Role play with Business English

Role play can be a particularly effective way of providing practice for the participants on a business English course, and it is invariably popular. The participants may well be familiar with this approach from the business training courses they have completed. It involves the participants in taking on a role in the same way that an actor might take on a role on the stage.

The participants in role play will have a situation to work with and their role card will state who they are, what they want to do, and what their attitude is. If the card has been well prepared, the participants will be clear about how they should respond, although there may be some degree of choice.

There are at least four reasons why you should include role play in all of your business English courses.

  1. The change of activity is always welcomed by participants and will help to keep your sessions lively and interesting, as well as keeping the participants alert and active.
  2. Role play gives the participants the opportunity to practise the new language that they have been working on in the course.
  3. It helps to make them aware of gaps in their knowledge and the language that they need to practise and learn.
  4. Role play can help you to assess the progress of your participants; as they are fully involved in their activity you can observe their actions and also keep a check on their language. You can address some of the points arising from your observations in the feedback session after the role play.

What sort of role play activities would be appropriate in a business English class? Here are just a few possible examples.

  1. Person A is the designer of a new style of cordless iron for the home and he is looking for a manufacturer; B is the managing director of a manufacturing company but is sceptical about this product.
  2. A is the managing director of a small company; B is the advertising director and wants to advertise the products on television. The MD is keen on advertising in newspapers and is unconvinced about the value of television advertising (in terms of costs and returns) so B has to try to persuade the MD.
  3. A sells clothes but doesn’t like products made of fur. However, her company is losing money. B produces products such as short jackets, stoles, gloves and belts made of fur. B has to try to persuade A to sell his products. There are high profit margins in fur products.

The next page on simulation games provides a comparison with role-play.

Simulation games with Business English

A simulation game is similar to role play except that in a simulation the participants are free to take their own decisions and are not directed in any way by constraints laid down on a role card.

For example, in a role play activity, a participant may be asked to take on the role of someone in the purchasing department who wants to buy a particular product while their partner may be asked to take on the role of someone in the marketing department who is very anxious to buy a different product. Their role play task will be to discuss their products and use persuasive language. There will be no need for them to agree on one particular product by the end of the activity as the process of talking and using persuasive language is the core purpose of the activity.

In contrast, in a simulation game there are likely to be more than two participants and each will be given a role. For example, one may be the accountant and another may be the marketing manager while another may be the purchasing manager and so on. They will start off with a basic scenario; for example, they may be told that their company sells bicycles and that a new type of folding bicycle has come on the market and they need to consider how best to take advantage of this product and make a profit.

So, for example, they would have to think about what they could afford to pay for each bicycle, what the selling price would be, who would be interested, how they could market it and so on. They could take whatever decisions they wanted. They would start with a cash sum and they would have to think about how best to use that money. They will be using language they have learnt, but another aim of the simulation will also be to, for example, make as much profit as possible in the course of the game.

From time to time, the simulation ‘umpire’ could add additional pieces of information (higher interest rates, higher transport costs, new competitors, a successful web site and so on) which the members would have to take into account and adapt to.

There would also be ‘wild’ cards that groups pick up from time to time and which would either be lucky or unlucky in terms of the success of that company. Many simulations involve the use of dice which can decide certain elements that impinge on a particular company or on all of the companies. For example, a group could roll a die (or two dice) to see if the weather in their area that summer was going to be good or bad. An even number might mean a poor summer while an odd number would be classified as a warm, dry summer. These are factors that are likely to have implications with regard to the sale of bicycles.

I think it’s clear that although role-play tasks and simulations are ‘cousins’ there are also significant differences.

  • Simulations involve more participants.
  • They take longer than role-play activities.
  • They are more suitable for more advanced learners as the language used is more advanced and complex.
  • The focus is on general fluency rather than specific language functions.
  • There are no constraints (i.e. on role cards) on how the participants behave. Each participant has a role (e.g. managing director) but how they act out that role is completely up to them.
  • Simulations take quite a lot of preparation but if they work well they can be reused in future classes.
  • The simulation can be set up so that there are ‘winners’ and ‘losers’ in terms of the amount of money that a company makes during the course of the activity.
  • Because of the competitive nature of the simulation, simulations are invariably popular with the participants and they get intensely involved in them as the activity progresses.

