Training adult students to speak English usually means helping them to work internationally using the English language. It does not mean teaching them to write interesting essays or hold a sparkling conversation beyond the limits of standard small talk. When a company invests money in training its staff in English, it has the right to expect that the trainer will focus on work-related vocabulary, soft skills (e-mails, phone calls, meetings, etc.), and any pronunciation or grammar problems that might interfere with being understood. This can often be difficult for trainers to accept, especially if they normally teach children and teens or immigrants. It also calls for a different style of teaching that is appropriate for the objectives the students are attempting to achieve. For one thing, this means that materials should have a business focus, not a general one (this can be as simple as changing, “Tom went to the store to buy milk” to “Mr. Smith went to Tokyo for a meeting”). It also means that games should be used much more sparingly, if at all: their purpose should be to stimulate conversation and trigger vocabulary, not to serve as a reward that keeps students happy with the class (and continuing to register for more classes!). Conversation should shift from the usual topics of travel, sports, shopping and so on, and instead involve chat about the workweek, ongoing projects, unusual or frustrating business-related issues, etc. A quick roundtable recounting of the past weekend’s activities is fine to warm up the students and put their brains in the English zone, but it shouldn’t go on for more than a couple of minutes per person before turning to the day’s lesson plan. Above all, the best Business English teachers will always be thinking about what the students in any particular class need to learn to do their work better in English, and how quickly they can get there. More importantly, the student must feel comfortable and secure with the functional language, a

Did you know that there is a correct order for using more than one adjective in an English sentence? Native speakers know it, but everyone else has to learn it! Here are the rules: https://www.italki.com/en/post/GdPRCz5IMx02HqNxPI99SO

A new italki quiz I created on inanimate pronouns: https://www.italki.com/quiz/set/11129?utm_source=copylink_share&utm_medium=share_content&utm_campaign=share_quiz

I also have a channel where I teach grammar and vocabulary for Business English: https://m.youtube.com/user/TheEnglishToolbox/videos?flow=grid&view=0