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Me teach English for Business Studies? Yikes! I remember being unsure where to begin when asked to prepare students for Business Studies courses abroad. I was an experienced business English teacher, but this was different because it was preparing students for Business Studies at university, rather than professionals in the workplace. I had also taught some English for Academic Purposes (EAP) on UK pre-sessional courses, but these students required something more subject specific – an English for Specific Academic Purposes (ESAP) course.
That term was long, and a steep learning curve for us all. So, here are my top five tips for teaching English to Business Studies students that I discovered along the way.
1. Ask about experiences before you start
For students to progress they need to do their homework – and the teacher does, too. Before beginning any course, it’s advantageous to find out your students’ course expectations and what experience they have of both business English and ESAP courses. This information can help familiarize the teacher with what students can and can’t do.
Ask what they know about the academic skills they are going to need when they enter university and what, if any, experience they have of using them. For example, have they taken part in seminars or taken notes in lectures? There will be a lot of ground to cover and skills to hone if they are to be successful on their Business courses.
Business Studies is heavy with jargon and terms that they’ll need to get to grips with. So, it’s useful to ask if they have done a Business English course, or have any experience of business settings. Using information like this will help to inform you of their current subject-specific abilities, the language and skills to prioritize in class, and which good practices they will need to develop to be successful on their business courses.
2. Choose relevant ESAP Business materials
Business Studies has many discipline-specific terms and skills, so students will need learning resources to practise these. While Business English materials lack the academic skills needed, EAP materials do not often include subject-specific material. Therefore, it’s best to use ESAP materials. These books are specifically designed to help English language learners who are going to university to study in their particular subject area. So, these materials are more likely to meet your learners’ needs and keep them motivated and engaged.
So, what makes a good ESAP Business Studies course book? Well, it should cover both the EAP essentials every student needs to study abroad, like tackling academic reading and research skills for writing their own texts. It should also provide the necessary academic phrases students will need to survive in business lectures and seminars.
In addition to general academic language, an ESAP Business resource should provide key discipline-specific terms and cover topics students will come across on their course, such as management, tech and finance. Keeping the lessons business-focused and relevant to the students’ interests and needs will improve both student motivation and their participation in classes.
3. Blend your approach
A blended learning approach meshes students’ classroom learning with learner-directed practice of language and skills from lessons at home via digital resources. An ESAP Business course is unlikely to provide enough classroom time for students to practise the sheer amount of language and skills offered in their course book sufficiently. A modern blended approach to a course, however, will allow students to make full use of opportunities both in and out of class.
Up-to-date resources should include easy-access materials for students to practise essential ESAP language and skills at home using a digital workbook. For example, Garnet’s new edition of English for Business Studies provides online activities that use authentic texts and lectures. These exercises are invaluable for students to practise targeted content from the course book at a time convenient to them.
The best blended resources include activities that students can use while on the go in fun and memorable ways. For example, access to apps that allow practice of words using flashcards, matching games and multiple-choice quizzes. App-based ESAP resources like Garnet’s allow students to review language and learn on their phones, increasing student participation and freeing up more valuable time in the classroom.
4. Build better skills
Academic skills should be at the heart of any ESAP Business Studies course, but other, softer skills are also increasingly important in the 21st century workplace. We know that for students to succeed academically, they will need to be good at listening to lectures and using citations, among many other skills. However, they also need critical thinking skills to sort through information and decide what is and isn’t relevant, or listen to different views and make judgements. This extends to the workplaces they will eventually enter, where such skills are valued as highly as computer literacy and report writing.
Soft skills such as effective teamwork and showing resilience should not be forgotten. Their higher education courses will have heavy workloads and tight deadlines and, as such, an ESAP Business Studies course should have similar elements to help them cope. Teamwork is essential on the many collaborative projects students will do at any university, and a good ESAP Business course book will give students opportunities to practise and hone these 21st century skills incrementally.
5. Fun and feedback
Fun facilitates learning and raises the effectiveness of any language learning course, and ESAP classrooms are no exception. Incorporating more lively activities can change the pace of a class and be a motivating tool. This might be something as simple as using word searches, crosswords and team-based word games. You may even want to add in group communication activities, such as a class survey on a particular business topic and follow-up discussions, or pitching the students’ own business ideas to investors – always a class favourite. These kinds of options enable teachers to add zest to their classes and keep learning on track.
Feedback also motivates students and helps them to improve. Good notes on written work or constructive comments on speaking tasks are invaluable for the learner to better their language. Of course, try to keep individual feedback confidential and address more common issues globally.
Start putting your ESAP Business course together
So, if you want to teach ESAP Business Studies like a pro, do your homework beforehand, choose a great course book that provides blended learning opportunities and, of course, inject fun and feedback into your lessons as you would on any other English language course.
And if you want my best tip, check out the new ESAP English for Business Studies (2nd edition), which ticks all the boxes, and will help your students prepare fully for their courses ahead.