Classroom games for learning English

Most teachers recognize that students learn best if they are highly motivated and use “active” learning methods. The difficult part is how to stimulate students to actively engage over a sustained period and not become bored or tired with routine written activities and repetitive learning activities.

Classroom games have the potential to increase both the amount of learning and the enjoyment of learning. There is also the added benefit that students often become less self-conscious and more fluent in their use of English in verbal exchanges when their attention is absorbed in the game and interactions with classmates.

Lesson Planning – Writing a newspaper report

Intermediate-level students

Lesson Aim

To develop the students’ writing skills, specifically:

  • organising ideas
  • adopting an appropriate reporting style
  • using appropriate tenses and vocabulary.

Pre-task learning activities

What types of daily newspapers do we have in the UK?

What titles do you know? Which category do they fit in?

What sorts of people read these newspapers?

What newspapers do you read?

What sections can you find in many UK newspapers?

What sections do you like reading? Why?

Reading

Here is an article for you to read. The title is “George Michael found guilty”.

Who is it about?

What do you think the report might be about?

Read the article.

George Michael driving offence
by Emily Dugan

George Michael was arrested semi-conscious in his car last year. A court heard yesterday that he had been driving with a cocktail of drugs in his system. The former Wham! singer was arrested on 1 October last year after he was found slumped at the wheel of his car in Central London.

Yesterday, the 43-year-old pleaded guilty to “tiredness and prescribed drugs” and also accepted that he had tested positive for illegal drugs.

Marijuana was also discovered in the tests but the prosecution does not believe it was to blame for his intoxication. However, he was cautioned for possessing it while driving.

His defence lawyer maintained that the condition of the singer was due to a sleeping drug. Since he first appeared in court, George Michael has publicly admitted to an addiction to prescription drugs. In a television interview he said the world would be a better place if more people smoked marijuana.

Although renowned for flouting the rules, Michael maintained a humble attitude in court. He told the District Judge Katherine Marshall, “I did something very stupid and I am very ashamed since doing it. I’m not used to defending myself in a position where I am ashamed of something.”

Sentencing has been put back until 8 June. But the singer, who has sold 85 million singles and albums worldwide, is still booked to be playing the first concert at the new Wembley Stadium on 9 June – the day after his sentence is decided.

Questions

Were your predictions correct?

Where in a newspaper might we find this report?

Where was he arrested?

What was he charged with?

What did he lawyer say?

What word was used to describe Michael’s attitude in court?

When will he be sentenced?

Language

Underline the verbs in the passage.

What are the main tenses in the passage? Why?

Task

  • Here is the heading of another newspaper report. This is an imaginary story.
  • The title of the story is Father in midnight dash.
  • Work in pairs and decide what the story might be about. List down a number of paragraph headings or main events.
  • Get together with another pair. Decide on an agreed set of events. Prepare a newspaper report with this headline.
  • Exchange your report with the report of another group. Check through the other group’s report carefully in terms of organisation, vocabulary, tenses, punctuation and clarity.
  • Ask the students to find pictures or draw pictures to go with the report. Give them an A3 piece of paper so that they can arrange the page of their ‘newspaper’ in an appropriately clear way.
  • Pin the completed newspaper reports on the wall and let the students compare and contrast them.

Teacher’s notes

Pre-task activities

What types of daily newspapers do we have in the UK? In the past, people used to divide the papers into broadsheet and ***** newspapers. However, today the newspapers are all produced in the smaller sizes. People today often divide newspapers into serious and red-top newspapers.

What titles do you know? Which category do they fit in? Guardian, Times, Independent, Telegraph, Sun, Daily Express, Daily Mirror etc. What sorts of people read these newspapers? Professional people tend to read the Guardian, Times, Independent and Telegraph

Non-professional people tend to read the Sun, Daily Mirror and Daily Express.

