When we talk about language courses for companies, we mean those courses that companies ask their workers to follow to improve their linguistic knowledge so that they can use them in everyday work activities, which are increasingly globalized.
In these types of courses, it is easy to get lost and especially lose the students’ attention. Here are some tips for correctly setting up a corporate language course.
Plan learning objectives
Clarity, coherence, feasibility: these are the guidelines that should guide the planning of the objectives of a corporate language learning course. There are many methods for setting business course objectives, but some are more suitable than others. Among these, one of those that can boast the best results, so much so that it has been successfully adopted since the 1950s by thousands of small and large companies around the world, is called OKR.
OKR is an acronym composed of the words objectives and key results and indicates a method, espoused even by giants such as Google and Amazon, used for the personal and professional growth of employees and therefore of the companies themselves. Let’s delve deeper into the concepts behind the method. First of all: what is the difference between an objective and a key result?
Objective: the measurable result you want to achieve.
Key result: the concrete actions implemented to achieve the objective.
OKRs therefore allow you to build better habits, achieve goals and monitor the progress of your employees.
Building a study plan that works
Small goals for big goals
To achieve big goals, you need to create small changes in your employees’ routines. That’s why we recommend planning and setting learning goals on a weekly basis, rather than monthly or annually. Breaking goals down makes them smaller, more manageable, and achievable, as well as less scary.
This practice allows you to create a study plan that is clear and above all easy to monitor. No one is left behind: if, for any reason, one or more students in the group fall behind and do not reach the weekly objectives, it will be possible to immediately remedy this and quickly bring them back up to speed with the rest of the class, perhaps by providing them with an alternative study plan or more lesson hours for the following week.
Keep track of checkpoints
Monitoring progress, as we have partially anticipated, is one of the keys to the success of a corporate language course. At the end of each month, the teacher should sum up the objectives that each student has achieved or not, asking himself what worked and what didn’t for each one.
In this way, you will be able to plan subsequent objectives and, where necessary, modify your study plan. Results monitoring should be shared with students, so that they can understand their weaknesses and strengths and stay motivated at the same time.
Brainstorming anti-noia
Not all of your employees will be thrilled to attend a corporate language course. To sweeten the pill and convince even the most sceptical, you could think of structuring a multi-lane course, which dedicates part of the lesson hours to what we could define as recreational learning.
Before creating the study plan, therefore, do some brainstorming to come up with activities that would make language learning an effective and fun process at the same time. Sometimes a little is enough, for example a good idea is to use interactive material such as films and music. Or again, you could include simulations of conversations and work situations during lessons, dividing students into clients and professionals.
To keep the flame of fun burning week after week, the secret is to regularly change the type of activity proposed.
Achieve business goals faster with LingoYou Academy
Structuring a language course for companies in the linguistic field is not something you can easily do on your own. You need, among other things, to correctly plan a clear and easily achievable study plan, to monitor objectives, periodically evaluate students, respecting the uniqueness of the learning process of each of them.
You therefore need expert teachers and professionals with proven experience in organizing and managing language courses aimed at companies.
With LingoYou Academy you can choose from thousands of expert online teachers, who can guide you through whatever challenge your company wants to overcome.
A goal without a plan is just a wish. Build your plan together with LingoYou Academy and quickly reach your language goals.
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