6 tips for teaching business English to low level learners

Margaret O'Keeffe
A business woman in a suit sat at a laptop

The CEFR describes A1 and A2 learners as basic users of a language. So how can we help these students to develop their English for the workplace?

Here are our six top tips:

1. Focus on high-frequency vocabulary for work

Learning English vocabulary for work context is the top priority for many low-level learners in business English classes. It helps them to communicate their message in a simple, effective way. This makes it important to teach common words and set expressions for everyday work situations.

These include:

  • lexical sets (words related to the same topic or situation) C for example, days, months, numbers, verbs to describe work routines, verbs in the past.
  • common collocations with verbs and nouns (for example, manage a team, have meetings, place an order, solve a problem).
  • functional language and fixed phrases C greetings (How are you? Nice to meet you.) and offers (How can I help you? Would you like?).

2. Help students with vocabulary learning

Teach vocabulary items in realistic contexts. For example, phone calls, to-do lists, short emails, text messages etc.

While it might be tempting to give students lots of vocabulary to memorize, this can cause overload, be frustrating and ultimately demotivating for learners. Instead, you should aim to present eight to ten new words in a lesson as a general rule. This is an achievable number for working memory and helps to build learners confidence. The number of words can be a little higher if items are easy to show in images or there is repetition; for instance, the numbers 20 to 100.

Have students make simple decisions about new words, as this helps with recall later. Start with simple tasks, such as matching words and pictures or verb and noun collocations theyve seen in a short text (for example, managing a team, call customers, writing emails, etc.). Next, ask students to complete sentences using the target words and write their own sentences using these words.

Getting students to personalize new vocabulary makes it more memorable, for instance writing sentences describing their work routines. Repetition also aids long-term memory, so make sure vocabulary is recycled in the materials in later lessons.

Finally, make a list of vocabulary games to use for revision exercises, warmers and to finish classes.

3. Maximize student speaking time

Learners need to develop their English-speaking skills for work. The classroom is a safe, low-stakes environment for them to gain fluency and confidence.

Use the audio and video scripts of short dialogues or an extract from a longer script. Students read the dialogue aloud in pairs or groups. Give feedback by drilling the stress and rhythm of any words or phrases which were difficult with the whole class. Back-chaining phrases C starting with the last sound and building up going backwards C is an excellent way to drill. Get students to swap roles and repeat the task.

You can also use another technique called disappearing dialogue. Put a short dialogue on the board for students to practice in pairs. Then delete parts of the dialogue and ask them to repeat the task, swapping roles each time. Gradually delete more parts to increase the challenge. Students can reconstruct the dialogue as a final task.

Moreover, surveys, questionnaires, true/false games, and information-gap exercises are ways to practice speaking in English, target structures, and vocabulary.

Get in touch about our business English courses

4. Provide support for speaking tasks

Use a model dialogue from the coursebook or one you wrote yourself. Ask students to build their own short dialogues by changing some details (such as names, dates, prices, and quantities). Or use one half of the dialogue and ask students to write the other part.

Then, have them perform their dialogues together with their script. Then, ask them to try to memorize it without the script. Finally, they should perform the dialogue for another pair or even for the whole class.

Give students a reason to listen to their partners when they are speaking. For example, a speaking task like placing an order on the phone, gives them a reason. The listening student can note the essential information and check their answers afterwards.

Repeating tasks with slight variations increases the challenge, improves fluency, helps students remember useful phrases, and builds self-confidence.

5. Practice work skills your students need

Students are much more engaged and motivated when the class content is relevant to their everyday situations.? They will want to learn English for work and skills they need to practice include telephoning, socializing and giving presentations.

Writing skills are also important. This includes formal and informal text messages, simple forms, less formal emails to colleagues (e.g. to update on work) and more formal emails to customers (e.g. replying to a simple inquiry).

At the start of the class, make it clear what students will be doing in the lesson. You can refer to the lesson outcome on the coursebook page or write the lesson outcome in your own words on the whiteboard. For instance, Today you will learn to place a simple order on the phone.

At the end of the class, ask students to respond to the self-assessment statement: I can place a simple order on the phone.