What newspapers do you read?

What sections can you find in many UK newspapers? Get suggestions and list them on the board: They might include UK news, International news, Sport, Gossip, Adverts, Financial News, Gardening, Investing, colour supplement and they might also mention sections like G2. What sections do you like reading? Why? Encourage discussion.

Reading

Here is an article for you to read. The title is George Michael found guilty

Who is it about? Famous singer etc.

What do you think the report might be about? Encourage as many ideas as possible. List them on the board.

Read the newspaper article.

Questions

Encourage the students to discuss these questions as much as possible.

Were your predictions correct?

Where in a newspaper might we find this report? UK news in many newspapers. Front page of the Sun.

Where was he arrested? In his car, in London.

What was he charged with? Driving while under the influence of illegal drugs.

What did his lawyer say? He was affected by sleeping drugs/pills.

What word was used to describe Michael’s attitude in court? humble

When will he be sentenced? 8th June, the day after the first concert at the new Wembley Stadium.

Language

Underline the verbs in the passage.

What are the main tenses in the passage? Why? Mainly Past Simple and Past Passive.

Task

The title can of course be changed to whatever a teacher feels is appropriate for their class.

An alternative with the task is to let the students work individually first of all, then in pairs and then in a group of 4. This would then require them to do lot of negotiating about the agreed content of the report. Ideally, a teacher would have done some work on the language of negotiation before this lesson.

Move around the room to support the students. Ensure that their report is divided into short clear paragraphs as in a newspaper. If a paragraph contain several sentences, the first sentence of each paragraph should indicate the topic for that paragraph (the ‘topic’ sentence).

Placing the ‘newspapers’ on the walls is a very good way both to encourage discussion and comparison as well as acting as an excellent completion for the lesson.

Forming Paragraphs in English

TOPIC: Earth, Venus and Mars

Class / Level: Intermediate

Students: Adults / Young adults

Date and time of lesson:

Length of lesson: 40 minutes

Number of students: 12

Lesson aim: To focus on linking words and practise paragraphing.

New language: atmosphere; gravity; zone; greenhouse effect; Goldilocks, abundant; rule of thumb

Assumptions: Students have done some previous work on paragraphing but are not yet competent in paragraphing their writing.

Step 1:

Ask the students if they know what a planet is. If possible, show pictures of the planetary system. Get their ideas. Write them on the board.

Surprisingly, there is no set scientific law as to what constitutes a planet, but as a rule of thumb, a planet: 1) must directly orbit a star; 2) must be small enough that it has not undergone internal nuclear fusion (i.e., it is not a star or star-like object); and 3) must be large enough that its self-gravity gives it the general shape of a sphere. (www.factmonster.com)

Step 2:

Ask the students if they know the names of all the planets circling the Sun, and where they lie. Draw a diagram on the board to demonstrate their relative positions.

The order is: Mercury, Venus, Earth, Mars, Jupiter, Saturn, Uranus, Neptune, Pluto.

Elicit any information about sizes and distances if possible and add these to the board.

Step 3:

Ask the students to give you examples of linking words and phrases that can appear in passages of text. Write them on the board.

Step 4:

Ask the students what we call the first sentence of a paragraph – the topic sentence. Ask them to tell you why the topic sentence is so important.

The topic sentence is very important for four reasons.

  1. Writing the topic sentence of a paragraph requires you to think very carefully about the focus of that paragraph. In other words, you will not be able to go on to develop a well-constructed paragraph without thinking very carefully about the content of that paragraph. This helps to limit any drift in the paragraph and will help you to edit out vague, unfocused writing.
  2. Having written the whole paragraph, you can return to the topic sentence and check whether the topic of the paragraph has in fact been clearly reflected in the writing. If you have drifted in a different direction during the paragraph, you will be able to see this very clearly.
  3. The topic sentences will help you to check the logical flow of your essay. A very good way to see if your essay is well constructed is to cut and paste the introduction on to a separate page, together with each of the topic sentences. When you look at your introduction and your topic sentences, there should be clear logical progression. You should be able to see the direction and development of your essay. The focus of each paragraph should be obvious. If this is not the case, you will need to go back and reconsider the topic sentences, the wording of your paragraphs and perhaps the structure of your essay.
  4. The topic sentence also guides the readers and enables them to follow your essay far more easily. (Very important when you want a good mark!) The topic sentences are rather like signposts leading the reader through the text.

