Business English Lesson Plans

Download Business English lesson plans for the business classroom. The lessons plans cover a variety of business topics and are modern, informative and very interesting.
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The Job Interview

What’s the toughest interview question you’ve ever faced? This lesson plan explores the world of job interviews and is ideal for anyone preparing for one or wanting to discuss their job interview history. Reading texts, vocab exercises and plenty of discussion all feature, including the hardest interview questions I’ve ever faced: “Tell me three positive characteristics you don’t have”? (Exactly!). Answer Key and Teacher’s Notes included.

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New Products

Does your class love talking about the latest technology? If so, this worksheet is ideal. It focuses on 4 new ideas. Each idea contains a picture, small text and a video (except the Rio Carnival). I personally start by discussing the picture and title, asking them to predict what the idea might be. Then read through the text, discussing all unknown words, followed by playing the video. I finish off with a discussion about the + and – of each product.

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The Future of Wine Drinking

A small discussion worksheet to kick off a lesson this week. An English inventor has designed “Wine-To-Go.” This is a hard plastic glass of wine with a peel away lid on top. Crazy? Genius? Let your participants decide. I firstly introduce a general discussion on the topic of wine (if appropriate), then show them the picture and ask them to work out what it is, then let them read through the information and ask them to discuss their personal opinion. Then finally, I divide them into groups and ask them to create a marketing strategy for this product.

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Modernising the classics – iTeddy

Have you noticed how the classics are becoming modernised? I recently played Monopoly with electronic banking and couldn’t believe how different the game felt. In 2007, Imran Hakim came up with the 21st century teddy bear, called the iTeddy, and took this idea to investors on the Dragon’s Den. This lesson plan follows Imran’s journey with a variety of listening and reading comprehension, business based vocabulary and discussion, ultimately asking the question: Would you invest in iTeddy?

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Job Satisfaction and Google

What makes you and your participants motivated at work? This lesson plan explores the topic of job satisfaction and looks at the company culture of Google. Discussion, video and business vocabulary all feature in this lesson. Teacher’s notes are not included but please do message me on Facebook for tips on how to use this lesson plan successfully.

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Starting a Business
With more and more people choosing to start their own business, this lesson plan gives participants the opportunity to discuss starting a business in different sectors and learn vocabulary related to starting a business. It finishes with a fantastic business maze taken from the Upper Intermediate edition of the New Headway course book. It has been uploaded online to make it easier and more convenient to go through and the link is at the bottom of the worksheet.

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Softening Language
“It doesn’t matter how I say it, what’s important is they get the message.” A comment that genuinely came up in a Business English class of mine. Later that month, the same participant told me that their customer had withdrawn future orders because of “rude and impolite staff.” Diplomacy in Business English today is vital. This worksheet helps to identify some of the pitfalls and discuss potential solutions to “direct” English.
Teacher’s notes included.

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Contracts and Agreements
Ever since I began teaching Business English, a common topic that participants request to look at during the needs analysis is contracts and agreements. This area can be tricky as contract terminology can be both company specific and varied (not to mention difficult to understand). However, with this worksheet participants will learn general contract terminology as well as read through and discuss a “real-life” contract. Finally they have the chance to write their very own contract using the key contract terminology learnt in the first task. Teacher’s notes and answer keys included.

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Email Writing

A worksheet which looks at the formal, neutral and informal registers when writing business emails in English. Participants read through 3 emails and decide which one is formal, informal and neutral and then complete a functions table with the correct sentences, giving them a nice, compact reference guide to emailing in English.
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Ethics – Business and General

This lesson plan looks at the topic of Ethics, both in a Business and General context. You can pick and choose an activity to fit your lesson or use the lesson plan as a whole. It provides plenty of opprtunities for discussion and perfect for a Business class or Conversation class. Teacher’s notes and answer key included.

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Low Budget Airlines
A lesson plan exploring Low Budget Airlines. The participants will have plenty of opportunity to talk about their flying experiences, watch a video on in flight instructions, learn to use language for data explanation, analysis and suggesting improvements and finally imporove the low budget airline industry for real!

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Making Decisions and Negotiating
This lesson plan looks at the the world of making decisions and negotiating in Business. The tasks will train the participants in making suggestions, responsding diplomatically to good and bad decisions and negotiating deals. The tasks test a variety of language areas and are very dynamic!
Page 1 has been adapted from the Market Leader series and pages 6 and 7 were taken from Speaking Extra, Cambridge University Press, Mick Gammidge, 2004

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Levi Roots Case Study
Levi Roots went on to the popular investment TV programme Dragon’s Den in 2006 with the hope of convincing the investors or “Dragons” to invest in his BBQ sauce. This lesson plan looks at his story and allows the participants to give their own opinions on the product and ultimately answer the question: Would you invest in Reggae Reggae sauce?
(Teacher’s notes included)

Additional resoruces are also available at TES: (Subscription required – Free)
http://www.tes.co.uk/ResourceDetail.aspx?storyCode=6035902

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