English for business

Here you can find a wide range of full lesson plans to use in your business English classroom. All of our lessons are designed around functional skills for business learners and can be used to complement your course curriculum, giving students an opportunity to develop their English language and skills in motivating and enjoyable ways. Written by business English language teaching experts from around the world, our lesson plans are easy to use and aim to give your students the skills and confidence they need to enjoy learning English.

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Socialising 3: Social networking

Why is it that when you go to a conference or business gathering, everyone else seems to know each other already? At least part of the answer to the puzzle seems to be social networking: getting to know business contacts online first, so that by the time you meet face to face for the first time, you already have plenty to talk about. For many people, social networking is seen as something to do instead of work. This lesson emphasises that social networking is real work. The lesson introduces useful language and techniques, building up to a large social networking simulation at the end.

Negotiations 4: Bargaining

For many people, negotiating is all about bargaining, the give-and-take between two sides. In this lesson  students  discuss bargaining in small groups, do a reading activity, focus on conditional structures and useful language then finish with a team role play.

Socialising 4: Active listening

Perhaps the most important skill connected with socialising is to ‘shut up and listen’. In practice, it can be very difficult to resist the temptation to turn every conversation into a conversation about what we consider the most interesting thing in the world, i.e. ourselves. The most skilful active listeners include nurses, social workers, psychotherapists and counsellors, so this lesson focuses especially on the techniques studied and used by these professionals.

Socialising 5: From contact to partner

While it is natural to focus on the challenge of starting conversations with strangers and keeping these conversations going, the real purpose of socialising is to turn these contacts into partners or even friends. Even a simple task like inviting a person out to a restaurant can cause embarrassment and stress. For this reason, this lesson includes discussions of why such situations are difficult, as well as plenty of practice.

Negotiations 5: Clinching the deal

The final stages of a negotiation don’t always go smoothly.  This lesson deals with a number of common events and situations from these closing stages. Students do a light-hearted quiz, a reading activity, a matching activity focusing on useful language and then finish with a role play.

Meetings 5: Action points

For many people, a meeting is only as successful as the Action Points it produces. Action Points are essential for moving things forward between meetings, and provide a focus both for the closing of one meeting and the opening of the next meeting. This lesson looks in some detail at what makes a successful Action Point. There is also a focus on the various steps involved in bringing a meeting to a successful close.

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