Have you heard about our Functional Business section?

Heavily requested by ESL Library users, our Functional Business section focuses on workplace communication.

This Business English course is designed for learners who are currently or will be working in an English-speaking country, working for an English-speaking company, or communicating with English-speaking coworkers or business partners.

Completing the entire course will help students make introductions at work, talk on the phone, engage in meetings, give and receive feedback, and resolve work conflicts.

Functional Language Focus

As you probably have already guessed from the name of the course, this section concentrates on functional language. Functional language is language we use to navigate different day-to-day situations.

In this section, each lesson centers around listening activities that are authentic to the workplace. Students then have the opportunity to practice using the target language through speaking activities that often include role-plays.

Interactional Language & Transactional Conversation

Our Functional Business section also includes skill-building activities for both interactional language and transactional conversation.

Interactional language helps build relationships. Making small talk with staff or clients before beginning a meeting is an example of interactional language.

Transactional conversation, on the other hand, involves exchanging information to accomplish a goal. Giving a presentation is an example of a transactional conversation.

Both interactional language and transactional conversation are important in the workplace, whether you're working in a physical office space or remotely.

5 Tips for Teachers

Thinking about teaching this course to your students? Here are five helpful tips to keep in mind.

1. Try Exploiting the Warm-Up Activities Further

Check out our blog post on Pre-Reading Activities to Boost Comprehension for some ideas.

2. Don’t Be Overwhelmed by the Length of the Listening Tasks

Rather than including the target language in every line of dialogue, we focused on building context. If students find the listening activities challenging, it’s okay to play the audio multiple times.

3. Personalize to Better Meet Your Students' Goals

This course doesn’t have to be completed in full or in the suggested order provided. It can also be taught as individual lessons if students have a specific goal they want to focus on.

4. Create a Vocabulary Log

To help students keep track of all the new words, have them keep a vocabulary log. This assessment tool includes space for writing out the word, the definition, an example sentence, and more.

5. Get Your Students Talking

For even more speaking practice, have your students repeat tasks with different classmates.

The End Goal

By the end of the course, your students will feel better equipped to interact in the workplace. We hope your learners will be more prepared to speak up at work, more confident when listening to coworkers, and less anxious about having to engage in lengthy conversations.

If you’ve taught or completed our Functional Business course, we’d love to hear your feedback! Which lessons were your favorite? What tasks were helpful? Are there any situations we should add to the course? Let us know in the comments below, or take this short Functional Business survey!