Business English - Advanced level, Part 2 (20 Lessons)

Business English - Advanced level, Part 2 (20 Lessons)  

		Lesson 1. Back to work This lesson plan looks at the benefits of working at home compared with office work. Students read an article about Yahoo!'s controversial decision to ban staff from working remotely.
		Lesson 2. Waiting in line In this lesson, students read about how the modern office environment has changed and the innovative workplace practices of Google, Facebook and other big tech companies.
		Lesson 3. Predictive shopping The topic of this lesson plan is predictive shopping -- how technology companies are predicting buyers' behaviour by collecting data. Students read about a method developed by Amazon called 'anticipatory shipping'.
		Lesson 4. Logistics and transportation This lesson plan is suitable for business English students who work in logistics and supply chain management. The worksheet covers logistics and transport infrastructure vocabulary.
		Lesson 5. Advertising and promotion In this lesson, students learn useful words and phrases for talking about advertising methods and promotional strategies.
		Lesson 6. Corporate crime In this lesson, students learn how to describe different types of corporate crime and read about big corporate scandals including Enron, Worldcom and Parmalat. There are plenty of opportunities for discussion.
		Lesson 7. Selecting a job candidate In this lesson, students learn general expressions for discussing and selecting suitable candidates for a job. The worksheet is especially useful for students who work in human resources or management.
		Lesson 8. Brand freedom In this lesson, students watch Tim Leberecht talking about how companies can usefully lose control of their brands. The worksheet includes exercises covering key vocabulary from the talk, and there is a discussion on brand control and customer empowerment.
		Lesson 9. Managing a phone call In this lesson, students learn how to manage a phone conversation in English. Vocabulary for describing telephone behaviour is studied. Students then listen to a phone call and study the expressions used to direct and change the topic of the conversation. The language from the lesson is put into practice during a telephone call role play.
		Lesson 10. Writing emails This lesson teaches useful words and expressions for writing emails in English. The lesson warms up with a vocabulary exercise in which the students study some common terms for describing emails and email features, e.g. attachment, read receipt, disclaimer, etc. The worksheet then presents a variety of words and expressions that can be written in formal or informal style. This language is put into practice at the end of the lesson.
		Lesson 11. Funny business How can comedy be useful in a business environment? That's the topic of this lesson plan. Students read an article on the benefits of improvisational comedy in business and discuss whether learning improv would be useful in their professions.
		Lesson 12. A continuous journey In this lesson, students watch Richard St. John talking about his success and failure in business. Idiomatic expressions for describing succeeding and failing are covered in the worksheet. There is also an optional activity on functional words and expressions used in storytelling.
		Lesson 13. Groupon culture The topic of this reading and discussion lesson is coupon marketing and the American internet company, Groupon. Students read an article about Groupon’s business model and its impact on the UK's discount marketplace. This is followed by a speaking activity in which students discuss Groupon's recent troubles and the drawbacks of the discount voucher business model.
		Lesson 14. The Richard Branson Interview - Part 1 This lesson plan is the first of three-part worksheet series based on an interview with the British entrepreneur and founder of the Virgin business empire, Sir Richard Branson. In this extract from the interview, Branson talks about the foundations of his empire, what the Virgin brand stands for and what drives him to launch new businesses.
		Lesson 15. The Richard Branson Interview - Part 2 In the second part of our Richard Branson interview series, Branson jokes about some of his business ventures, including his Virgin Galactic space tourism business. He recalls a daring hot air balloon flight and talks about his adventurous spirit.
		Lesson 16. Office speak The theme of this light-hearted lesson is office jargon. Students read a satirical article on everyday business clichés used in the modern workplace. There is a speaking activity at the end of the lesson in which the students describe situations that illustrate particular clichés and discuss the use of business jargon in their own countries. The worksheet works well with advanced, good-natured classes.
		Lesson 17. The rise of Twitter The theme of this lesson is the growth of the social networking tool Twitter. Students watch Evan Williams, co-founder of Twitter, talking about the reasons for Twitter’s popularity. Several idioms and phrases related to launching a business are studied. In the grammar section, emphatic structures used by the speaker are studied and practised. Finally there is a discussion activity on Twitter and how social networking tools can be used in business, as well as an optional video-based exercise for more tech-savvy students.
		Lesson 18. Sharing viewpoints This lesson teaches language for sharing opinions during business meetings and discussions. Students listen to or watch an animated video of a teleconference involving the board members of an IT distribution company discussing a proposal to expand their business. After studying the key expressions from the dialogue, students role-play a management meeting in which they practice exchanging their own opinions and ideas.
		Lesson 19. Problem solving In this lesson, students learn useful language for handling and solving problems at work. Vocabulary for describing different types of problems and solutions is studied. Students then listen to several dialogues and study the expressions used by the speakers to declare and diagnose a problem as well as make suggestions and take action. At the end of the lesson, there is a role play activity in which the language from the lesson is put into practice. There are two animated videos which can be played instead of the dialogue or given to the student(s) as material to take away.
		Lesson 20. Meeting reports This lesson teaches the vocabulary and grammar necessary for taking meeting minutes in English. Students listen to a dialogue of a meeting and read an extract from the minutes. After studying the vocabulary and grammar used in the text, they practise reporting statements and taking minutes.