Lesson Plan For ESL Business With Focus On Speech

LESSON PLANS FOR ESL BUSINESS
WITH FOCUS ON SPEECH;

CONVERSATION AND
PRESENTATION SKILLS
Norma L. Chàvez
1
Contents
Meetings 1: Getting down to business........................................................................................................3
Meetings 2: Getting involved in meetings...................................................................................................4
Meeting 3: managing a meeting..................................................................................................................5
Meeting 4: Brainstorming and evaluating...................................................................................................6
Meeting 5: Action points.............................................................................................................................7
Negotiations 1: Building Relationships........................................................................................................8
Negotiations 2: Positions and interests.......................................................................................................9
Negotiations 3: Questioning and clarifying................................................................................................10
Negotiations 4: Bargaining........................................................................................................................11
Negotiations 5: Clinching the deal.............................................................................................................12
Socializing 1: breaking the ice....................................................................................................................13
Socializing 2: Keeping conversations going................................................................................................14
Socializing 3: Social networking.................................................................................................................15
Socializing 4: Active listening.....................................................................................................................16
Socializing 5: From contact to partner.......................................................................................................17
ACTIVITIES.................................................................................................................................................18
Speak Nonsense....................................................................................................................................18
Learn From the Pros..............................................................................................................................18
One Minute Off-the-Cuff.......................................................................................................................18
Tell a Photo Story..................................................................................................................................18
Make Up a Definition.............................................................................................................................18
Q&A With an Expert..............................................................................................................................19
Gush About Something You Don’t Love.................................................................................................19
Make a Commercial...............................................................................................................................19
Where Did That Name Come From?......................................................................................................19
2
Meetings 1: Getting down to business
For many people, the idea of walking into a room full of strangers and trying to socialize with them can
be terrifying, especially if you have to use a foreign language. The barriers to ‘breaking the ice’ in a
situation like this are just as much psychological as linguistic, which is why this lesson aims to get
students thinking about the situation (through a quiz-based discussion and jigsaw reading) as much as
speaking and practicing the skill of starting conversations with strangers.
Topic: Meetings and getting down to business
Level: Intermediate (B2) and above
Aims:
 To discuss the importance and drawbacks of small talk at meetings.

 To teach some useful phrases for small talk.
 To teach some useful phrases for starting a meeting.
 To provide practice and feedback of the situation of starting a meeting.
Plan components
Lesson plan: download

Worksheets: download
The plans and worksheets are downloadable and in pdf format - right click on the attachment and
save it on your computer.
3
Meetings 2: Getting involved in meetings
Many learners of English worry about their mistakes and allow their insecurities to prevent them
from participating in meetings fully. This lesson provides reassurance that such insecurities are
very common and normal. It also presents some strategies for increasing their confidence and
ability to participate actively in meetings in English. The lesson also warns students that they
themselves are responsible for overcoming this barrier to communication. There is also some
guidance for learners with the opposite problem: overconfidence and dominance. It is suitable for
a wide range of professional contexts, not just businesspeople.
Topic: Getting involved in meetings


Aims:
 To learn and practise some strategies to increase participation and co-operation in

meetings in English.
 To raise awareness of common problems and strategies.
 To introduce and practice useful phrases for interrupting and clarifying.
Plan components

By Jeremy Day
4
Meeting 3: Managing a meeting
This lesson focuses on two important aspects of managing a meeting: setting up the meeting with a
series of emails and keep the meeting under control. Two other important parts of managing a meeting,
introducing the meeting and closing the meeting, are covered in lessons 1 and 5.
Topic: Managing a meeting


Aims:
 To study the language and techniques of setting up a meeting by email.

 To practise setting up an email by email.
 To study some useful phrases and techniques for managing a meeting.
 To provide practice and feedback of the situation of managing a meeting.
Plan components

By Jeremy Day
5
Meeting 4: Brainstorming and evaluating
Since its development in the 1950s, brainstorming has become one of the most common techniques
used in meetings to generate ideas. However, despite its clear benefits, the technique has its faults and
many improvements have been suggested and analyzed. This lesson aims to provide practice of
brainstorming at the same time as exploring possible improvements. The second half of the lesson
focuses on the necessary follow-up to brainstorming: evaluating ideas. This means the lesson covers two
of the key language functions of meetings: making suggestions and agreeing/disagreeing.
Topic: Brainstorming and evaluating at meetings


Aims:
 To discuss the advantages and disadvantages of brainstorming as a technique for

generating ideas.
 To teach some useful phrases for making suggestions, agreeing and disagreeing.
 To provide practice and feedback of the situations of brainstorming and evaluating ideas.
Plan components

By Jeremy Day
6
Meeting 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.
Topic: Meetings and action points


Aims:
 To discuss five key questions for Action Points.