This is a reminder of the purpose of the lesson. It also helps the students and teachers to reflect on the progress they are making.

The grammar syllabus should also relate to English learners' communicative needs (for example, describing your company, instructions, and talking about arrangements).

6. Teach functional language phrases

Draw students attention to useful phrases and functional language in speaking and writing. For instance, when greeting visitors (Nice to meet you. See you later.). They can memorize these utterances and put them to immediate use outside the classroom.

Use role plays to practice work skills and functional language skills. Give learners ample time to prepare and write down what they want to say. In a phone call role play, put students back to back to increase the challenge and add an element of authenticity; even better if they can call each other on their mobile phones from separate rooms.

Similarly, with presentations (for example, introducing yourself and your company), give students time to prepare and rehearse. They can ask colleagues to video them on their mobile phones for later correction work and feedback. Or they could rehearse and film themselves at home and show the final video in the next class.

These are just a few tips and techniques for teaching corporate English to low-level learners. Its especially important for these students to start simple, recycle language often and build their confidence in their workplace English.?

Explore our range of language courses

More blogs from ɫèAV

  • A teacher holding a tablet to a young student in a classroom sat at a table

    Talking technology: Teaching 21st century communication strategies

    By
    Reading time: 4 minutes

    When my son created a web consulting business as a summer job, I offered to have business cards made for him. Oh Dad, he said, Business cards are so 20th century!

    It was an embarrassing reminder that communication norms are constantly changing, as are the technologies we use. Younger generations share contact information on their phones social media apps, not with business cards. A similar shift has been the move away from business cards featuring fax numbers. Whats a fax? my son might ask.

    Fax machines have had a surprisingly long lifeCthe first fax machine was invented in 1843Cbut they have been largely retired because its easier to send images of documents via email attachments.

    More recent technologies, such as the 1992 invention of text messages, seem here to stay, but continue to evolve with innovations like emojis, a 1998 innovation whose name combines the Japanese words e (picture) and moji (character).?

    The 55/38/7 rule and the three Cs

    Changing technologies challenge language teachers who struggle to prepare students with the formats and the strategies they need to be effective in academic, business, and social settings. These challenges start with questions about why we have particular norms around communication. These norms form a culture of communication.

    The artist/musician Brian Eno defines culture as what we Dzԡ have to do. We may have to walk, but we Dzԡ have to dance. Dancing, therefore, is culture. Communication is full of cultural practices that we Dzԡ strictly need to do, but which make communication more successful. These include practices based on the 55/38/7 Rule and The Three Cs.

    The 55/38/7 rule is often misinterpreted as being about what someone hears when we speak. It actually refers to the insights of University of California professor, , who looked at how our attitudes, feelings, and beliefs influence our trust in what someone says.

    Mehrabian suggests words only account for seven percent of a messages impact; tone of voice makes up 38 percent, and body languageCincluding facial expressionsCaccount for the other 55 percent. The consequence of this for our students is that its sometimes not so important what they are saying as how they are saying it.

    Another way of looking at this nonverbal communication is in terms of The Three Cs: context, clusters, and congruence.?

    Context is about the environment in which communication takes place, any existing relationship between the speakers, and the roles they have. Imagine how each of these factors change if, for example, you met a surgeon at a party compared to meeting the same surgeon in an operating theater where you are about to have your head sawn open.

    Clusters are the sets of body language expressions that together make up a message; smiling while walking toward someone is far different than smiling while carefully backing away.

    Congruence refers to how body language matchesCor doesnt matchCa speakers words. People saying, Of course! Its possible! while unconsciously shaking their heads from side to side are perhaps being less than truthful.

    How does a culture of communication practices translate to new technologies? Mobile phone texts, just like 19th-century telegraph messages before them, need to be precise in conveying their meaning.

    In virtual meetings (on Teams and Google Hangouts, for example), students need to understand that tone of voice, facial expressions, and body language may be more important than the words they share.

    Politeness as one constant

    An additional key concern in virtual meetings is politeness. Once, in preparation for a new textbook, I was involved in soliciting topics of interest to university teachers. I was surprised that several teachers identified the need to teach politeness. The teachers pointed out that the brevity of social media meant that students were often unwittingly rude in their requests (typical email: Wheres my grade!). Moreover, such abruptness was crossing over to their in-person interactions.

