Show notes
What makes a good Business English lesson? Do English teachers need specialist knowledge of their learners’ industries?
In this episode of How to English TEFL Podcast, Gav and Em explore the overlap between Business English and General English. Drawing on more than 40 years of combined teaching experience, they share practical advice for creating useful, engaging lessons for working professionals.
Which skills should a Business English course cover? Gav and Em discuss emails, telephone calls, meetings, presentations, negotiations, reports, interviews, appraisals and workplace small talk. They also explain how everyday topics can be adapted to suit a learner’s job and communication needs.
What happens when students use unfamiliar jargon? The learner understands the industry, while the teacher provides expertise in English and communication. Asking learners to explain specialist terms can reveal where their language needs to become simpler, clearer or more natural.
Gav recalls preparing to teach aviation professionals at an airport, while Em describes lessons inside companies and a department store. They also discuss confidentiality, appropriate clothing, flexible schedules, realistic client expectations and valuing yourself as a freelance teacher.
Stay until the end for a quiz: can Em distinguish activities from a General English coursebook from those in a Business English coursebook?
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00:00 – What is Business English?
Introducing the topic and choosing the episode title.
01:09 – Business English or General English?
Balancing the employer’s objectives with what employees want to study.
03:07 – Becoming a Business English teacher
Corporate classes, early mornings and evening lessons.
04:20 – Essential workplace communication skills
Emails, calls, meetings, presentations, appraisals and reports.
05:00 – Are Business English books harder?
Why their stated levels may feel more advanced than General English books.
06:16 – Adapting everyday topics for work
Connecting General English lessons with learners’ jobs.
07:26 – Teaching unfamiliar industries and jargon
Why teachers don’t need to be experts in their learners’ professions.
10:01 – Making Business English enjoyable
Simplifying professional language and using creative speaking tasks.
10:58 – Teaching in different industries
How experience with companies can build teacher confidence.
11:59 – Confidentiality and competing companies
NDAs, industry secrets and Em’s unfortunate email mistake.
13:16 – Gav teaches at an airport
Preparing aviation language and discovering what the learners really needed.
14:45 – Em’s department-store lessons
Using the workplace as authentic teaching material.
16:08 – What makes a professional teacher?
Preparation, reliability, flexibility and appropriate clothing.
18:11 – Flexibility, pricing and quality
Working around busy schedules and recognising your value.
19:05 – Teaching English as a business
Keeping clients happy while helping learners progress.
21:33 – When you’re out of your depth
Handling unfamiliar topics and avoiding unrealistic promises.
23:17 – Managing company expectations
Understanding how a language school has presented you to its client.
24:44 – Finding a teaching niche
How specialist knowledge can create new career opportunities.
25:33 – Quiz: Business or General English?
Can Em identify which coursebook each activity comes from?
30:08 – Final thoughts
Why Business English and General English naturally overlap.
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