CONTENTS
HOW TO TEACH BUSINESS ENGLISH 17-18 JOB INTERVIEW:
3 WRITING: How to Teach
Correspondence to Your
ESL Students: Writing
Business Letters
4 EMPLOYMENT: How to
Teach Business English:
Employment
5-6 TIPS & TRICKS: It’s
Just Business: 4 Great
Business Activities You
Can Do With Your ESL
Class
7 RESOURCES: Top 10
Websites for Business
English Teachers
8-9 TIPS AND TRICKS:
15 Activities That
Your Business English
Students Will Love
10-11 TIPS AND TRICKS:
Business English
Lessons: Successful
Activities
12-13 TIPS AND TRICKS: 10
Essential English Skills
Your Students Need for
the Business World
14 RESUME: How to Teach
Your ESL Students Job
Application Skills: The
Resume
15 COVER LETTER: How
to Teach Your ESL
Students Job Application
Skills: The Cover Letter
16 JOB HUNT: How
to Teach Your ESL
Students Job Application
Skills: The Job Hunt
How to Teach Your ESL 31-32 TIPS & TRICKS: 8
Students Job Application Tips On Becoming A
Skills: The Interview Successful Corporate
Teacher
19 BUSINESS MEMO:
Beyond Tweeting: 33-34 TIPS & TRICKS:
Writing the Business Workplace and Academic
Memo Phrases: What Your
Students Need to Know
20-21 BUSINESS
PROPOSAL: Further 35-36 BUSINESS IDIOMS:
Beyond Tweeting: The My Proposal was a
Business Proposal Slamdunk!: 10 Sports
Idioms Your Students
Need to Know for the
22 PHONE ETIQUETTE: Workplace
Don’t Answer the Office
Phone with “Hey”:
Teaching Essential 37 BUSINESS EMAILS:
Business Phone 9 Best Tips to Give
Etiquette ESL Students for
Professional Business
Emails
23-24 MEETING
ETIQUETTE: Don’t
Smoke at the Meeting: 38-39 REGISTER: To
Teaching Essential Whom It May Concern:
Business Meeting Phrases, Structures, and
Etiquette Register of Business
25-26 FORMAL VS
INFORMAL: Don’t
“Dude” the Boss: Basics
on the Formal/Informal
Dilemma for ESL
Students
27 RESUME & COVER
LETTER: Getting to
First Base: Teaching
Resumes and Cover
Letters
28-29 TIPS & TRICKS: From
Resumes to Proposals:
Must-Do Projects for the
Business ESL Class
30 PHONE MESSAGES:
Who Called and Said
She’s Interested in
Our Service? Teaching
the Art of Leaving and
Taking Phone Messages
How to Teach Correspondence:
Writing Business Letters
We live in an age of fast-paced, frequent
communication. Texting, e-mail and in-
stant messaging often assault us from
every side. Even so, the classic means
of communicating, business letters, per-
sonal letters, etc. are still important for
students to learn.
HOW TO TEACH
BUSINESS
CORRESPONDENCE TO
YOUR ESL STUDENTS
1 THE BUSINESS LETTER
You will want to remind your stu-
dents of the reasons to write a business
letter that they generated in the first
brainstorming activity. You can use one
of their ideas if you like, but having your
students write to a local business that
they frequent is a way to support your
community and help your students ex-
press themselves at the same time. If
you do not want your students to write
to a local business, you may want them
to write to a larger company that makes
a product that they like. The advantage
to doing this is that your students may
receive correspondence in return with
coupons or some other useful item in-
cluded. If you decide to do this, you can
create a bar graph to track the number
of students who received return cor-
respondence though they should not
expect to receive a letter in return. You
could also make a place in your class-
room to post any return correspondenc-
es students have received for the rest of
the class to read.
Because business letters are more for-
mal, encourage your students to type
the final drafts of their letters. If you have
the resources available in class, you can
have students type during their writing
workshops. If you have a computer lab
at the school, your class can type their
letters from the beginning. If neither of
these are a possibility, have your stu-
dents write their letters in class and then
type them for homework. The structure
of a business letter will be different from
that of personal letter, and you will want
to make the differences clear to your
students. They will still begin with a re-
turn address and date, but this time they
will be justified on the left side of the
page. After the date, students should
skip a line and then include the name
of the person to whom they are writing,
Mr. or Ms. and then first and last name.
Below that, students should include the
recipient’s address. All of these pieces
will be in line on the left side of the page.
Students should then write the greeting,
again left justified. This time they will ad-
dress their letter with Mr. or Ms. followed
by the person’s last name and a colon.
This colon is different from the comma
used in a personal letter. Another differ-
ence between personal and business
letters is the paragraph structure. In a
personal letter, your students follow
the convention of indenting each para-
graph. With a business letter, instead of
indenting each paragraph, they will be
left justified, but your students will skip
lines between the paragraphs to sepa-
rate each one. Again, give your students
class time to write the message and then
move on to the closing. The closing will
be left justified like the rest of the letter,
but you will want to take some time with
your class to brainstorm closings ap-
propriate for a business letter. The most
common closing will be sincerely, but
your students can also use best regards
or any other closings you think are ap-
propriate. Finish the business letter with
a closing, usually sincerely. After the let-
ter is printed, your students should sign
their name by hand.
Now that your students are finished with
the letter itself, it is once again time to
address the envelope. This time you
should give them a larger, business en-
velope. The full sheet of paper on which
they typed their letters should be folded
into thirds and then will fit perfectly into
the business envelope. Most business
letters will have a printed envelope, but
this may be beyond what you want to do
with your class, especially with younger
students. You can have your students
address the envelope the same way
they did for the personal letter, affix the
stamp and mail.
2
STEP OUT FURTHER
If you are in a setting where you
can take field trips, round out your let-
ter-teaching unit with a visit to your local
post office. This is a great listening activ-
ity if the postmaster or mail carrier gives
your students a tour and explains how
mail is processed. It is also an interest-
ing lesson in culture for students from
other countries. Though you can mail a
letter anywhere in the world, the way the
mail is processed may be different from
country to country, and your students
will find it interesting to see the differ-
ences. You can also use a classroom
post office to encourage your students
to keep writing to one another.
3 THE MEMO
A final type of correspondence to
teach your students is the memo. The
memo is still for business purposes but
is shorter and follows different conven-
tions than the business letter. A memo
is used between employees in one com-
pany and not for colleagues outside the
company. Like the business letter, the
entirety of the memo will be left justified
and paragraphs will not be indented. A
standard memo will have preprinted la-
bels or places for the writer to insert his
information. It will look something like
the following.
Memo
To:
From:
Date:
Re:
A colon should follow each of the pre-
printed labels, and the message of the
memo will go below the preprinted sec-
tion. If you decide to have your students
write memos, you may want to print a
memo template for them and just have
them fill in the necessary information.
There are many memo templates avail-
able with word processing programs
and on-line. When your students write
memos, they should write them to an-
other person in the class. You will need
to explain that re: means regarding and
that this is where they should state the
purpose or topic of the memo in a word
or two. A memo does not need an enve-
lope, but your students should give the
memos to you and you should distribute
them to the recipients.
IN A WORLD WITH COMMUNICA-
TION THAT MOVES AT THE SPEED OF
ELECTRICITY, TRADITIONAL FORMS
OF CORRESPONDENCE STILL REMAIN
IMPORTANT.
3
How to Teach Business English:
Employment
When starting out, many teachers might
find themselves intimidated by these
words. Business English undoubtedly
sounds very professional, and appears
to require a whole range of different skills
and qualifications. This is not necessar-
ily so. Being a native English speaker
or someone of near-native level will un-
doubtedly be one of the first steps with
regards to this. When one steps into a
business English class, it is important to
realise the goal first and foremost. You will
be there to teach people how to improve
their English communication skills within
a business setting. It is just like teaching
English in any other sense, the only differ-
ence is that it is focused on doing it within
a corporate setting as opposed to a ca-
sual, everyday set-up.
HOW TO TEACH
BUSINESS ENGLISH:
EMPLOYMENT
1 SUSS OUT THE CLASS
One of the first things to remember
is that you will be teaching adults. De-
pending on where you are, this could be a
single one-on-one class or a large group.
Some of the students may be paying for
the classes themselves, whilst other will
be sent their by a company. Students who
pay for their own classes tend to be more
interested and motivated. For students
sent by their employer, it is possible that
they could see this as time off work.
2
SETTING THE GOAL
Keeping the class interested and
engaged will be one of the first things one
needs to do. It is paramount that the stu-
dents do more talking than the teacher.
This is referred to Student Talking Time as
opposed to Teacher Talking Time. When
beginning, it will be you who is speaking
the most. The aim of the class will be to
gradually decrease one’s own amount of
speaking and allow the students to take
over.
3
GRAB THEIR INTEREST
So in order to find a topic which might
interest everyone, employment would be
a good place to start. Students might start
to “come out of their shell” so to speak, if
you begin to ask them about their work
and their hours. It is well known that most
4
people like to complain, and this could be
a chance for them to vent. In venting any
frustration they might have, they will be
using English and attaining the goal you
originally set out to do.
4 BUILD VOCABULARY
So to begin, a good idea would be to
elicit words from the students with regards
to employment. “Contract”, “pay check”
and others could be written up on the
board. A word of warning: don’t go prying
into the student’s lives and ask them what
their pay is. Rather focus on the aspects
of being employed. It is also important to
steer away from any negative comments
about a particular employer. Rather, focus
on the positive or the everyday aspects of
the job.
5 TIME TO DEVELOP
With a fresh bank of vocabulary now
available, it might be a good idea to en-
courage the students further. One of the
ways of doing this is to come up with an
activity or a game. Perhaps even a role-
play. Setting up a mock interview would
also be a good idea. In doing this, the stu-
dents will get a chance to speak to the
imaginary “employer” and answer ques-
tions through English.
6
ELICITING WORDS
From this mock interview process,
we can then elicit more words from the
students. Eliciting words will help the stu-
dents to think, rather than being spoon-fed
by their instructor. So to begin with, have
the students pair up. Give them a topic, or
make them come up with their own. Then,
ask one to be the employer and one to be
the candidate. Give the “employers” a few
minutes to create some questions for the
“candidate” to answer.
7
ALLOW SOME SUPERVISED
FREE REIGN
Allow the class about ten minutes to prac-
tice their role-plays. Walk around and
make sure that they are speaking English,
and see if anybody has any problems.
By keeping an eye on them, they will be
more likely to speak in English to one an-
other rather than slipping back into their
native tongue. Listen and keep score until
the very end, and then end the exercise.
8 KEEP FOCUS ON NEW WORDS
Ask questions of the students. What
skills did X have. Try and elicit more
words. For example, if a student mentions
the verb “buy”, ask them if there are any
other verbs which mean the same thing.
This will definitely help to expand the vo-
cabulary of the students, and allow their
brains to get thinking.
9 THE PRACTICE SESSION
Once we have collected a large
amount of vocabulary, it is time to put it
into use. Get two students to come up to
the front of the class and act as a candi-
date and employer, echoing the previous
exercise. Give them a few minutes to pre-
pare, but this time they must use some of
the new words that you have written out
on the board and gotten from other stu-
dents.
10 BUILDING CONFIDENCE
Everyone else will be able to
sit back and watch the interplay. By com-
ing up in front of the class, they will be en-
couraged to speak a little louder and talk
more in English. If time permits, one could
do this for all the groups present although
this is not necessary. Alternatively, one
could choose to simply re-do the role-play
exercise but with the new vocabulary.
11
REMEMBER THE GOAL
The key to business English is
to teach the students how to use it within
a business setting, and apart from that
the addition of new vocabulary is always
a plus. When students are familiar with
grammar structures and how to use them,
all one can do is to build on their bank of
word knowledge, and teach them how to
apply it to a specific scenario or situation.
ROLE-PLAYS ARE AN ESSENTIAL COM-
PONENT OF BUSINESS ENGLISH, AS
THEY ALLOW THE STUDENTS TO EX-
PRESS THEMSELVES IN A CERTAIN
MANNER. Any activity, especially from
the reading of a specific text, will also al-
low for more vocabulary opportunities to
arise. So when heading into one’s first
business English class, there is no need
for alarm. At the end of the day, business
English is just giving people instruction in
a specific manner of talking.
It’s Just Business: 4 Great
Business Activities You Can Do
WE HAVE ALL HEARD THE PHRASE,
“IT’S JUST BUSINESS,” AND BUSI-
NESS IS OFTEN ONE OF THE
BIGGEST REASONS INTERNATIONAL
STUDENTS COME TO THE UNITED
STATES TO LEARN ENGLISH.
Even if your students are too young
for entrepreneurship, it is never too
early to help them understand some
of the basic concepts of business.
With the following activities, you can
do just that while still improving their
language skills.
TRY THESE 4 GREAT
BUSINESS ACTIVITIES
WITH YOUR ESL
CLASS
1 MASS PRODUCTION
With the speedy pace of most
people’s lives today, fast food is a
weekly if not daily occurrence for
many families. Give your students an
understanding of what mass produc-
tion is like in the fast food world with
this simple activity. Start with a class
discussion brainstorming the types of
fast food they like. They may list items
available in this country, like hamburg-
ers and fried chicken, as well as foods
available in their native cultures. Once
you have a large enough list, divide
your class into groups of four. Each
group will be responsible for mass-
producing small pictures of the foods
you have listed on the board, one food
per group, one picture for each mem-
ber of the class. Each group should
decide which product they want to
produce, and it is okay for multiple
groups to choose the same food.
Provide your class with some basic
art materials like crayons, markers,
scisors and paper. Give your students
as much time as they need to make
the pictures, or make it more of a chal-
lenge and require them to complete
the pictures in a designated amount of
time. After all the pictures are made,
discuss with your class how they
felt about mass-producing their food
items. Did all the items have the same
appearance? Were they all of the
same quality? How did your students
work together as a team? Did they de-
velop some type of system that made
production easier? You can then pass
out the pictures to your class and ask
your students to look at the “food” in
front of them. Would they be satisfied
with this meal? What changes would
they make? Do they feel the same
way about fast food after mass pro-
ducing it?
2
PITCH IT
In the business world, it is es-
sential to effectively pitch your ideas to
potential investors. Without this skill, it
is nearly impossible to find sufficient
investors to fund the start up of a new
business. Have your students prac-
tice their public speaking skills by hav-
ing them give their own product pitch
to the class. Start by discussing as
a class what products your students
could produce and sell. They may be
items that they could make and sell as
students, such as decorated pencils
or potted plants, or they may be items
that are larger scale production, such
as televisions or cars. You may want
to have your class divide the list into
items it would be possible for them
to produce now and items that would
require a larger scale production and
that they cannot make on their own.
Each student should then choose one
of the items from the list of possibili-
ties they could actually produce. Make
sure your class understands that a
pitch can determine whether a person
or company will give you money to
start a new business or product. Ei-
ther working independently or in pairs,
have your students prepare the pitch
they will be giving to the class. They
should think about the advantages of
the product, why it would make sense
to invest in its production, and how
the student expects to sell the prod-
uct. They should then prepare a short
presentation for the class to pitch their
products.
Give each student an opportunity to
give his or her pitch to the class. He
will want to present the most convinc-
ing arguments for his potential prod-
uct. Your students should be listening
carefully as their classmates give their
pitches. Once all the products have
been pitched, your class will vote on
which product they would be willing to
invest in. The three students with the
most votes win the contest. As your
students are voting, make sure they
understand that their vote should be
based on the quality of the product
and the potential to make money and
not on popularity or friendships.
3 OPEN FOR BUSINESS
This activity is a natural exten-
sion of the product pitching, but it can
also be done independently. Tell your
students that you will be starting up a
class store. Your students will make
the products and then sell them to the
rest of the school. Divide your class
into groups of at least four students.
Each group should discuss the prod-
ucts they might want to produce. They
can use items from the list in activity
two or come up with their own. They
should make a list of the materials
they will need, how much each item’s
production will cost, and how much
they should sell the item for. Work with
your students to make sure you have
available all the materials they need,
and then designate some class time
for your groups to make their products
or assign it as homework.
To connect with the rest of the school,
select a date when your students
can sell their products, or set up an
area of your classroom to serve as
a “store”. Then invite other classes
in to purchase items if desired. Your
students will have to keep the booth
supervised and collect the money as
they make sales. Use the money from
the sales to fund a class party or field
trip. If possible, coordinate with other
classes in your school to have a stu-
dent craft fair where all the students
can purchase items that other classes
have made. If you are able to do this,
you may want to combine the profits
to bring a special assembly to your
school or use them to purchase an
5
 item that is needed by the school.

