In the business world, keeping abreast on the most up-to-date business stories is very important. Print out several current news stories that relate to a particular business field appropriate for your business English class. Provide one news story to each student, and give the class about 15 minutes to read over the stories and to prepare a two-minute news report for the other students. Record their news reports with a video camera for later review. Focus on students’ business vocabulary and fluency as they report to the class.
Many ESL students have difficulty polishing their telephone skills. Even advanced ESL students have a hard time concentrating on their business English skills on the telephone. One way to practice concentrating during telephone business conversations is to have two students make a mock business call to each other while the rest of the class tries to distract them. The two students should sit back to back, facing away from one another, and should speak loudly enough to be heard. The rest of the class should be divided into two groups, with each group trying to distract one student. The student who incorporates the most sentences or business vocabulary into the conversation wins.
Emails play a vital role in today's business world. Most students feel more comfortable writing business English than speaking it, yet they still need pointers on how to clearly write emails. Divide the class into pairs, and give each group a business topic plus printouts of a mock email format, such as a copy of a computer screen. If no handouts are available, students may use their own paper and include the typical email headings. Have students conduct a business conversation about their topic via email only. They can pretend to be co-workers or competitors, but they can only correspond through email with made-up email addresses. Encourage cooperation as they pass their paper back and forth between themselves. To practice oral skills, have students read their exchanges out loud to the class, and let the class vote on the best email conversation.