The business of online teaching: basic advice

Even without the Covid-19 lockdown, each passing year sees more and more organisations offering courses for students who want to learn business English online. Obviously, there are many advantages to this kind of teaching, not least the reduction in the time and money spent in commuting to the client’s place of business and the savings in natural resources.

Some online teaching involves groups of learners, and some is done on a one-to-one basis. Some teachers employ an online learning platform, such as Webex or Blackboard Collaborate, while others simply use the more basic Skype or Zoom to conduct videoconferences with their students. I am going to concentrate on one-to-one teaching on learning platforms because, in my experience, this is the most common at the moment. Let’s look, then, at six key ways to teach effectively in this particular situation.

1 Conduct a thorough needs analysis.

Your students need to know they are working with a professional. Conducting a thorough needs analysis shows that you are serious about meeting their needs. The students also need to see the results of this analysis (in the form of a syllabus) so that they know precisely the route they will be taking. Because of the lack of face-to-face interaction, you will have to work even more carefully to demonstrate transparency in this area than you would in a classroom teaching situation.

2 Speak clearly in the ‘classroom’.

It is important to speak clearly in a traditional classroom setting, but it’s even more important online, where the connection may sometimes be poor. It is also important for your image as a teacher. If you can’t communicate clearly, the students will lose confidence in you and may regret having invested so much money in your course. From the very beginning, it is crucial not only to speak clearly, but also to keep checking that your speed, volume and clarity are all acceptable to the students.

3 Set up simulations based on the needs analysis.

When you are teaching online, it is sometimes tempting just to chat. We naturally associate online communication with chatting, and, of course, our students can learn from chat. However, this definitely shouldn’t constitute the main part of the teaching. With business students, it is likely that you will be teaching people who have very limited time and who want to focus all their attention on preparing for important business meetings. If you can set up life-like simulations for them to practise, they are much more likely to be satisfied customers.

4 Help the students to reformulate when necessary.

Sometimes it may be intimidating to correct a business student who is high up in their company. Perhaps you’ve noticed that they tend to miss off the third person ‘s’, but you feel shy about pointing this out, and it seems such a small thing. However, you really do need to point this out – and get the student to repeat the model of correct English which you provide. Only in this way will your student become more comprehensible. Nearly all students will understand why they are being asked to repeat things correctly, and will be more than happy to oblige.

5 Recycle language regularly.

Just as in face-to-face lessons, recycling is critical, as it gives a sense of continuity. Also, if you don’t do it, your students will never really be ready for any new target language you’ve chosen to input. Keep careful written records of language you have taught and language which has come up in your lessons. Then make sure you reintroduce it regularly in future lessons.

6 Don’t get distracted by all the features of your platform.

Online learning platforms have many useful features which are well worth exploring. For example, you will probably be able to do all of the following:

• create a whiteboard;
• type, point and draw;
• upload documents and videos;
• share your screen (so that you can share website content);
• allow a student to become the presenter.

However, although these features are very useful, it is easy to fall into the trap of thinking that you have to use all of them in every lesson. You don’t. What you do need to do is to formulate communicative objectives and help your students attain them. If you use any of the features for this purpose, that is all well and good, but using them isn’t compulsory and there may be better ways.

Even before Covid-19 forced most teachers online, online teaching was definitely becoming a more and more accepted part of ELT. I suspect that it is here to stay, and one day, perhaps, there will be English teachers who will never know what it is like to set foot in a real classroom. However, many teachers have complained in recent months that Covid-19 caught them unawares and that they struggled with the sudden switch to online teaching, because they lacked training in the use of the necessary software and the skills needed to teach remotely. Perhaps it is time for new training courses for would-be online teachers – and for an examination body to set up a qualification.