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As said before, if you only restrict the new language to the work of the learners, the motivation will be limited because the improvement of the language does only affect the work life but not the private life of the learners. You can increase the learners motivation by personalizing the lessons and expand their knowledge by sentences that are important or interesting to say for the learners. If the work would include work trips to the country where the language is spoken the learners will also be interested in how to communicate with native speakers besides work. If work doesn’t include trips to other countries, learners might have also an interest to spend a holiday in the country the language is spoken because they want to get to know to the culture. It doesn’t matter what interests the learners have to speak the language (food, culture, communicating with natives) but it’s a great way to mix it up a little bit to keep the motivation of the learners on a high level the whole lesson time.
I think it should be “fifty fifty” because as I said before the business learners have often to attend a language course because the company wants them to do it for their job and needs with customers; companies usually invest the least money possible for their employers’ langiage training, and expect fast improvements in a little time. This implies focusing mostly on the language needed at work and related to the industry, but this way the learner’s interest and motivation is very likely to fade away after three lessons. To avoid it in my opinion it would be necessary to introduce also topics related to traveling abroad, getting to know other people’s culture in many fields in order to speak to native people both in the foreign countries and in everyday life (there are so many immigrants everywhere, it is often very interesting to talk with them), or during a holiday or simply for personal interest. This can keep the interest in lesson a bit higher
The training material should be modified when possible to the individual needs of the business learner. If a lesson or exercise can be changed to more closely reflect the situation or immediate needs of the learner then the learner will likely retain the information more readily. To achieve this, a dialogue with the learner will help identify specific areas of interest or necessity. A need analysis can also be used to establish the industry, professional, and personal situation of the learner in order to tailor the learning material to best suit them. When working with a group, all of the learners needs should be considered to decide what examples, exercises, reading material, etc. will work best for all of the learners in the group. Business learners should be given practical knowledge that they can apply to their current situations. However, there can be some benefit to using imaginary or more generalized material when teaching business learners. Adding an occasional creative or imaginative exercise can give the learner a break from the ‘grind’ of their professional life and stimulate their creativity. The exact balance between real-world and other material will depend on the learner.
I would first as a introduction get the foundation right with the learner first by eliciting and feeding with material that will grab and hold interest and get the learner to feel comfortable and open up and most keep LTT up
then as the skill set increases with accuracy and fluency i would then introduce subject material pertaining to the learner and what she or he needs to accomplish
Well, these days I think most people know that it is very important to know the business culture, norms and way of life in the country where you are operating.
Therefore the business learner should not only get to know the words and expressions of the particular industry or profession, but also be ablt to engage in small-talk during lunch and dinner etc.
If the learner is in fact moving to the country in which the language is spoken, it is even more important to know more everyday language to communicate with neighbours, friends and others outside the work place.Business classes are obviously goal-oriented towards technical vocabulary and moreover very limited in question of time. Nevertheless, what I have noticed so far is that some of those students are already aware of a specific foreign vocabulary, or technical jargon, related to their daily tasks.
The issue emerges when they have to talk about other non specific topics and they can’t grab any chart or formula which they ,in most cases, easily dominate.
As I said before, even if they aren’t entirely confident they can handle the situation, but when they have to deal with a more casual conversation, for instance during a dinner, they feel at a loss.
The art of teaching is to be able to understand what are the essential students’ needs and tightly adapt to them.The classes should be organized and aimed to teach the target language in a general way. The final goal of the language course is to teach the learner to speak, write and listen in a way to allow him to properly communicate with other peoples in the language under study. The particular industry of the learner has not anything to do with these courses, because we are no talking about of courses of technical languages that is matter of other types of academies or universities
It is highly encouraged to relate the class content and work to the business student’s work, using their particular industry. Business students are interested in learning vocabulary relevant to their field as well as learn about topics that they may use in a real life situation. From time to time it is a good idea to change the topic and introduce something they might find interesting and helpful that may not be 100 percent related to their profession in order to keep them motivated and prevent their students from getting too bogged down. This is up to the instructor to gauge in class.
The content of the class sessions must be related to their profession, likes and preferences. This is the best way to motivate them and empower them. First of all we must do an investigation of their likes and preferences in order to make a more interesting and specific class session. By this I mean that not all the time you will be doing a class depending on his profession. I can touch on topics of their own interest and thus get out of the routine. In my personal experience, the first thing I do is a small interview. This helps me to know what level the student has of the target language, likes and preferences, personal matters, and how serious he is in his work and profession. I try to combine everything in the class. It is not always written in one session. Depending on how the student develops, the student can leave the routine of the class and talk about what he most wants to do and even about his family. The student feels good doing this but we, teachers know that this is part of the class session.
Business Learners differ from other learners in the following ways:
-Motivation: Most adult learners tend to be more motivated in comparison to young learners who might be forced to take a course by their parents. Business learners may understand the positive implications the courses may have in their careers.
-Time: From personal experience, business learners have less time to do extra-curricular studies. Homework is often discouraged based on their busy work schedules. In comparison, young learners and some adults are given more homework or extra work to do outside of class.
-Interest in languages: Most business students are very interested in learning a new language.
How related a business learner’s classes should be is for the learner to decide. Many factors influence that decision: time-cost-opportunity-results. In any case, every class should always combine duty with pleasure to avoid routine, boring, demotivating classes.
In balance we find success and we get out of the routine to the normal and from the normal to the enjoyment of doing something.
It is known that if a student wants to improve learning English or is motivated to study a foreign language to excel at work, since the world is becoming more and more competitive, they should not look at work instead of going to an English class, goes back to work. For this, everything must be gradual, seek that the classes are productive, that they are related to work but that it be in a dynamic, different way, relating what they have learned with something that has not happened at work, rather preparing them for new situations.Obviamente las clases deben estar relacionadas con el trabajo del estudiante, viendo el vocabulario y situaciones relacionados a su industria, pero también variar un poco y ver situaciones de la vida cotidiana.
I think that business students need to have a more generalised vocabulary in order to communicate with their clients, aid them with travelling overseas, be able to discuss new products with their overseas suppliers etc. I don´t think they come to us to have a break from their routine. There have been some occasions where a student has specifically asked me for vocabulary regarding their business, for example, I had an architect with some English clients and he wanted help in explaining things to them. I have a student who is going to travel to London and we have been going through a unit on travelling which covers the vocabulary she is going to need extensively. So, I think if we can tailor our classes to their requirements, it will be good, but not strictly necessary.
In my opinion, it depends on the learners’ needs. If they want to study the language because they have to reach a specific goal (maybe also within a set deadline), the trainer should organize their lessons taking into consideration their necessities and adapting to their needs. On the other side, if the learners don’t have to reach specific objectives within a set deadline, the trainer can organize their lessons more freely and should consider that, even though business learners usually want to concentrate on the vocabulary and expressions belogning to the sector or field they work for, they may want to learn also some vocabulary and expressions belonging to general language for two main reasons: first of all, it could be useful in their everyday life, for example also during a business trip, in order to be able to communicate with native speakers; and then because it could be a way to escape from their routine and to take a break from their job.
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