4 STICK TO THE BUDGET

Setting a budget and follow-
ing it is a skill that everyone should
have. You can give your students
experience with this business con-
cept through this easy activity. The
next time you make a trip to your gro-
cery store, grab several copies of the
weekly sales circular they have avail-
able. On the day you do this activity
with your class, give them the circu-
lars. Help them understand that they
will need to budget money for grocer-
ies for a week. Divide your class into
groups of three students each, and
tell each group that they have $100
to spend on food for one week of
meals for the group. They must plan
for three meals a day, every day. The
group should then discuss their op-
tions and decide how they will spend
their money. Each group should make
a list of the meals they plan for the
week and how much each meal cost.
After all the groups have finished their
plans, discuss as a class how they felt
about managing their money. Was it
easy to purchase food for the week
with the $100? Did they have trouble
getting enough food with that amount
of money? In general, what meal cost
the most: breakfast, lunch or dinner?
Did they plan for any special meals
that they spent more money on? What
can they learn about budgeting mon-
ey from this activity? How can they
implement the concept of budgeting
to their lives now? (Their answers will
vary greatly depending on the age of
your students.)

IT’S JUST BUSINESS, BUT THAT

DOES NOT MEAN THAT YOUR CLASS
CANNOT HAVE FUN AS THEY PRAC-
TICE THE CONCEPTS OF BUDGETING,
SALES, PRODUCTION AND PITCHING.
Whether you do all these activities or
only some of them, your students will
have a better understanding of the
world of business and perhaps get the
inspiration for a business of their own.

6
Top 10 Websites
for Business English Teachers
NO MATTER HOW WELL EXPERIENCED
OR QUALIFIED ONE IS, SOMETIMES WE
REACH STUMBLING BLOCKS ALONG
OUR CAREER PATH.
Oftentimes this is generally due to the
stress of teaching specific classes, or it
may just be that the teacher themselves
is running out of ideas. Never fear, how-
ever, because there is a wide range of
different options available today! Not
only are there books out there which
will help with ESL teaching, but one can
also look up a wide variety of different re-
sources which are available on the Inter-
net. Don’t allow yourself to get bogged
down anymore, as there is so much in-
formation available on the World Wide
Web that it would be silly not to have a
look here.
TOP 10 SITES FOR
BUSINESS ENGLISH
TEACHERS
1 ABOUT.COM
This isn’t a website which is spe-
cifically devoted to TEFL or ESL, of
course, but there is a rich bank of infor-
mation here for the teacher who might
find themselves stuck. It includes a va-
riety of different articles including ideas
for games, teaching older and younger
learners and much more. This website
has a long history of providing informa-
tion on a huge range of topics and one is
bound to find some interesting facts and
pieces of information right here.
2 BUSINESSENGLISHSITE.COM
This comprehensive site is de-
signed more with students in mind,
and hosts a wide range of activities for
them to go on and complete in order to
improve their own language skills. But
don’t be turned off by this right away, as
there is still a lot of very useful informa-
tion here. For those who are stuck with
ways of helping their own class practice,
then it is the perfect opportunity to gather
some ideas from. Have a look through
the exercises, and see how you can cus-
tomize them to suit your own classes.
3 BREAKINGNEWSENGLISH.
COM
For those of us who happen to be some-
what stuck for materials to read in the
class, this website can be a lifesaver.
Discussing current events within the
classroom can undoubtedly lead to a lot
of heated debate and whilst it ought to
be kept in check, it will undoubtedly en-
courage the students to speak their mind
and practice their English more thor-
oughly. Regularly updated, this website
is something every teacher should keep
bookmarked!
4
ESLPARTYLAND.COM
This website also shows a compre-
hensive list of different activities to make
the classroom learning experience a lit-
tle more fun. What’s great about this par-
ticular site, however, is that it has some
lesson plans already made out which
one can freely customize to suit the spe-
cific class. Whilst it caters to all kinds of
English teachers, there is no reason why
it cannot be done to suit business Eng-
lish lessons as well. It also breaks them
down into various categories including
the likes of grammar training, teaching
with music and much more.
5
ESLLIBRARY.COM
Much like the previous website,
this particular one will cater towards both
students and teachers and is another
excellent place to pick up the likes of les-
son plans and other ideas. It is possible
to sign up with this website in order to
get the likes of flashcards and other re-
sources pertaining to English teaching.
Definitely worth a look if one is seeking
out some solid learning materials for stu-
dents.
6
BOGGLESWORLDESL.COM
Another great site which has a
huge amount of information on it. There
is a section where a lot of different ac-
tivities are displayed and one can pick
and choose from these. Of course, they
are just ideas and when stumbling upon
websites like this, it is important to tai-
lor one’s classes to suit the students
themselves. This site also has sections
for other types of learners, should the
teacher require information of various
kinds for teaching different age groups.
7 ESLGOLD.COM
Another rich resource, not only for
people who are teachers but students
can also gain a lot of benefit from this
website as well. This is a list of different
exercises which the student can partici-
pate in and, as teachers are sometimes
like magpies, it would often be a good
move to have a look through the exer-
cises yourself and see how they can be
taken and applied to classroom situation.
8
ESLAMERICA.US
Whilst business English tends to
focus more on conversation, sometimes
students might need to go over various
grammatical structures in order to re-
inforce them in the mind. This website
provides links to various different gram-
matical exercises which can incredibly
helpful to teachers who might need a
little bit of inspiration within this field. A
lot of people do not enjoy grammar and
find it difficult, therefore this website will
give simple guidelines in its instruction.
9 TESOL.ORG
Not only will this provide advice for
teachers, but there is also a supportive
community here where teachers can get
together and exchange various ideas.
Sometimes reading through Business
English manuals and following instruc-
tions isn’t enough, and one needs to
speak with others in the field, some of
whom may have more experience and
better qualifications. One can never
learn too much.
10 USINGENGLISH.COM
Another extra website which
will provide many different ready-made
Business English lesson plans and
other sources of information. One can
never have too many of these on a fa-
vourite’s list, so it is important to keep
everything organized and pick from
what is needed for the next class.
THERE IS TONNES OF INFORMA-
TION OUT THERE ON THE WEB. What
has been listed here is only a sample
of some of the more comprehensive
websites. Whether one is a beginning
teacher or experienced, it never helps to
remain closed to new ideas and there-
fore expanding one’s own education is
key to progressing and becoming a bet-
ter teacher.
7
 15 Activities That Your Business
English Students Will Love
TEACHING ENGLISH CAN BE A
FICKLE BUSINESS AT TIMES AND
SOMETIMES THE TEACHER MAY
FEEL LIKE MORE AN ENTERTAINER
THAN ANYTHING ELSE.
Whatever it takes to get one’s stu-
dents learning, however, can only
be a good thing and there is a huge
range of different games and activities
that can be used.
A lot of the time people who teach
business English will have core text
books that they need to stick to, but
the learning process can be made a
little bit easier by adding in a few extra
activities. It will keep the students’ at-
tention focused and as well as this, it
will also allow them to relax. Whether
it be a warmer, something to fill the
gap or a relaxing activity at the end,
here is a list of activities that most
Business English students will enjoy.
TRY THESE 15 GREAT
BUSINESS ENGLISH
ACTIVITIES THAT
YOUR STUDENTS WILL
LOVE
1 HANG MAN
Everybody loves to play games
in class. Many of us will remember
times during school when the teacher
would play a games on the board in
order to keep the class interested.
It seemed a lot more fun than doing
normal work, and with adults this is
no different. Hangman involves the
students having to guess a particular
word. You think of a word, and draw a
line of blank boxes on the board which
indicate how many letters the word
has. Students then ask for clues to the
word, and then add letters. For every
letter they get wrong, a body part is
drawn. Once the picture is complete,
the man is “hanged” so to speak and
they lose. If they win, however, the
entire word will be spelled out on the
board. Undoubtedly this is a great
way of practicing English and getting
the class involved.
8
2 CHINESE WHISPERS
Another way to get the students’
minds going is a game of Chinese
Whispers. A lot of people might think
of it as a childish game, but it is im-
portant to remember that even adults
need to unwind sometimes. Come up
with a specific phrase, give it to one
student, and then they have to whis-
per it to their partner and it is passed
along like this. It will definitely be inter-
esting to examine the end result com-
pared to the beginning.
3
JOB SKILLS INTERVIEW
For those who are interested in
reviewing their own skills, setting up a
mock interview is a great way of help-
ing the students to become more con-
fident. Get them to come up with their
own questions for the candidate, and
then let them find a partner with which
to practice. This will build up their own
confidence and allow them to get bet-
ter with conversational skills.
4 TELEPHONE ROLE PLAY
This is a fairly simple one which
everyone will love. Get the class to
divide into pairs and write up a small
conversational piece. When practic-
ing this role play, the students need
to sit back to back in order to simulate
talking on the phone. This will get to
speak a lot more, since they have only
their voice to rely on.
5
CALL MY BLUFF
This is a very popular game
which students will also enjoy. Divide
the class into two groups or more, de-
pending on big it is. Give each group a
specific word, and also give them the
correct meaning of it. The groups then
attempt to fool one another by having
a list of meanings for that one word,
only one of which is true.
6
TWENTY QUESTIONS
This can be quite a humorous
game to play and definitely will get
a few laughs from everyone. Have
somebody sit in front of the board,
and write the name of a famous per-
son above their heads. They then
have to ask the class questions about
the person until they find out who it is.
7
WRITE A STORY
This activity can be used for ei-
ther the improvement of conversation-
al skills or writing skills. It follows the
same idea of the “story stick” whereby
a student comes up with the first sen-
tence of the story, and the second
comes up with the next, and so on.
This can turn into a very entertaining
piece and can do wonders in helping
the students to get better.
8
SIMON SAYS
This game can be used to test a
wide range of vocabulary knowledge,
from parts of the body to objects
which are in the room. Students have
to listen to what the teacher says, and
go over and touch that particular ob-
ject when the teacher says, “Simon
says... Go to the chair.” This is gener-
ally played with lower levels.
9 SIMULATION GAMES
Quite similar to a role play. This
difference is, the students set up their
own scenario and have to act it out
in front of the class. This means they
have no set lines they have to adhere
to, and therefore anything goes as
long as they are speaking English.
10
ICEBREAKER
Often this particular activ-
ity can be used as a warm up for the
start of a new class. Compose a list of
questions, such as “Who has a dog?”
and other trivial pieces of information.
Distribute them to students, and then
get the students to go about filling
in the answers from others. This will
definitely help them to improve their
conversational skills and get to know
others in the class.
11 SENTENCE BUILDING
Use this activity to test out your stu-
dents’ own knowledge by getting them
to build sentences themselves on the
board. A noun phrase generally works
at the start, by simply adding, “The old
woman.” Get the students to add ad-
jectives, prepositions and other sen-
tence parts to form something that is
clear and makes sense.
Of course, these are not the only ac-
tivities and it is often a good idea to
take a look up on various Business
English websites to find more ideas.
Tailoring various games to suit busi-
ness English is pretty easy, and it is
undoubtedly a great way to boost the
students’ confidence whilst helping
them have fun at the same time.

