Teaching Business English and ESP

Part Two- First Lessons

Lesson Plan
Students play a Getting to Know You game and interview each other about their needs for
English. The class then cover some language problems that have come up during the
lesson.

A first class, like all ESP classes, depends almost entirely on the students you have. Even
so, the four-part format used below (GTKY and Diagnostic Testing/ Needs Analysis/
Feedback/ Language Work) should be flexible enough to fit in with almost every group and
one-to-one ESP class. The materials and instructions below are for a group class of
approx Upper Intermediate level, but the lesson plan is easily adaptable to other class
sizes and levels.

Language/ Skill Practised: Depends on materials used.

Materials: 1 OHP of your ‘Answers on the Board’ or one photocopy per student.
1 copy of Feedback Sheet.
1 copy of Interview Form per student. Photocopies for Part Four. Unless you have a very
good idea of the levels, strengths and weaknesses and needs of the students before the
class, it is worth taking in several possibilities for Part Four fully prepared (see below).
(these are all available from http://www.onestopenglish.com/business_esp/index.htm )

Time: 40 to 60 minutes, plus language work (Part Four)

Preparation: You will need to change the ‘Answers on the board’ answers to match your
personal details and the level of the class.

Procedure:
Part One: GTKY and Diagnostic testing- ‘Answers on the Board’

• Write your name on the board. Write a question mark in front of the name and elicit
the question- What’s your name?
• Write ‘An English teacher’ up and elicit the question. Allow students to ask the same
2 questions around the class.
• Show the students your ‘Answers on the board’ statements, either by projecting
them on the board or giving them out as photocopies (one per pair).
• Explain the rules briefly (see worksheet).
• Let the first team ask you their first question. Tick the answer off if it is the correct
one, give a cross if there was a grammar mistake, or give whatever your genuine
answer is to what their question was. You may want to score points to add a
competitive element.

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Taken from the business and ESP section in www.onestopenglish.com
 • Continue until all the statements are crossed off. If the game gets slow, help
students out by brainstorming all the question words and question forms for the
various tenses onto the board. Alternatively, abandon the turn taking and let them
shout out the questions as they think of them.
• When they have finished, brainstorm all the successful questions onto the board,
allowing students to ask why their ‘crossed’ sentences were wrong (assuming they
still remember them).
• Change the groups and get students to ask each other similar questions in pairs.
They may need some help adapting the questions. Monitor for language use and
note down problems on the Feedback Sheet for Part Three below.
• Variation: For more intensive diagnostic testing, ask each group to write down their
answers and pass them back and forth to you for checking / answering, rather than
shouting them out. This can be organised as a race to make it more fun.

Part Two: Needs analysis

• Tell students that you now want to ask them some questions about themselves and
the English language, but unfortunately you are only one person and they are
many. Therefore, they are actually going to ask each other those questions.
• Change the groups again. Give each student an Interview Form and get them to
ask each other their (full) names and write them at the top. Monitor for use of the
English alphabet.
• Brainstorm two or three possible questions for each of the sections on the sheet
(e.g. Why do you want to learn English?), writing only the question words on the
board.
• Tell students to write the answers (notes only) on the sheet you have given them.
• Let them start. Monitor for the information that is given (to get a rough idea of the
needs of your class) and for language- writing it down on the Feedback Sheet.
• When one or two groups have finished, collect in all the completed Interview Forms.

Part Three: Feedback

• Go through the language you have collected on the Feedback sheet, eliciting
corrections as much as possible. Make sure you cover as many examples as you
can of the language you are going to cover in Part Four below.

Part Four: Language Work

• Point out which of the areas of language which came up in Part Three you have
decided to cover and why, making reference to student needs and the errors made.
Common language areas to cover are: tense review, numbers (both included here),
present perfect and simple past, the alphabet, language for describing company
structure.
• When you have finished the language work, feedback on how useful it has been to
them.

Variation: The four stages above can actually be done in any order at all.

© Macmillan Publishers Ltd 2003

Taken from the business and ESP section in www.onestopenglish.com
Business tense review- Upper Intermediate/ Advanced
A: Time Clauses

1. Match at least one of these time clauses with each of the sentences in a to j.

when I joined this company a) I didn’t have a lot of experience

in the 1990s b) My boss uses a laptop
the other day c) I was looking for a different job
during a meeting d) I worked for my present company’s major competitor
recently e) I have been working on this project
since January f) I last made a conference call in English
hardly ever g) I’m flying to Munich
by Tuesday h) I’ll finish this report
never i) I was caught making personal phonecalls
for a year j) I’ve had a lot in my in-tray
in a fortnight’s time
this week

2. Make true sentences about yourself using each of the time clauses.

3. Read out one of your sentences without the time clause and see if the other students can
guess which time clause is true for you.

© Macmillan Publishers Ltd 2003

Taken from the business and ESP section in www.onestopenglish.com
 Discussing Grammar

B: Grammatical similarities: Aspect and voice

What are the similarities between these different forms?

1a) I can’t talk. I’m meeting a client.

1b) I was just closing the deal when my direct boss walked in and ruined everything.
1c) My plane will be landing just as yours is taking off.

2a) I’ve been in exactly this situation many times.

2b) They had already accepted a rival bid by the time we had ours ready.
2c) They will have increased sales by 50% well before the projected time.

3a) A good team is made from good individuals

3b) The computer, like so many other inventions, was invented to help us wage war
3c) Wine has been produced here since the year dot.

C: Grammatical differences

Why are different tenses used in the contrasting sentences?

1a) I work for a well-known multinational

1b) I’m working on restructuring the company

2a) What were you doing when the headhunter called?

2b) What did you do when the headhunter called?