Step 5: Hand out the jumbled sentences. The jumbled sentences can be presented on a single sheet and the students can write numbers on the sheet to indicate the sequence and grouping. Alternatively, the sentences can be pre-numbered and students write the re-arranged sequence and grouping on a separate sheet.

An even better method is to present the sentences on numbered strips of paper with one sentence on each strip. This enables students to move the sentences physically, to visualize their results better and facilitates discussion in group work.

Tell the students to work in pairs. Tell them that there are three paragraphs. Tell them to start by trying to track down the three topic sentences. (Allow 5-10 minutes depending on the class.)

Step 6: Ask for feedback on the topic sentences. Agree on the topic sentences.

Step 7: Next, tell them to decide on the sentences in each paragraph. They can look for inking words and expressions (as well as the meaning of the text). Allow at least 10-15 minutes depending on the class.

Step 8: Ask for feedback. Agree on the order and the reason why (i.e. the links).

Jumbled sentences

In the passage below, the sentences are in no particular order and are not grouped into paragraphs.

Paragraphing – Planets and Life

Earth is sometimes referred to as the ‘Goldilocks’ planet because conditions here are just right for life.

However, it is significantly closer to the Sun and hence, significantly hotter.

Had it been a little closer to the Sun, it would have boiled away.

However, the gravity of this small planet is too weak to hold on to a thick atmosphere and its distance from the Sun means that it is very cold.

The water is present because the Earth lies almost in the middle of the ‘comfort’ zone around the Sun.

The planet Venus is almost the twin of the Earth in size.

In fact, this was not possible as any water boiled away because of the heat of the Sun.

In other words, had the Earth been a little further away from the Sun, any water would have been permanently frozen.

This contributed to a greenhouse effect which sent the temperatures soaring.

It is about half as far again from the Sun and so it is significantly colder.

There is no evidence for life in these dry, cold conditions.

It is unlikely that life can exist in such hot conditions.

The most obvious sign that life is possible is the presence of abundant water.

A planet the size of the Earth in the orbit of Mars might have been able to hold on to a protective atmosphere.

Had it been a little further away, it might have been able to form lakes or seas.

The water vapour helped to build up thick clouds.

With an atmosphere, it could have become warmer and possibly even fertile.

Mars is considerably smaller than the Earth and it only has about one-tenth of the Earth’s mass.

Correctly paragraphed

In the passage below, the sentences have been arranged into a clear logical order and grouped into cognate paragraphs.

Paragraphing – Planets and Life

Earth is sometimes referred to as the ‘Goldilocks’ planet because conditions here are just right for life. The most obvious sign that life is possible is the presence of abundant water. The water is present because the Earth lies almost in the middle of the ‘comfort’ zone around the Sun. In other words, had the Earth been a little further away from the Sun, any water would have been permanently frozen. Had it been a little closer to the Sun, it would have boiled away.

The planet Venus is almost the twin of the Earth in size. However, it is significantly closer to the Sun and hence, significantly hotter. Had it been a little further away, it might have been able to form lakes or seas. In fact, this was not possible as any water boiled away because of the heat of the Sun. The water vapour helped to build up thick clouds. This contributed to a greenhouse effect which sent the temperatures soaring. It is unlikely that life can exist in such hot conditions.

Mars is considerably smaller than the Earth and it only has about one-tenth of the Earth’s mass. It is about half as far again from the Sun and so it is significantly colder. A planet the size of the Earth in the orbit of Mars might have been able to hold on to a protective atmosphere. With an atmosphere, it could have become warmer and possibly even fertile. However, the gravity of this small planet is too weak to hold on to a thick atmosphere and its distance from the Sun means that it is very cold. There is no evidence for life in these dry, cold conditions.

