Topics for Business English Class for Non native speakers?

Question

I need to come up with a leeson plan as part of TEFL to a group of business peoples (european, english is 2nd Language) and I NEED HELP.

The idea is to get them as much as possible and assess how well they communicate in a bus. environment. However I am at a loss as I can not seem to think of an interesting (possibly humorous) Business related topic. I got an idea from a website: Press Conference, reason Product recall e.g hair dye that dyes blue instead of blonde... etc. But I would like something more exciting.

An idea I had was for a debate, but I can't think of a topic. Please help, your ideas would be most welcome. Thanks

Answer 1

I take it you're a totally new teacher with no experience whatsoever? A lot of what you're doing depends on which country (and even more specifically, city and region) the students are from, the industry/industries in which they work, their ages and the relationship between students in the class. On top of that there is their English ability level.

I used to do an exercise that I got from a book. It was about a girl in Korea who was offered a job at the Korean offices of a major American tobacco manufacturer. After she starts working, she discovers that her employer is running a marketing campaign agressively targeting local youth. She is conflicted about whether or not to keep the job, and whether or not to blow the whistle. We always got a lot of good discussions out of that activity, and it could also be structured as a debate. On your end you would have to print up some fake "internal memos" talking about the marketing campaign, so students could judge the severity of the moral infraction for themselves.

If anyone knows what book that came from I would love to know! It was coil-bound and had a yellow cover. It might have been called "Business Scenarios" or something. It was a very useful book for getting Business English students talking.

Answer 2

There is a really awesome book about business around the world from the perspective of business and cultural etiquette. I'm sorry I don't remember the name of it but if you google it it will come up. The book contains serious material presented in a funny/humorous way and it's specifically designed for people who are involved in international business.

Answer 3

How about taking something from the recent Business news. The Conrad Black case for instance or how they see climate change affecting their various enterprises. Something controversial is likely to spark real debate and give you the chance to assess their communication skills.

Answer 4

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