Some people do not realize the significance of the ability to use the English language until they start to look for a job. And, even when they find a job, they will need language skills to increase their chances of career advancement. This is particularly true for employees working in international companies or companies located in English-speaking countries. These people are always looking for an opportunity to teach the English language well enough to communicate in a business context.
This is the perfect opportunity for business tutors to connect with them and make a living from teaching business English. However, we should note that teaching business English is not as easy as teaching general English. We have written this article to help you start teaching business English and give you information on what and how to teach business English. So, keep reading to find out what you want to learn about what to do before, while, and after teaching business English.
- Interview your clients or students.
- Research their industry and the language used in their working environment.
- Find appropriate resources to teach business English.
- Personalize lesson plans and classroom materials based on your clients’ needs.
- Monitor your student’s performance carefully and regularly.
- Conduct frequent assessments to check your student’s progress.
- Give them sufficient feedback on their performance.
- Introduce other resources for after-class involvement in learning business English.
Things to consider before teaching business English: What are the first steps?
The guidelines we provide here are based on the presupposition that you have a high degree of proficiency in English as well as some years of experience teaching general English. Otherwise, you might not be ready to teach business English. If you are new to teaching English and private tutoring, our recent article on “How to Start Online English Teaching with No Experience?” is a great start for novice teachers.
Business English classes are more goal-oriented compared to general English classes. They focus on certain vocabulary and language functions to prepare the learners for effective communication in the workplace.
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Advertise your tutoring service
Advertisements can be a real hassle for English tutors. It is easy to record a video of yourself and upload it on social media, but the problem is making it seen. So, you should find ways to promote yourself as a business teacher and advertise your service appealingly. As a language teacher, you might not have the necessary skills or tools to make a professional advertisement, and even if you do, you still have to spend precious time promoting it and finding clients for your service. Don’t miss our article about “Advertisement for Private Tutors.”
Ostado has made it easy for you. On Ostado’s online tutoring platform, each tutor has a profile where they can showcase their educational and professional background and post an introductory video of themselves. Our purpose is to connect tutors and students worldwide, and by becoming a tutor on Ostado, you do not need to worry about finding the right clients.
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Interview your clients
Interviewing your prospective clients is a decisive step to take before starting your classes. The clients can tell you about their language learning objectives, how much time they can spend on language classes and which days and at what time they can attend the class. Additionally, the interview allows you and the client to decide whether you understand each other. In other words, sometimes, the chemistry between the teacher and the student is not right. This interview allows you to understand how well you can build rapport with a given student.
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Perform needs analysis
Another important thing to do before teaching business English lessons is to identify your learners’ needs. Find out about their industry. Which business sector are they working for? Are they working for technology companies, financial institutes, the automobile industry, agricultural production, or any other business domains? The answer helps you design lessons tailored for each learner based on their job and teach industry-specific vocabulary.
You should also find information about their rank in the company. The language needs of employees in management positions vary from those in lower ranks. For instance, a project manager might need to frequently give presentations, host meetings with other team leaders, and communicate on higher levels compared to a fellow telephone operator whose language needs are not as sophisticated.
Find out your students’ objectives. Why do they want to learn business English lessons? Are they preparing for an interview with an international company? Has their company required them to develop language skills? Or is it in the hopes of getting a promotion and gaining a higher income? By knowing your students’ purposes for joining the business English class, you can determine the appropriate target proficiency level for what they have in mind. You can also learn about the orientation of the lessons. For instance, for a salesperson position, telephone etiquette is very important, orienting the course towards spoken professional language.
Another factor to consider before starting teaching business English is your students’ learning style. There are different learning styles, including auditory, visual, and kinetic. You need to adapt the lessons based on the students’ learning styles to maximize their understanding of the lessons.
Things to do while teaching Business English lessons
It is time for the real thing! If you observe the points mentioned above, you should have some ideas about what is expected of you while teaching business English. Given that you have rich knowledge of teaching methods, you can successfully manage the classes. Let us take a closer look at what you should do while tutoring business English classes.
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Design a personalized curriculum
Designing a personalized curriculum is a requirement in one-on-one classes. Your students expect you to tailor the lessons based on their proficiency level, age, aims, and needs. Designing a practical and personalized curriculum depends on how efficiently you have conducted needs analysis.
The curriculum should cover all language skills, namely listening, speaking, reading, and writing, focusing on business topics. For instance, for listening skills, you can use presentations or lectures about work. You can use role-playing scenarios in business meetings, negotiations, etc. For reading, you can use excerpts from magazines related to the student’s industry. Finally, for writing, you can use email templates and explain how your students can write a business report.
You can also use coursebooks designed especially to teach business English. These books come with Teacher’s Books, which tell you how to teach the grammar points and other activities in the Student’s Book. Some Teacher’s Books also introduce resources for further reading on different teaching methods and techniques. The merit of using business English coursebooks instead of customized and self-collected materials is the organization with which you can teach the language.
