In Company Teaching
Once you struggle to the second floor of Borovitskaya, open the door and turn immediately left, you will find yourself in the In-Company Department. Inside there are usually three people hiding behind piles of books and invoices: Tatiana, Irina, and Sergei. Tatiana is Head of Department, in charge of both in-company and English Discoveries, an English learning software package that we offer to both companies and private customers. Sergei provides technical back-up to English Discoveries. In-company teachers don't normally have much contact with Tatiana or Sergei but they do with Irina, who amongst other things co-ordinates timetabling for in-company. The DOS of Satellite schools also regularly pops in because he has responsibility for the academic content and delivery of in-company courses.
We offer four basic course types to companies:
- general English (+ French, German etc)
- business skills
- specific business programmes
- exam preparation
General English is the standard fare that we serve up at the central and satellite schools. Business skills courses follow a business course book like Powerhouse or New Insights into Business. Obviously, the topics are different from general English - negotiating, sales, meetings, etc - but the language points are the same. Specific business programmes are compiled based on the clients' needs. Examples are Giving Presentations, Banking and Finance, Business Writing. These courses are very focused so they don't have a course book. Instead, the teacher follows a detailed work plan with a list of materials that ties into each stage of the plan. We also offer exam preparation, for instance for Cambridge BEC (Business English Communication) exams. All four course types can be combined with English Discoveries.
That's the bare bones, but what's it like teaching in-company? Like anything, it has swings and roundabouts, some of which are summarized below:
| Swings | Roundabouts |
| students are motivated and cooperative (discipline is not a problem in-company!) | attendance is erratic because students are busy professionals |
| you learn a lot about the company you work in and general business life | you may initially feel out of your depth if you aren't very familiar with business topics and jargon |
| you get to work in some plush offices | a high standard of dress is required |
| experience in business English is impressive on your CV | once you've got a business track record we will be offering you 8.00 am classes all the time! |
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Certainly, business English teaching is a booming area of ELT, and not just in Russia. As the ELT market matures and secondary level teaching improves, more and more students want to study specific courses rather than the ubiquitous General English. (There's only so much Headway students can cope with!). A quick glance down the list of organizations we teach shows the diversity of the market: Aeroflot, Deutsche Bank, the Russian Academy of Economics, Phillip Morris... At BKC there are definitely opportunities for even newly qualified teachers to work in-company and hence get their foot in the door. If you want to get involved or are just curious contact Wayne and we can discuss the options available.
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