Problem teaching one of my classes Business English

Eve_Dublin

Hi everyone. I´m hoping someone can give me a bit of advice. I´m teaching business English to bankers here in Spain and most of my classes are fine considering I´ve very little experience in TEFL (and no experience teaching business English) but I seem to be getting by okay: I do my research before class and luckily I´m naturally good at getting conversations going, so no problems there. Most of my students are chatty, they seem to want to be there and there´s no problems EXCEPT for one of my advanced English classes (C1). It´s a disaster. They´ve no interest in any topic I bring up, they seem bored (lots of yawning) and make no effort to continue the conversation so the hour drags (I have them for 2 seperate hour-long classes a week), I get nervous because I´ve run out of things to fill the silence with (it should be them doing the talking, not me) and I look very unprofessional.

They´re all working in Corporate Banking, which I have no idea about to be honest (the whole corporate world is a mystery to me but I´m doing a good job pretending from cramming the night before), everything I focus on is business related but their views are very one-dimensional and if I try to bring up something controversial to get the conversation started or try to make them see another point of view from their own, they look at me blankly. It´s only 2 hours a week out of my 20 hours but I have classes following their class and because I´m just starting out, I´m not sure how to just take it on the chin and it´s ruining my confidence with the other students. I know this comes down to experience but anyone know how I can at least blag it ´till I get that experience?

Has ANYONE got any tips on how I can get them interested and how I can deal with those moments filled with awkward silences?

Thanks for your help.

livinginkorea

For high level students they can pick their own material. Get them to choose a textbook or article to study in class. Get them to give presentations and have peer evaluation.

Let them do the work, it's their class after all.

Eve_Dublin

livinginkorea wrote: »

For high level students they can pick their own material. Get them to choose a textbook or article to study in class. Get them to give presentations and have peer evaluation.

Let them do the work, it's their class after all.

This is a good idea....but I honestly don´t believe they could be bothered doing this. They´re very complacent. I suppose I can ask them to do this and bring in a back-up if none of them have prepared anything. Thanks for this!

Hillel

livinginkorea wrote: »

For high level students they can pick their own material. Get them to choose a textbook or article to study in class. Get them to give presentations and have peer evaluation.

Let them do the work, it's their class after all.

I think that that is an excellent suggestion. I once found myself in a similar situation, when I had to fill in for a colleague, at short notice. Even worse, the class had traveled from abroad and had paid big money for 3 days tuition. I had access to all the necessary teaching material, but lacked the necessary experience for my audience. I ended up studying through the night and then running a collaborative workshop for the three days. I got excellent feedback from the class.

livinginkorea

Eve_Dublin wrote: »

This is a good idea....but I honestly don´t believe they could be bothered doing this. They´re very complacent. I suppose I can ask them to do this and bring in a back-up if none of them have prepared anything. Thanks for this!

It's possible that you have lost them already as a class. If that is the case then they won't study much or participate much in class and it will be very difficult to get them back. I think it's a lack of respect on their part. I understand your frustration but you have to take the higher ground and lead by example even if your heart isn't in it. If you are having more problems with them then you should talk to your boss and get some advice, just to cover yourself. Best to tell your boss before they say something!

livinginkorea

Hillel wrote: »

I think that that is an excellent suggestion. I once found myself in a similar situation, when I had to fill in for a colleague, at short notice. Even worse, the class had traveled from abroad and had paid big money for 3 days tuition. I had access to all the necessary teaching material, but lacked the necessary experience for my audience. I ended up studying through the night and then running a collaborative workshop for the three days. I got excellent feedback from the class.

For higher level or advanced students I always get them to pick their textbook because it avoids repetition if they have used that book already and allows students to take control of their own learning. It makes them more responsibe and hopefully a greater level or interest in English.

johntheboardsie

Eve_Dublin, you need to bring their natural competitiveness to the fore. Do you have any audio-visual aids available? Here's a suggestion; play a video (a business related video from YouTube or whatever), prepare 10 questions based on the video, tell them beforehand that you will ask one of the 10 questions to 10 members of the class. Each individual will be embarrassed to get their question wrong so it will force them to engage. If someone gives a wrong or incomplete answer you can invite the rest of class to give the correct answer or elaborate on the given answer or even ask for additional opinions. After a while you will get them competing with each other. Good luck!

I am here this evening because I am researching TEFL on behalf of my daughter. There seem to be many courses available but hard to know how good each one is. There are some online courses but I've seen some advertised TEFL jobs overseas that state that they don't recognise online courses. What was your route to TEFL? Any pointers would be appreciated. Thanks johntheboardsie