12 DRAW THE WORD

This is a particularly in-
teresting exercises whereby one can
test the abilities of their students. Get
one of them to come up to the front
of the class and give the rest of the
class a word to describe. They can-
not say the actual word, they must al-
low the person to draw it. Therefore,
it must be a concrete noun of some
kind, usually a complicated one which
can be described in detail. This can
be quite a lot of fun and everyone can
participate.

13 PICK OUT WORDS

This one is a little more
complicated. When reading a text, jot
down certain words on the board and
have the students try and think of new
words. Even if they don’t come up
with much, it is a great way of teach-
ing new vocabulary.

14 YOUTUBE ACTIVITY
When studying a particu-
lar topic, Youtube clips or a video of
some kind can be a great way to let
the student practice their listening
skills. Choose a video relevant to the
topic at hand (such as a newscast)
and play it. Afterwards, ask questions
about it orally.

15 CLASS SURVEY
When studying marketing,
this could be a great way of helping
students break the ice in their first
classes. Get them to survey each oth-
er on a wide range of topics, as it will
get them talking in English and using
it proactively.

THERE ARE MANY, MANY MORE

WAYS THROUGH WHICH ONE CAN
GET STUDENTS TO PRACTICE THEIR
ENGLISH SKILLS.

9
 Business English Lessons:
Successful Activities
Students from across the globe are
taking Business English lessons and
the reasons are obvious. In today’s
globalized world, English is the lan-
guage of choice when it comes to
conducting business. Moreover, those
who speak English, and speak it well,
often have a competitive advantage
over their business rivals. And those
who seek better job opportunities also
turn to Business English courses to
increase their chances of success in
today’s tough job market. These Busi-
ness English students are very differ-
ent from other ESL learners. You’ll find
they are highly motivated and will em-
brace the activities you set forth with
great enthusiasm, as long as these
activities are targeted to help them
meet their communication goals.
So, without further ado, here are
some great activities for the Business
English class.
SPEAKING ACTIVITIES
The best type of speaking activity for
students who wish to polish their Busi-
ness English involves role plays. All
you have to do is place your students
in real-life situations and roles.
1
THE JOB INTERVIEW
First have students come up
with a list of some of the most com-
mon job interview questions. These
may include any of the following:
What can you tell me about your-
self?
Why do you want to work for us?
What were your responsibilities at
your last job?
What is your biggest strength?
What is your biggest weakness?
Which skills and abilities do you
possess?
What are your qualifications?
What motivates you to do a good
job?
Why should we hire you?
Ask students to brainstorm possible
answers to each of these questions.
Remind them of the usual interview
strategies, like presenting a weak-
10
ness that is actually a strength. Have
students pair up and take turns being
interviewer and job applicant. Walk
around the classroom to offer assis-
tance as needed.
2 COMPANY RUNDOWN
For this activity, you’ll need to
use real-life, original materials. Ask
students to bring in brochures, leaf-
lets, or any type of sales literature
from their companies, or bring some
material yourself (you can print Web
pages that clearly list a company’s
services and products). Discuss with
students what visitors to the company
might want to know, what informa-
tion they might seek, etc... With the
help of the brochures and sales copy,
students brainstorm different ways in
which to present the company’s ser-
vices:
- We supply quality Web design.
- We adhere to the industry’s high-
est standards of quality.
- We provide IT solutions and offer
live assistance 24/7.
Students take turns playing the roles
of visitor and company employee.
You may download the complete pro-
cedure for this role play, here: busy-
teacher.org/3049-company-rundown-
business-english-role-play.html.
WRITING ACTIVITIES
The most successful writing activi-
ties for students of Business English,
center on email writing, naturally, be-
cause it’s the type of writing that most
students are expected to handle on a
daily basis.
Fortunately, there are several work-
sheets available at BusyTeacher.org,
from sample emails to email writing
exercises. Also, a very useful work-
sheet to share with students is the
one that presents the 32 Most Impor-
tant Email Etiquette Tips. And don’t
forget to assign email for homework!
READING AND
VOCABULARY
BUILDING
Students of Business English need a
great deal of vocabulary to feel con-
fident enough to conduct business
in English. You can supply them with
endless vocabulary lists, but they
need to practice these words in con-
text. And there’s no better context
than the current business events we
read about in the newspaper every
day.
1 NEWSPAPER OR MAGA-
ZINE CLIPPINGS
Choose short newspaper or maga-
zine articles, or extracts. Give each
student one short article or extract,
with 3 or 4 questions they must an-
swer. Students read and answer the
comprehension questions. Students
then ask each other: “Have you heard
the latest about ABC Telecom?” And
proceed to summarize the news.
2
WIKIPEDIA ENTRIES
AND BUSINESS BLOGS
There are countless reading resourc-
es available on the Internet, from
Wikipedia entries to business blog
posts. If the texts are too complex or
too difficult for your students, you may
choose to give them your own simpli-
fied version. Whatever you choose
to have students read, each reading
exercise must be accompanied by a
series of steps, for a successful learn-
ing experience.
Here’s an example with this Wikipedia
entry on the recession - en.wikipedia.
org/wiki/Recession (first two para-
graphs).
Steps:
• Warm up to introduce the topic:
Ask students what they know
about an economic recession.
• Introduce key vocabulary: in this
case, contraction, investment
spending, employment, inflation,
etc. and practice through exam-
ples.
• Ask students a general question
about the text and have them
skim the text for the answer:
“What generally causes a reces-
 sion?”
• Students read the text again to
answer more specific questions.

PRESENTATION SKILLS
Whether they already give presenta-
tions or not on a daily basis, it is es-
sential for your students to be pre-
pared to give them. It’s also a great
way to practice key vocabulary. In
the following example, the teacher in-
troduces the language of charts and
graphs.

CHARTS AND GRAPHS

First go over the differences between
a pie chart, bar graph, and line graph,
and provide examples. Then intro-
duce the language of charts: increase,
decrease, go up, go down, rise, fall,
jump, slump, improve, decline, slight,
gradual, sharp, dramatic, major, etc.
Present students two charts, for ex-
ample, figures for the first and sec-
ond quarter, and give them examples:
“There was a gradual increase in
sales” or “Sales increased gradu-
ally in the second quarter”. Students
practice presenting the information on
other charts, which may include mar-
ket share comparison (Blackberry has
captured a greater share of the mar-
ket, while Palm has lost market share
in the second quarter), sales figures,
profits, taxes, etc.

TO PROVIDE SUCCESSFUL BUSINESS

ENGLISH LESSONS ALL YOU HAVE
TO DO IS FOCUS ON YOUR STU-
DENTS’ NEEDS.
Do they need to write in English?
Speak English on the telephone?
General business vocabulary or more
specific ter ms? If you cater to their
needs, you’ll not only be preparing
them to face the business world with
the right English skills, but also help-
ing them on the road to success!

11
10 Essential English Skills Students
Need for the Business World
MANY STUDENTS TRAVEL OVER-
SEAS TO STUDY ENGLISH, AND
THOUGH THEY MAY BE IN A SCHO-
LASTIC SETTING THEIR REAL GOAL
IS ADVANCEMENT IN THE BUSINESS
WORLD.
Many ESL programs offer classes and
courses of study specifically designed
for business English, but other pro-
grams place business English students
into generalized academic English
classes. Even so, your business Eng-
lish students can gain the skills they
will need in the business world if their
teachers are aware of what they need.
Whether your business English stu-
dents have their own course of study or
they are studying in generalized English
classes, here are some language skills
they will need when they enter or reen-
ter the business world.
LISTENING
1 MEETINGS
Meetings will be a part of any
business setting. Whether they happen
once a year or once an hour, your busi-
ness English students will need to have
their listening skills at top-notch level.
By giving your students times for group
discussion, especially group problem
solving, they will acquire skills for listen-
ing to multiple people simultaneously
and deciphering the meaning and inten-
tion of each participant’s words.
2 PRESENTATIONS
Likewise, your business students
will at times listen to others giving pre-
sentations. They may be analysis ori-
ented, proposal based or informational.
These presentations will challenge your
students to have good listening compre-
hension and good vocabulary decipher-
ing skills. Take every opportunity you
can to invite guest speakers into your
classroom, and check your students’
comprehension after each presenta-
tion. They will benefit from exposure to
different speakers and speaking styles
as well as different types of content.
12
SPEAKING
3 GIVING A PRESENTATION
Your students will also have to
give their own presentations, and you
can easily prepare them in your ESL
class. Giving your students opportu-
nities to speak to fellow students will
ease the tension that comes with public
speaking. In addition, working on pro-
nunciation and accent reduction can
help your students be more confident
when they speak to groups and help
their listeners understand them better.
If you want to take their presentations
skills to the next level, look for oppor-
tunities to speak to an unfamiliar group
of people.
4 SMALL TALK
Whether it is potential clients or
coworkers at the water cooler, your stu-
dents will have to make small talk with
their colleagues. Give your students a
chance to meet new people, in public
settings or by inviting groups to class
to get them ready. Lining up conversa-
tion partners is a great way to help with
small talk, too. Make sure they know
which subjects are appropriate for small
talk (weather, entertainment, sports,
and celebrities to name a few) and the
vocabulary with which to discuss them.
5 TALKING WITH THE BOSS
Your students will need to be com-
fortable speaking with their superiors in
the business world. Many companies
require weekly or monthly one on one
meetings between each employee and
his superior. They may need to discuss
problems, give recommendations or set
goals when talking to their employer.
Make sure you give your students op-
portunities to do the same with you, the
classroom authority figure, and they will
have an easier time when they do the
same in the business world. Schedule
one on one teacher student conferenc-
es and allow your students to express
their concerns, ask questions or offer
suggestions.
READING
6 EMAIL
We live in an electronic society,
and many offices are making strides
to go paperless. This means that email
is essential in the office. If your school
offers email accounts, make a habit of
communicating with students via email.
Send out details on homework assign-
ments, field trips or test reviews. You
may even give student evaluations via
email. It will help them become familiar
with the style used in email.
7 LETTERS
Even in green companies, letters
still seem to pile up. Make sure your
students will be able to tackle the daily
mail by discussing the format of a letter
as well as the more formal vocabulary
used to write them. Your students may
also benefit from familiarity with formal
letters and how they are used in the
business world.
8 NON-TEXT READING
Where business is, money is also,
and many financial figures are reported
in charts and graphs in the business
world. In addition, business students
will have to manage their own sched-
ules as well as departmental calendars,
so giving your students practice reading
non-text items like charts and graphs is
important. Use realia found in the news-
paper or online, and challenge your
students that reading is more than what
comes between a capital letter and a
period.
WRITING
9
EMAIL
Just as your students will have to
read email on a regular basis, they will
also have to write their own electronic
communications. Ask your students
to submit items to your email account.
Homework is the natural go to, but try
asking for feedback on field trips or
class activities, too. Your students may
also benefit from typing exercises, es-
pecially if their language uses a differ-
ent writing system than English.

10 LETTERS
Though not as common
as they once were, letters are still a
part of the business world. Your stu-
dents should have the tools they
need to write the occasional letter
when necessary. You can find step
by step instructions in this lesson on
writing business letters: busyteacher.
org/6420-how-to-teach-esl-corre-
spondence-business-letters.html.

WHEN A TEACHER IS AWARE OF

HER STUDENTS’ NEEDS, SHE IS
HALFWAY TO MEETING THEM. IF
YOU ARE TEACHING GENERALIZED
ESL CLASSES, YOU SHOULD MAKE
A POINT OF INCLUDING ACTIVITIES
IN YOUR CLASSROOM THAT WILL
HELP YOUR BUSINESS STUDENTS
GET READY FOR THE CORPORATE
WORLD.
They will appreciate the comprehen-
sive education especially if they would
prefer to be in a business specific
program. Business skills are easily
incorporated in the ESL classroom,
and they are beneficial for all of your
students to learn.

