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Business English is a form of English that is specifically suited for a certain branch of business. Students that sign up for a Business English course are usually business owners that want to improve or expand their business and employees that want to advance in their work environment, to take their knowledge and expertise to a new level. Some types of Business English are Foreign Trade, Finance, Accounting, Economics, Banking, etc. In this essay, I will be focusing on the last one, i.e. the Banking. Banking is the most useful course for entering the world of Business English. It is not made just for the bank officials but can be implemented in almost any sphere of business and everyday life. Every student can find the use for it, and that is probably the reason why they mostly opt into this specific course, worldwide. Banking will be the focus of my work where I will make a rough lesson plan as well as explain some of the problems that may occur during this type of English language course. The teacher needs to prepare and have a good plan for this type of class. It is not the job of the teacher to teach the banker how to fill in the cheque or how to transfer money, but it is to expand banker’s vocabulary through conversation and in that way help him with communication with other parties. Listed below is the plan that depicts what one can learn during the Banking course. Banking systems- discussing the role of a bank and banking in general, as well as introducing banking terminology, HR problems, resolving conflict by writing a letter/e-mail; Cheques- Is a cheque very often used? What are the types and parties to a cheque? Introduction of the terminology regarding this topic; Money transfers- Discussing money transfers and SWIFT, describing a money transfer procedure, giving background information on SWIFT. Introduction of money transfer terminology; Letters of credit- What is a letter of credit? Why is it so widely used? Which are the common faults of a letter of credit? Introduction of relevant terminology; Bills of exchange and promissory notes- Description and main features of bills of exchange and promissory notes. Comparison of all payment instruments. Introduction of relevant terminology; Card payments- Discussing plastic money, talking about different types of cards, writing a promotional leaflet. Introduction of card-related terminology; Guarantees- Discussing the concept and different types of guarantee, issuing guarantees and claiming procedures. Introduction to guarantee jargon and terminology. Now that we have our rough course plan we will be focusing on the problems that the teacher can face during teaching a Business English course. Some of the problems are: Mixed level groups- people that sign up for the course have different levels of the English language knowledge, thus the teacher needs to adapt his/her classes so the ones with lower knowledge can understand while making it interesting for the ones with higher knowledge, so they don’t get bored; Multicultural classes- there may be different companies signing up for the course, and they also might have employees of different cultural backgrounds. The course needs to be carefully planned and adapted so it can be understood by all students, but also mustn’t be offensive to different cultures; Lack of motivation- some people sign up because they want to improve their own business and are highly motivated, while others might be forced to sign up by their company and don’t have much interest in the course. A great teacher needs to inspire those students to participate during classes; Other problems- some of the other problems an EFL teacher can face during teaching Business English classes is the irregular attendance of students due to their work schedules or lack of attention if they attend the course tired, after work. These problems might seem scary for a new teacher, but with a good plan, focus, and patience, great results can be accomplished. A teacher needs to keep in mind that for the whole class to progress and the course to be successful they need to move by the speed of the slowest student. In this essay, I wrote a rough lesson plan as an example of a guideline that a teacher can follow while teaching Banking throughout the Business English course. By doing that I tried to demonstrate that teaching a Business English course can be a challenging task for both, the students and the teacher by pointing out the problems that can occur during this type of course.
