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By Kai You

Can you put "N = dN/dt" into a sentence? Can you explain "offer and acceptance" to a class of Chinese lawyers? Do you know if the nullipara had the dysuria or the dysuria the nullipara? If you answered yes to any of the above, you may be capable of ESP.

Teaching English TEFL for business, law, healthcare, aviation, science and engineering, and tourism and hotels make up just the more prominent areas of what is collectively called English for Specific Purposes, also sometimes called English for Special Purposes. There are arguably as many versions of the English language as there are applications thereof, and the way it's employed by an air traffic controller is drastically different from that of a marketing professional. As more and more foreign workers learn English to advance their careers, distinct subdisciplines of teaching develop around their requirements.

Thus, in the uncharted wilds of teaching English TEFL there now exist quirky niches and lucrative crannies, hidden among glorified babysitting and token foreigner assignments. For the English teacher, teaching ESP offers more bragging rights and sometimes higher pay than traditional job teaching english , but there are also greater challenges. Experience, qualifications and connections are often required to get these jobs. Yet even for teachers not out to make big bucks, specialized teaching English TEFL jobs can have a special draw as being more grown-up, an opportunity to meet smart foreign professionals, and a way to finally put their hard-earned academic skills, unique experiences and professional training to work.
WHAT IS ESP?
Broadly speaking, ESP is any type of English-teaching that focuses o­n the English needed for a specific activity. Generally this means the types of English needed in various workplaces and academia. Foreign doctors, lawyers, businessmen and the like need to use specialized lingo and communication patterns in order to function in an international environment. The largest specialty is business English, which is taught by most large language instruction companies. For instance, in Spain Pueblo Ingles offers teaching English in Madrid to busy professionals who want to learn more English. They teach individuals and firms how to use the language necessary to make presentations, write, talk o­n the telephone, and participate in meetings in English. There is also teaching English for law, medicine and nursing, hotel and tourism, banking and financial services, and aviation. Somewhat harder to find are courses for science and technology, the oil industry, and the military. Some ESP specialties are ad hoc topics custom-ordered by businesses and individuals as diverse as bakers and bankers, who for one reason or another find themselves needing to interact with English-speaking clients and suppliers.

Another English-teaching specialty sometimes called ESP is English for Academic Purposes, where the goal is to prepare students and scholars for study and work in teaching English language universities. EAP emphasizes scholastic reading, writing and oral presentation skills, but test prep classes overseas can sometimes be called EAP as well. Domestically, universities offer EAP as remedial preparation for foreign students, while EAP abroad often means teaching test-taking skills for English proficiency and university entrance exams, like the TOEFL and the SAT.

HOW TO DO IT
The most accessible ESP subject for novice teachers, and also the most in demand, is business English. Just about every language school that offers classes for adults offers business English classes for their students. Getting a job teaching business English does not always require teaching experience or a business background. Some teachers begin by teaching general English, and then find themselves asked to teach business English as they become more experienced. Many of these language schools also offer other concentrations such as legal English, and if the school has its own teaching materials and lesson plans it is possible for general English teachers to segue into those subjects as well.

Private tutoring is very often teaching English to someone's unique needs, and is an easy way to gain experience in specialized teaching. By posting ads o­n bulletin boards and asking around, past foreign teachers have taught doctors, nurses, bakers and hairstylists the English they need for their work. If you find yourself privately tutoring a student with a particular need, remember that the resources and strategies developed for ESP are there to help you do a more effective job. (See the ESP community websites listed below.)
While you do not always need technical qualifications or a specialized background to teach specialized English courses, they will undoubtedly help since the ESP teacher teaches more than just English. Business culture, for instance, forms a big part of business English. Students from cultures that prefer to avoid confrontation can have difficulty with the blunt speaking style of Anglophone nations, which can become just as much a barrier to effective communication as poor grammar.

Experience or familiarity with the work of your students can help you understand the scenarios and communication problems they will confront in their jobs, and help you design exercises that practice the skills they will need. Because of these concerns, a passionate debate rages within the ESP community on the issue of who's qualified to teach these specialized subjects. on one side are teachers who maintain that ESP is just regular English with different vocabulary words and a tuition markup, who stress that the goal of all English teaching is to teach English. on the other side are those perturbed by the thought of dabblers, dilettantes and gap-year students presumptuously taking on what by definition is specialized and technical, and who point out that the unwitting use of general English can lead to misunderstandings on the job.
For industry-wide specialties like business English or English for science and technology, it is unrealistic to expect any o­ne teacher to have the experience or training to be familiar with all vocabulary or with every vocation. Even teachers with an extensive background in these fields will be called on to teach English to a wider range of workers for a wider range of tasks than he or she could have been prepared for. In such specialties o­nly the student can be the expert in the subject, while the teacher should remain content to be merely the guru of English.

However, for teachers that teach to a profession such as nursing or law, it may be more feasible as well as more important for teachers to also be trained in the craft of their students. Melodie Hull, principal of Clayton International Consulting, a Canadian company that teaches English to nurses and medical personnel, who is herself a psychiatric nurse, warns against non-professionals teaching professionals: "In health care, aviation and other professional fields, lives can be at risk: people can die if mistakes are made by people at work who cannot understand each other."