 To teach and practise some useful phrases for volunteering for and delegating Action
Points.
 To teach some useful phrases for closing a meeting.
 To provide practice and feedback of the situations of closing a meeting.
Plan components

By Jeremy Day
7
Negotiations 1: Building Relationships
When we think of negotiations, we tend to focus on the hard-negotiating skills connected with
bargaining. In fact, many professional negotiators will confirm that the most important skill is effective
relationship building.
If there is trust and understanding between the two parties, the negotiation will be much more
successful, as will the long-term business relationship between them. In this lesson students start
with a quiz which leads into a reading activity. Then they look at language in dialogues and
finish with a role play.
Topic: Negotiations and building relationships


Aims:
 To discuss the importance of building relationships in negotiations;

 To teach some useful phrases for a range of relationship-building techniques;
 To analyze an example of relationship-building in practice;
 To provide practice and feedback of the situation of building a relationship in a
negotiation.
Plan components

By Jeremy Day
8
Negotiations 2: Positions and interests
The key to successful negotiation is preparation and research. This means finding out exactly what you
want from the negotiation, and why you want it. This lesson includes a discussion, vocabulary input, a
reading activity, useful language for negotiation, team problem solving and a role play in pairs.
Topic: Negotiation, positions and interests


Aims:
 To discuss techniques for planning and preparing for a negotiation;

 To examine the differences between positions and interests;
 To teach some useful phrases for stating your opening position;
 To provide practice and feedback of the situation of stating your position in a negotiation.
Plan components

By Jeremy Day
9
Negotiations 3: Questioning and clarifying
In a negotiation, it’s very important to know when to speak, when to ask and when to shut up and listen.
In this lesson students rank and discuss the stages of negotiation, do a reading activity and look at
negotiations vocabulary, examine question types, then finish with a role play to practice clarifying,
summarizing and responding.
Topic: Negotiations, questioning and clarifying


Aims:
 To discuss the typical stages in a negotiation, and the reasons for structuring a negotiation
in this way;
 To examine the importance of asking different types of questions to clarify and probe;
 To teach some useful phrases for clarifying, summarizing and responding;
 To provide practice and feedback of the situation of checking and responding to the other
party’s position statement.

Plan components

By Jeremy Day
10
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.
Topic: Negotiations and bargaining


Aims:
 To introduce and discuss some techniques and strategies for the bargaining stage of a
negotiation;
 To analyse and practise if-sentences (conditionals) in the context of bargaining;
 To provide practice of bargaining in a complex multi-variable negotiation.
Plan components

By Jeremy Day
11
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.
Topic: Negotiations and clinching the deal


Aims:
 To discuss some aggressive negotiation tactics, and ways to deal with them;
 To analyse an example of the closing stage of a negotiation;
 To teach some useful phrases for reaching agreement and clinching a deal;
 To provide practice and feedback of the situation of closing a negotiation.
Plan components

By Jeremy Day
12
Socializing 1: Breaking the ice
For many people, the idea of walking into a room full of strangers and trying to socialize with them can
be terrifying, especially if you have to use a foreign language. The barriers to ‘breaking the ice’ in a
situation like this are just as much psychological as linguistic, which is why this lesson aims to get
students thinking about the situation (through a quiz-based discussion and jigsaw reading) as much as
speaking and practicing the skill of starting conversations with strangers.
Topic: Socializing and starting conversations

Aims:
 To discuss and deal with some of the psychological issues connected with starting
conversations with strangers.
 To teach some useful phrases for starting a conversation and leaving a conversation.
 To provide practice and feedback of the situation of starting and leaving conversations
with strangers.
Plan components

By Jeremy Day
13
Socializing 2: Keeping conversations going
After struggling to break the ice, the next obstacle is to keep the conversation going beyond the initial
conversation. For this reason, this lesson aims to provide students with a bank of around 15 questions
that they would feel comfortable asking in a conversation with a new acquaintance. They will also learn
more general techniques involving different types of questions and the skill of turn-taking. Finally, they
will practice all the skills from the lesson in a role-play game.
opic: Socialising and keeping conversations going


Aims:
 To raise awareness of some techniques for maintaining a conversation with a person you
have just met.
 To analyse the effect of different types of questions, and to practise making different
types of question.
 To come up with and analyse a bank of questions that can be used to keep conversations
going.
 To analyse and practise a technique for turn-taking in a conversation.
Plan components

By Jeremy Day
14
Socializing 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 emphasizes that social networking is real work. The lesson introduces useful language
and techniques, building up to a large social networking simulation at the end.
Topic: Socializing and social networking


Aims:
 To introduce and discuss the importance of social networking and how it helps with face-
to-face networking.
 To teach some tips, techniques and useful phrases for social networking.
 To provide practice of writing brief social networking messages (blog posts, comments,
tweets, etc.).
Plan components

By Jeremy Day
15
Socializing 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.
Topic: Socialising and active listening


Aims:
 To raise awareness of the importance of active listening skills, and some situations where
they are especially important.
 To teach some language and techniques for active listening, including effective use of
body language.
 To provide practice and feedback of the situation of actively listening to a friend or
colleague talking about a difficult experience.
Plan components

By Jeremy Day
16
Socializing 5: From contact to partner
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.
Topic: Meetings and action points


Aims:
 To discuss five key questions for Action Points.