13
 How to Teach Students Job
Application Skills: The Resume
Your students study English for many
reasons. Some study for educational
purposes, some because they have
moved to a location where English
is the dominant language, still others
because they feel a connection and a
draw to Western culture. Many ESL
students, though, choose to study
English to further their careers and
open opportunities for future employ-
ment. For these students, it is impor-
tant to communicate the expectations
for employees as well as the process
of job application that is conducted
in English. In this article, you will find
how to walk your students though the
resume writing process as they start
their job searches.
TEACH YOUR ESL
STUDENTS RESUME
WRITING
1 THE OBJECTIVE
Many resumes start with an
objective, though this section is op-
tional. In the objective section the
writer states his or her goals for em-
ployment. If a person is applying to
a specific job, omitting the objective
may be preferable, but for resumes
that a person intends to post online
at job search sites, the objective can
be very helpful to potential employ-
ers. In this section, the applicant in-
dicates whether he seeks a full or
part time position as well as a general
description of the position he seeks.
For example, someone may write “A
part time position working for a large
corporation doing data entry and data
processing.” Note that the objective
is not written in complete sentences
but is one noun phrase with a some-
what specific description. If the writer
chooses to include an objective on his
resume, he should include a section
title prior to the description.
2 EXPERIENCE
The experience section is per-
haps the most important section of
the resume. This section is where
the writer specifies his or her job ex-
14
perience and accomplishments. Tell
your students to start this section with
the title “Experience” and then to list
each job in its own subsection. He or
she should start with the job title and
company in bold type as well as the
dates he was employed in the posi-
tion. Under that, the writer should give
specific information about what he or
she did in that position. Traditionally,
the description lists the typical tasks
that a person performed and is written
in short phrases rather than complete
sentences. For example, one might
write “Processed data from consumer
complaints, compiled summaries of
program needs, and made improve-
ments to web design and user inter-
face.” Each job listing should have a
similarly written description. Of utmost
importance is writing the descriptions
in parallel structure, and this is a good
time to review the concept and its
practice with your students.
A more contemporary approach to
the experience section of the resume
lists major accomplishments a person
achieved in his or her position rather
than the typical duties. In such a case,
a person might write “Improved pro-
cessing speed by 26%, won Employ-
ee of the Month four months, and was
awarded Most Reliable Employee two
years in a row.” Again, each section
should be written with parallel struc-
ture and in phrases rather than com-
plete sentences.
One important note for the experience
section is that your students should
not feel they need to list every place
of employment on their resumes.
When applying for a specific position,
the writer only needs to list those posi-
tions which are relevant to the desired
job. In many countries, job applicants
submit a CV, which is different from a
resume. A CV does list all positions
and accomplishments but has a ten-
dency to be several pages. A resume,
on the other hand, should be no more
than one page, so space limitations
determine which positions are most
important to include. Employers in the
United States do not want to take time
to read an entire CV, so a to the point
resume is more effective in this case.
3 EDUCATION
The education section of a re-
sume has some stylistic similarities to
the experience section. All post high
school education should be listed with
the writing format similar to the previ-
ous section. For each entry, your stu-
dents should list the school attended,
the year graduated and his or her ma-
jor with degree earned. In addition,
they may choose to include the class-
es that they took, their grade point av-
erages, and major accomplishments
or awards they won. The writing and
descriptions should continue in phras-
es rather than complete sentences,
and each entry should be written with
parallel structure.
4 REFERENCES
The final section of the resume
is the references section. Most people
choose to write “References available
upon request” and omit any personal
information of their friends and co-
workers, especially if the resume will
be posted online. For specific job ap-
plications, a person may choose to
include references particularly when
one of the references is currently em-
ployed at the company.
FOR YOUR ESL STUDENTS, THE
CHALLENGE OF WRITING A RESUME
MAY NOT BE SO MUCH WITH THE
WRITING ITSELF AS WITH HOW
MUCH INFORMATION TO INCLUDE.
You can follow up the writing exercise
with a one on one conference offering
suggestions to improve the resume.
Now that the resume is complete, the
job search has only just begun. The
next step is looking for the jobs to
which your students want to apply.
How to Teach Students Job
Application Skills: The Cover Letter
Identifying the job for which you would
like to apply is only the beginning of
the job search process, and when that
search has to be conducted in a sec-
ond language, confusion, frustration
and discouragement are often the dish
of the day. If you are teaching ESL stu-
dents who plan to conduct a job search
in English, walking them through the pro-
cess step by step will garner them confi-
dence and a sense of calm as they look
for gainful employment. If your students
have identified a job for which they might
like to apply, you should now show them
how to get the attention and the interview
that they desire. The way to do this is
through a cover letter.
HOW TO TEACH YOUR
ESL STUDENTS COVER
LETTER WRITING
1 WHAT IS IT?
The cover letter goes hand in hand
with the resume when a person applies
for a job. Since many potential employ-
ers will not take the time to read the re-
sume of every applicant, the cover letter
can ensure or destroy a person’s oppor-
tunity at a job. Therefore, the cover let-
ter is very important and deserves some
planning and thought from its writer. A
cover letter is similar to a formal letter.
It will still follow the conventions and lay-
out of a business letter. If you have al-
ready covered formal letters or business
letters with your class, they will know
that all sections of the letter should be
left aligned. The letter should start with
a return address and date and then fol-
low with the addressee and his or her ad-
dress. Skipping a line, the letter should
start with the greeting.
2 GREETING:
GET POSITIVE ATTENTION
The greeting in a cover letter is impor-
tant. Though many jobs for which your
students may apply may not give the
name of the contact person, if possible,
your students should identify the name
of the person to whom the letter will be
sent. When a person reads a letter ad-
dressed to him specifically, he is more
likely to have a positive response than
if the letter begins with “to whom it may
concern”. Though it may push your stu-
dents out of their comfort zone or their
language abilities, each person should
call the company and ask for the name
of the person who will be receiving the
letter. Make sure your students are cer-
tain of the spelling of the name and that
they double check the address the letter
and resume should be sent to.
Another aspect of getting the proper
attention when applying for a job is to
make sure the letter has visual appeal,
but these standards may differ from one
culture to another. For jobs in the U.S.
the letter should be spaced well and
have one inch margins on every side of
the paper. In addition, the page should
not be filled with text but should say what
it needs to in as little space as possible
using 12 point font. If a letter has too
much writing on it, the reader may be
more inclined to set it aside to read later
and then never get back to it.
3 GENERATE INTEREST
Because the cover letter is an ap-
petizer to the interview, the writer should
start the letter with his main selling point.
It is important that this point comes from
the needs and desires of the company
and not from the desires of the applicant.
To make this connection with the compa-
ny, encourage your students to make this
connection by stressing that they value
the company’s product, by highlighting
their knowledge of the company, or by
pointing out that they are familiar with the
goals of the company.
If your students still need some direction
to determine this main selling point, have
each student put himself in the position of
the company. What is the company look-
ing for? What need have they expressed
in their ad? What are the goals of the
company? Have your students make
some notes as they think about each of
these questions. They may also need to
do further research about the company
to which they are applying.
4 SELL YOUR SKILLS
With the next part of the cover let-
ter, your students should logically pres-
ent how their experience and qualifica-
tions fulfill the company’s need. The
information in this section should be
based on the job description that the
company wrote. Using the information
in the resume as a starting point, have
each of your students pick out the most
important pieces of information about
themselves to bring to the cover letter.
Point out that there is no need to rehash
what they have already written in the re-
sume but that they should highlight the
items that are most likely to generate in-
terest with the employer. Your students
may stress courses that they have taken
throughout their education, specific job
experience that lines up with what the
company is looking for, or knowledge
that fits with the needs of the company.
This section of the cover letter is where
your students should paint themselves in
the best possible light, for it is this sec-
tion that will succeed in or fail to capture
an interview.
5 A CALL FOR ACTION
In the final section of the cover let-
ter, your students should finish with a re-
quest for an interview. Encourage your
students to start the close of their letters
by stating again their interest in the posi-
tion and then requesting that the reader
schedule an interview at his or her con-
venience. This may cause some ESL
students discomfort since some cultures
find it in bad taste to express needs so
directly. You may want to ask your stu-
dents how they feel about this and talk
about differences in cultural expecta-
tions. Finally, though it may be easier to
end with a cliche like “thank you for your
time” or “I hope to hear from you soon”,
challenge your students to, instead, tai-
lor the ending of the letter to the posi-
tion for which they are applying. They
should then end the letter with a closing
and signature as well as a printed name.
IN GENERAL, THE COVER LETTER IS
AN IMPORTANT PIECE OF THE JOB
APPLICATION PROCESS. Encourage
your students to reread their letter mak-
ing sure there are no spelling mistakes
(one small mistake could destroy their
chances at their dream jobs) and that not
every paragraph starts with “I”. In gen-
eral, the writer should attempt to give
the cover letter the same feel as the job
for which it is written, so encourage your
students to always keep the company’s
point of view in mind. Only one step re-
mains in the process of getting a job, and
it can be the most difficult one of all!
15
 How to Teach Students Job
Application Skills: The Job Hunt
If you teach elementary ESL, you may
not have much motivation to teach
your students about looking for a job,
but if your class is made up of high
school students, college students or
adult students you may want to walk
them through the process of job ap-
plications. Since many ESL students
take language classes to further their
careers or open job opportunities, giv-
ing them hands on experience with the
process will be beneficial to them both
in your class and in the long term.
HOW TO TEACH YOUR
ESL STUDENTS JOB
HUNTING SKILLS
1 WHERE TO START
Hopefully your students have
done some thinking about the kind of
job they are looking for or might be
interested in. If you have not walked
them through the process of writing
a resume, please do so. Once the
resume is complete, it is time to start
the job hunt. In the past, most jobs
were acquired through classified ads.
Though not as practical today, they
can still be beneficial to your students
both in the job search and in their Eng-
lish learning process. If you can, bring
in a selection of classified ads for your
students to browse. They need not be
current to be useful, but the Sunday
paper is a good resource for classified
ads. Point out that the classified sec-
tion of the paper is divided into sec-
tions one of which is employment. The
employment section is further divided
by job category. Give your students
some time to look through the ads and
then to focus on the area that is most
applicable to them. Ask your students
to comment on the style of writing
found in the ads. Are they written in
complete sentences? Do they use ab-
breviations? Do they see vocabulary
that they cannot understand? Are they
able to find any jobs that might hold
potential for them? If your students are
having trouble understanding the ads,
read through some of the more trou-
blesome ones together and walk your
class through piece by piece until they
understand.
16
2 MOST POPULAR JOBS
The newspapers have fallen a
far second to online job applications
in today’s world. Many people post re-
sumes online each day and find con-
nections with future employers. With
this in mind, take your students to a
computer lab so they can access some
popular online job sites. Monster.com
is one of the largest online job commu-
nities. Point out to your class that the
ads are organized differently for web
applications. Your students will have to
provide the key words for a search for
their potential jobs rather than going to
a particular section of the classifieds.
Once your students are on the home
page, have each person enter one or
more key words or a location as search
criteria. It may help to review some job
titles that correspond with the type of
work for which your students may be
looking or group your students into
those interested in medical careers,
business careers, legal careers, etc.
Once the search is complete, give your
students some time to browse the jobs
that are listed. Show them that they
may need to only read the job title to
rule out a position. If they see titles that
are of interest, they may want to read
the rest of the job description to gain
more information. Ask each person to
choose one job to investigate further.
After clicking on one position, give your
students time to read the lengthier job
descriptions that they access. If you
like, ask each person to print that job
description to use in the next activity.
3
THE QUALIFICATIONS
Using the job descriptions that
your students printed out from mon-
ster.com, give each person more time
to read and review what the company
has written. As they read, ask your
students to list the qualifications that
the company is seeking in its new
employee. These notes do not have
to be extensive or in complete sen-
tences – bullet points will do. Your stu-
dents should then compare their lists
of desired qualifications against the
qualifications he or she listed in his or
her resume. How closely does the list
match up with the experience your stu-
dent has? You may want to have each
person write a paragraph explaining
how his or her experience falls in line
with the qualifications the company is
seeking to use later when writing the
cover letter. If there are any qualifica-
tions he does not meet, challenge him
to think of a way that can be viewed
as a positive: he will not need to be
trained out of bad habits, he is a quick
learner, etc. Once your students have
gone through the qualifications, make
sure they note how they will need to
apply for the job. Though many em-
ployers accept applications via e-mail,
not all do. Make sure each person is
clear about how he or she will need to
proceed in the job application process
for the position.
4
THE APPLICATION
Finally, though not every job re-
quires it, you would help your students
to have them fill out a sample job appli-
cation. You can find a free template at
office.microsoft.com. This form will ask
for the general information that most
employers require of their new hires.
You can take this time to review any vo-
cabulary on the form that may be unfa-
miliar to your students and show them
what information they should include
in each section. Each person should
also identify three references that he
or she would be able to use during a
job application. Note, make sure your
students understand that they should
speak with each of these people be-
fore using them as references both as
a courtesy and to make the individuals
aware that potential employers may be
contacting them!
IF YOUR STUDENTS ARE CLEAR
ABOUT THEIR OWN SKILLS AND
CAN READ A JOB DESCRIPTION TO
DETERMINE AN EMPLOYER’S NEED,
YOU WILL HAVE YOUR CLASS WELL
ON THEIR WAY THROUGH THE JOB
APPLICATION PROCESS.
The next step will be to write a cover
letter and send the information off in
the hopes that the employer will call
for an interview!
How to Teach Students Job
Application Skills: The Interview
For students studying English as a
second language for career purposes,
job applications will be waters they will
have to navigate. There is no need
to throw them to the sharks, though,
once they have completed their Eng-
lish study program. ESL teachers can
help prepare their students for the
real world of job applications, a dif-
ficult enough in one’s first language
and even more intimidating in a sec-
ond language, before they leave the
classroom. Here is how you can help
your students boost their confidence
and get ready for the one on one
meeting that can change the course
of their lives.
For most ESL students, the interview
will probably be the most intimidating
part of the job application process. Of-
ten, a student’s English education has
focused more on reading and writing
and less on listening and speaking, so
a real life situation that demands flu-
ent speech and can be nerve wrack-
ing. Not only that, when a nonnative
speaker becomes nervous or emo-
tional, speaking accurately in a sec-
ond language becomes even more
difficult. You can help your students
by giving them a chance to practice
the interview process before a job is
on the line. As a bonus, you will give
your class listening, speaking, read-
ing and writing practice throughout
the process!
HOW TO PREPARE
YOUR ESL STUDENTS
FOR A JOB INTERVIEW
1 KNOW THE FACTS
If your students have already
written a resume, done some job re-
search and submitted an application,
they will likely know a fair amount
about the company to which they are
applying (even if it is only for a class
assignment). Having this research
under the belt is good since it is very
important in a job interview to know
about the company to which you are
applying. An interviewee should know
what that company does, what their
philosophy is, what the company is
all about and what sets them apart
from others who do the same kind of
work. Before practicing the interview
with your students, send them to the
company’s web site one more time
to solidify their understanding on the
company they are applying to. Each
person should be able to explain the
company to his classmates, and after
the research time is complete have
your students do just that. Pair them
together to explain the company with
whom they will be mock interviewing.
Once each person has explained the
company to his partner, have him also
explain the job for which he is apply-
ing. Each person should take some
time to read and internalize the job de-
scription before the interview. If your
students cannot explain the positions
to which they are applying, it is time to
return to the job description and really
understand what the job entails. Once
your students know and can explain
the company as well as the specific
positions to which they are applying,
it is time to think about what the inter-
view will entail.
2 THE QUESTIONS
Each of your students now has
a firm grasp on the company and the
position to which he is applying. What
kinds of questions will the interviewer
ask of the applicant? There is no way
to know with complete certainty, but
any job applicant can try to anticipate
those questions. Ask your class to
imagine that they are the companies
hiring for their position. What do they
think the employers will want to know
about each applicant? Give your stu-
dents some time to think about the
interview questions they might be
asked and to write those questions
down. Each person should come up
with ten questions that they would ask
the interviewee if they were hiring for
the position. These questions should
be open-ended questions, that is, not
questions that can be answered with
only one word. After each person has
come up with his list of ten questions,
pair him with another student to com-
pare lists.
Now that your students have com-
posed and compared their own
lists, give them a copy of this article
(money.usnews.com/money/blogs/
outside-voices-careers/2011/01/24/
the-10-most-common-job-interview-
questions), which lists the ten most
common interview questions. As each
person reads the article, he should
look at how his list of questions com-
pares to those presented in the article.
In the same student pairs, have stu-
dents talk about which of these ques-
tions they included on their lists and
which they missed. Working together,
have each pair compose a final list of
ten to fifteen interview questions to
use during the mock interview.
3 THE INTERVIEW
Once the lists are complete,
ask each person to think about how
he would answer the questions on his
list. It may help your students if you
let them compose written answers to
the questions, but point out that they
should not seek to memorize those
answers. An interviewer will be able
to tell when an answer to a question
is being recited from memory, and
that will make a bad impression since
it communicates that the interviewee
cannot speak fluently in English. In-
stead of memorizing the answers,
encourage your students to use those
written answers for inspiration and to
help them remember the content of
their answers, not the exact wording.
Now that each person has questions
that he would ask if he was conduct-
ing the interview and has answered
those questions for himself, give him
the chance to ask them of another stu-
dent. Pair each of your students with a
different member of the class to con-
duct a mock interview. By matching
each person with a new partner and
her set of questions, the interviewee
will still have to think on his feet as
he answers the questions. Once the
interviews are complete, debrief with
17
 your class. How did they feel answer-
ing the questions? Did they have to
answer any questions they did not
anticipate? How did it feel to have to
think on their feet?

