1 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)

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2 Ideas for starting a business braintorming

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)

3 Create a conversation: starting a business

As a follow-up to the exercise above (or part of the same lesson)…. starting a business is  a surefire topic for classroom dialogues.

Starting a business  (PDF)

4 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)

5 Asking for information : business English dialogues gapfill (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)

6  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.

Office conversations  (PDF)

7 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.

Business socializing (PDF)

8 Business English: 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)

 9 Office telephone conversation (gap fill and answers)

       This is a 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.

Office telephoning language exercise(PDF)

 10 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)

 11 The gig economy: good or bad?

This is a great contemporary topic for university students. There is no more contemporary business English topic then the “gig economy”. It’s an excellent discussion/debate topic.

Gig economy (PDF)

 12 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.

What do companies do?(PDF)

13 Business skills

It’s also pretty easy for students to talk about business skills as it relates to their personal preferences and abilities.  The speaking section can also be expanded to include all the skills shown in the pictures.

Business Skills (PDF)

 14  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)

Related Resources for 2021:

4 Working from Home exercises incl. parts of speech and vocabulary

  4 Coronavirus language exercises

Related Resources:

ESL Listening Activities Guide

8 Business English Vocabulary Exercises

10 Super Essential Academic Vocabulary Lessons

5 Cool Advertising & Branding Vocabulary & Language Exercises

5 Kinds of Collocation and Phrasal Verb Exercises

 5 Describing Graphs  Language Exercises

10 Jobs and Careers Vocabulary  and Speaking exercises

4 Money and Finance Worksheets

10 Computing and  Internet Vocabulary and Speaking Activities

5 Intercultural Body Language, Gestures and Etiquette Language Exercises

Talking about office problems (PDF)

Related Resource:

4 Tantalizing Telephone Dialogue Exercises for Business English

5 Cracking Complaints and Annoyances Language and Speaking Exercises

16  Discussing business activities speaking lesson

Discussing business activities (PDF)

17 Elements of common work conversations (with answers)

Elements of common work conversations (PDF)

Related Resources:

10 Role Play Speaking Activities

11 Classroom Debate and Discussion Language Activities

5 First Day of Class Activities

3 Great Icebreakers to Start a Class

8 Invitation and Request Dialogues for Everyday Scenarios

18 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)

 19  Telephoning speaking skills

Telephoning speaking skills  (PDF)