    Politeness includes civility, getting along with others, as well as deference, showing respect to those who may have earned it through age, education, and achievement. But politeness is also related to strategies around persuasion and how to listen actively, engage with other speakers by clarifying and elaborating points and ask a range of question types. Online or in person, if students cannot interrupt politely or know when it is better to listen, whatever they have to say will be lost in the court of bad opinion.

    This is particularly important in preparation for academic and business contexts where students need to interact in groups, such as seminar settings and business meetings. Within these, its necessary for students to be able to take on a variety of roles, including leadership, taking notes, and playing devils advocate to challenge what a group thinks.

    Engaging students with project work

    Role-play can help raise awareness of these strategies among students, but its not enough to just take on a variety of roles found in common academic and business exchanges; students need to be able to reflect after each role-play session and infer what strategies are successful.

    Technology-based projects can also help students engage in a range of communication strategies. For example, a ɫèAV series, StartUp, embraces technology in each unit by sprinkling various text messages and web-based research tasks. There are also multimedia projects where students use their phones to collect images or video and share the results in presentations that develop their critical thinking.

    For example:

    Make your own video

    Step 1 Choose a favorite restaurant or meal.

    Step 2 Make a 30-second video. Talk about the meal. Describe what you eat and drink. Explain why you like it.

    Step 3 Share your video. Answer questions and get feedback.

    This simple project subconsciously reinforces the units vocabulary and grammar. It also allows students to personalize the project based on things that they need to talk about in daily lifeCtheir local foods in this case. This means that each students presentation is unique. Unlike with essay assignments, students tend to work hard to craft several versions until they are satisfied because they know their work will be seen by other students and that they will be asked questions that only they can answer.

    All this forces students to consider speaking strategies, as well as strategies for appropriate facial expressions and body language. Similarly, they have to use active listening strategies when listening to others presentations while asking questions. As technology continues to evolve, teachers need to integrate new applications into their teaching so students learn how to communicate with the tools they have at their disposal.

  • A man sat in a living room with books and plants in the background, he is reading a book

    Words that can't be translated into English

    By Charlotte Guest
    Reading time: 4 minutes

    While English is a rich language, there are some words from other languages that Dzԡ have a direct translation. These words often describe special feelings, situations, or ideas that are deeply connected to their cultures. For example, just as some languages have specific words for different types of weather, other languages have unique words for particular moments or emotions that are hard to explain in English. Here are some interesting examples of untranslatable words that show us the different ways people see the world.

  • Expressing love around the world: Interesting facts and how to say "I love you" in different languages

    By Sam Colley
    Reading time: 5 minutes

    Love is a universal language that transcends borders, cultures and languages. For those learning another language, understanding how to express love in various tongues can be both fascinating and useful. Whether you're planning to travel, connect with friends from different backgrounds, or simply expand your linguistic repertoire, knowing how to say "I love you" in different languages as well as the cultural context, can be a beautiful way to show appreciation and affection. Let's take a look at some of the many ways to express this timeless sentiment and some interesting facts.

    1. Cultural nuances:

    In many cultures, the way you express love can carry different weights and meanings. For example, in Japanese, "ۤƤ" (aishiteru) is a very strong expression of love, often reserved for serious relationships, whereas "ä" (daisuki) is more commonly used among friends and family.
    However, French, often called the language of love, uses "je t'aime" to express love as a romantic phrase that can be used for both partners and close family members.

    2. Gender differences:

    Some languages have gender-specific ways of saying "I love you." For instance, in Arabic, "????" (a?ibbuka) is used when a woman says "I love you" to a man, and "????" (a?ibbuki) is used when a man says it to a woman. Similarly, in Hindi, men say "??? ????? ????? ???? ???" (main tumse pyaar karta hoon) and women say "??? ????? ????? ???? ???" (main tumse pyaar karti hoon).

    3. Formal vs. informal:

    Some languages have formal and informal ways of expressing love. In Spanish, "te amo" is more formal and used for romantic love, while "te quiero" is more casual and can be used for friends and family.
    ?