Teaching French to adults, going on business in a French Speaking Country, is quite different than teaching French to children or teens attending schools.
When an adult call me and ask about learning French for a business trip. My approach changes. You need want to assess their level in the language. Then you want to ask them how long they are staying in that country. Is it a quick trip to apply for a job? Is it to attend a meeting? Is it about taking over a business long term? Is it to attend a school? Is it to make a real estate purchase? Is it to meet some new relatives?
Depending on the answers and their level you can start making a lesson plan. Also, don’t forget to assess their strengths and weaknesses. The student may have a facility with language or not. He/she may already know a foreign language which can make learning French easy. they might be more comfortable writing rather than speaking. Once all is gathered you can start teaching. If the student travels within three months, you may ask them to take a lesson twice a week or three times weekly.
When teaching a soon to be traveler, concentrate on basic vocabulary, useful sentences and dialogues. Keep your lessons short and easy, so that, they can learn fast, you’ll boost their confidence and they’ll be eager to learn more. They will make progress which is extremely rewarding for a teacher and them. I would suggest that you teach about ten vocabulary words weekly, five useful expressions and work with one dialogue per week. If you see them three times weekly, you can give them two dialogues per week. The dialogues should not exceed more than ten sentences. Again keep it short and sweet!