Business English coursebooks mainly focus on business skills, including negotiation, presentation and correspondence. They are written for students with different proficiency levels, from elementary to advanced, with the purpose of developing effective communication skills in the workplace. Some newer business English coursebooks are supplemented with online resources to promote the learning process. You can see some of the popular business English books in the picture.
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Title |
Description |
| Business Builder | This course book series is designed to help students develop the communication skills they need to succeed in the business world. It is available in three levels, from intermediate to advanced. Each unit focuses on a different business topic, such as marketing, finance, or human resources. The coursebooks also include a variety of listening and reading activities, as well as role-plays and simulations. |
| Market leader | This is a widely used course book series that is strong on both grammar and vocabulary development. It is available in a variety of levels, from elementary to advanced. Each unit focuses on a different business skill, such as negotiation, presentations, or writing emails. The coursebooks also include a variety of listening and reading activities, as well as role-plays and simulations. |
| Total English | This course book series is a classic choice for business English learners. It is available in four levels, from elementary to advanced. Each unit focuses on a different business function, such as writing reports, giving presentations, or negotiating contracts. The coursebooks also include a variety of grammar exercises and vocabulary lists. |
| Intelligent Business | This course book series is a good choice for students who want to improve their business vocabulary and communication skills. It is available in three levels, from intermediate to advanced. Each unit focuses on a different business topic, such as globalization, ethics, or leadership. The coursebooks also include a variety of listening and reading activities, as well as case studies and simulations. |
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Be flexible in class management
Since you are teaching business English, your students are most probably day workers. This means that your business English classes start either very early in the morning or after working hours. Some students even prefer to join weekend business English classes. Therefore, it is necessary for you to be flexible regarding the time of the sessions. Let the students have a say in when and how long the classes are held. Since your learners are adults and probably have a family to take care of, do not reprimand them for occasional cancellations.
In addition, we recommend making your classes inclusive in terms of the topics. For instance, if you are teaching phone etiquette for telemarketing, go a little farther and explain ways to speak with an angry client and customer. Flexibility in topics diversifies your business English lessons and makes the classes engaging for the students. You can also ask your students which topics they want to cover in their classes.
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Maintain a positive vibe for your classes
Learning does not fully take place in a dull environment. Try your best to lighten the mood by pointing to language facts you know your students like or explain an interesting and relevant idiom from time to time. Keep a balance between intimacy and professionalism.
The good news is that adult students are already motivated to learn business English for various reasons, and it is not as challenging to gain their attention as it is to work with younger learners. Remember that business English learners might be tired after a long day and need further explanations on some language concepts. So, remain patient and help them with their problems through exemplification or re-explanation.
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Monitor your learner’s progress
In private teaching, you should dedicate all your attention to the students, and since you are dealing only with one student, it is not hard to carefully monitor their learning progress. Monitoring allows you to understand which concepts are misunderstood or not fully understood. It can give you ideas for modifying the lesson plan and focusing on certain language points and skills. You can monitor your learners’ progress in a number of ways, like discrete and active monitoring. Discrete monitoring is when the tutor does not interrupt, interfere with, or correct the students when they are in the middle of doing a task. On the contrary, in active monitoring, the teacher has an active presence in an activity and provides students with spontaneous help or advice.
There is a short insightful article by Kathleen Cotton on “Monitoring Student Learning in the Classroom”, which can give you more information about other types of monitoring like questioning and reviewing.
Things to do after teaching business English lessons
Your job as an English teacher does not end at the end of the session. You need to do certain things after the class to make sure what you have taught during the class is actually working out and that your students can use the skills to survive work-related communications.
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Provide learners with feedback on their performance
Giving feedback works hand in hand with monitoring the students’ performances. As a teacher, you should give clear, exact, and timely feedback to your students. When your student gives the wrong answer, you should correct it and explain why the answer was wrong and how to correct it. When giving feedback, you should point to your student’s strengths and areas of improvement.
Corrective Feedback in Language Learning, Chapter 36 in the Handbook of Research in Second Language Teaching, can give you comprehensive information about giving feedback.
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Assess your learner’s acquired language skills
Assessing your student’s performance can give you and the student a good understanding of the efficiency of the lessons. It also acts as a motivational force and encourages the students to participate actively in the learning process. The assessment can be written or oral, depending on the language skills you want to test. Keep in mind that whichever form of assessment you use, it should be followed by feedback. If you do not have enough information about different forms of assessments, the article on “Importance of Assessment in ELT” can be a great start.
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Introduce extra resources to your learners
Some language learners might look for other resources to improve their business English skills. Thanks to the abundance of online videos and podcasts, you do not run out of interesting and exciting extracurricular resources. You can use the links above to immerse them in language learning. Moreover, if you decide to choose one of the books we mentioned earlier, you can require the students to complete the workbook outside classroom time. The table below contains links to valuable resources to enrich your business English curriculum.