4 MORE QUESTIONS
The final step in preparing for an
interview is to think of some questions
that you, the interviewee, will ask the
interviewer. Once again, give your
students some time to think about
what they might like to ask a potential
employer. Each person should have
about five open-ended questions that
she would like to ask of her potential
employer ready for the interview. She
should also think about what answers
she is looking to receive for those
questions. She is interviewing the
company just as much as the com-
pany is interviewing her, and by ask-
ing those questions she can be sure
she will be happy with a position at
that company. Point out, though, that
questions of income should wait at
least until the second interview. Bring-
ing up the topic of money too soon
can sabotage their chances of getting
the job they desire.

YOUR STUDENTS HAVE DONE

EVERYTHING THAT THEY CAN TO
PREPARE FOR THE JOB APPLICA-
TION PROCESS.
They should feel confident that they
can and will navigate those waters
successfully once they pursue em-
ployment in the English-speaking
world. Encourage your class to walk
through each of these job applica-
tion steps and they will see success
throughout the process as well as at
the end of it.

18
Beyond Tweeting:
Writing the Business Memo
The “tweet,” the common term for a
short note posted on Twitter (e.g.: “My
printer just jammed. Darn it!”) It has its
own genre rules: brief--typically one or
two lines—personal, and often inconse-
quential. There are exceptions to this,
of course—I know people who use it
for various kinds of advertising, for ex-
ample. But its brief and personal nature
convinces me that it is the communica-
tion of our times.
Sometimes, however, students may be
called upon to engage in other written
genres with different requirements, such
as the business memo, which is also
short, although not as short as a tweet.
Not only is it short, but it’s also concise,
or short and focused on important is-
sues, and that is where it departs from
the tweet. Students should learn the fea-
tures of a memo as they will be called
upon to write them in the future.
FEATURES OF THE
BUSINESS MEMO
1 “TO,” “FROM,”
AND “SUBJECT” LINES
These three lines found at the top of the
memo are familiar to students through
email. These lines immediately focus
the reader on who sent the memo and
why.
2 BRIEF
The main feature a professional
memo has in common with a tweet is its
brevity. However, the memo is also con-
cise, meaning that important concerns
are packed into its short space and ad-
dressed in an economical way. So in-
stead of the tweet’s short but not nec-
essarily concise “The printer jammed,
darn it, but I did discover the handy
door in the back to clear the printer,”
an observation the reader can’t neces-
sarily do anything with, the memo will
state, “The printer keeps jamming. The
repairperson needs to be called. If that
doesn’t resolve the matter, a new printer
may need to be purchased.” In not much
more space than the tweet, the writer of
the memo has let the reader know the
reason for the communication and sug-
gested a couple of courses of action.
3 PURPOSEFUL
Focused on professional rather
than personal issues. The writer of the
memo has an at least implied purpose—
get the printer repaired—while the writer
of the tweet has no real purpose beyond
the communication itself and establish-
ing a connection with the reader.
4 IMPERSONAL IN TONE
A simple observation is made in
stating “The printer keeps jamming and
needs to be repaired.” By using the pas-
sive voice—“needs to be repaired”—the
author is not assigning blame nor hand-
ing out the task of repair. It is for this im-
personal tone that the passive is used in
business so much. This tone is in stark
contrast to the personal tone often found
in tweets and other informal written com-
munication: “The printer jammed! Those
darn kids have been messing with it
again...”
TEACHING THE
BUSINESS MEMO
1 DEFINE IT.
SHOW AN EXAMPLE
Students are likely to have never seen
a memo. Show a simple example on the
projector and analyze its various parts,
such as the heading, message portion,
and signature line.
2 COMPARE IT
TO OTHER GENRES
How is a memo like an email? A tweet?
A text? Discuss how the different forms
are alike and different, perhaps outlining
those differences on the board in col-
umns. Discuss why the differences exist
and the audiences each form is directed
at. In this way, students begin to develop
a sense of audience and genre expecta-
tions.
3
DISCUSS SITUATIONS
...where the memo is needed:
announcements, requests, reports.
To further develop this sense of genre,
discuss situations in which the memo
is used: typically announcements, e.g.,
“We have the pleasure of announcing
that Ms. Jan Smith will be joining us
as the new administrative assistant...”
or “Parking Lot A is being resurfaced.
Please use Parking Lot B until further
notice.” Requests are also often made in
memos: “Your assistance is requested
in disposing of food items in the kitchen
rather than office garbage, as the smell
can get quite strong sometimes...” In
addition, short reports are sometimes
made in memos: “The milestones for
our fundraiser were all met successfully
this year, with a total of X dollars raised.”
By analyzing these examples, students
begin to gain a sense of the genre ex-
pectations.
4 ANALYZE THE FORMAT
Have students take a more de-
tailed look at the example or examples,
noting what typically comes first, where
the “meat” of the message is, or the
main point, and how the writer draws the
message to a close. By looking at sever-
al different memos with different topics
but with the same format, students will
begin to understand the genre format.
5 PRACTICE
Finally, have students come up
with their own topics or assign topics,
perhaps on 3x5 cards, to each student.
Also assign partners and have students
write memos to each other on a topic,
such as addressing increased employ-
ee tardiness. Students can discuss the
topic with each other briefly and then
write the memo to their partners. They
may write in long hand or on computers
if your classroom is computer-assisted.
IN SUMMARY, THE TWEET AND THE
MEMO ARE NOT ONLY TWO DIF-
FERENT TYPES OF WRITING - THEY
REPRESENT THE DIFFERENT GENRE
EXPECTATIONS OF THE PERSONAL
AND THE BUSINESS WORLD.
In introducing and teaching the business
memo, the teacher introduces the ex-
pectations of professional written com-
munication: concise, goal-oriented, and
impersonal, which is very different from
the personal and informal written world
students have inhabited so far, but it is
this business world they are on the cusp
of entering.
19
 Further Beyond Tweeting:
The Business Proposal
OFTEN BUSINESS WRITING IS
DISCUSSED AS IF IT WERE ONE
GENRE—AS IF IN THE ARENA OF
BUSINESS, THAT IS, PEOPLE WRITE
IN ONLY ONE STYLE AND FORMAT.
This isn’t exactly true, any more than
the tweet represents all of the writ-
ing in social networking or electronic
communication: there are also emails,
Facebook postings, text messages,
and so on. And while all of these forms
share certain characteristics--they are
all brief, informal, and have a specific
jargon--so does business have shared
characteristics for its different forms.
As with electronic communication,
business English also values brevity,
but it is formal and direct. Jargon is
usually frowned on. However, within
the larger genre of Business English
also lie the subgenres of the memo,
the letter, as well as the proposal.
WHAT IS A BUSINESS
PROPOSAL AND
WHY SHOULD YOUR
STUDENTS LEARN IT?
A business proposal is a presenta-
tion, written and usually also spoken,
to demonstrate to the audience the
presenter’s desire and capability to
achieve some goal—with the support
of the audience, which the present-
er with the proposal is seeking. The
goal may to open a business, start a
program, attend a work-related con-
ference, and so forth. Ability to write
a proposal is a valuable skill for pro-
fessionals and future professionals
because seeking and gaining the sup-
port of other professionals in the field
is necessary to advance.
CHARACTERISTICS OF
PROPOSALS
1
CLEAR
The proposal should state clear-
ly at the outset what the author hopes
to do: “The writer seeks support in de-
veloping and then publishing a collec-
tion of creative writing written by ESL
students.” The audience should not
be left confused about what the pro-
20
posal writer wants to do.
2
DIRECT
Proposals are also direct about
what they want from the audience:
“Funding of $500 and classroom re-
lease time of 20 hours is sought for
the completion of project.” In order to
support the writer appropriately, her
readers need to know exactly what is
being asked of them.
3
SPECIFIC
Proposals are also specific as
possible: “Five hundred dollars is re-
quested for the publication at the end
of the term of this 100-page book.”
4 3
“SELL”
Good proposals “sell” their proj-
ect: they seek the audience’s support
for the program through enthusiastic
promotion of the project. “With this
publication, students will get a chance
to see their work published and de-
velop understanding of the writing and
publishing process.”
5
SUPPORTING EVIDENCE
Good proposals also use evi-
dence such as similar programs that
are successful, evidence from re-
search, student and teacher material
and testimonies, and so forth.
HOW TO TEACH
PROPOSALS
1 SHOW A MODEL
Tell students they will write a
similar proposal by the end of term.
Pull out a proposal you have writ-
ten or borrow one from a colleague.
It shouldn’t take long to find one as
many educators have at least put
together a proposal to present at or
travel to a conference. It’s valuable for
students to see a final product so that
they know what goal they are aiming
for. Most students know what an es-
say should look like when complete,
- not everyone has seen a proposal,
however.
2
DISCUSS THE PURPOSE
OF PROPOSALS
Students also already know the pur-
pose of writing an essay: at worse,
to get the teacher off their backs, at
best, to express an opinion on some-
thing. They are less familiar with the
purpose of a more authentic piece of
writing, such as a proposal. Discuss
with students the purpose of the writ-
ing (to get an audience to approve a
project) and how that relates directly
to the assumed audience and how the
message is delivered.
DISCUSS THE PROCESS
All proposals begin with the
goal: what do you hope to achieve?
Develop an after school program for
kids? Improve the playground equip-
ment at a neighborhood park? Apply
for funding to attend a writer’s confer-
ence? There is almost no limit of goals
for a proposal, but the goal should be
selected first because if my goal is to
improve the playground equipment at
my local park, that will determine my
audience as probably a group of city
officials, which in turn will determine
my tone as business-like, direct, and
impersonal. Take students through the
process of writing the proposal: from
determining a goal and audience to
preparing supporting materials such a
videotapes or pictures and presenting
the proposal before an audience.
4 GET STUDENTS EXCITED.
DISCUSS THEIR PASSIONS
Getting students excited about their
passions and the possibility of seeing
them recognized if not completely re-
alized generates palpable excitement
in a class. For example, the young
hip-hop enthusiast, suddenly impas-
sioned about his proposal for an af-
ter-school hip-hop program, demon-
strates dance steps for his peers or
puts together a presentation that in-
cludes video of him dancing. Students
who were formerly passive in class
when given the opportunity to write
about their own interests become ar-
ticulate speakers and writers.

