Teaching English to Adults

[LA Guy]

Hi all,

I was curious to see if some of those in this forum are teaching Business English to Adults

outside of the University / Public School settings.

It would be for Chinese Nationals who do business in US/Aus/Uk and need more of personal 1 on 1 / or more

settings or it might be some software developers that need to better understand Tech terms in English.

It is true that adults can be harder to teach than kids / teenagers or College students

but I would like to hear some opinions here.

This might not be a "full-time" gig.

Thanks for sharing, LA Guy

[abcdefg]

It is true that adults can be harder to teach than kids / teenagers or College students but I would like to hear some opinions here.

Am guessing you intend this as a question.("Is it true...?")

I taught Medical English to some of the faculty at Kunming Medical University last year. They were eager and attentive. (I'm a physician in the US and could help them with technical vocabulary.)

Also assisted with a general adult English evening class in Zhuhai the year before. Another good experience.

Both groups were focused and motivated. They had variable backgrounds of "school English" and were not starting from zero. One thing I observed, however, is that they seemed to have a near-magical expectation that everything would happen lightning fast. Not terribly surprising, since I too remember once having such illusions about learning Chinese.

[LA Guy]

@abcdefg

Yep, I'm am just guessing. B)

I was thinking that they would apply themselves since they have intentions of using English

for business purposes and don't want to embarrass themselves.

Of course, the path of learning is difficult since their listening ( ear ) and learning ( brain age ) will take longer

to remember and lock-in to the language.

So, please do give me the real scoop on adult vs student teaching experiences.

Best, LA Guy

[Hungryturtle]

I've taught business English 1on1 and small groups to different types of professionals (programmers, sales, telecom, etc)

I generally agree that adults are

They're much more interesting then teaching kids, who:

1: have no life experience and thus have nothing interesting to share

2: are very passive and somehow expect you to just pour out "English" upon their awaiting fertile minds and somehow magically learn English just by being around you.

Adults will talk, offer opinions, share stories, and ask questions, so teaching them can be very fun. They generally know what they want to learn (how to write an email, terms, pronunciation, etc) so the goal isn't so nebulous. Even if, like abcdefg said, they expect to suddenly know English magically.

Also, they're there on their own time. It's not like students who have to be there, adults generally choose to be there so there's no question of motivation. If they don't really want to pay attention, well it's their money they're wasting.

For finding Business English classes, I went though some training centers I worked at. Also, I picked up some classes through some friends who passed off the classes to me, or just through former students who recommended me. The process for me is pretty informal, just get on the ground and network with different people. Most classes are arranged through knowing people. Find a good agent and establish a network of friends and students and let them know your available.