Business English Speaking Course
Designing a Business English Speaking Course is no easy task. For one, the sheer range of business-related topics for Business English teachers to cover is seemingly endless. Secondly, teachers need to equip business learners with a range of communication skills, which requires a great deal of expertise, patience and effort.
Those just starting out as Business English teachers may hold the perception that the language of Business English is tied to vocabulary, collocations and jargon related to areas such as finance, marketing and HR. Consequently, these inexperienced instructors may be too preoccupied with the teaching of such language, and then getting students to reproduce it in, for example, role-plays. More often than not, students already know all the vocabulary and jargon related to their professional field in English.
Of course, vocabulary and grammar should not be totally avoided when it comes to designing a Business English Speaking Course. However, the Business English teacher should channel their energy into planning lessons which aim to boost the student’s level of interpersonal, social and communication skills. ‘Communication skills’ means the soft skills you require to work effectively with people whose culture and personality may be different from your own. Examples of communication skills include making business small talk, conveying persuasive messages and pitching ideas.
Why should Business English be simple and concise?
In her highly readable book English for Business Communication, Mable Chan shares the following:
Be cautious in using specialised technical terms in business communication. If you can use a specialised technical term to convey meaning in a precise way, please do. (2020, p.10)
Business English is no different to standard English. The purpose of both is identical: clear and efficient communication. Similar to Chan (2020, p.10), one of my main beliefs as the creator of a Business English Speaking Course revolves around the notion that having a high English language proficiency level does not necessarily make you an effective communicator in the workplace.
When you’re among your colleagues and superiors, don’t think that you have to sound “sophisticated” all the time. You can usually use simpler synonyms for less familiar words. Why say “alleviate” when you can say “reduce”? Why say “pursuant to” when you can say “in line with”?
Being simple also means avoiding business jargon that is old-fashioned or clumsy (Chan, 2020, p.11). For example, why say “in the event of” when you can say “if”?
What kind of business-related topics will you have the opportunity to share your views on?
- The entrepreneurial mindset
- Technological innovation
- Workplace diversity / employment equity
- A circular economy
- Communication technologies at work
- Product life cycles
- How traders work
- Investment types
- Disruptors and disruption in the business world
- Work-life balance
- Risk management
- Outsourcing
- Marketing ethics
- Marketing strategies
- Bankruptcy
- Brand awareness
- Consumer risk
- Corporate culture
- Data security
- Consumer loyalty
- Copycat products
- Intellectual capital
- Philanthropy
- Regional planning – expanding into new regional/international markets
- Dress code
- Human resources
- Knowledge management
- Cross-generational mentoring
- Troubled employees
- Employee benefit planning
- Bias in promotions
- Reverse performance evaluation
- Succession management
- Telecommuting
- Managing and mediating conflict
- International team conflict
- Sustainable business travel
- Projecting the desired image / first impressions
What business skills will you learn on your Business English Speaking Course?
- Delivering engaging presentations – using a range of strategies and expressions for making high-impact openings and conclusions to presentations
- Storytelling in presentations
- Effective meetings – using a range of strategies and expressions for getting your message across more effectively in meetings
- Using questions to help you negotiate successfully
- Reporting and planning – report changes effectively, justify and challenge decisions, and report future plans
- Building trust in professional relationships with clients
Action learning - Changing written texts into natural spoken language
What communication skills will you pick up on your Business English Speaking Course?
- Pitching your ideas / persuasive techniques for pitching
- Reformulating what you want to say
- Clarifying points you are trying to make in a polite, professional way
- Challenging facts politely
- Hypothesising
- Finding solutions
- Showing empathy and solidarity
- Expressing stance – e.g. giving opinions
- Presenting research data
- Business networking
- Expressing doubt using tentative language and hedging
- Giving support and guidance to team members
- Handling a performance review
- Making business small talk
Materials matter on a Business English Speaking Course
Whether preparing classes for a General English Speaking Course or a Business English Speaking Course, I have always strived to select ‘authentic’ course materials. By authentic, I mean those materials which have not been created for deliberate use in the English language classroom or with English language learners in general. Such materials may fall into two categories – auditory and print.
Examples of authentic print materials include journal articles, blog posts and articles from leading media organisations such as the BBC. As for authentic auditory materials, I make good use of radio broadcasts, podcasts and influential speeches (TED Talks).
Reference
Chan, M. (2020). English for Business Communication, Abingdon, Oxon: Routledge
