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 Top
Tips for Business English
Teaching meeting skills:
Meeting Essentials 2
Activities ¦
Teacher's notes
onestopenglish.com
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Top
Tips for Business English
by Rosemary
Richey
Teacher's notes
> Main article
> Activities
To expand vocabulary related to business meetings with
special focus on etiquette. The activities provide practical language
for upper intermediate to advanced levels. They are is suitable for one
to one lessons or groups.
Allow about 50 minutes for the activities. The time you'll
need will depend on the size of the class, and if it is set up as pair
or group work, or as a one to one practice. Students need copies of the
Macmillan English Dictionary (MED). Teachers will need at least
a flipchart and whiteboard, and ideally an OHP/OHTs.
Activities 1 and 2
| Preview the topic of meetings with a 5 minute discussion
to find out if students regularly attend meetings either in their
own language or in English. Find out if their meetings involve local
or international colleagues or clients. |
| Briefly discuss the introduction with the students,
then ask them to form pairs or groups and to do activities 1 and 2. |
| Check the answers by each pair or group contributing
their findings, and display the possible answers on the OHP or give
as handouts. |
Example answers
| rules about behaviour in a profession |
| achieving good results |
| to say something to stop someone when
they're speaking |
| to talk about something for a long time in a way
that is boring or annoying |
| to control something in a negative way |
| politeness |
| willing to consider new ideas |
| someone who takes part in a meeting |
| expressed in few words and in a way that is easy
to understand |
| to improve something |
Activity 3
| Students do the activity individually and then compare
answers with a partner. |
| Write 2-3 possible word forms for each word on the
whiteboard and ask students to identify the correct one for each sentence. |
Answers
| participate |
courteous |
interruptions |
rambling |
| open-mindedness |
Activity 4
| Students complete the activity with a partner. Using
the dictionary, they can exchange and compare their answers and example
sentences with another pair of students. |
| Elicit 2-3 example sentences and have students write
them on a flipchart or whiteboard. |
Answers
| agree |
disagree |
to be in agreement
to be of the same opinion
to go along with
to see eye to eye |
to differ
to object
to take issue |
| Open a discussion of any other points students can
add to the do's and don'ts list from activity 1. Have students explain
why each makes either a positive or negative impression. Discuss the
impact of etiquette when dealing with people from other cultures in
a meeting situation. Elicit any examples from the students' own experience. |
| If time allows, have students look at the entries
for courtesy in MED. Discuss examples of common courtesy
in business. Ask for examples of what a courtesy call is in
business. Then check the meaning and elicit examples of using courtesy
of. |
| From activity 4, focus on interesting dictionary
entries such as to take issue with or to differ. Ask
students to work in pairs and to look at the collocations box for
the noun issue in the dictionary. Give examples of how to use
beg to differ or agree to differ. |
| Create some role cards with mini-meeting practice
for pairs. Write a question on each card and ask students to discuss
language to agree/disagree and to show good business manners. Take
your questions from current events, news or from the students' own
work situations. Time the quick meetings for 5 minutes, then invite
a couple of pairs to do their meetings in front of the class. The
rest of the students listen and comment on the pair's use of language
in terms of polite business etiquette. |
| Review the answers yourself in MED with both the
CD and the dictionary. |
| Practise with as many authentic examples from students'
work situation as needed for understanding the language used in a
meeting context. |
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