3a) When we arrived, they introduced the main conference speakers

3b) When we arrived, they were introducing the main conference speakers
3c) When we arrived, they had introduced the main conference speakers

4a) I’ve worked with several very prestigious clients

4b) I worked with several very prestigious clients

5a) I’ve been replying to customer enquiries all day

5b) I’ve nearly cleared the backlog of enquiries from the Xmas break

© Macmillan Publishers Ltd 2003

Taken from the business and ESP section in www.onestopenglish.com
Suggested Answers

A 1. Many examples are possible. If students come up with an example that is not clearly wrong or
right, ask them to explain how they imagine the circumstances/ situation of the sentence to be.

B1. All the sentences express a temporary action that is in progress at a particular time.

B2. All the sentences connect two different times, e.g. the present and the past for the Present
Perfect.

B3. All are passives- i.e. the grammatical subject of the sentence is not the same as the ‘agent’- who
is doing the action.

C1. The first is seen as generally true or permanent, whereas the second is seen as temporary.

C2. The first is a (temporary) action in progress when something else happened (or interrupted),
whereas the second is a simple sequence of events.

C3. Similar to C2, but also with an action that is completed before another happens (Past Perfect)

C4. Contrast between an unfinished time (perhaps ‘in my life’ or ‘this month’) with a finished time
(‘last year’ or ‘in my last job’).

C5. Contrast between a sentence where the action is important (replying) and where the result is
important (cleared the backlog). Point out that ‘How much?’ is usually answered with the Present
Perfect Simple and ‘How long?’ with the Present Perfect Continuous.

© Macmillan Publishers Ltd 2003

Taken from the business and ESP section in www.onestopenglish.com
 Interview Form
Name:_______________________________
General Information:
Job:
Hobbies:
Travel:
Other:

Motivation:
Interested in EFL exams?:
Needs for work/ studies (and details):

Other:

Practice of and Exposure to English:

Present:

Previous:

Language Learning Experience:

Previous studies and attitudes to:

Other languages:
Self study?
Attitudes to Language Learning:

Strengths and Weaknesses:

Student’s analysis:

Teacher’s analysis:
Oral level:

Written level:

Other:

© Macmillan Publishers Ltd 2003

Taken from the business section in www.onestopenglish.com
 Interview Form
Name:_______________________________
General Information:
Job:
Hobbies:
Travel:
Other:

Motivation:
Interested in EFL exams?:
Needs for work/ studies (and details):

Other:

Practice of and Exposure to English:

Present:

Previous:

Language Learning Experience:

Previous studies and attitudes to:

Other languages:
Self study?
Attitudes to Language Learning:

Strengths and Weaknesses:

Student’s analysis:

Teacher’s analysis:
Oral level:

Written level:

Other:

© Macmillan Publishers Ltd 2003

Taken from the business section in www.onestopenglish.com
 Interview Form
Name:_______________________________
General Information:
Job:
Hobbies:
Travel:
Other:

Motivation:
Interested in EFL exams?:
Needs for work/ studies (and details):

Other:

Practice of and Exposure to English:

Present:

Previous:

Language Learning Experience:

Previous studies and attitudes to:

Other languages:
Self study?
Attitudes to Language Learning:

Strengths and Weaknesses:

Student’s analysis:

Teacher’s analysis:
Oral level:

Written level:

Other:

© Macmillan Publishers Ltd 2003

Taken from the business section in www.onestopenglish.com
 Interview Form
Name:_______________________________
General Information:
Job:
Hobbies:
Travel:
Other:

Motivation:
Interested in EFL exams?:
Needs for work/ studies (and details):

Other:

Practice of and Exposure to English:

Present:

Previous:

Language Learning Experience:

Previous studies and attitudes to:

Other languages:
Self study?
Attitudes to Language Learning:

Strengths and Weaknesses:

Student’s analysis:

Teacher’s analysis:
Oral level:

Written level:

Other:

© Macmillan Publishers Ltd 2003

Taken from the business section in www.onestopenglish.com
 Interview Form
Name:_______________________________
General Information:
Job:
Hobbies:
Travel:
Other:

Motivation:
Interested in EFL exams?:
Needs for work/ studies (and details):

Other:

Practice of and Exposure to English:

Present:

Previous:

Language Learning Experience:

Previous studies and attitudes to:

Other languages:
Self study?
Attitudes to Language Learning:

Strengths and Weaknesses:

Student’s analysis:

Teacher’s analysis:
Oral level:

Written level:

Other:

© Macmillan Publishers Ltd 2003

Taken from the business section in www.onestopenglish.com
 Interview Form
Name:_______________________________
General Information:
Job:
Hobbies:
Travel:
Other:

Motivation:
Interested in EFL exams?:
Needs for work/ studies (and details):

Other:

Practice of and Exposure to English:

Present:

Previous:

Language Learning Experience:

Previous studies and attitudes to:

Other languages:
Self study?
Attitudes to Language Learning:

Strengths and Weaknesses:

Student’s analysis:

Teacher’s analysis:
Oral level:

Written level:

Other:

© Macmillan Publishers Ltd 2003

Taken from the business section in www.onestopenglish.com
 Interview Form
Name:_______________________________
General Information:
Job:
Hobbies:
Travel:
Other:

Motivation:
Interested in EFL exams?:
Needs for work/ studies (and details):

Other:

Practice of and Exposure to English:

Present:

Previous:

Language Learning Experience:

Previous studies and attitudes to:

Other languages:
Self study?
Attitudes to Language Learning:

Strengths and Weaknesses:

Student’s analysis:

Teacher’s analysis:
Oral level:

Written level:

Other:

© Macmillan Publishers Ltd 2003

Taken from the business section in www.onestopenglish.com