, you must grasp and use common phrases and idioms that locals employ in daily conversations. Native English speakers have a natural command of these phrases, whereas non-fluent speakers often need to study and practice them to achieve fluency.

    In this blog post, we’ll delve into essential English phrases that will help you sound more like a local and less like a tourist.