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There might be many reasons why some students feel less confident about learning English. IT can be their previous experience at school or other courses, or simply the fact that they need to learn a new language. This course was about teaching Business English so I would like to focus specifically on students who come to me to learn Business English. My experience is that adults who want to improve their English are very motivated and they have a lot of self-discipline. They tend to prepare even more than required and it is quite easy to work with them. However, they are often less confident than children or younger learners due to their past experiences. So I collected here some examples, how I can help them to build confidence which is needed to use English in an efficient way. 1. In the beginning of a course it is important for the students to set the goals so they feel happy and more satisfied when they achieve some of the goals at the end of the course. 2. I can always start the lesson with an activating part in which I use some already learnt expressions and sentences. This can give them a feeling that they know quite a lot and they will start the lesson with enough self-confidence. 3. It is better to start the lesson with smaller assignments so the student feels less intimidated by the length or difficulty of the project. 4. Longer and more difficult assignments need to be broken into smaller and shorter ones, so it is easier to handle. 5. It is very important to ask questions in the beginning of the activites to make sure that students understand the assignment. Many students are too shy to ask questions, especially in gorups because they think that they might be the only one with problems. 6. It is important to show students that their effort brings success. It is useful to give examples from previous courses. 7. If a student struggles a lot, it is better to ask questions from her/him indiviudally, rather than in the group. 8. If I see that students are struggling with an assignment, I can ask questions to help them. If they continue having difficulties then I can take over the control and solve the problem together so that they don’t feel that they fail. 9. If students have questions they can be encouraged to write them down so they don’t have to ask it – especially if they feel embarrassed about it. 10. I can tell them that they don’t always have to perfect, it is good enough if they are good enough. Often older students are perfectionist and want to express some thing in a perfect English, but it is not the point. They need to practice and learn and sometimes it is fine if they fail or make mistakes 11. It’s important to praise and encourage my students and to give them fair and honest feedback with a positive attitude. 12. It is always nice if I ask feedback from them too, so they feel that their input matters in my class.