HOT ESP JOBS

Aviation English

According to Flightspeak (www.aviation-esl.com), a company that teaches English to the aviation industry, new International Civil Aviation Organization English requirements are heating up demand for teachers who can teach the vocabulary and communications used by pilots and air traffic controllers. If you are a licensed pilot or have experience in this area, several companies offer courses to train teachers of aviation English. Flightspeak offers a two week crash course in Perth, Scotland, and Pan Am International Flight Academy
(www.panamacademy.com) offers a similar course as well. o­nline rumor and hearsay has it that an experienced teacher in China could earn $5,000 a month teaching pilots and flight attendants, around five times the average local pay for teaching general English. A similar position in Australia advertised a wage of $37 an hour.

Business English

You can better your chances of landing a job teaching business English if you have worked in a business setting while going to school. Although not an absolute requirement, many schools strongly prefer it, such as Archibald (www.archibald.pl) in Warsaw, Poland. In addition, Archibald asks job applicants to have a teaching certificate such as CELTA, a university diploma and citizenship in an English-speaking country. A typical contract requires teaching 20 hours a week and pays roughly $1,300 per month.

Legal English

For those with legal knowledge or expertise, Berlitz, the language instruction chain famous for its total-immersion approach to teaching, offers legal English opportunities in its Istanbul, Turkey franchise. Compensation is based on qualifications, but Berlitz Turkey pays an average of around $10 per 40-minute lesson after taxes, with 80 lessons guaranteed per month. Berlitz hires native speakers with Bachelor’s degrees and TEFL certificates, and provides them with outside support such as housing, visa and residency permit reimbursement, travel bonuses, and two weeks paid-vacation upon renewal of the first year's contract.

RESOURCES on THE WEB THE ESP COMMUNITY

Dave's ESL Cafe, ESP forum (www.eslcafe.com). If you need an English textbook for cuckoo-clock makers, you'll have as good a chance of finding a recommendation here as anywhere. In fact, Dave's is a good resource for all things English-teaching related. From finding a job to getting career advice, try Dave's first.

Using English for Academic Purposes (www.uefap.com) is an excellent resource for EAP, with some ESP material. You'll find links to academic English associations, tests, teaching materials and an exhaustive bibliography of research on EAP and ESP.

OneStopEnglish
(www.onestopenglish.com) has a forum, job listings and a collection of free lesson plans for ESP teachers. For a more academic perspective o­n ESP, see ESP World (www.esp-world.info).

Teachers of English for Speakers of Other Languages (www.tesol.org) is o­ne of two professional associations for teachers of English as a foreign language, the other being the International Association of Teachers of English as a Foreign Language (www.iatefl.org). Both have interest sections devoted to ESP, and are useful networking resources for those who want to make English teaching a career.

Melodie Hull's Clayton International Consulting (www.nursingesl.com) produces course books and teaching material for medical English, especially for teaching nurses. You can also find a message board. Her other website, English for Overseas Nurses (www.e4on.ca) features a demo lesson that teachers contemplating Medical English can review to get an idea of what the job actually involves.

JOBS

The Canadian Foundation Center for International Education (www.cfcie.com.cn) hires teachers for academic English in China. A bachelor’s degree and teaching certificate or experience is required. The remuneration package includes free housing, return airfare, healthcare, free Chinese lessons and a salary of up to $1,000 dollars a month.

Beth Healthcare (www.bethhealth.com) conducts a program to bring foreign doctors and medical personnel to work in the States. Beth Health supplies its own curriculum and course contents for English teachers, so a medical background is desired but not required. The company is said to pay $1,100 a month for teachers in Taiwan and China, and provides airfare, meals and housing.

The Caledonia School in the Czech Republic offers English classes on making business presentations, business writing, telephoning and participating in meetings. Applicants need only possess a TEFL certificate.

Esl-guide.com (http://esl-guide.com/) lists ESL programs by specialty. Use this resource to find schools offering a niche you're rested in. For example, Anglo-Continental (www.anglo-continental.com) has extensive ESP course offerings, including English for science and technology.

TRAINING

In addition to the basic 4-week Teaching English as a Foreign Language certificate, some teacher-training schools offer courses o­n teaching ESP, which can help an inexperienced teacher land his or her first job (not to mention make them a better teacher). For those contemplating teaching workers performing critical services (healthcare, aviation, etc.), it would be best to have actual experience working within the industry.

The London Chamber of Commerce and Industry Examination Board (www.lccieb.com) certifies teachers of business English.

Global TESOL College (www.globaltesolusa.com) offers 16 60-hour specialized teaching courses via Internet and correspondence, including Teaching Tourism English, Teaching Legal English and Teaching Medical English.

International House (www.ihworld.com), one of the largest language instruction chains, offers a 50-hour Foundation in Teaching Business English course at several locations around the world. Unfortunately, at the moment none are in North America.

For training in teaching aviation English, see Flightspeak (www.aviation-esl.com) and Pan Am Flight Academy (www.panamacademy.com).

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