5 DEVELOP A SENSE OF AU-

DIENCE. DO PEER REVIEW
The proposal is one of the most pow-
erful tools to give students a sense
of audience. Their “audience” (the
teacher) which they were only aware
of in the abstract when writing essays,
comes alive when students face the
proposal and the at least theoretical
possibility of presenting it someday
before a committee who might choose
to fund or otherwise support it. With
this mind, students willing engage in
peer review to see if their classmates
understand their main message and
aren’t distracted by errors in the writ-
ing.

6 PRACTICE
Finally, have students practice
their completed drafts, perhaps with
their classmates standing in as a com-
mittee who might fund the proposal.
Have the committees offer feedback
on each proposal: both positive and
areas for improvement. You might
also have them discuss whether they
would fund each proposal and why or
why not.

THE PROPOSAL IS NOT A FORM ALL

STUDENTS HAVE ENGAGED WITH
BUT WHICH THEY IN ALL LIKELI-
HOOD WILL, IN THEIR ADULT LIFE.
It is also a powerful tool for generating
a sense of audience and opportunity
for students to write about their pas-
sions.

21
Teaching
Essential Business Phone Etiquette
RECENTLY A FAMILY FRIEND TOLD ME
TACTFULLY IT WAS NO LONGER NEC-
ESSARY TO LEAVE MY FULL NAME ON
OR MY CONTACT INFORMATION ON HIS
ANSWERING MACHINE AS I WAS THE
ONLY “STACIA” OF HIS ACQUAINTANCE,
AND HE HAD MY PHONE NUMBER.
I laughed, a little embarrassed, realizing
I was out of habit practicing business
phone etiquette with a personal friend.
However, the reverse is a far more com-
mon problem in my experience: one
of the reasons I give my full name and
phone number is that more than once
I’ve answered the phone to be greeted
with “Hi, this is Steve,” and was left won-
dering which Steve was speaking: my
brother? Fellow committee member at
work? Repair person? Voices can be
difficult to recognize over the phone,
even those belonging to someone you
are close to, so determining who is on
the line can be challenging without a full
name. In addition, I also get messages
in my voice mail to the effect that Steve
is calling and I should call back—with
no contact information or reason for the
call. Given the choice of calling all the
people I know named Steve to find out
if they called or waiting for the Steve in
question to call back, I usually choose
the latter. But the entire problem could
be avoided if people would practice cor-
rect telephone etiquette—not a skill that
comes naturally, even for native speak-
ers of English, but it can be of critical im-
portance in the business world, especial-
ly. Imagine if Steve had called about a
previously discussed sale or service, for
example, and I didn’t get back to him be-
cause I didn’t know who he was or what
he wanted: that potential business would
have been lost to him. What are the ba-
sics of business telephone etiquette ESL
students should know?
1
Be the first to offer your name and
organization. Give your full name and
contact information.
A phone call I still remember years after
it took place is the young woman who
greeted me by demanding “Is this Mrs.
Levy?” Fairly certain that this was a so-
licitor but also concerned it might be an
important call, I asked who was calling.
“Ma’am, are you Stacia Levy?” was her
22
only response. This went on for awhile
until she finally told me she was calling
from a local department store—which I
decided not patronize again due to this
call. The caller should be the first to iden-
tify herself and should not demand the
callee’s identity.
2
Offer pleasantries but move quick-
ly into reason for the call. Another “pet
peeve” I have is the caller who barges
into business without offering any pleas-
antries. “Is Mark there?” my husband’s
friend always demands when calling,
even though he knows me and has en-
joyed hospitality at our house numerous
times, enough to warrant a “Hi! How was
your vacation?” before moving into the
reason of his call. This friend is not rude in
person, he just lacks the phone etiquette
that states you do not treat someone you
know like an answering service. The re-
verse of this is the person who drags on
the pleasantries a little too long: our ac-
countant, for example, always goes on
at length about her vacation, family, and
outings before settling down to discuss
the reason for the call, that year’s tax
return. A careful balance between these
two extremes is necessary.
3
Finish the call by repeating con-
tact information. After you have finished
a call and are leaving a message either
to a person or machine, it’s very helpful
to repeat who you are and your contact
information because often callers think
they gave this information at the outset,
but didn’t, or the person taking the mes-
sage may have forgotten it. Stating your
name and number(s) at the end just fur-
ther ensures the party addressed will be
able to get back to you.
4
When taking a message, get the
caller’s full name, contact information,
and reason for calling. Likewise, if you
are the one taking the message, make
sure you have the caller’s full name—
even if you are certain it is John Smith
calling, for example, and not John Jones
or John Lee, verify it. And even if you are
certain the boss has Mr. Smith’s contact
information in his Smart Phone, ask any-
way—records have a strange way of get-
ting deleted just as you begin to depend
on them. Finally, getting a reason for Mr.
Lee’s call saves you the embarrassment
of telling the boss “I dunno,” when he
asks what Mr. Lee wants.
METHODS TO TEACH
PHONE ETIQUETTE
1 Break it down: discuss the essen-
tial components of a business call and
message. Even though it might seem
obvious, the fact that people have such
poor telephone manners demonstrates
that they aren’t so obvious. This is also
a good time to review with students two
important values of communication in
English in general: clarity and brevity.
Who the caller is, his or her contact in-
formation, and the reason for the call are
the basics of a “good” business call/mes-
sage.
2 Model and show examples. With a
volunteer, demonstrate calling and leav-
ing a message in a business situation.
Also, show the components of a good
telephone message on the board.
3 Practice with peers in and out of
class. Finally, have students practice in
pairs making calls and leaving and taking
simple messages that may be fact or fic-
tion: e.g., “There’s a party tonight at my
house. I hope you can come.” This can
be extended as homework, with students
getting at least three classmates’ contact
information in class and then later calling
at home to either report some important
“news” to their classmates or leaving a
message on their answering machines.
IN A DIFFICULT JOB MARKET, OFTEN
THE DIFFERENCE BETWEEN TWO CAN-
DIDATES WILL BE IN “SOFT SKILLS,”
SUCH AS HOW WELL THE CANDIDATES
COMMUNICATE WITH OTHERS.
Strong business telephone etiquette is
one more skill that will create a favorable
impression on an employer and lead to a
possible job offer.
Don’t Smoke at the Meeting: Es-
sential Business Meeting Etiquette
WE EDUCATORS ARE FOND OF
MEETINGS, SO AS A TEACHER AND
AN ACTIVE PARENT IN MY CHILD’S
SCHOOL, I ATTEND A LOT OF MEET-
INGS. I ACTUALLY CONSIDER MYSELF
SOMEWHAT OF AN EXPERT AT MEET-
INGS BECAUSE I ATTEND SO MANY,
BOTH GOOD AND BAD.
I’ve made a lot of mistakes at meet-
ings and have seen my coworkers
make some snafus: one of the more
memorable of last year, for example,
was when a colleague ran out crying,
apparently upset at the direction of the
meeting. I’ve also seen people smoke
or erupt in anger at meetings: such
violations of business etiquette are
common, although perhaps not so ex-
treme. Because meetings usually occur
in a more relaxed atmosphere—there
is usually food offered, and some jok-
ing takes place—there may be a ten-
dency is to think of meetings as “off the
record,” or not really work. However,
they are indeed on the record, and that
should not be forgotten as employers
and colleagues may be observing the
newcomer to the worksite and judging
his or her behavior, so major mistakes
in business etiquette should avoided.
Meetings are in fact an integral part of
American life, going back to our begin-
nings—I think the founding of the Union
was probably discussed in a series of
meetings in the various parlors of our
Founding Fathers. When conducted
well, meetings and committees are criti-
cal to group governance and a demo-
cratic society. However, meetings have
their own distinct culture and come with
their own unwritten rules. The odds
are that students will eventually serve
on a committee, attend meetings, and
will want to avoid violations of meeting
“rules.”
What are some common mistakes in
business meeting etiquette for students
to know and how can they be avoided?
1 NOT BEING PREPARED
Not dressing correctly, not know-
ing what the meeting is really about,
and not bringing important documents
or handouts are common concerns. I’ve
seen fellow committee members ask to
borrow pens and necessary handouts
sent out beforehand—these are materi-
als that professionals should have with
them. Such lack of preparation creates
a poor impression and wastes the time
of other participants. The problem can
be addressed by preparing each eve-
ning and/or morning before a meet-
ing: think about what will happen at
the meeting, who will be there, how to
dress, and what to take with you.
2
NOT FOCUSING
ON THE MEETING
There is a lot of inattentive behavior at
meetings, the American attention span
being notoriously short: cell phones
ringing, participants texting under the
table, whispering and off-topic conver-
sation between members, etc. Some of
this is just human behavior, but avoid
excesses in these areas. Turn off your
cell phone for the duration of the meet-
ing, skim through the agenda and other
handouts, listen attentively to the con-
versation, and contribute to it. Partici-
pants who do this enough will be noted
for their strong group participation.
3
UNPROFESSIONALISM
Although friendliness and some
humor are almost always appropriate
and welcome, avoid excesses in these
areas. I once was on a school commit-
tee in which two of the group members
apparently saw the weekly meetings as
an occasion to try out their comedy rou-
tines. I began to dread going as noth-
ing got done as everyone who spoke
up on committee business was inter-
rupted with joking. Others apparently
felt the same way as I about the time
drain, and the committee disbanded not
long after—too bad, as it had the im-
portant mission of strengthening stan-
dards of ESL classes. Other nonprofes-
sional behavior to be avoided includes
extreme emotion: if you really feel you
can’t control your anger or tearfulness,
it might be best to excuse yourself from
the meeting. Excessive complaining
about the organization and its clients is
also unprofessional and a drag on the
committee, affecting attendance and
commitment to the committee. Don’t be
the committee killer!
4
LACK OF RESPECT
FOR COMMITTEE MEMBERS
AND MISSION
All of these rules could probably be
summed up in the reminder to respect
the committee, its reason for being, and
the people who serve on it. It’s very
common for a committee to take on a
life its own and for its participants to
get so caught up in the attendance of
the meetings and their routines that the
overall mission gets forgotten. By stay-
ing focused on what the committee’s
mission is, what you can do toward the
mission each day, or week, or month,
you can begin to shift the focus back to
where it belongs: the critical purposes
of the committee and how you and your
colleagues fit within that purpose and
what that means about how you relate
to fellow committee members. So, for
example, if I am focusing on the commit-
tee and its purpose, I won’t get tempted
to be pulled into my colleague’s com-
plaint session and will gently remind
her, “Where on the agenda are we? Oh,
yes. Let’s hear what our speaker has to
say.”
HOW TO TEACH
MEETING BEHAVIOR
1 DISCUSSION
Begin the discussion of what a
committee and committee meeting are
and their purpose. Some students may
have actually served on committees,
others may not even be aware of what
they are. Introduce them positively, as
a fundamental feature of democratic life
and group governance. Have students
share some of their experiences with
committees and share your own, both
positive and negative.
2 LIST
OF SUGGESTED “RULES”
From the discussion above, students
can draft their own “do’s and don’ts” of
23
 committee behavior. They can work in
groups and complete the task togeth-
er, beginning the experience of group
work.

3 PRACTICE AND ROLE-PLAY

Finally, students can organize
themselves into their own mock com-
mittees, and using the rules they have
drafted, conducted a “committee”
meeting. This can be very informal,
lasting only a class session, or more
long-term and formal, with roles as-
signed within the committee, a pur-
pose to the committee claimed, and a
mission statement drawn up.

4 ACTUAL
COMMITTEE WORK
Finally, some homework can be as-
signed in the form of real commit-
tee work, with students encouraged
to join an actual committee—most
schools, neighborhoods, and religious
organizations have committees where
students would be welcomed. Stu-
dents can take a small role, such as
“member-at-large,” but even this role
will give them experience with com-
mittee life—and possibly awaken an
interest in service.

COMMITTEES AND MEETINGS

GET A BAD “RAP”—A WIT ONCE
OBSERVED THAT AMERICAN FOOT-
BALL EMBODIES THE WORST ELE-
MENTS OF AMERICAN LIFE, VIO-
LENCE AND COMMITTEE MEETINGS.
However, when well conducted and
with etiquette observed, committees
and meetings are an integral feature
to our culture.

