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 they¡¯ve 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.

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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. It¡¯s especially important for these students to start simple, recycle language often and build their confidence in their workplace English.?

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    5 ways to make studying in a group work for you

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    There are many benefits to studying in a group, ranging from reducing procrastination and boosting your confidence to gaining new perspectives and learning faster. Many English language learners enjoy working in a group, and many English language teachers recommend it. Here¡¯s how to make studying in a group work for you or your students¡­

    1. Create an effective group

    Even though you love spending time with your friends, don¡¯t base study partners on friendship. Instead, look for people who stay alert in class, take notes, ask questions, and respond to the teacher¡¯s questions ¨C and don¡¯t make the group too big. An ideal size for a study group is three or four students.

    It¡¯s a great idea to try to meet on the same day and time each week because treating the study session as you would a class helps you to keep to a schedule and ensure that everyone attends.

    Finally, hold study group sessions in a place free of distractions with room to spread out the materials. This will help to ensure that you don¡¯t end up talking about the latest movies or songs instead of studying the future tense!

    2. Decide on the topics and set goals

    Before your study group, think about the topics you¡¯d like to discuss ¨C then agree on one. This will help you concentrate on that topic without straying away. Once you¡¯ve decided on your subject, also consider what you want to achieve at each session ¨C but don¡¯t take on too much material for one session.

    For example, if you¡¯re using a novel written in English to learn more about the language, just think about one aspect of it, such as a couple of the characters, rather than trying to discuss the entire book.

    3. Prepare effectively

    Before attending your study group, prepare by reading more about or researching the topic you¡¯re all going to discuss.

    Also, make a list of anything you aren¡¯t sure you understand so that you can discuss it with your fellow learners. There are sure to be different things you all need explaining in more detail, so you can help each other to understand. Which leads us on to¡­

    4. Learn from each other by communicating well

    Communicate openly ¨C it doesn¡¯t matter if one of you doesn¡¯t understand something or needs more explanation. And don¡¯t be shy about asking for your peers¡¯ feedback: ¡°Am I talking too much?¡± or ¡°Did I present your point of view correctly?¡±. It is often said that it is best to teach other material you understand, and learn from others who understand the material better than you do.

    If your study session reveals points of disagreement or confusion that you cannot resolve as a group, make a note of it and ask your teacher.

    5. Make it enjoyable

    Last on the list, but very important: try to make studying enjoyable in whatever way you can by keeping it interesting. Pick novels about subjects you all really enjoy reading about. Go to see an English-speaking movie together and discuss it at your study group. Or try a quiz together (online or in person) to see how you've picked the subject matter up.?

  • A woman gesturing to her mouth in a playroom with a child copying the gesture

    Educating young learners: Making phonics fun

    By Hawys Morgan

    For many young learners, reading and writing can be one of the most challenging steps in their English learning journey. Even fluent English speakers often find it difficult to understand the connection between how English is pronounced and how it is written.

    Let¡¯s explore how phonics can be a valuable and fun tool to help students and teachers understand this connection.

    What is phonics?

    Phonics is a method of teaching learners how to read by making the connection between sounds and letters. There are around 44 different sounds used in English, and around 120 different ways of writing them down.

    Children learn to identify and say individual sounds (phonemes) and what letter or groups of letters can be used to write that sound down (graphemes). This helps children to read and spell words. For example, the /k/ sound is frequently written using these letters:

    • k as in kite
    • c as in cat
    • ck as in back

    When children learn to read using phonics, the sounds are read out in isolation, for example, b-a-ck. Then they are blended together to form the whole word: back.

    How to teach phonics

    Other methods of learning how to read and spell rely on students memorizing every new word they encounter ¨C that¡¯s potentially thousands of new words! On the other hand, phonics gives students the tools and confidence to read and spell unfamiliar words autonomously. If they know the sounds, they can read the word.

    Simply drilling sounds and letters will quickly become dull for students, so here are some practical, fun phonics ideas you can try out in the classroom.

    1. Use music

    Music can create a positive atmosphere for teaching phonics, and it helps children to memorize sounds in a lively, enjoyable way. Furthermore, it can improve pronunciation and listening skills.

    • Use musical instruments or clap to help students break words into individual sounds.
    • Alternatively, use ¡®robot talk¡¯ ¨C say the words in a robotic way, breaking up the words into their component sounds, for example ¡®r-e-d¡¯.
    • Tongue twisters are useful for working on the initial sounds in words. Try creating tongue twisters using known vocabulary and students¡¯ names, e.g. Sara sings in the sun.
    • Many ELT courses provide phonics songs that practice new sounds. However, you can also adapt well-known songs to teach phonics.

    Example song:

    Clap your hands and turn around!

    Put your hands up!
    Put your hands down.
    Clap your hands
    And turn around!

    Put your head up!
    Put your head down!
    Clap your hands
    And turn around.

    Put your leg up!
    Put your leg down!
    Clap your hands
    And turn around.

    2. Move your body

    Learning through movement comes naturally to many young learners and can be a dynamic part of your phonics routine. Incorporating movement into your lessons can motivate students and help them retain the sounds and letters.

    • Add an accompanying action when you present a new phonics sound and its corresponding letter/s. For example, say, ¡®S, s, s, snake¡¯ and make a snaking movement with your arm. The action becomes a visual prompt, so students call out ¡®S!¡¯ whenever you do the action.
    • Air drawing can be great fun. Have students trace the shape of letters in the air with a finger while repeating the corresponding sound. This is also good pre-writing practice.
    • You can even challenge students to work alone or in pairs to make letter shapes with their whole bodies!