Paragraphing Practice

TOPIC: Age difference in marriage

Class / Level: Pre-intermediate

Students: Adults / Young adults

Date and Time of lesson:

Length of lesson: 60 minutes

Number of students: 12

Lesson aim: To practise paragraphing.

New language: groom, vicar, registry office

Assumptions: Students have done some previous work on paragraphing but are not yet competent in paragraphing their writing.

Step 1: When is a good age to marry? Why?

Step 2: What sort of age difference is good? Why? Why not? Would you marry someone much older / younger? Why/Why not?

Step 3: Does it matter if the bride is older than the groom? Why?/Why not? What sort of difference do you think is too much?

Step 4: Show pictures of attractive older men (Harrison Ford etc) and discuss marriage to an older man.

Step 5: Show pictures of attractive older women (Jane Fonda etc) and discuss.

Step 6: Write the word marriage in the centre of the board and brainstorm words associated with it in a circle around it. Where appropriate teach groom, vicar, registry office.

Step 7: Play a recording of the report. Tell the students to listen out for any ages mentioned.

Step 8: Play the recording again. Tell the students to listen for names. Step 9: Play the recording again. Tell the students to listen for the reasons why the vicar refused to marry them.

Step 10: Discuss whether the vicar was right or wrong.

Step 11: Hand out the newspaper report in one paragraph. Tell the students to read it through and decide on the paragraphing individually.

Step 12: Tell the students to work in pairs and compare their paragraphs. Agree on one arrangement.

Step 13: Tell each pair to join another pair and compare their paragraphing.

Step 14: Ask for feedback from students on paragraphing. Discussion on best arrangement and why. Point out the topic sentences ie the first sentence of each paragraph.

Here is the passage in paragraphs.

Bride told she’s too old for the groom

Two people have been refused permission to marry in a church. The bride to be and her future husband were looking forward to a wedding with bridesmaids and pageboys. However, days after talking to the vicar about their wedding, the couple, who have lived together for seven years, received a letter saying that the wedding was off because the bride was twice the age of the groom.

The couple were shocked by the news. Ellen Peters, 54, and Peter Osbourne, 27, were told by the Reverend Anne Machins that she thought the marriage was ill-advised and that she was unable to marry the couple. They are now unable to have a church wedding. The couple, who are very angry, will have a registry office ceremony instead.

The two of them are very angry. Ms Peters, a divorced accountant with two sons, said, “I am absolutely shattered!” Mr Osbourne, a teacher said, “I am with the woman I love and she loves me. Age has nothing to do with it.” However, the minister said that she had the authority to refuse any wedding. She said, “I think I’m quite liberal but something was not quite right. When he is 60, she will be 86 and she might be a little old lady in a home. If it all went wrong, people would ask why the church did it.”

Teaching grammar

The pages that follow provide a collection of teaching material on a variety of themes starting with the Cadbury family and chocolate. Teachers are invited to pick and choose items that they feel might be appropriate for their class. Over time, further materials will be added so that eventually there is a wide collection of historical material and up-to-date material that can be used with students.

The level of the materials and suggested activities varies and teachers will need to decide which passages are at the right level for their class. Similarly, the activities used by the teacher will be determined by the level of the class.

The texts themselves and students’ learning activities and exercises are presented in ‘Thematic learning’.

Multi-word verbs (phrasal verbs)

Date:

Class / Level : Intermediate

Students: Adults / Young learners

Time :

Length of lesson : 40 minutes

Number of students : 12

Lesson aim : To practise some multi-word verbs (phrasal verbs)

New language :

Assumptions : That the students have some experience of these verbs but are still not confident about using them.

Note: The expression multi-word verbs is used more frequently these days than, for example, phrasal verbs, for verbs that are made up of more than one word. They are a problem for learners because there are so many of them and some of them tend to be rather colloquial. Knowing the meaning of the separate words does not necessarily give the meaning of the phrase as a whole, e.g. let in, let out, let on, let up, let down, let go, let fly.