24
Don’t “Dude” the Boss: Basics
on the Formal/Informal Dilemma
One of the noticeable features of U.S.
culture, especially in California, is its
informality and egalitarianism: people
usually address “superiors” by first
names, for example, - even children
do this.
Shaking hands usually only occurs on
a first meeting. “Ma’am” and “Sir” are
rarely heard anymore, except in cer-
tain regions of the country or by indi-
viduals with a military background. In
fact, some people complain about the
degree of informality going “too” far or
not knowing where the boundaries lie:
for example, what is “too” casual for
“Casual Friday,” the practice of relax-
ing the rules of attire on Fridays at the
office? Should I really call my teacher
by his first name—even if he invites
me to do so? Knowing the levels and
appropriateness of informal and for-
mal behavior may present a particular
dilemma for ESL students, who have
heard that Americans are informal, but
who themselves seem to be renegoti-
ating the boundaries between casual
and formal. In addition, these bound-
aries are usually “unwritten” or implicit.
There is no manual anywhere to refer
to these rules of formality although
they are just as real as if they were.
PROBLEM AREAS
IN THE FORMAL/
INFORMAL DILEMMA
1 DRESS
Jeans are usually okay for
school. They may be okay for work de-
pending on the work situation: in most
office jobs, for example, jeans would
not be appropriate but they might be
in a restaurant kitchen.
2
PUZZLING TERMS
FOR DRESS
Sometimes the contradictory terms
for dress found on invitations and an-
nouncements confound even native
speakers. Does the “business casual”
sometimes designated at work-related
events like conferences include jeans
if worn with a nice blazer, for example?
Or can it be an Oxford shirt but no tie?
And what the heck is the “elegantly ca-
sual” (or “casually elegant”) for some
office parties or dinners?
3 TERMS OF ADDRESS
While the student may be fairly
sure he shouldn’t call the teacher
“Dude,” is his first name all right? Is
“Professor Smith” too phony and pre-
tentious? What is some advice we can
give our students about what to call
their teachers, bosses, or friends’ par-
ents?
4 EATING
Public eating is one of those ar-
eas that again can make even sophis-
ticated natives of U.S. culture nervous
because the rules change, vary ac-
cording to the specific situation, and
in general seem to be booby-trapped,
designed to catch the hapless eater in
a violation of etiquette. For example, I
just read an article in the jobs section
my local newspaper, in which the au-
thor advised job candidates, if invited
to a meal as part of a job interview, not
accept an alcoholic drink even if of-
fered—on the belief the potential em-
ployers are watching and taking note
of the job seeker’s alcohol habits and
might form negative opinions. This
seems a form of entrapment, but the
advice not to imbibe in this situation is
sound.
GENERAL GUIDELINES
FOR THE INFORMAL/
FORMAL DILEMMA
So what to do in these difficult etiquette
situations? Some might suggest leav-
ing home as little as possible to avoid
being caught in an etiquette violation.
However, there are some guidelines
our students can use so that they can
negotiate different social situations
comfortably.
1 CONSIDER THE SETTING
The setting plays a big role in
the level of formality: an outdoor party
such as a barbeque or picnic will usu-
ally demand less formality in dress
and manners than one held in a fine
restaurant or hotel. It’s usually accept-
able at a picnic, for example, to pick
up food like sandwiches and pieces
of fried chicken with your hands, but
it’s less acceptable in a fine restau-
rant. Similarly, when I worked in a fine
clothing store in college I wore more
formal clothes than when I worked in
an appliance repair shop.
2 ERR ON THE SIDE
OF THE FORMAL
If you are new to a situation and really
aren’t sure about the level of formal-
ity required, behave in a more formal
manner until you learn otherwise. For
example, call your boss and teacher
by last name unless invited to use first
names. Wear more formal clothes—
slacks rather than jeans, for example-
-until you see how other people dress
in that environment.
3
OBSERVE
How do the rest of the employees
address your boss? If they use his first
name, it’s an indication that he is open
to or even prefers this. Many Ameri-
cans are in fact uncomfortable being
addressed as “Mr. Smith,” responding
something like “Mr. Smith is my father,
I’m Bob,” demonstrating the informal
and youth-oriented nature of U.S. cul-
ture. Observing the behavior and re-
sponses of others will tell a lot about
not only the country’s culture but also
the culture of the specific organization:
each workplace has its own culture
and standards of behavior, and while
in one office jeans may be acceptable,
for example, they won’t be in another.
When eating in a restaurant, observe
others for cues on which fork to use or
whether or not alcohol is acceptable.
U.S. citizens may themselves engage
in this kind of observation because,
while familiar with the overall culture
of the country, they are not neces-
sarily familiar with the “culture” of the
specific situation: because I know how
to eat in restaurants in general in the
25
 U.S. doesn’t mean I know in a specific
restaurant what the heck that specific
fork is for!

4 ASK OTHERS
When all else fails, ask! You
probably aren’t the only person with
questions. For example, if you’re un-
sure what to wear to the meeting or
conference, ask your coworkers what
is meant by “business casual.” Don’t
be surprised if they don’t know ex-
actly either, but they may very well be
able to say what they have worn in the
past at such events and if it was ac-
ceptable. Often a term like “casually
elegant” or “business casual” are best
defined by example, and you’ll get
your best examples usually by asking.
When I started my first job out of col-
lege, I asked my supervisor what kind
of clothes would be acceptable for the
office, and got a list in response: jeans
were not acceptable although cordu-
roys and khakis were, and dresses
and heels were generally not expect-
ed. It might have taken me about a
month to figure this out on my own.

ALTHOUGH TODAY LARGELY AN

INFORMAL, JEANS-WEARING
CULTURE, AMERICANS ARE NOT
TOO FAR REMOVED FROM THEIR
HATS-AND-GLOVES PAST AND ARE
OFTEN THEMSELVES UNSURE OF
WHEN “CASUAL FRIDAY HAS GONE
TOO FAR,” AS A RECENT CARTOON
OBSERVED BENEATH A PICTURE OF
OFFICE PERSONNEL IN VARIOUS
STAGES OF UNDRESS.
Complicating this uncertain boundary
is the fact most rules regarding infor-
mality and formality are unwritten. But
through careful observation and ask-
ing, as well as considering the setting
and erring on the side of the formal,
students can negotiate the uncertain
formal-informal territory.

26
Getting to First Base: Teaching
Resumes and Cover Letters
Some years ago, when I was job
hunting, a friend, a senior teacher
who had been on numerous hiring
committees, looked at my resume
and asked why I hadn’t put down
some of my committee experience.
I responded that I thought that would
come out in the interview. At this, my
friend pointed out that there was usu-
ally little time in a thirty-minute interview
for these details, and while such details
as committee and volunteer work might
actually be a deciding point in interview-
ing someone, they were rarely the focus
of the interview itself. This conversation
represented a sea-change in my view of
cover letters and resumes: as screening
devices that determined whether a per-
son gets interviewed, while the interview
determined whether the individual gets
hired.
ESL students might have similar miscon-
ceptions on the hiring process, as it is
highly cultural. Some cultures, for exam-
ple, don’t have a complex hiring process
as in the U.S. Rather, people are more
or less “placed” in jobs after college. Still
other cultures rely more on networking
and family connections. While all of these
systems exist to a more or less degree
in most societies, in the U.S.’s system
hiring is largely competitive, where em-
ployers put out their call for employees,
and then job seekers compete for these
positions, sometimes hundreds of appli-
cants for one vacancy. It is in this context
that cover letters and resumes should be
taught. The purpose of the cover letter
and resume is to make the job seeker
look good—in fact, so good that the po-
tential employer wants to meet the job
seeker and interview him or her because
this is simply the best candidate for the
job. What are some ways to teach stu-
dents about cover letters and resumes?
TEACHING STUDENTS
COVER LETTERS AND
RESUMES THAT GET
THE JOB
1 PUT COVER LETTERS
AND RESUMES IN CONTEXT
OF JOB HUNTING
Because students may unfamiliar with
our job hunting process, which varies
from culture to culture, explain a little
bit what job applicants can expect to go
through in looking for a job. You may
consider using your own experience in
job hunting. After students understand
the process, then they will understand
the purpose of writing a cover letter and
resume, and having a writing purpose is
critical to good writing.
2 WRITE A COVER LETTER
THAT GETS ATTENTION
At this point, now that they understand
the job hunting process, students are
ready to learn about cover letters, the
job applicant’s introduction of himself or
herself to a specific company for a spe-
cific job. It is usually addressed to a spe-
cific person, the contact person from the
job announcement, and outlines some of
the applicant’s skills that are particularly
important to the job. The purpose of the
cover letter is to get the reader to take a
second look at the resume. If the instruc-
tor has a sample cover letter to show
students, this can help them in designing
their own cover letters.
3
TAILOR THE RESUME TO
THE JOB ANNOUNCEMENT
If the purpose of the cover letter is to
attract attention to the resume, the re-
sume’s purpose is to motivate the com-
pany to call in the applicant for an inter-
view. Therefore, the instructor should
now hand out a collection of “help-
wanted” advertisements, either from the
newspaper or internet. Students should
all select one, from a field in or one re-
lated to that they would themselves
eventually like to work in. Once the stu-
dents have advertisements, they should
design a rough draft of their resume
based on their advertisements. So if my
advertisement reads “Teacher needed to
teach a summer English class in inten-
sive, six-hour blocks,” I will want in my
resume to highlight the experience that
demonstrate the skills of teaching Eng-
lish in intensive, short-term formats. I will
not, in this resume, focus so much on my
skills and experience as a writer as that
is not so relevant to the job sought.
4 FOCUS ON GETTING
THE INTERVIEW
Do the cover letter and resume get ap-
plicants the job? No, in most cases. The
purpose of the cover letter and resume
is to get applicants an interview, and that
is what job seekers should be thinking
about at this stage—how to write a great
cover letter and resume to get an inter-
view. It is the interview that may get the
applicant the job.
5 FOCUS ON APPEARANCE
AND FORMAT
It’s the content that matters, right, not
the appearance of the cover letter and
resume? Actually, as with most things in
life, appearances do matter. The content
matters too, of course. But if the resume
is so riddled with spelling and grammar
errors that the interviewer can’t see past
them to the content, or the bizarre, spiky
font of the cover letter hurts the inter-
viewer’s eyes and she doesn’t want to
read it, then the content won’t matter
because the reader is stuck on the bad
“packaging.” So students should not feel
obligated to be “creative” in format and
should have a teacher or friend look over
their cover letters and resumes before
sending them out.
6
PRACTICE WRITING COVER
LETTERS AND RESUMES
As a last step, have students practice
writing cover letters and resumes to the
job announcements they have chosen.
They can do rough drafts in class, having
a peer look them over. They can then take
them home to write the final drafts, using
their peers’ feedback, turning them in the
next class session. Some students may
be interested in actually sending theirs
out to the employer! Even if they don’t
send them out, students will have cre-
ated their first resumes which can, in the
future, be tailored for real job searches.
WRITING COVER LETTERS AND RE-
SUMES CAN BE A MYSTIFYING PRO-
CESS THAT CONFUSES NATIVE SPEAK-
ERS AT TIMES. However, by explaining
the job hunting process, placing resumes
and cover letters into the context of this
process, reviewing various examples,
and practicing, some of the mystique will
be removed, and your students will move
one step closer to becoming employed.
27
 Must-Do Projects
for the Business ESL Class
SO YOU’VE JUST BEEN ASSIGNED
YOUR FIRST BUSINESS ESL CLASS.
YOU’RE FEELING THAT EXCITEMENT
THAT COMES FROM TEACHING A
NEW CURRICULUM AND CLASS, BUT
YOU’RE ALSO NERVOUS.
You know how to teach a “regular,”
more traditional ESL class: you focus
a lot on grammar and perhaps struc-
ture the class around it, with auxiliary
attention to related vocabulary, con-
versation, and pronunciation, with ev-
erything tied neatly to a prepackaged
ESL text and DVDs. You know what
the students need, how to preassess
them and where to start them in the
text. But what about the Business
ESL class? It’s not so clear-cut, and
your institution may not have a sug-
gested text or curriculum and may be
relying on you to make most of those
decisions. So what does the Business
ESL student need and how do you
teach her?
TOP 5 NEEDS FOR
BUSINESS ESL
STUDENT
1 WORKPLACE
CONVERSATION
This may seem elementary, but it’s
often forgotten that the most critical
need of ESL students, even those
that seem relatively advanced, is the
ability to speak to native speakers of
English with clarity and confidence.
And the conversation that occurs in
the workforce—impersonal, work-
related—is widely different from the
more everyday conversation that oc-
curs in class and neighborhoods. This
conversation has its own etiquette, a
careful balance between the casual
and too casual: you would not ad-
dress your boss as “Dude” but nor
would you call him “Sir” in most cir-
cumstances outside of the military.
2 TECHNICAL/WORK TERMS
Business English is replete with
specialized “work” terms, even if it is
not really technical to a specific field:
timesheet, desktop, mousepad, W-2,
28
job description - all are terms that
the native speaker of American Eng-
lish began learning upon entering
the workforce at sixteen or eighteen
and has been using for years - these
terms may be entirely new to our ESL
students. Sometimes these words
and phrases change and confuse
even the native speaker: sometime
about ten years ago, for example, the
office I had for years called “person-
nel” became “Human Resources” or
“HR,” that department charged with
hiring, firing, staff-related complaints,
and other employee concerns. Devel-
oping the vocabulary needed for the
workplace is an ongoing process.
3
IDIOMS
Workplace idioms are separate
from idioms used in more everyday
conversations. Because the focus is
often on goals and outcomes, a lot of
workplace idioms are sports- related:
from baseball’s “to hit it out of the
ballpark” (to have a great success) to
basketball’s “a slam dunk,” (a quick,
unopposed score) and American foot-
ball’s “to do an end run around” (to go
around the usual rules or procedures
in pursuing a goal), the workplace
is replete with these terms. Without
knowing these and the relationship
to the sports they are drawn from, it
might be hard to take part in some
workplace conversations in the U.S.
4 PHONE AND EMAIL
ETIQUETTE
Phone and email etiquette are also
both areas that require practice even
for native speakers. Phone is courte-
ous, fast, and impersonal, with a focus
on outcomes—getting the appropriate
message to the appropriate person-
-rather than relating to the caller, while
at the same remaining polite. Have
students practice taking and leaving
messages both in and out of class.
5 WORKPLACE DOCUMENTS
There are a lot of workplace
documents specific to the workplace:
resumes, memos, letters, reports,
proposals - all are documents stu-
dents might reasonably be asked
to write in their future professions.
Again, they comprise a specific genre
of “workplace writing,” which is con-
cise, goal-oriented, and impersonal
with expected features for each doc-
ument: for example, memos come
with an expected heading of who the
memo is for, who it is from, and what it
is regarding, much like an email.
TEACHING BUSINESS
OR WORKPLACE
ENGLISH
So there is this different genre of Eng-
lish related to the workplace. How do
we go about teaching it to our ESL
students?
1 TAKE
A NEEDS ASSESSMENT
Find out what your students are inter-
ested in. While they all might be in-
terested in workplace English, some
might be more interested in the Eng-
lish for engineering, for example,
while others are interested in Eng-
lish for information technology—both
types of workplace English, but with
their own specialized vocabularies
and written forms. Often in a class
most of the students are in similar ma-
jors, like pharmacy, which will make
the instructor’s job a little easier in that
the focus is narrowed, and the instruc-
tor will know what kind of vocabulary
and writing students will need to use
in English.
2 CONTACT
THE DEPARTMENTS
...that Represent the Common Majors
in Your Class.
If you contact the department chair
or professor of a department the
students study within, you might be
pleasantly surprised at your recep-
tion. For example, the chair of the
business department at the university
I teach ESL students took the time to
have lunch with me and discuss some
of the concerns ESL students typically
had in business classes, while I talked
about the concerns ESL students face
at the college level. We both left with
a stronger understanding of what ESL
students needed to learn in ESL to
survive in their business classes.
less essay than usual and will instead
focus on writing a report. Or instead
of writing journals in which they reflect
on an assigned topic, they can write
memos, focusing either on assigned
workplace topics (e.g., fixing the copy
machine) or ones they have devised
themselves (the parking situation in
the back lot). After all, few students
except English majors will write es-

