The difficulties of studying the English needed for work

Marketing professionals, IT workers, architects, waiters, university professors, engineers, shop assistants…. So many professionals all over the world are facing the task of studying English. For many 𝗶𝘁’𝘀 𝗮 𝗱𝗶𝗳𝗳𝗶𝗰𝘂𝗹𝘁 𝘀𝗶𝘁𝘂𝗮𝘁𝗶𝗼𝗻. They work long hours, sometimes spend hours getting to and from work and they get home and have to find time and energy for family life too!!

Are you teaching students like this? In these articles I'll be looking at 𝘀𝗼𝗺𝗲 𝗼𝗳 𝘁𝗵𝗲 𝗽𝗿𝗼𝗯𝗹𝗲𝗺𝘀 𝘁𝗵𝗲𝘀𝗲 𝗹𝗲𝗮𝗿𝗻𝗲𝗿𝘀 𝗵𝗮𝘃𝗲 and how 𝘄𝗲 𝗰𝗮𝗻 𝘀𝘂𝗽𝗽𝗼𝗿𝘁 𝘁𝗵𝗲𝗺.

Time - The first problem is probably a lack of Time.

We all know that the “perfect” learner will dedicate several hours to English during the week, but the reality is that business English learners are busy people and 𝘁𝗶𝗺𝗲 𝗶𝘀 𝗮 𝗹𝘂𝘅𝘂𝗿𝘆 for many. One of the first things a teacher of these learners has to do is to 𝗮𝗰𝗰𝗲𝗽𝘁 𝘁𝗵𝗲 𝘁𝗶𝗺𝗲 𝘁𝗵𝗮𝘁 𝘁𝗵𝗲 𝘀𝘁𝘂𝗱𝗲𝗻𝘁 𝗵𝗮𝘀 to work on English.

Teachers working in a business environment have to work in tandem with their students and 𝘁𝗵𝗲 𝘁𝗶𝗺𝗲 𝘁𝗵𝗮𝘁 𝘁𝗵𝗲 𝗹𝗲𝗮𝗿𝗻𝗲𝗿 𝗵𝗮𝘀 𝗮𝘃𝗮𝗶𝗹𝗮𝗯𝗹𝗲 𝗱𝗶𝗰𝘁𝗮𝘁𝗲𝘀 𝘄𝗵𝗮𝘁 𝗰𝗮𝗻 𝗯𝗲 𝗮𝗰𝗵𝗶𝗲𝘃𝗲𝗱. This is different to other types of teaching. For example if you are teaching an exam prep class the content of the exam and the date of the exam is what is going to give shape to your classes. If you are teaching in a school, the syllabus will dictate how/ what you teach. In a company HR may try to tell you what they expect, but in reality it’s the time that the student has available that will be the deciding factor of how objectives can be reached and which objectives can be reached.

We can’t invent time (if only we could!), but 𝘀𝘁𝘂𝗱𝗲𝗻𝘁𝘀 𝗰𝗮𝗻 𝗹𝗲𝗮𝗿𝗻 𝘁𝗼 𝘂𝘀𝗲 𝘁𝗵𝗲 𝘁𝗶𝗺𝗲 𝘁𝗵𝗲𝘆 𝗵𝗮𝘃𝗲. Identify goals and work towards those goals so progress is tangible (more on goals in another publication) As well as identifying goals, identify ways these goals can be achieved (also to be discussed in more detail in other publications)

In these circumstances it’s vital that we as instructors provide students with

A) Achievable tasks

B) Tasks that have value

At the same time we shouldn’t give learners

A) Long or unachievable tasks

B) Tasks that don’t benefit the learner in his working environment, I’m thinking "study this list of 20 phrasal verbs with the verb put" for example or "watch this video about pink frogs in Disneyland."

