What is inside the business English collection
Each of our business English lesson plans fills an hour of class, and you don't need to add anything to it. The card shows the level band and says Business as the type of English, so you know it was written for working adults. Most of the collection is at B1 to C1, since these conversations need more language than a beginner has.
- Meetings, from getting a word in to disagreeing without starting a fight
- Negotiation, including a lesson on asking for a raise and making the request sound reasonable
- Professional email writing, where choosing the right tone matters most
- Feedback conversations, both giving hard news and dealing with a colleague who gets defensive
- Starting a new job, including small talk and the first few weeks, when being fluent matters more than being accurate
- Working across cultures, where most misunderstandings have little to do with grammar
Some plans use episodes of The Office, a podcast we made for this collection. It is set in a company called Digitise, and the same characters come back across several lessons, each time with a new problem to solve.
Business English vocabulary by topic
It is easy to teach business English vocabulary badly. Long word lists look impressive, but a student who can define stakeholder and deliverable may still be unable to run a meeting. We group the vocabulary by the job your student is doing with it, and each set comes with a task where the words have to work in a real exchange with a partner.
| Area of work | Example language | What it lets the student do |
| Management | Delegating, setting expectations, following up without nagging | Run a one-to-one with a direct report |
| Sales and clients | Hedging, softening a price, closing without pressure | Handle a call with a client who is not ready to buy |
| Finance and reporting | Describing a trend, explaining a variance, qualifying a number | Present a result without overstating it |
| HR and people | Giving feedback, delivering bad news, handling a defensive reply | Get through a hard conversation and keep the working relationship |
Register matters as much as the words. At B1, students mostly need to be understood. At C1, the same sentence also has to sound right to the person hearing it, direct enough but not rude. Much of our advanced material works on exactly that.
Every business English vocabulary set has its own Quizlet list, so students can review the phrases between lessons. Our general vocabulary section covers everyday topics in the same way. It is a good match for students who speak confidently about work and struggle as soon as the talk turns to weekends or family.
Lesson plans for real workplace situations
Business English students can usually tell you, within five minutes, when they last needed the language and how it went. That makes a good starting point. So each of the business English lesson plans begins with a situation, and the language comes out of it.
Take the lesson on asking for a raise. It covers hedging, giving reasons and making concessions, but it starts with what the student would say to their manager and why that didn't work last time. By the end of the lesson, they have practiced the conversation with a manager who pushes back. The lesson on delivering bad news, How to Fire Someone, works the same way. Students learn to break the news, offer a severance package and stay calm when the other person reacts, then rehearse the conversation in a role play. The same skills carry over to an exit interview, where the student has to give honest reasons for leaving and still part on good terms.
The material comes from outside the classroom. The plans use articles from the business press, podcast episodes and videos of professionals talking about their jobs. There are also case studies where students have to make a decision with incomplete information. The lesson structure draws on CELTA and on the lexical approach, so students hear phrases in use before you ask them to produce any.
Most of these lessons end with a role play. If your students need more speaking practice than one plan gives them, the speaking lesson section has extra formats you can add, including debates and structured negotiations.
Business English worksheets and activities for every level
The collection covers the CEFR levels B1 to C1, plus a smaller A2-B1 band for small talk and the language of a first week at work. Each plan includes business English worksheets for the written part of the lesson and business English activities that get students using workplace English out loud.
- Role plays for meetings and negotiations, with a separate brief for each side, so the two students have to negotiate before they can agree
- Case studies, where a group has to agree on one decision and then defend it
- Email tasks, such as rewriting a blunt message for a reader who is senior to the writer
- Listening tasks based on podcast episodes and on videos of people describing their own jobs
- Business English worksheets with the answer key on separate pages, for controlled practice before the role play
The business English activities are written for groups, and most of them also work one to one if you play the second role. Corporate groups tend to prefer the case studies. Private clients tend to prefer the role plays, often because they have a difficult conversation coming up and want to rehearse it.
Get access to the business English lesson library
You don't need to buy the business English lesson plans separately. All three subscription plans include both General and Business English, so you are choosing extras when you pick a plan, and every plan opens the same lessons. Standard is 72 dollars a year. Plus is 120 and adds homework. Pro is 144 and adds interactive homework, revision games and a Miro board for every lesson. There is also a monthly option, and companies or schools can ask about access for a team of trainers.
Frequently asked questions
Which levels do the business plans cover?
Most of the business English lesson plans are at B1 to C1. A smaller A2-B1 band covers small talk, introductions and the first weeks in a new job, where lower-level professionals usually need help first.
Do these work for one-to-one clients?
Yes, and they often work better one to one. You take the second role in the role play, and you can push back harder than a classmate would. Only the case studies need changing, because they are written for a group that has to agree on one decision.
Can I use these with a corporate group?
Yes. The business English activities, especially the case studies and meeting simulations, are written for groups of working adults, and the situations fit most industries.
Do I need to know my student's industry?
It helps, but you don't need to. These situations come up in every office, so a manager in logistics and a manager in software will recognize the same conversation. Ask what they dealt with last month and use that as the lead-in.