Business English ESL Activities, Games and Lesson Plan Ideas

If you’re looking for some of the best ESL business English games and activities, lesson plans and other resources, then you’re certainly in the right place. Keep on reading for everything you need to know to teach business English lessons, including advanced ones in style.

Business English ESL Activity Ideas

Let’s get into the top ideas for ESL business English conversation with these TEFL activities.

#1: Work on Expressing Opinions

Being able to express an opinion is a useful skill in the business world in meetings and when talking to coworkers or clients. Help students out with this important skill by focusing on doing it in English. It’s ideal for advanced business English lessons.

Here are some of the top games and activities to get students to give their opinions in style: ESL Opinion Activities.

#2: Role-Plays

One of the most useful things to do in a business ESL lesson is a role-play. If students want to be able to negotiate with confidence or take an order on the phone easily, then why not replicate that in your class?

It’s a nice way to build some serious confidence. Just be sure to pre-teach the necessary vocabulary ahead of time to make it an even more useful exercise. Check out some of the best ideas here:

ESL Role Playing

They are certainly one of the things that I love to include in my business English lessons.

#3: Business English Vocabulary Builder

If you want to help students level up their business English vocabulary, then recommend this book to them:

It contains hundreds of useful expressions, phrases, and idioms that can be used in boardrooms, at meetings and over business lunches.

#4: How to Do a Self-Introduction

I love to teach my students how to self-introductions in English. If they have an English interview, this is usually the first question that the interviewer asks. Here are some tips and tricks for students to make a simple self-introduction, suitable for a job interview:

#5: Offering Help ESL Lesson Plan

Check out this lesson plan idea for offering help. It’s best suited for beginner business English learners:

Offering Help ESL Lesson Plan.

#6: Presentations and Public Speaking for Business English Lessons

People in the business world often have to do some kind of public speaking. That’s why I love to incorporate them into my English classes. It’s like killing two birds with one stone—English practice and public speaking practice in one single activity.

The topic can be related to something in the business world. Or, consider focusing on current events and have students talk about something that’s happening in the world.

#7: Task-Based Learning

Task-based activities lend themselves particularly well to an ESL business English conversation class. One thing that I’ve done in the past that has worked well is to have students design a new product. Then, they have to give a short presentation to the rest of the class who will decide whether or not they want to fond it. It’s similar to that popular show, “Dragon’s Den.”

Need some more ideas for this style of a lesson? Have a look here: What is Task Based Learning? 

#8: Practice Interviews

One area that my business English students often want help with is interviews in English. They can be quite stressful so I like to practice them in class.

One thing to keep in mind though is that it isn’t helpful if students just memorize answers and then regurgitate them. This sounds exactly like a memorized answer! Instead, encourage students to write a few notes and just speak normally.

#9: Covers Letters and Resumes for Business English Classes

A useful exercise for class is to have students write an English resume and cover letter for a specific job.

First, go over general guidelines for how to do this. Then, students can do these two things for homework and finally, offer some feedback and give students a chance to revise. In the end, students will have a nice template to work from when applying for future jobs.

#10: Business English Vocabulary Builder 2

If you teach Business English, then consider recommending this book for students to use between classes. There are dozens of dialogues in a variety of situations and hundreds of useful phrases and expressions that can be used in the business world.

Another option is to build your lesson around these dialogues. Your students will love it!

#11: Small Talk and Conversation Activities

I love to include some practice with small talk in my business English lessons, usually at the beginning of class. If you need some ideas for these kinds of activities, have a look at some of my favourites here:

ESL Conversation Activities.

#12: Dictogloss for Business English Listening

One of my favourite activities for more advanced learners who want to work on their listening skills is dictogloss. In this case, find a case study or a news report talking about a situation that someone or a company in the business world has to deal with. Find out more about it here:

#13: Breaking News English

I LOVE Breaking News English and that’s kind of an understatement. If you want to find some interesting news stories from the business world, complete with a vocabulary focus, comprehension questions and more, then this should be your first stop.

Find out all the details about it here: Breaking News English.

#14: Man/Woman on the Street Interview Activity

If you want to have some fun with your students, try out this engaging interview activity. Students have to take turns interviewing their classmates about something happening in the world.

It’s a nice way for students to get some practice with giving opinions about something and engaging in small talk. Check it out:

Man/Woman on the Street Interview.

#15: Word Association

Try out this quick warm-up activity to elicit a large amount of vocabulary about a certain topic. For example, negotiation or trying to sell something. It’s the perfect way to help students activate prior knowledge so that anything new they learn will be more memorable.

It’s possible to do this activity with the entire class or have students do it in small groups. Have a look here:

ESL Word Association Activity.

#16: Stock Market Challenge

This is one of my favourite business English games. It’s very easy to find online stock market challenge websites. Give each small group some money and then they have to pick some stocks. Choose a time period and the winner is the group with the most money in their portfolio. Try out this fun business English game!

#17: ESL Surveys

If you ask my students, they’ll tell you how much I love surveys! They are one of the most useful activities because they cover all four skills in a single activity and they also lend themselves to just about any topic. I think you’ll like using them as much as I do!

