Arm Yourself for Teaching Business English

       Business and language seem to be two un-separate things that always rely on each other because the core of the business is communication which the message that was sent during communication must be correct so that both receiver and sender have a mutual understanding about the topic.  

However, the problem in communication will happen when either sender or receiver uses the vocabularies within particular contexts such as business English because some vocabularies had a different meaning when it was mentioned in the business term. 

So, it is the coach’s job as the knowledge provider to clear the confusion of the vocabularies and help students understand about them.

These are a few suggestions that we would like to provide them for all Globish coaches who teach business English or plan to teach business English in the future. 

1.  Knowledge About Business English Context (Getting familiar with Business English context)

Business English is the overall term of language that appears in all types of business such as international trade, finance, banking, importing and exporting and etc. It was because each of them has its own vocabulary or jargon that only people in the business world know about it.  Besides, there are some vocabulary that could appear in daily life and business but have a different meaning when they were mentioned in particular terms. So, we will provide the sources for Globish coaches to look it up and study about the world of business vocabulary.

1.     Magazine and news (Bloomberg, Bangkok Post)

2.    Websites (Entrepenur.com, Breaking News English, ESL Party Land)

3.    TV-show program (The Apprentice,  Suits, Shark Tank, Mad Men)

4.   Movies (Wolf of Wall Street, The Founder)

These are very beneficial for you and the students because not only can you increase your vocabularies capacity but it also helps you be up-to-date with the business situation around the world which helps students learn both business English and business strategy which could be useful for their advances in career. 

2. The cross-cultural difference in business. 

 There are a few cultural theories that coaches could learn about it so that you could see the big picture of Thai workplace culture. 

    “High context and Low Context”

High Context is the culture which people would concern both verbal and non-verbal communication. This means that both the receiver and the sender must have background information about the topic and the way of conveying messages must be done fully with the choice of words and actions because showing any disagreement could be the sign of disrespectful. As for the relationship, people with this culture must take times in building the relationship by creating trust inside their groups. Generally, groups of people who fall in this category are Asians, Africans, Arabs, central Europeans, and Latin Americans. 

Low Context is the workplace culture of being explicit. Unlike high context culture, everyone will be on the same page once the information has been mentioned and explained to everyone with no omission. As for conveying the message, body language doesn’t matter because of the importance depending on the value of the message. So, there is a little chance for disagreement could be taken personally. As for the relationship, this culture mainly focuses on building the relationship based on the benefits and objectives of career.     

For Thai workplace culture, High context appears in all kinds of business of Thailand which you could see clearly from Thai big corporations because they tend to take time in building social structure and relationship between the teams and departments. Also, they have different ways of conveying messages depending on the person they have talked with. This could be seen especially whenever Thai people talk to someone with higher ranks by addressing them by “Pi”, “Khun”, or call them by their title.

“Individualism and Collectivism”

       Individualism is an organizational culture that employees are acknowledged for unique skills, making the decision by themselves, strong opinion and self-reliant. The personal matter is private and must not become an obstacle to career. Mostly, this culture happens when an employee’s job is promoting creativity, employee engagement, and personal achievement. 

Collectivism is the culture that focuses on the benefits of the group. Every member must work as a team in harmony. So, each team member must be a team player and put the need of the team as a high priority including sharing the responsibility together. 

For Thai workplace culture, it is in-between individualism and collectivism based on their position, type of career, and organization. If they work in a big corporation which is run by a family member, it could be a collectivism culture that loyalty is the core of the business relationship, so employees must prove it to their superiors. 

For Thai’s style of communication, Thai communication style is indirect which would be an idea about saving “face”. “.Saving “face”  which is about not causing embarrassment to another person. On the other hand, individualism exists in the start-up company which is run by young people of the new generation. The main focus of the new company is only about the contributions of each employee providing for the company individually. So, communication is direct and straight to the point. 

Therefore, it would be better to get to know the career background of the students so that coaches could provide a suitable suggestion for workplace communication.             

3.  Becoming an efficient Business English Coach 

       For the coaches who had no background knowledge in business English, there are some tips for getting ready yourself for teaching business English 

3.1 Reading Globish materials of Business English for studying the overall concept of Business English. On every Globish Business English material, there are the objectives mentioned in each lesson. It is the coach's duty to focus on these objectives and comply with them. 

3.2 Researching more materials and media from the other websites in getting more variety of teaching methods and techniques from above. In the case of having no idea of the starting point, you should try to listen from the real experience of students who work in companies. Sometimes, the best way of conducting the class effectively is by listening to the real-life workplace situation that students have to face every single day.    

3.3 Practicing yourself in teaching and finding the techniques that could break down the complexity of business English terms into simple sentences. The effective ways of teaching must consist of body language and explicit explanation that could be easy for understanding. 

For example, “branches” is known as the part of the trees and it could be the verb which means divide something into sections. However, “branch” in business means the store that expands its operation in other countries. So, the example sentence could be “Since the numbers of clients are mostly from Asia, we will set up our Asia branch in Singapore.”.         

3.4 Summarizing each lesson appropriately for checking students’ comprehension of business terminologies. There are many ways of checking students’ understanding of the lesson. It could be done by providing the questions relating to the vocabulary or creating the discussion which students must answer by using the vocabulary of today's lesson. 

We hope this content is proved to be fruitful for all Globish coaches and help coaches prepare for the successful class that could be beneficial for all business English students because this course is game-changing for them to advance their careers. 

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