Can you remember sitting in class trying to learn something that you weren't really interested in? Or maybe trying to pick up a subject from someone who had difficulty teaching it? You probably didn't learn much, did you?
It's the same with languages. Imagine the executive who needs to learn some English in order to advance his / her own career prospects, and at the same time the interests of their company. They are an acknowledged world expert on, say, exhaust systems, and their company is about to build a new vehicle alongside engineers and designers from a different company and different country. There are meetings, meetings, meetings to attend both at home and abroad as the project approaches 'Job 1'. But the problem is the language.
That executive needs teaching, but it's all too difficult - a bit of a trial adding hours to work either in-house or at the local language school. The trouble is it's a chore, a necessity, something that the boss has said has to be done. So our exec gets nowhere!
Now remember the class with the excellent teacher, the subject you really enjoyed? Then you learned something!
Back to our engineer - he has all the technical knowledge (a lot of that is international-speak anyway, isn't it?), but lacks the confidence to use it - he needs to learn not only the words and phrases, but how to use them too. There is the teacher's job - enthuse the student, make him want to learn - make it FUN!
Whoever the teacher (native speaker or fluent local), wherever the teacher (in-house, in-school, at home or even overseas), and whatever their competence and experience, the student needs to be made to want to learn - it will be much easier! There are several techniques that can be employed, all of them aimed at getting the student interested and engaged - eager to find the words and phrases to express themselves. And the best way? Well, everybody's favourite subject is "me" - themselves - so start there! Get them talking about their life, their home, their family, find out what makes them 'tick', and there's the best subject to hang a productive English course around! So if your exec loves football, there are a whole lot of words, phrases, situations that can be used to bring out language.
Once relaxed and increasing in confidence, then the teacher can start to throw in the business terms. But at the end you have someone wanting to learn, enjoying learning, and finding the whole process a lot easier!