𝗧𝗲𝗮𝗰𝗵𝗲𝗿 𝗔𝗰𝘁𝗶𝗼𝗻 - Give learners a choice of short tasks to do in their own time

A) 𝗪𝗮𝘁𝗰𝗵 𝗮 𝘀𝗵𝗼𝗿𝘁 𝗬𝗼𝘂𝗧𝘂𝗯𝗲/ 𝗜𝗻𝘀𝘁𝗮𝗴𝗿𝗮𝗺 𝗲𝘁𝗰 𝘃𝗶𝗱𝗲𝗼 (𝟮 -𝟯 𝗺𝗶𝗻𝘂𝘁𝗲𝘀). Learners can watch as many times as they want. If it’s only 3 minutes they can watch 3 times with and without subtitles (I suggest without subtitles for B2+ and above; a real life challenge) and they still need to spend less than 10 minutes on their homework. In the next class, ask if they saw the video and ask them to comment on it if they did.

B) Instead of asking learners to write an essay ask them to 𝘄𝗿𝗶𝘁𝗲 𝗮 𝗽𝗮𝗿𝗮𝗴𝗿𝗮𝗽𝗵 𝗼𝗿 𝟲 𝘁𝗼 𝟴 𝘀𝗲𝗻𝘁𝗲𝗻𝗰𝗲𝘀 about… About something related thematically to the class, sentences using a grammatical structure seen in the class or a personal experience related to the topic covered in the class. This much less “threatening” than writing an essay about something.

C) 𝗣𝗿𝗼𝘃𝗶𝗱𝗲 𝗹𝗲𝗮𝗿𝗻𝗲𝗿𝘀 𝘄𝗶𝘁𝗵 𝗮 𝗿𝗲𝗮𝗱𝗶𝗻𝗴 𝗼𝗳 𝗼𝗻𝗲 𝗼𝗿 𝘁𝘄𝗼 𝗽𝗮𝗿𝗮𝗴𝗿𝗮𝗽𝗵𝘀 (nothing too long or they won’t even attempt it). You can tweak it so that it is at their level and that they will not need to look anything up and that will give them a boost of confidence, or give them something of the same length which has some challenges. You decide if you tell them to look a few things up or tell them not to look things up, read and understand what they can; a real life challenge.

Learners have time constraints, none more than those working in today's business environment. 𝗟𝗲𝘁'𝘀 𝘁𝗿𝗲𝗮𝘁 𝘁𝗵𝗲𝘀𝗲 𝗹𝗲𝗮𝗿𝗻𝗲𝗿𝘀 𝗹𝗶𝗸𝗲 𝗽𝗲𝗼𝗽𝗹𝗲 and give them opportunities to grow and expand their English by working with them and their time constraints.

𝗝𝗮𝗻𝗲 𝗪𝗲𝘀𝗰𝗼𝗺𝗯𝗲

𝗕𝘂𝘀𝗶𝗻𝗲𝘀𝘀 𝗘𝗻𝗴𝗹𝗶𝘀𝗵 𝗳𝗼𝗿 𝗯𝘂𝘀𝗶𝗻𝗲𝘀𝘀 𝗽𝗿𝗼𝗳𝗲𝘀𝘀𝗶𝗼𝗻𝗮𝗹𝘀

𝗖𝗼𝗺𝗺𝘂𝗻𝗶𝗰𝗮𝘁𝗲 𝗯𝗲𝘁𝘁𝗲𝗿 𝗶𝗻 𝗘𝗻𝗴𝗹𝗶𝘀𝗵

𝗢𝗽𝗲𝗻 𝗳𝗼𝗿 𝗻𝗲𝘄 𝗽𝗿𝗼𝗷𝗲𝗰𝘁𝘀, 𝗻𝗲𝘄 𝘀𝘁𝘂𝗱𝗲𝗻𝘁𝘀, 𝗻𝗲𝘄 𝗰𝗼𝘂𝗿𝘀𝗲𝘀. 𝗚𝗲𝘁 𝗶𝗻 𝘁𝗼𝘂𝗰𝗵!

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