A 10 minute intro to Telephone Business English

Copyright2014PHILWADE

Published by Phil Wade at Smashwords

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 Table of Contents

About the book

About the writer and editor

The basics

Telephone classes vs. Online classes

Types of courses

Lesson structure

Tips

Sample Lesson 1

Sample Lesson 2
 About the book

I first heard about Telephone Business English when applying for jobs in language
schools. It seemed to have been fashionable since before the introduction of mobile
phones. For some, it has been replaced by online lessons but still seems to be offered
by a number of schools.

I started teaching over the phone several years ago and havent stopped since. At
first, I found it difficult not to see the person but soon understood it to be extremely
effective and incredibly practical for busy professionals.

This book presents a short introduction to planning and giving short Business English
classes over the phone. It is useful for teachers currently teaching this way or who are
interested in doing so. Teachers who like short conversation-based lessons will also
find the book of interest.

The Telephone Business English in this book is not the same as Telephone English
which appears in many coursebooks. That is used to refer to making and receiving
phone calls. This version uses the phone as the medium for the lesson.
 About the writer and editor

Phil-Writer

I am an English teacher working with business professionals and at university level.

I have over 14 years experience of teaching and have also done teacher training,
course management, writing, editing, examining and voice recording.

Noreen-Editor

I teach English and am a Cambridge examiner. I have written articles for the IH
journal about conferences, designed lesson plans for TeachitELT and done action
research projects which I presented online and at TESOL Spain.

I am interested in the growing availability of digital publications and how they help
teachers.
 The basics

Telephone Business English is a way to practise and improve speaking skills on the
phone. It is extremely flexible so can involve typical telephone role-plays, discussions,
debates, negotiations and even vocabulary and grammar work. As many of us
TEFL/Business English teachers pride ourselves on our communicative approach,
Telephone Business English is a perfect way to put it into practice. After all, the
essence of phone calls is communication; students cannot rely on body language and
their dictionaries during a phone call and neither can you.

From my experience, every student and course is completely different because,

unless you design and stick to a set syllabus, you are entirely focussed on what the
student can and cannot understand and say. Unlike in a group class, you must work
step-by-step on comprehension and expression of just one person. If they dont
understand you as they are A2, you will have to adapt and quickly. However, working
intensively on these 2 areas in short regular lessons is really efficient. The majority of
my lessons are 30 minutes, some even 15 but are scheduled twice or three time per
week. Thus, students are attentive and they dont get overloaded.

I have seen many English schools advertise their 70 or 80% student talk time which is
not always the case due to lack of confidence, unmotivating tasks, too demanding
tasks, tiredness, uncomfortableness speaking in front of or with peers etc. On the
phone, you have natural turn-taking and the teacher uses listening phrases and
encouragement and checking strategies to take a more passive role. For me, my best
Telephone Business English lessons are 80 or 90% student talk time where I listen and
ask some questions. For example, presentation practice. Of course, in other scenarios
like a negotiation, you both need to speak because the student has to develop their
fluency and ability to speak, respond and question.
 Telephone classes vs. Online classes

My own limited experience of doing and receiving online teaching is that it's quite
complicated to set up and sometimes you can have technical problems. If you work
for yourself, you may also have the heavy costs of a setting up or renting a platform,
digital materials, special headsets, phone call costs and a fast, reliable internet
service with enough debit. I believe in the medium but for me it has never been
suitable. Student feedback has also been varied. Some loved the modern approach
while others did not. Perhaps it is quite cultural too and sometimes depends on habits
and trends. I know several countries where most business is done on the phone or in
person but others where email and videoconferences are the norm.

Possibly the most unusual and difficult first obstacle new Telephone Business English
teachers face is getting their head around the lack of materials. Whereas when
preparing an online lesson, you would choose and create materials then practise using
them in your online classroom, on the phone, you generally just think about what you
will say and ask. This places a lot more pressure on you.

For me, Telephone Business English lessons have no cost. You just need a phone line
as clients call you. That means you can start today with a landline or mobile. Put an
advert online or in the paper or simply tell your existing students about your new
service and see what the responses are.

If your students are interested in both, you could easily set it up. A simple Blended or
hybrid course could involve online weekly student directed self-study of units or
activities followed by telephone sessions. The other option is webinar. Particularly
helpful if you are teaching small or large groups.
 Types of courses

Here is a list of different types of Telephone Business English courses:

1) Basic conversation

Friendly conversations about student-suggested topics to work on increasing fluency

and accuracy.

