Using improvisation theater to learn and practice business English

Use of business English during networking events and opportunities, for example at conferences, parties and airports

Networking

Business English is vital in various types of business meetings, for example with customers, suppliers and regional bosses

Business meetings

Do presentations in business English for an international audience

Presentations

Applying for an international job where business English is one of the requirements

Job interview

Dealing with complaints from international customers in business English

Customer service

Slow progress over time due to: Fear of making mistakes

Fast progress with our course: PRACTICE, PRACTICE, PRACTICE

Our philosophy is that students need to practice in order to make quick progress

We are aware that students are often afraid to practice, because they are embarrassed to make mistakes

Using the methods of impro theater our students can practice their business English without fear of making mistakes

Our motto is “Don’t think, just talk”

With our exercises we challenge our students to stop thinking about what to say and focus on communicating

All our exercises are based on improvisation theater, therefore our students are invited to respond to the situation and “just talk”

Our role is that of a coach

A coach is not a teacher. We are not teaching English. We help people train and practice

We provide a positive environment, where mistakes don’t matter (For example in our role as coach we are not interested in pointing out our students’ mistakes)

Impro makes students focus on the situation, not on trying to speak “perfect” English

Improvised situations mimic real-life and are more realistic than classrooms and help students “forget” that they are in class

Impro is about paying attention and contribute, not about being perfect

Impro stimulates playfulness

10 minutes: introduction 15 min: impro warm-up exercises 25 min: improvised business situations 1 10 min: break 30 min: improvised business situation 2 20 min: reflection 10 min: closing

Total: 120 minutes (2 hours)

Word At A Time:◦ Students stand in a circle, and proceed to tell a story one

word at a time. This game develops the ability to speak the first word that comes into your head.

◦ In order, the dialogue come out like this as an example – “There” – spoken by the first person, “was” – said by second person, “once” - third person, “a” - fourth person, “child” - fifth “named” – sixth, “Miguel” - seventh person …

During our course we practice with our students the following business situations:◦ Networking and small talk◦ Sales meeting with foreign client◦ Business performance conversation with boss◦ Job interview◦ Meeting with bank about business financing◦ Dealing with a customer complaint◦ Price negotiation with a supplier

We are looking for employers with an interest in sponsoring business English skills for their employees

Our students are typically at intermediate level of English and need practice in order to advance

Group size during our course is typically 4-6 students

Our method is not a classroom method

We do not “teach” business English

We do not give instructions

We create opportunities for practice

We have fun, we laugh

In a playful way our students actually usebusiness English in realistic role plays

Lucho Herrera

Lucho Herrera

Peruvian 37 years More than 15 years

experience in management, shipping and foreign trade

Experienced actor and impro-teacher

Teacher at UPC and Cenfotur

Lived in United States, fluent in Spanish, English and German

Jeroen Prinsen

Jeroen Prinsen

Dutch 36 years 10 years experience in

corporate finance and HR

Experienced language teacher

Teacher at Universidad Científica del Sur

Lived in United Kingdom, fluent in English, Spanish and Dutch

lucho@totalenglish.pe / 99 01 96191 (Lucho) jeroen@totalenglish.pe / 99 46 74074 (Jeroen)