 To teach and practise some useful phrases for volunteering for and delegating Action
Points.
 To teach some useful phrases for closing a meeting.
 To provide practice and feedback of the situations of closing a meeting.
Plan components

By Jeremy Day
17
ACTIVITIES
Speak Nonsense
According to research, an excellent presentation is 38% your voice, 55% non-verbal communication and
just 7% your content. In other words, your delivery matters even more than what you say, and this
exercise helps you refine it. Find a paragraph online in a language you don’t understand or simply write
down a few lines of jibberish, and practice saying it aloud as though you’re giving a speech. Pay mind to
your tone, inflections, and generally how you can use your voice to create more interest
Learn From the Pros
Look online for speeches that are widely accepted as exceptional. The most popular
TED Talks of all time is a great place to start. Pick a talk that you’re interested in and
watch it through a critical lens. Analyze the narrative structure the speaker uses, what
makes their delivery effective, how their visuals enhance their talk and other
components that make their speech extraordinary.
30 Seconds Filler-Free
Filler words like “uh” “um” and “y’know” not only make your talk more difficult to listen to,
but they also make you seem less prepared and authoritative. For this exercise, record
yourself giving a talk on any topic for 30 seconds, taking care to omit all filler words.
Whenever you use a filler word, start over and try again. Do this exercise ten times,
filler-free.
One Minute Off-the-Cuff

For this exercise, you’ll set a timer on your phone for one minute and record yourself
giving an impromptu speech on any topic that interests you. The only rule is that you
can’t prepare for it in any way. This is designed to get you more comfortable speaking
off-the-cuff and minimize the anxiety that comes from being afraid you won’t have
anything to say.
Tell a Photo Story

Storytelling is critical to engaging your audience and helping them retain the information
you’re sharing. To practice developing narratives, find an interesting photo online and
record yourself presenting a story about it. Discuss what you think the backstory is, who
the people are, their dreams, their motivations, and anything else that’ll tell a compelling
story about them.
Make Up a Definition
No matter what your presentation is about, you should always seem like you have
authority over the topic. For this exercise, choose a word you don’t know the definition
of and record yourself saying, with authority, what you think it means. Pay attention to
how you can use your voice and intonations to have more command and seem more
authoritative.
18
Q&A With an Expert
You’ll need to find a friend for this one. Choose a topic or job that you don’t know much
about. Ask your friend to interview you about it and answer their questions as though
you’re a well-informed expert. This will help you with both your delivery and authority.
Gush About Something You Don’t Love

Enthusiasm is contagious. If you want your audience to be excited about your topic,
then you need to show enthusiasm for it. Choose something you’re indifferent about,
say, a kitchen utensil, and practice speaking about it enthusiastically. Use your voice,
emphasis, and body language to make it seem like the most exciting thing in the
universe.
Make a Commercial
Presentations are all about selling an idea, so you should practice the art of sales and
persuasion to be the best you can be. Choose an item in your home and create a one-
minute commercial about it. Record yourself saying what makes it special, how it can
enhance lives, and why everyone needs that item in their corner.
Where Did That Name Come From?

This is another exercise that’ll make you a better storyteller on stage. Pick an item in
your home, like a stapler, and tell a story about how it got its name. The idea here isn’t
to be accurate, so by all means, make something up; this is just to get you in the habit
of finding and developing interesting stories from anything.
19

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LESSON PLANS FOR ESL BUSINESS

WITH FOCUS ON SPEECH;

Topic: Meetings and getting down to business

Level: Intermediate (B2) and above

 To discuss the importance and drawbacks of small talk at meetings.

Lesson plan: download

Topic: Getting involved in meetings

 To learn and practise some strategies to increase participation and co-operation in

Topic: Managing a meeting

 To study the language and techniques of setting up a meeting by email.

Topic: Brainstorming and evaluating at meetings

 To discuss the advantages and disadvantages of brainstorming as a technique for

Topic: Meetings and action points

 To discuss five key questions for Action Points.

Topic: Negotiations and building relationships

 To discuss the importance of building relationships in negotiations;

Topic: Negotiation, positions and interests

 To discuss techniques for planning and preparing for a negotiation;

Topic: Negotiations, questioning and clarifying

Topic: Negotiations and bargaining

Topic: Negotiations and clinching the deal

Topic: Socializing and starting conversations

opic: Socialising and keeping conversations going

Topic: Socializing and social networking

Topic: Socialising and active listening

Topic: Meetings and action points

 To discuss five key questions for Action Points.

Learn From the Pros

One Minute Off-the-Cuff

Tell a Photo Story

Gush About Something You Don’t Love

Where Did That Name Come From?

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