Extracurricular resources for after-class practice |
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Skill |
Resources |
Descriptions |
| Listening | Business English Pod | You can find hundreds of categorized podcasts created especially for Business English learners. With Business English Pod, not only can you learn English, but you can understand how the business world and its latest trends work. |
| BBC Business Daily | This website is best for learners who are learning British English or want to adopt a British accent. The website provides news podcasts about worldwide events as well as other engaging subjects and discoveries. The pace of podcasts is just right for English learners at intermediate or higher levels. | |
| Down to Business English | Down to Business is another excellent resource for improving your English for business purposes. The website focuses on teaching vocabulary, and its target audience is non-native English speakers. However, you need to pay membership fees to use the service. | |
| Financial Times (YouTube channel) | The YouTube channel of this world-class news agency in economic sectors provides videos of various lengths for English speakers. The videos include lots of topics but they are suitable for advanced English learners. | |
| Ted Talks Business | TED is a familiar name for anyone who is engaged in education in any way. The podcasts or videocasts are about inspiring ideas and success stories, and they are often made by proficient non-native English speakers. The podcasts are free, and like all of the above items, they come with a transcription. | |
| Speaking | HelloTalk | HelloTalk is an app for improving speaking skills. Users can use the app’s search feature to find native English speakers and exchange texts, and voice messages as well as voice and video calls for free. By paying for the advanced features, you can take the speaking lessons to the next level. |
| Tandem | Tandem is another app that helps improve English speaking. In this platform, you can find users who are native English speakers and want to learn your first language. You teach your first language, and they teach theirs. | |
| Reading | BBC Learning English – Business | The website provides different texts, followed by short quizzes to check your understanding of the texts. |
| Harvard Business Review | The website includes many scientific articles and podcasts that gain you knowledge of the business world and with a little added effort they can maximize your listening and reading skills. | |
| Forbes publication | You might recognize the name by its famous magazine covering economic matters. You can find newsfeeds and articles on subjects like money, lifestyle, leadership, and billionaires. | |
| Writing | Coursera writing courses | You can find a plethora of free and paid courses on English writing. These courses are online and flexible and the learners can participate in the programs whenever they like. |
| Udemy writing courses | The courses at Udemy are just as good as the ones you can find on Coursera, but you need to pay admission fees to take them. | |
What is the best way to teach business English?
Teaching business English can take place through different channels. Expert business English teachers might receive an invitation from (usually large) companies to teach employees business English. The teachers can also run a small teaching business and advertise their service or find teaching opportunities through word-of-mouth ways, provided that they have satisfied clients. However, the former does not happen to every business tutor, and the latter takes time and energy to yield results.
That is the reason why teaching online is the best alternative. Online tutors are not bound by their location, and they can find clients from anywhere in the world. Additionally, thanks to online tutoring platforms like Ostado, business tutors do not need to worry about finding new clients.
Become an online business tutor on Ostado
Tutoring is the best approach to teaching the English language, and many students are looking for a business tutor online to learn or improve their language skills. That’s why we created Ostado. Ostado connects English tutors and teachers with clients all around the world to make language learning available and accessible for everyone. We have created a straightforward and user-friendly platform that is available to all tutors with the necessary skills to teach English as a second or foreign language. You can sign up and become a tutor on Ostado by filling out a couple of forms.
How to be a business English teacher; conclusion
Teaching business English is an in-demand niche throughout the world. Many adult learners take business English classes to find better jobs and advance their careers. This is a great opportunity for business English tutors to find clients and earn a living from tutoring English classes. Of course, while business English tutors earn more than general English tutors, their job is also more difficult. The best way for business English tutors to maximize their income is through online private tutoring. You can apply for a business English tutoring job and position on Ostado right now.
Frequently asked questions
How much do business English tutors make per month?
A business tutor’s salary depends on their education level and background experience. Novice tutors can earn $10 to $15 an hour, while seasoned tutors can make upwards of $50 an hour. Generally, the average hourly income rate is about $25 per hour. Given that you work at least 10 hours a week, you can earn around $1000 per month.
Can I teach business English without prior teaching experience?
Teaching business English is more challenging than teaching general English lessons. Therefore, we recommend starting with teaching general English, and when you gain some experience, you can teach business English.
Can I teach business English without a degree?
You do not have much chance to start teaching business English without a degree in language teaching or other teaching degrees like TEFL, especially if you do not have background experience teaching English.
What skills do I need to teach business English?
You need to acquire soft skills and technical skills for a successful tutoring experience. Soft skills include elements such as rapport, empathy, patience, etc. Technical skills include the ability to use digital tools and online platforms to make the virtual classes as effective as possible.
