How Can You Teach Business English, Pronunciation and Better Lessons? TEFL A-Z B – S06E02

How should you begin a new English course, find out what Business English learners really need and help students improve their pronunciation?In this episode of How to English: Teach and Learn with Gav & Em, we explore the letter B in our A to Z of TEFL. We begin with the importance of first lessons and why teachers should prepare carefully without putting themselves under pressure to make everything perfect.For Business English teachers, we demonstrate the specific needs-analysis questions that uncover what learners actually do at work. Do they give presentations, write emails, attend international meetings, manage projects or speak to customers? We also discuss using authentic workplace materials and why teachers do not need to be experts in every industry.You’ll hear a practical demonstration of backchaining, a pronunciation technique for breaking difficult words and sentences into manageable chunks. We compare different ways to use it and explain why hearing the complete word or sentence first can give learners valuable context.We also explore what students’ body language can reveal about attention, confusion and engagement—particularly online. However, appearances can be misleading, so checking politely may be more reliable than assuming somebody is not listening.What does “Bob’s your uncle” mean? Why do British people say something has “gone pear-shaped”? We unpack several baffling British expressions, including “faffing around”, “throw a spanner in the works” and “not my cup of tea”.Later, we ask whether coursebooks are still relevant in the age of ChatGPT and other digital tools. Finally, we challenge common language-learning myths and demonstrate “backflash”: a more natural way to revisit a previous lesson through a story rather than asking, “Do you remember what we did last week?”Drawing on their real classroom experience, Gav and Em offer practical ideas for teachers alongside plenty of disagreement, experimentation and laughter.References:ChatGPT: https://chatgpt.com/Grammarly: https://app.grammarly.com/If you find the show useful, you can send us a thanks at https://ko-fi.com/howtoenglishpodVisit https://howtoenglishpod.com for practical teaching ideas, episode guides and resources ready to use.Don’t forget to follow, subscribe and share the episode. See you next time for C!Chapters:00:00 Welcome to B in the A to Z of TEFL01:18 How to begin a lesson or course successfully04:18 What do Business English learners really need?06:35 Using authentic workplace materials07:15 Essential Business English topics08:35 Teaching unfamiliar industries confidently09:25 What do B1 and B2 English levels mean?12:10 How to teach pronunciation through backchaining14:10 Reading students’ body language15:35 Checking engagement in online lessons17:20 How teachers’ gestures affect learners20:00 Baffling British expressions explained23:55 Are coursebooks still relevant in TEFL?27:00 Bogus language-learning myths31:15 Backflash: a better way to review previous lessons34:00 Revisiting vocabulary through stories34:45 See you next time for C