    3. Make phonics tactile

    To really embed the connection between the shape of the letters and the sounds they represent, get children to use their hands to feel the shape of the letters while they repeat the sounds.

    These tactile phonics activities have the added advantage of working on fine motor skills, which in turn will improve students¡¯ handwriting.

    • Show students how to trace the shape of the letter in a tray of sand while repeating the sound. Alternatively, try tracing the letter shape in shaving foam.
    • Try modeling the letter shapes out of playdough or a piece of string.
    • A fun pair-work game involves one student silently drawing a letter on their partner¡¯s back. Their partner must guess the letter and say the sound.

    4. Be creative

    There are wonderful, creative ways you can explore phonics with your students. For younger students who don¡¯t yet have the fine motor skills to write letter shapes, using arts and crafts can be an enjoyable way to reinforce the link between the letter/s and the sound.

    • They could make letter shapes from dried pasta or use junk modeling.
    • Have your students decorate letter shapes by painting, coloring, or collaging. This will help them memorize the shapes. Encourage them to repeat the sounds as they do this, or play a phonics rhyme in the background so the association between the sound and letter/s is constantly reinforced.

    Create class displays for different sounds using a variety of pictures and objects starting with that sound. Use them for revision and classroom games. Try splitting the class into teams and then calling out a sound, or a word starting with that sound. The first team to touch the display with the matching letter/s wins a point.

    5. Play games

    Many popular ELT games can be adapted to teach phonics. Games are a great way to bring phonics to life and to give young learners the confidence to produce the sounds themselves.

    • Play ¡®Whispers¡¯. Students sitting in a circle whisper a sound rather than a word to the child next to them until it reaches the end of the circle. The last child says the sound aloud, or points to the letters that correspond to that sound.
    • Get children to create their own sets of cards with sounds and pictures on them. These can be used to play card games like snap and pairs.
    • Other games such as i-spy, board rush games, bingo and lucky dip, can be easily adapted to teach phonics.

    Whether you dedicate a whole lesson or just five minutes of your lesson to phonics, make sure to have fun!

  • Students working outdoors, two of them are looking over a open book

    What to look for in an English placement test

    By Jennifer Manning

    If you¡¯re an English teacher, Director of Studies or school owner you¡¯ll know the importance of putting students in the right group. Whether it¡¯s a business English class, exam prep or general English ¨C a placement test is essential. Without one, you¡¯ll teach classes with such varied levels and needs, it¡¯ll be hard to plan an effective lesson.

    Placing students at the wrong level will not only lead to unmotivated learners, but it may also cost your institution money.

    But how exactly do you design a reliable, accurate and easy-to-use test? In this post, we¡¯ll examine the key questions you need to consider before making your own placement test. We¡¯ll also explore what features you need to achieve your goals.

    Problems with traditional placement tests

    Most private language schools (PLSs) and higher education institutions offer new students the opportunity to take a placement test before starting a course. However, these are often just a multiple-choice test, a short interview, or a combination of the two.

    While this does act as a filter helping us group students into similar levels, there are a number of downfalls. Students can guess the answers to multiple-choice questions ¨C and while they might give us a rough idea of their grammar knowledge, these tests don¡¯t consider the four skills: speaking, writing, listening and reading.

    Oral interviews, on the other hand, can give us an indication of the students¡¯ spoken level. However, they also raise questions of objectivity and consistency that even specially trained teachers will struggle to avoid.

    Another big issue with traditional tests is the amount of time they take. Multiple-choice exams are often graded by hand and interviewing every new student uses valuable resources that could be used elsewhere.

    Key questions to consider

    Before you re-design your current test completely, we¡¯ve put together a series of questions to help you think about your objectives, define your needs and explore the challenges you may face.

    Taking a few minutes to think about these things can make the process of finding the right English placement test go more smoothly and quickly. Once you know what you¡¯re looking for, you¡¯ll be ready to make a checklist of the most important features.

    What will your test be used for?

    • Placing incoming ESL students into the appropriate English language program.
    • Measuring students¡¯ progress throughout the school year.
    • Final assessment of students' abilities at the end of the school year (¡°exit test¡±).
    • All of the above.

    Is this different from what you use your current test for? How soon are your needs likely to change?

    What skills does your current test measure?

    Does it measure speaking, listening, reading, writing, or all of the above? Are all of these skills measured in separate tests ¡ª or in one test?

    • How many students do you need to test at each intake?
    • How many students do you need to test each year? How many do you expect you¡¯ll need to test in three years?

    How quickly do you currently receive test results? How quickly would you like to receive them?

    If you can test your students weeks before the start of the school term, you may have time to wait for results. However, if you are continuously testing students, or have students arriving just before the term begins, you may need to get results much more quickly.

    What features in your current test do you like and dislike?

    Are there things in your current test that you also want in your new test? Is anything missing, or anything that you don¡¯t want your new test to have?

    What resources are available to you?

    Some English language tests require students to have the computer skills needed to take the test online. You may also need a testing lab that has the following:

    • computers
    • a stable internet connection
    • a headset with a built-in microphone
    • a preliminary checklist for placement tests.

    Once you¡¯ve got answers to the questions, you can use the checklist below to make sure your placement test has the features you need. It may also be useful for comparing products if you decide to use an external placement test.

    A preliminary checklist for placement tests

    What features do you need to achieve your goals?

    Now that you've analyzed how you want to use your new English Placement test, create a checklist of the features that you need to achieve your goals.?