The world’s only getting more connected every day, and for professionals in emerging markets, learning English is the key to international business opportunities.
It’s no surprise then that the business English training market is worth an estimated $19.5 billion and is only expected to grow.
If you teach business English online, how do you ensure that you help your students from developing countries as best as possible? Here are 10 strategies to make your teaching more effective.
- Do a thorough needs analysis up front
A good teacher meets students where they’re at. It’s crucial to assess your students’ needs in order to determine the best way to teach them.
Conduct a needs analysis by asking your learners:
- The business contexts they’ll participate in (emails, financials, meetings, slide decks, negotiations, etc)
- Their strengths and weaknesses (listening, speaking, writing)
- Their schedule, preferred pace, and other personal needs
From here, you can develop a tailored curriculum rooted in their real-world needs.
- Build scaffolded progression
Curricula and lesson plans must also be scaffolded – designed in a way that meets students where they’re at and builds them up gradually.
- Start with easier, more predictable tasks (emails, small talk, meeting agendas) to warm them up
- Move toward more complex activities (presentations, negotiation calls, pitching)
- Regularly revisit earlier vocabulary and structures to ensure students remember them.
As much as possible, give learners a real business task to complete (e.g., draft an email, role-play a client call) – you can then generalize grammar/phrases from their output.
- Use authentic business materials
Do not rely solely on language learning textbooks (even ones specifically for business English). Make sure to incorporate actual business documents.
Show them:
- Excerpts from business reports, press releases, emails, and proposals
- Real internal documents (only if internal info is properly anonymized)
- Industry news articles
- Webinar transcripts or conference speeches
The more learners are exposed to actual real-life examples of business English, the easier it becomes for them to apply it in their daily tasks.
- Focus on high-utility lexis and chunks
Compared to a general approach to learning English, Business English cares less about obscure grammar or rare sentence constructions and instead focuses on:
- Collocations
- Lexical chunks
- Functional language
- Fixed expressions
For example, it’s critical to expose them to common phrases and abbreviations used in professional settings, such as:
- “As per our last conversation”
- “Let me follow up”
- “At your earliest convenience”
- “Circling back”
- “EOD”, “BAU”, “All-Hands”
You can start with 8-10 new lexical items per session – and make sure to recycle them in different contexts (writing, speaking, reading) so they internalize them.
- Maximize student speaking time and role-play
While reading and writing are most definitely also important, speaking practice is what truly builds confidence.
Make students simulate and role-play meetings, calls, negotiations, and presentations.
Start by providing a model dialogue, then let students make it their own by changing names, figures, and even the context of the dialogue. Then swap roles and repeat.
- Leverage technology, but be mindful of constraints
Online classes offer a rich toolkit for learning, but some learners from developing regions might face connectivity constraints.
As such, be prepared to host audio-only conferences, compress videos, and have plan B materials (like downloadable PDFs).
In places with georestrictions, some may even need help setting up tools like a VPN for Linux, Windows, or Mac to access region-blocked content.
- Integrate feedback and corrective practice
Accuracy is everything in professional settings, so always provide feedback after tasks.
If needed, add mini-lessons or micro-drills to correct recurring errors. It’s also smart to encourage self-correction and peer feedback so learners can improve independently.
The key to providing valuable feedback is to set quantifiable goals, such as:
- “Reduce filler words by 50% in presentations.”
- “Improve email clarity score.”
- “Engage in a call with no grammatical errors.”
This way, students can actively measure their progress.
- Be culturally and contextually sensitive
Business English classes tend to include students from different backgrounds, generations, and business cultures.
They may understand hierarchy, communication norms, and other business intangibles differently, so don’t assume that “Western” norms fit perfectly – nor that they’re the “superior” ones.
Ask your learners about the business culture they’re familiar with in their industry and country – or where they intend to work – and adapt lessons accordingly (e.g., how to express disagreement, how to be politely assertive, etc.).
Patience and flexibility are paramount with this.
- Constantly measure progress
Measure your students’ progress regularly through small but frequent assessments (e.g., one-minute oral summaries, email drafts, mini-quizzes).
By tracking progress over time, you can adjust your teaching strategies and revisit learners’ weak points.
Use rubrics (clarity, coherence, grammar, lexical choice) so both you and the learner understand their progress.
- Encourage real-world usage and ongoing extension
Make them perform “outside-class” tasks such as sending real English emails or leading short meeting segments. This is key to transferring their classroom learnings into the real-world workplaces.
Also, encourage them to keep a language journal or a vocabulary log so they can monitor their outside-class progress.
If possible, offer consultation sessions for check-ins outside class hours to help them with their English in real life too.
Conclusion
Teaching Business English online to professionals in emerging markets can be a fulfilling, lucrative niche with great demand.
By understanding where your learners are coming from, tailoring your classes to their needs, and ensuring they get exposed to authentic business English situations in the classroom, you can help them succeed in the boardroom.
Guest Author
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