Native speakers use them without even thinking and would probably be surprised if someone pointed out how many we use. Learners of English need to be able to recognise and understand them at the very least, but ideally they should also be able to bring them into their own speech as well.

A complication with multi-word verbs is that some of them can be split up (He took down the decorations or He took the decorations down) and some of them can’t (He got up in the morning but not He got in the morning up). On the whole, it’s best to stick to ones that stay together at first, unless they are easy examples that the students will understand.

Step 1

Either ask the students to use their dictionaries or hand out dictionaries. Ask them to look up the word get. Point out the very large number of meanings there are for get as well as for get + another word or words. Let them look through these.

Step 2

Tell the students to work in pairs. Tell them to replace the italicized words in the text below with a multi-word verb using get. They can use their dictionaries. Move around the room to support them as necessary.

climbed out of my bed at 7 o’clock this morning. It was time to go to work! My wife didn’t move. I wasn’t surprised. We are not friendly these days and don’t talk much. I could never explain what I really wanted to say. Anyway she was recovering from a bad cold. I didn’t mind too much. I was doing well at work and believed that we could survive this difficult period. However, she didn’t know what I was doing at work. She didn’t know that I was trying to become friendly with my secretary. I didn’t want her to know. I knew it would make her feel unhappy. My main ambition was to be successful. To be better than the others! I had tried to explain this to my wife but she didn’t seem to understand.

Remind the class that to use get so often in the same paragraph would be a poor style of writing.

Step 3

Go through the passage with the class. List all the multi-verbs used on the board. Explain the meaning of any where necessary.

Step 4

Now divide the students into groups. Give each of the groups examples of multi-word verbs. Ask them to look them up in their dictionary if they do not know the meaning. (Note: some have a variety of meanings!)

  • put: put up with / put off / put forward / put upon
  • make: make up with / make out with / make away with / make up
  • turn: turn in / turn over / turn up / turn down

Step 5

Play the students a tape that includes numerous examples of multi-verb verbs. Ask them to spot the verbs and list them down. The tape will need to be played more than once.

When Tom rang last week, I could hardly make out what he was saying. I hung on for a while but it was impossible. I shouted to him that I would ring back but I’m not even sure if he heard me. I rang off and then called up his number. We had a number of important matters to talk about. We needed to clear up some disagreements. When we finally managed to talk, I brought up a number of important questions. I tried to put across my ideas but he didn’t accept my ideas. I tried to stand up for my ideas but he cut me off. In the end I ran out of things to say and hung up. I was quite fed up!

When Tom rang last week, I could hardly make out what he was saying. I hung on for a while but it was impossible. I shouted to him that I would ring back but I’m not even sure if he heard me. I rang off and then called him up. We had a number of important matters to talk about. We needed to clear up some disagreements. When we finally managed to talk, I brought up a number of important questions. I tried to put across my plans but he didn’t accept my ideas. I tried to stand up for my ideas but he cut me off. In the end I ran out of things to say and hung up. I was quite fed up!

Step 6

Ask them what multi-word verbs they heard and list them on the board. Ask them about the meaning and if necessary provide example sentences to clearly demonstrate the meaning. If necessary, play the tape again.

Step 7

Hand out the text (when all the listening activities have been completed) and go through all of the multi-verb words with the class. Ensure that they are clear about the meaning of each one.

Poetry in the language classroom

Poetry has numerous uses and benefits in the English language-learning classroom. Besides adding to the range and variety of uses of English, poetry provides cultural insights and forms a basis of discussion. Poems are often thought-provoking and help teachers to break away from routine exercises; they are often humorous and add a motivational buzz to classroom activity.

Poetry also provides good practice in developing correct pronunciation and intonation. Rhythms and rhyming patterns not only develop technical language skills; they add fun and vigour to the process!

The teacher of modern English usage has to be selective otherwise there is the danger that students will focus on archaic or literary forms that are not relevant for typical modern English in general or business contexts. ‘Poetic licence’ is an important concept in the use of English but needs to be used at the right time and in the right place!

Poems, with English language teaching notes