Find out more about how to design your own survey and then use them in class: ESL Survey Activity.

#18: Making Predictions

In the business world, people often have to make predictions about sales, where the market is going, or what their competitors will do.

There is quite a specific vocabulary set required for this. Help students out with this important skill:

ESL Making Predictions Activities

#19: Just a Minute

If you want to help students gain some confidence in English, then consider using this simple speaking activity. It’s a kind of “Toastmasters” activity where students have to talk about a certain topic for one minute without stopping. Have a look here:

#20: Business English Pod

When I teach business English, this website is often my first stop. They have a ton of excellent resources that are ideal for use in class, or for self-study.

There is a paid version but I find that the free version is useful enough for my purposes. Check it out: B.E. Pod.

#21: Filling out an Application Form

A useful activity for an ESL class is filling out an application form. This is something that has a very specific vocabulary set that students are often not familiar with. Find out more about it here:

Application Form ESL Writing Activity.

#22: Have a Debate

There are a ton of interesting and controversial business-type things to discuss! Have a look here for some of the best ideas for all levels.

Simple Topics to Debate

Debatable Questions

#23: Crossword Puzzle

It’s easy to make your own crossword puzzle to review any kind of vocabulary using the puzzle maker at Discovery.com (do a quick Google search). Input the questions and the answer and let the tool do the rest! These kinds of puzzles are ideal for a review before a midterm or final exam.

#24: Find the Word

Give students a worksheet with some definitions on them that you’ve covered in class the previous few weeks or months. Then, students can try to name the word without looking in their textbooks. If they get stuck, they can look in their books or ask a friend.

#25: Charades

I like to use charades to review just about anything! It works well for business English vocabulary as well. Put students into teams and then they have to take turns acting out a word or phrase. Their teammates have to guess what it is.

#26: 2 Truths and a Lie

Try out this fun icebreaker activity with your business English students:

Business English Discussion Questions

Here are some of the best business English conversation starters and discussion questions for students.

• If you had to start your own business this year, what kind of business would it be?
• What is the best business advice someone has ever given you?
• What’s a big mistake that you’ve made in business?
• Are you doing the career you thought you’d be doing in high school?
• If you had a million dollars to invest, how would you invest it?
• Can someone learn how to be a leader?
• What do you think about unpaid internships?
• Do friends make good business partners?
• Would you ever go into business with a family member?

Business English Lessons Plans

If you’re an English teacher, then you know how much time it can to use business ESL lessons that other teachers have put together. Here are some of the top options for teaching business English lessons plans:

ESL Brains

Lingua House

One Stop English

Business English Conversation Topics

Here are some of the most important business English conversation topics to cover in a course:

• Why some businesses succeed and why others fail
• Negotiations
• Job interviews
• Working abroad
• Dealing with a crisis
• Small talk over a meal
• Hiring somebody
• Firing somebody
• What makes a good leader
• Business presentations
• Scandals
• Dealing with a tough economic climate
•  Meetings
• Managers and managing people
• Small businesses
• Retirement
• Business trips
• Overtime
• Competition
• Risk management
• Switching jobs
• Working as a team
• Sales strategies
• Promotional opportunities
• Customers
• Customer service
• Marketing
• Suppliers
• Contractors
• Consulting
• Red tape

Many of these topics such as risk management, negotiations and consulting are ideal for advanced business English lessons.

FAQs for Business English ESL

There are a number of common questions that people have. Here are the answers to some of the most popular ones.

What is one of the challenges of teaching Business English?

There are many challenges when teaching Business English, including a wide variety of levels of students within the same class. However, the biggest challenge may be external pressure from employers who expect a high level of proficiency in a short amount of time.

What is Business English course?

A business English course covers the basics of communicating in the business world, including phone calls and emails, presentations, negotiation, report writing, networking, and more.

Why do you study Business English?

The language of business around the world is often English. That’s why many people study Business English—to be able to communicate with colleagues and clients easily in a variety of situations.

How do I teach Business English to ESL?

There are a number of strategies that you can use to teach Business English to ESL/EFL students. Some of them include:

• Focusing on specific vocabulary that is required.
• Teaching functional language for negotiation, emails, etc.
• Using case studies to help students gain confidence.
• Teaching general communication skills such as eye contact and how to greet someone or finish a conversation.
• Maximize student talking time by having them work in small groups.
• Using a top-quality, industry-specific textbook.
• Understanding what the needs of your students are and tailoring lessons to that.

What are some of the most popular Business English textbooks?

Here are some of the Business English textbooks that we recommend:

• Market Leader
• Total Business
• Intelligent Business
• Business Builder

What is meant by business English?

What is meant by business English is that it’s the correspondence used by people in a business setting. It’s the language used for negotiations, job interviews, marketing strategies, talking about business deals and more.

Teaching Business English: Join the Conversation

Do you have any ideas for these kinds of classes that you’d like to share with us? Please leave a comment below and let us know what you think. We’d love to hear from you.

Also, be sure to give this article a share on Facebook, Pinterest, or Twitter. It’ll help other busy teachers, like yourself, find this useful resource.

Last update on 2022-07-17 / Affiliate links / Images from Amazon Product Advertising API