What's the Difference Between Teaching General English, Business English, Exam & ESP? - S01E02

What type of English lesson are you teaching—and how should that change what happens in class?In Episode 2 of the How to English TEFL Podcast, Gav and Em compare four common lesson types: General English, Business English, exam preparation and English for Specific Purposes (ESP). They explore how learner goals, course requirements and employer expectations influence the teacher’s approach.Discover why General English still needs practical foundations such as numbers, spelling, grammar and everyday vocabulary; why Business English learners also need small talk and cultural awareness; and why exam preparation requires strategy as well as language. Gav and Em also discuss how teachers can support doctors, pilots, tour guides and other specialist learners without pretending to know more about their profession than they do.Should teachers follow a coursebook page by page? What happens when a company wants presentations and reports but its employees want ordinary conversation? And how can learners’ professional knowledge become the most useful material in an ESP lesson?Whether you teach TEFL, ESL, EFL, Business English or exam classes, this episode will help you match the lesson to the learner while recognising how much the different course types overlap.☕ Support How to English with a coffee or tea:https://ko-fi.com/howtoenglishpod📚 Explore our English teaching resources:https://howtoenglishpod.comTIMESTAMPS00:00 Introduction00:30 Four common types of English lesson00:55 What is General English?02:55 Lower-level learners and coursebooks08:40 Recycling language and adapting materials09:10 What is Business English?14:15 Urgent presentations and real workplace tasks15:30 Company goals versus learner expectations17:05 Small talk and cultural awareness at work19:50 What is exam English?20:50 Teaching exam strategy as well as language24:30 What is English for Specific Purposes?26:40 Letting specialist learners become the expert27:45 Recap and closingQUESTIONS ANSWERED00:30 What are the four main types of English lesson?00:55 What is General English and who needs it?09:10 How is Business English different from General English?15:30 How can teachers balance company goals with learner expectations?17:05 Why do Business English learners need small talk and cultural awareness?19:50 Why does exam preparation require more than teaching English?24:30 Can teachers teach ESP without being industry experts?REFERENCESEnglish File — OxfordNew Market Leader Third Edition Upper-Intermediate Unit 8 — PearsonIn Company — MacmillanWikipedia#TEFL #ESL #EFL #BusinessEnglish #GeneralEnglish #ExamEnglish #ESP #EnglishTeaching #EnglishLearning #HowToEnglish