2) Specific conversation practice

Conversations about a selected topic(s) and/or situation(s) which the student needs to
improve to a set level for their job. For instance, greeting customers.

3) Class work practice

Practise activities aimed at using and measuring the accuracy of what has been taught
in F2F sessions or online.

4) Extra practice

Extended speaking activities to achieve mastery of taught class content and to push it
to the next level.

5) Speaking test practice

Practice of sections of a speaking test with feedback and/or a full test followed by
feedback.

6) English maintenance

A flexible range of student-directed topics to maintain the students English level and
fluency.

30 minutes twice a week is perfect so is a good benchmark.

 Lesson structure

1) Introduction

Get straight to the topic! After asking how the student is and how their job is going,
quickly establish the topic and what you will focus on then get started. If you set
homework or pre-lesson work, check it.

2) Main

Ask questions, ask for clarification, comment, disagree and just listen. Do as much as
you can to get them to talk. Try posing challenging statements, asking for personal
anecdotes and reflections.

Give minor corrections and some useful vocabulary help that they can use
straightaway but in short sharp sections that doesnt destroy fluency.

3) Conclusion

Summarise by giving positive feedback and recommending homework study. Decide

the next lesson time and topic.

4) Follow-up

Give and/or send feedback. If you are pressed for time, email an mp3 recording, a
Word Doc or just a short email highlighting a few things you noticed and suggest. Keep
it concise. If you have time, do a quick summary and discuss issues and solutions.
 Tips

1) Choose a regular day and time and set up a cancellation period of 24/48 hours.

2) Try 30 min lessons at the start and make sure students stick to the start and stop
times. Otherwise, lessons could start whenever and you may run over into another
session.

3) Be realistic in setting lesson and course goals. A few general ones like increase
fluency and improve ability to answer questions are enough but make them as
measurable as you can to demonstrate progress.

4) Don't be too demanding on your students. They are busy and the course may be just
to maintain their level, not improve it. Making time and doing the classes regularly is
quite an accomplishment for most.

5) Find out how much they really need to develop and if they can do anything at
home. A B1 student who has to be B2 for a new job next month really should be doing
more at home.

6) Get regular student input about the course and lesson content.

7) Use the very brief initial "how are you" stage to ask about important upcoming
events and note them down.

8) Use the first lesson to establish a list of basic objectives and topics.

9) Recycle what students are learning in other classes and on their own and make it
active knowledge.

10) Don't do lots of grammar/vocab input. Point out errors or suggest new language,
provide memorable examples and then contextual needs to use it.
 Sample lesson 1: Phone numbers

Aims: To practise dictating phone numbers and checking and clarifying them.

Introduction: Ask which phone numbers people ask for and why. Make notes.

Main: Set up and run a few role-plays between a customer who asks for the different
services you noted down and an information assistant.

Do the first 2 as the customer but then change roles so the student can see how you
handle his/her role. Then, analyse what you said and compare it to his/her approach.

As the customer, pretend there is a bad line and make mistakes with the numbers and
ask for repetition and clarification. Also, ask for extension numbers, direct numbers
and opening and closing times.

As the assistant, ask the caller to read the numbers back to make sure they are
correct.

Remember to ask for repetition and for the person to read back the numbers. Ask for
local/international codes, extension numbers and opening times.

Conclusion: Repeat some examples from the role-plays with the student's errors. See
if he/she can spot them and explain why they are wrong.

Extension: Read the company's website and ask about real offices/departments. Do
the role-plays like F2F conversations.

Useful language: Double/triple, extension number, direct line

Sorry, can you repeat the last numbers please?

Sorry, could you repeat that again please?

Sorry, do you mean...?

 Sample lesson 2: Teleworking

Aims: To discuss the pros, cons and practicalities of teleworking.

Introduction: Ask for opinions about teleworking and their experience.

Main: Elicit and discuss the pros and cons of teleworking.

Pros

Saves company money and reduces office space.

Saves on travel time.

Some people work better at home.

It provides more flexibility for employees.

Cons

It is not social and not suitable for all.

Technical problems.

Family and personal life can interfere with work.

It can be difficult to get technical help.

Depending on your student, agree and disagree then ask for examples of how it works
in practice.

Discuss if it would suit them and their company and if so, how often.

Conclusion: Ask about the effects of utilising teleworking.

Extension: A role-play between a staff member and a boss over changing their job to
teleworking.