Business English Speaking and Listening Skills Worksheets for the 2020s
The exercises below are designed for teaching ESL students in the 2020s, focusing on contemporary work trends such as the gig economy and hybrid work. The content addresses key aspects of modern work life, including freelancing, digital platforms, work-life balance, and the use of technology in remote work.
14th April 2025
For the latest speaking exercises visit eslflow’s Substack:
Starting a Business in the 2020s
See the videos on YouTube
Influencers and Creators: Advantages vs Disadvantages
Starting a Business in the 2020s: Good vs Bad Ideas
Other recent collections on Substack include:
A Deep Dive into the Language of Tariffs
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The Gig Economy visual vocabulary and classroom discussion listening
Vocabulary and listening exercises that engage students in a discussion about The Gig Economy.
Hybrid Work visual vocabulary and classroom discussion listening
These exercises explore ideas and language used to discuss Hybrid Work.
Hybrid work pronunciation exercises
Fun exercises for focusing on pronunciation of words related to hybrid work.
The Creator Economy
This is another topic that is highly engaging and relevant for young adult learners.
The Creator Economy critical thinking (PDF)
The Creator Economy classroom discussion listening (PDF)
The Creator Economy Q and A (PDF)
Quantifiers for colleagues
This is a Business English vocabulary and listening/speaking exercise exploring some common Business English vocabulary. It also focuses on the use of quantifiers (all, most, some, a few, none etc.).
Calling to Complain (gap fill and answers)
This is a “calling to complain”telephoning language exercise to help English language learners practice expressions and phrases used in everyday phone conversations. Students can try and complete the dialogues and then listen to the audio to check/compare their answers.
(Calling to complain YouTube video)
Business skills
It’s easy for students to talk about business skills as it relates to their personal preferences and abilities. Students can listen to the audio or watch the video and complete the worksheet. The video adds more images illustrating the vocabulary related to this topic. The speaking section can also be expanded to include all the skills shown in the pictures.
New boss meeting
This is an exercise that explores common company office topics and language through the first meeting with a new boss. The worksheet includes vocabulary and speaking exercises. An excerpt from the worksheet is below. The full worksheet can be downloaded by subscribers at Substack (see below).
Conversational practice – present perfect and basic future tense for business
These conversational practice exercises contain sets of conversational questions, along with multiple potential responses and a follow-up question for each. The questions aim to help ESL (English as a Second Language) students improve their understanding and usage of specific aspects of grammar in English. In my experience, these kinds of exercise are really useful teaching one-on-one online, but they also work really well as pair work activities in the classroom.
Future tense conversational practice
Present perfect conversational practice
If you like these activities, be sure to check out the Substack post:
“Cost of living” and “New boss meeting”
10 The Intern
This is a reading/listening comprehension exercise about a day in the life of an intern and contrasts it with university life. Students need to watch the video and then complete the sentences with the the vocabulary they hear. The pictures match the chronological order of the video.
(download listening/speaking PDF)
11 Financial crisis vocabulary
These days, you hear and see words such as “inflation” and “bear market” everywhere. So this is a lesson about financial crisis vocabulary.
12 Create a conversation: starting a business
This is a listening/speaking lesson about starting a business. This is a surefire topic for classroom discussion and dialogues. Use the worksheet below to brainstorm ideas about starting a business. Then get students to listen to the dialogues and try to complete the gap fill worksheet. Finally, students write a conversation using their own ideas.
13 Ideas for starting a business brainstorming
This is a good topic for business English students. And millennials in general are really sharp on the nuances of strategies for starting a business. Good fun!
Ideas for starting a business (PDF)
14 Asking for information : business English dialogues gap fill (with audio and answers)
Students need to be versatile and flexible when they speak English. This gap fill exercise provides a number of everyday conversations and situations . It challenges students to complete the short dialogues with the appropriate vocabulary. Or students can listen to the audio and complete the conversations.
Asking for information business English gap fill (PDF)
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15 Making requests exercise (with audio and answers)
This is a Business English ESL exercise to help students learn how to make polite requests in English. Students can try to complete the speech bubbles. Then they can listen to the audio and compare their answers. Or it can be used as a stand alone listening exercise.
Business English making requests (PDF)
16 Business problems and solutions (with audio and answers)
Problems and solutions exercises make for good speaking and discussion classes. Here, students match the problems to the pictures and give solutions in answer to the questions. as above, the solutions exercise could be expanded to include all the problems shown in the pictures.
Business problems and solutions (PDF)
17 Telephone conversation speaking and listening about a delivery (with audio and answers)
This is a telephoning exercise for English language learners to practice using the language necessary for making business phone calls. Students listen to the audio and complete the conversation. There are 2 worksheets One is easy and one is more difficult.
Telephone delivery conversation (PDF)
18 Office conversations (with audio and answers)
This is a business English ESL exercise to help students practice common office conversations. First, brainstorm ideas for the conversations. Then students can listen to to the audio and complete the speech bubbles.
15 Elementary business socializing (listening with answers)
This is an elementary business English ESL listening exercise exploring the language and vocabulary used to make short conversations in various business and social situations. Student listen and complete the short conversations for each situation. Then they can compare answers.
16 Business socializing and phoning (with answers and audio)
This is similar to the above but more general. It helps students become familiar with common office conversational exchanges.
Business socializing and telephoning (PDF)
17 Company activities: What do they do?
The words create, produce, develop, design, invent, build, sell, provide and manufacture are often used interchangeably to describe company activities. This activity focuses on these and related words and the subtle differences between their usage.
18 Problems and solutions: write a conversation
This is a more personalized and fun exercise in which students write a conversation talking about 2 problems in their lives.
Problems and solution conversation writing (PDF)
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4 Working from Home exercises incl. parts of speech and vocabulary
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ESL Listening Activities Guide
8 Business English Vocabulary Exercises
10 Super Essential Academic Vocabulary Lessons
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4 Money and Finance Worksheets
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19 Talking about office problems
This is an elementary ESL speaking exercise for talking about problems in the office. First, students try to match the vocabulary at the bottom of the page to the pictures. They can then use that vocabulary to answer questions about the pictures.
Talking about office problems (PDF)
Related Resource:
4 Tantalizing Telephone Dialogue Exercises for Business English
5 Cracking Complaints and Annoyances Language and Speaking Exercises
20 Discussing business activities speaking lesson
This is an ESL speaking and writing lesson for talking about common business activities and tasks.. First, students match the expressions to the pictures. Then, they can have short conversations discussing the business activities they like and dislike.
Discussing business activities (PDF)
21 Team building
his is a business English ESL exercise exploring the language and vocabulary of team building. First, students match the vocabulary to the pictures. When it is clear they understand the words, they can write questions about team building. Finally, students can ask each other questions.
22 Elements of common work conversations (with answers)
This is an ESL exercise for teaching common English expressions in an office setting. Students match the words to the pictures and the sentences.
Elements of common work conversations (PDF)
Related Resources:
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23 Business woman: what is she saying ? (with answers)
This is a business English ESL exercise introducing some common expressions and sentences. Students need to interpret the meanings of the woman’s gestures and match the vocabulary to the pictures.
Business woman: what is she saying (PDF)
