Top 3 Questions to Ask a Business English Training Service

If you're in charge of choosing an English training solution for your company, it's easy to feel overwhelmed. There are so many options and each one claims to use unique teaching methods, specially-designed course materials, and fancy tools like AI.

To help you make the best choice, we will cut through the marketing and tell you the top three questions to ask when comparing options.

1. What opportunities will students have to practice English?

The most important thing to consider is how much time your employees will spend actually practicing English.

• Less effective programs are like traditional language schools, where the teacher does most of the talking and students learn knowledge about the language but have few chances to practice it.
• More effective programs give learners — even beginners — plenty of chances to practice English.

So make sure to figure out how much the provider focuses on actual practice. For example:

• Will students get to practice speaking in different business settings, such as meetings, phone calls, and presentations?
• Will students get to practice writing emails?
• Will students get to practice English that is relevant to your specific industry?

2. Is there a one-on-one tutoring option?

Another important factor to consider is how much one-on-one time your employees will have with their teachers. Many English training services provide workshops and group lessons. These are helpful but not enough for your employees to actually improve.

This is because different employees have different needs.

• Some need help with pronunciation and grammar while others just need to maintain their level of fluency.
• Some need a native English speaker to check their email writing while others want to focus on business conversation.
• Some are beginners who need help with English in general while others are advanced learners who want to focus on specific skills like business English.

An employee's needs will also depend on their role in the company. For example, an administrative assistant's needs for English will be different from a salesperson's needs. So it's important that your employees have one-on-one time with a teacher to get the help they need.

This will also ensure they get personalized feedback (e.g. on their pronunciation, grammar, etc.), helping them make faster progress.

3. Do the teachers have any business experience?

You will also want to consider whether the teachers in the program have any business experience.

This matters because teachers with business backgrounds will better understand your employees' needs than career English teachers, who can teach English for general purposes but will struggle to teach students how to negotiate contracts, make deals, or handle difficult customers.

An English teacher with real-world business experience can also teach your employees about any cultural norms related to doing business in their country, improving your employees' global business skills in addition to their language skills.

So when you look for English training solutions, don't just look at the teachers' certificates, teaching degrees, or years of experience. See if they have any business experience too.

About Engoo

At Engoo, we have helped countless students reach their English learning goals, and we're sure we can help your employees too. For one, we fit all three criteria above.

1. Opportunities to practice English: Our lessons are designed to give students a lot of speaking practice.
2. One-on-one tutoring: We are a fully one-on-one learning platform, so your employees will get all the personalized attention they need to improve as quickly as possible.
3. Teachers with real business experience: Our tutors have experience in a range of business functions (e.g. customer service, accounting, marketing, finance, operations) and industries (e.g.  graphic design, aviation, music, software engineering).

We also have the following advantages.

• Our tutors come from over 100 countries: Instead of just teachers from a few countries, you can find tutors in most — if not all — places you do business.
• We are available 24/7: Your employees can take lessons regardless of their time zones and schedules.
• We are highly student-centered: Your employees get to choose their tutors and learning materials based on their individual needs. They can also switch at any time.
• We have thousands of learning materials: Besides our Business lessons, your employees may also benefit from our Daily News lessons (especially the Economy & Business category) and our test prep courses (IELTS, TOEFL, and TOEIC).
• We can provide monthly attendance reports: You can easily track your employees' progress.

To learn more, contact us at Engoo for Business.