The concept and most of the material for Taking Care of Business were developed for ESL and business English courses that I taught in Japanese universities during the past decade. I always ask my students for written feedback, and the comments below – some are students’ original English, some are translations of their Japanese – are representative of students’ reaction to and experience with Taking Care of Business.
“This course was very interesting for me, so I was always happy on Tuesdays. I got many important ideas in this course. Especially, I like ‘elevator pitch’. I will use it for my work someday. And I made good friends in this course. Thank you!”
“Our ‘special funeral home’ started out as a light business idea. But as our plans moved forward, I began to realize that this would be one solution to the problem of ‘dying alone,’ which is a big issue in modern Japan. It seems that ideas that appear ‘unrealistic’ are those that, when they succeed, can bring about innovation in society, so if I have a chance I would like to do this someday. There are few courses in the university where students do teamwork, so this course was really fun.”
“I enjoyed discussing business together with everyone. I don’t have that much knowledge, but many innovative ideas came out, so I feel that my thinking became more flexible. We divided up roles on our team, and I wish I had been able to contribute more. Expressing myself more in group discussion is something I want to work on.”
“In this class I was able to enjoy learning about and understanding business in English. Many different opinions and ideas came out in our team’s discussions about business, which was very interesting. And for each group to take their own business idea, give it concrete form, and present it to the class was good. Communicating my thinking to others using English is very difficult, but this class made me understand the importance of making the effort to do so.”
“Working in a team and thinking together about various aspects of business was really good. At first, an opinion would be expressed but it didn’t develop much further. But as we got to know each other better, we all began to give more opinions and building on each other’s ideas, which was very stimulating.”
“This class is very interesting and fun. I never thought about companies before, so thinking about many different things about business was good. I really think I grew by taking this class.”
“Although I can’t say that I’ve become a good English speaker, my listening comprehension is better than before. What I’ll remember most about this class is dividing into small groups and thinking about companies. Everybody introducing their companies and their thinking to the class – even if their English was not so perfect – was interesting. I liked this class. Thank you.”
“During class, it was really fun creating and talking about our virtual company with my teammates. Cooperating and tackling tasks as a team was especially valuable to me personally. Having to explain various things using only English helped improve my English.”
“This class is powerful and fun and interesting. I enjoyed talking about many topics with my classmates. We made a pizza restaurant called YIF (‘yubi is fine’). We managed our company and we decide our company’s logo, made our business cards and advertisement, and so on, think about business, so I experience for working at company.”
“I had an interest in developing new products before, so it was really fun talking with my team about what kind of product we should create. This was my first time to use English to introduce a company and share ideas with others, so I was sometimes unsure about kind of English to use, but working together as a team, we managed. Thinking about the future, when I will get a real job and have to work using English, I felt that this kind of class is really important.”
“I enjoyed the ‘Taking Care of Business’ activities. My team is so great! Business idea was interesting, then we decided to take action smartly. I liked ‘TV commercial.’ All companies’ CM and all actors were wonderful.”
“It was really refreshing to have a class where we split into teams and start our own business as entrepreneurs. My team members were all very friendly, so when people gave ideas or suggestions, things went swiftly and smoothly. I’m not so good at coming up with new ideas, so my role became helping refine the ideas of others. When we held focus groups with other teams about our business idea, we received some critical comments, but this was good because it showed us where our thinking was unrealistic. Not just thinking vaguely but actually having to create our own detailed logo, posters, etc. made this feel like we were starting a real business. I was able to talk with almost all the other students in the class, which made it really fun!”
“This was a great class, mixing together economics and English. Starting a company based on our own business idea gave us a chance to grow. I learned a lot of practical English and made good friends. I could feel the improvement in English ability, communication skills, and cohesion of all my team members. Thank you!”
“My team’s business was manufacturing and selling robots. I remember well talking together with my team about things like what our robot should look like, the kind of work it should do, and what price we should sell it for. We don’t have any other classes where we work together on a team, so this class was very fresh and meaningful.”
“Unlike regular English courses, this one was fun because we could tackle a project ourselves. I usually feel that 90-minute classes are long, but in this class the time flew by.”
“I enjoyed to work Taking Care of Businessactivities. It completely felt like we were making our own company. It was hard to think in English, but exciting. I was nervous before trade show, but when I finished trade show I was very happy.”