Talk to a Student Advisor Get your free TEFL Teacher Starter Pack Book your Zoom call to find out more Want to teach business English? Meet Dale, a graduate of the Trinity CertPT in Business English course with EBC. After three years of experience as a teacher, he…
Want to teach business English? Meet Dale, a graduate of the Trinity CertPT in Business English course with EBC. After three years of experience as a teacher, he decided that he wanted to specialise in a specific area.
Read about his success story and how taking the course helped boost his confidence as a teacher and how it helped him master adapting materials for his lessons. We are proud of you, Dale!
What made you decide to do the Trinity CertPT in Business English with EBC?
I knew I wanted to teach Business English, and I heard from a friend of a friend that it was a good field to go into. I have an undergraduate degree in business, so I thought it would be a natural progression.
Some of my students were actually asking me about some topics in Business English. They wanted to learn how to do interviews and I didn’t have the background to be able to teach it. But like I said–(I knew) how to teach English, so I tried my best and I thought of just getting a better basis.
My students were asking me about things related to it so instead of taking the CLT or some sort of other young learners course, it just seemed to fit.
How would you say the course has contributed to how you teach business English?
Well, definitely the adaptation of materials and more confidence in being able to teach English overall. Some of my students this semester asked me about teaching idioms and things like that, and they said that they could see that I’m confident in this and that. And they say that they’re learning a lot and that they’re having a good experience.
How was your teaching experience before the Trinity CertPT in Business English course?
Yeah, I was teaching TEFL for three years prior. Teaching adults only, basically. And you know, occasionally they do ask me questions about business and about the business world–office-type vocabulary, so something was missing.
I was (also) a language assistant (in Spain and I liked it a lot, but I wanted to teach adults. I sort of had an idea that I wanted to do something with Business English. When I was an auxiliar, I did private lessons with primary and secondary, but I wanted to teach adults for a change.
Do you think the CertPT in Business English is a good fit for practicing teachers?
Yeah, certainly. Because we do have to adapt materials and it was challenging, definitely. Especially the analysis of the material. Adapting it is one thing but putting that on paper…the reflection–it was challenging.
What made you push through the course?
What got me through it? Well, a lot of coffee. And I don’t drink coffee normally, so it was quite a stretch for me to do that. But I did. And a lot of free time on the weekends. A lot of evenings. Also, my tutor helped me so much–getting the thought process down and their method.
What is one personal highlight of the course?
I didn’t know how I would do on the last assignment – I really had no idea. I only submitted one draft – didn’t get to submit a second draft, so I was a little worried about that. So when I heard that I passed, I was pretty excited.
How handy did the EBC job placement come in your case?
I have a job contract, so I was waiting until I finished that, but my advisor did contact me about a lesson, so I’m going to be doing a lesson with them.
I was definitely planning on actually giving her a call as soon as my work status changed, so it was really funny that she contacted me before that.
What is your favourite thing about teaching business English?
I guess the communication that a student is able to understand what I’m trying to teach them. It’s rewarding to finally get that affirmation of understanding that they leave the class with something.
What advice would you give to teachers who are interested in specialising in teaching business English?
The course – a lot of time and reflection. It’s a big process, but…it’s good training for overall perspective to be able to choose and adapt materials. I think when you’re done with the course, you’re able to do that on a more global level very well.
