I am a new esl teacher, and my question is, How do you teach intermediate and above business language in ESL.  I would love to chat or get some ideas.  I �ve tried lesson planning, however I �m not sure what "all" my lessons should contain.  What is it they have to know? Some things are too advanced. How do you walk that fine line when you �re dealing with business students. Can someone give me ideas of a book/website for intermediates and above students. Or give me some idea about what you would include. They seem to know the basics, so how do i advance them to the next level without overwhelming them??   I �ve read books on lesson planning but I am still pretty clueless. Any light you can provide would help.

Hope this helps,

Stuart

(Xi �an, China)

 

I know exactly what you are feeling.  Every week I fight with what to teach my advanced students and what not to  teach them.  Their English is very good and I find they mostly are looking to expand their vocabulary and better understand the more complicated nuances in English (idioms, hypothetical situations, etc.).

 

So far I have been most successful giving them an article to read before class and then discussing the article in class.  I usuallly put together a worksheet that provides some vocabulary, comprehension questions, and research questions.  The main thin g I have learned is to be ready to go off on a tangent if they have questions about a certain concept or language style. 

 

I am currently working on a couple videos to watch in class and then discuss.

 

Another thing I found that they really liked was I taught some simple business communications lessons (normally for native speakers) in English (I used to teach management and communications to both Germans and Americans).  I did the lessons like I would for normal English native speakers, but just stopped sometimes to explain vocab, etc. questions.  I think I will do more of this in the future--it �s stuf they can use in their jobs and it furthers their English as well.

 

Douglas

You can also check out some books for Intermediate students and see what the topics are included there and then go from there.

 

Here is a nice site for downloading books for free, try Headway Intermediate.

 

 

Good luck!

 

Sasa