3 SEE ABOUT THE AVAIL-

ABILITY
...of a Strong Textbook in Workplace
English.
For an online writing class I’m teach-
ing in nonfiction, I found an excellent,
classic text On Writing Well by the
great William Zinsser, online, down-
loadable, and completely free as it’s
out of copywrite. Not everyone can
be so lucky, but there are many good,
and free, materials online, and once
you locate them, they help you in
structuring your course.
says, stories, or poems after college,
so it makes sense to focus on the kind
of writing students will do.
SO WHILE YOU MAY HAVE STARTED
OUT THE SEMESTER NOT QUITE
KNOWING WHAT TO DO IN YOUR
BUSINESS ENGLISH CLASS, BEFORE
LONG, YOU HAVE TOO MUCH TO DO.
With expanding their workplace vo-
cabularies, practicing conversation for
the workplace, and working on their
business writing skills, students will
be busy all semester long and soon
ready to communicate with ease in
the workplace.

4 VOCABULARY STUDY
Most students have an intuitive
sense that language learning is about
words, not grammatical structures.
And research supports that: one of
the best ways to improve a student’s
academic and professional aspects is
to help increase her academic vocab-
ulary. Find out through books, the in-
ternet, and asking people what terms
students are most likely to use in their
fields (e.g., “dialysis” in medicine is
treatment for kidney failure) besides
the more common terms used in most
workplaces.

5 WORKPLACE
CONVERSATIONS
What do you say when you have to
ask to borrow something from a co-
worker? Ask the boss for time off?
Show a colleague how to do some-
thing? Practice different and com-
mon workplace conversations. Make
up sets of index cards with just the
addressee and the concern on them
(e.g.: Your boss, the copy machine is
jammed again) and have students ro-
leplay in pairs.

6 WRITING PRACTICE
Set time aside each day to prac-
tice writing skills, again focusing on
the genres students need for their
majors. So perhaps they will do one

29
Teaching the Art of Leaving
and Taking Phone Messages
RECENTLY I WAS WORKING IN THE
STAFF ROOM AT THE UNIVERSITY
WHERE I TEACH, RUNNING OFF COPIES
BEFORE CLASS WHEN THE STAFF
ROOM PHONE RANG.
Usually when it rings it turns out to be
a wrong number, not many people be-
ing interested in calling the staff room for
ESL teachers, so I ignored it. However,
it went on ringing for so long that I finally
picked it up. A young woman on the other
end asked to speak to Denise, another
ESL instructor. I told her Denise wasn’t
around and began to hang up, late now
for class, but the other woman asked to
leave a message. Seriously annoyed
now, I suggested she contact Denise’s
cell phone and was told Denise didn’t
have a cell phone. So I grudgingly took
the message and gave it to Denise when
I saw her after class. “What was she call-
ing about, did she say?” Denise asked,
looking down at the message. “No. I
forgot to ask.” Forgot to ask? How did
that happen — I, who had answered a
switchboard at a major department store
for four years through college and prided
myself on my perfect telephone mes-
sages, forgot to ask why the caller was
calling? It was then that it occurred to me
that taking a phone message is some-
thing of a lost—if still necessary—art. It
will not impress the boss if an employee
leaves the name off of a message or for-
gets to ask why the caller called.
IMPORTANT PARTS OF
THE PHONE MESSAGE
1 CALLER’S IDENTITY
Get the first and last names, re-
member the recipient of the message
might know several “Tom’s.” Get the or-
ganization the caller is associated with or
how he or she is connected to the callee.
Get the correct spelling of the name. All
of this may be important for the recipient
of the message: he or she may not im-
mediately recollect to who “Tom Ander-
son” is, until she learns of her connection
to him, the planning committee for the
staff holiday party.
2 CALLER’S
CONTACT INFORMATION
Get the full phone number, including
area code and country code as neces-
30
sary. Get an email address as well as
necessary. All of this information may
be necessary for a call back if the caller
lives out of the area or if his phone is
busy when the call is returned.
3 GET A BRIEF REASON
FOR THE CALL
If the message taker gets a brief reason
for the caller contacting the callee, this
can save embarrassment on both of their
parts, such as the following conversation
demonstrates, “Tom, this is Debbie. I’m
returning your call.” “Oh, yeah.” (Long
pause). “How can I help you, Tom? It
doesn’t say on the message.” “Oh. Well,
right now I don’t remember why I called,
to tell the truth...” and so on.
4 SIGN YOUR OWN NAME
AT THE BOTTOM
This is in case the person who receives
the message has questions about it, and
there are several other members of the
household or the office, so the recipient
of the message knows who to go to with
questions.
METHODS FOR
TEACHING MESSAGE
TAKING
1 TEACH THE COMPONENTS
Go over a typical message on the
board or screen with the students, point-
ing out the important parts of the mes-
sage. Point out that good telephone
messages are both brief and complete:
“concise,” a word meaning both brief and
meaningful, is an important value in writ-
ten communication in English in general
that you might teach students.
2 MODEL LEAVING A MESSAGE
First model leaving a message by
playing the role of the caller while also
taking down the message on the board.
Demonstrate important questions to ask
for the message: e.g., “Who is calling?”
“What is this regarding?” and so forth so
that students can see both the important
questions to ask and what to note down.
Then get a couple of student volunteers
to leave simple messages, perhaps for
other students in the class, while you
take the messages on the board.
3 DICTATE A MESSAGE
FOR THE CLASS
Now that the students have seen how a
message is left and taken in English, they
are ready to practice as a class through
dictation. The teacher can “leave” a
simple message and all of the students
“take” it. As time and level permits, the
instructor might want to leave several
messages. Students can then compare
their papers with the classmates seated
next them for accuracy and complete-
ness before the instructor goes over the
messages on the board.
4 PAIR WORK
After practicing as a whole class,
now have students break into pairs. Give
out index cards with the callee’s name
and the message: students then role
play leaving and taking the messages,
switching roles so that they learn both.
They may also simply make up their own
messages instead of using the index
cards if they desire. Play phones or old
unused phones may be brought in for
this step.
5 EXTENDED PRACTICE
As a last step, have students prac-
tice outside of class: call and leave mes-
sages for roommates, for example, if
many of them share the same dorm or live
near each other. They may make up the
reasons for the call or may have an actual
reason for the call, as long as they have to
give the message to someone other than
the person who answers the phone, and
they have some reason—real or imagi-
nary—that they have already thought of
before calling. This simulates a real tele-
phone situation in which a caller has to
be somewhat prepared before calling.
LEAVING AND TAKING PHONE MES-
SAGES IS A LOST ART THAT, IF NOT
PERFORMED CORRECTLY, HAS PO-
TENTIAL FOR OUTCOMES BOTH SERI-
OUS AND COMICAL.
However, these pitfalls can be avoided
if students learn to both take and leave
messages appropriately.
8 Tips On Becoming
A Successful Corporate Teacher
As an ESL teacher, one of the best
ways to grow and expand is to sink
your teeth into new facets of teaching.
A common path for the career teach-
er is in-house corporate language
training. Corporate teaching involves
teaching company employees, gen-
erally at the company’s offices. This
kind of teaching provides instructors
with a greater set of challenges, as
many firms pay top dollar and ex-
pect only the best, demanding to see
a demonstrated improvement in the
student’s ability. Corporate trainers
can expect to teach complete range
of students’ of differing ages, levels
and job descriptions within a com-
pany, ranging from security staff, to
managers at executive level. While
this can be somewhat daunting for a
new teacher, corporate teaching can
be incredibly fun. Your students would
have most likely worked a long day,
and want a fun and light-hearted time
in the classroom. One of the biggest
drawcards for the teacher is a big-
ger pay packet at the end of the day,
as corporate language tuition often
pays better than schools and lan-
guage centers. It’s also a great way to
make contacts. Who knows, the quiet
woman sitting down the back may be
in charge of HR and may need a full-
time English teacher in the future.
This article aims to provide 8 nifty tips
and tricks to help you succeed as a
corporate language trainer.
HOW TO BE A
SUCCESSFUL
CORPORATE TEACHER
1
MAKE THEM THINK
IT’S FUN!
Start with fun and finish with fun! By
using a fun activity at the start and the
end of a class, you give the students
a positive memory of the class. It is
generally the start and the end of the
class that is mostly remembered by
students, leaving them with an im-
pression that is happy and fun, mak-
ing up for the dry chunk of grammar
and writing in the middle. Games and
activities are just as important for cor-
porate students as they are for chil-
dren, as most classes are held after
work, and the student’s concentration
levels can sometimes waver. They
also help reinforce the grammar point
and give the students the chance to
present the skills learnt class, while
competing with their colleagues.
Many successful corporate teachers
can teach amazing kids classes!
2 GETTING TO KNOW
EACH OTHER
On the first lesson, the students some-
times tend to be shy when speaking
in front of you and their colleagues.
It may have been quite a long time
since they have used English and
they may be quite low on confidence.
To best deal with this, the entire first
lesson should be aimed at building a
positive and constructive learning en-
vironment that is fun and open. One
of the best ways to do this is to start
with an activity where the students get
to know you and build a strong rap-
port at the same time. As the teacher,
you will be spending quite a lot of time
with the students, so it is in their best
interests to get to know you. Instead
of introducing yourself, simply write a
big question mark on the board, and
get them to do the hard work by ask-
ing the questions. Use your immense
charm and personality while doing
this, and make them guess certain
things about you, such as your na-
tionality, age, etc. Personality, charm
and a nice smile go a long, long way,
as well.
Another fun lesson idea that works
out well for the initial class is an ac-
tivity called “Two Truths, One Lie.”
This is a great little rapport builder
that gives the teacher an idea of the
level of the students ability of writing,
speaking and structure. The teacher
writes three sentences about him or
her on the board, with one of the sen-
tences being a lie. Below are some
example sentences. Make it fun and
try not to be too obvious. (BTW, I hate
Britney Spears!)
I can fly planes.
I am in love with Britney Spears.
I like to eat Durian.
The students must then ask questions
about the topics, and then the teacher
should lie and try to trick the students
into believing the wrong one. A fun
guessing game can be had where the
students play the role of a lie detec-
tor. Once finished, the students can
write their own three sentences, and
a game can be held such as “Teacher
vs The Class” with the teacher must
guess the “lie” of the student. If the
teacher correctly guesses the lie, 1
point will be scored by the teacher. If
the students successfully deceive the
teacher, the class wins a point.
3 FIND OUT WHAT
THEY REALLY WANT
When it comes to corporate classes,
student feedback about you and the
course will most likely be given to the
company’s HR manager and who-
ever it is who pays your wage. One
way to keep the students happy is
to give them what they want. In the
first couple of lessons, a needs analy-
sis should be done to compile a list
of their wants, needs, strengths and
weaknesses. This can be done by
asking each individual student the fol-
lowing questions:
What do you find difficult about
English?
What do you want to improve?
How do you use English in your
job?
With this information, you can plan
supplementary activities, projects and
various other tasks that are not in the
book with the aim of keeping your
class fresh and interesting.
4 DRESS THE PART
As a corporate teacher, you will
be teaching in conference rooms,
meeting rooms or even boardrooms.
Working in this environment takes
you into the realm of the company’s
big wigs, and dressing to impress
helps your image. It may also help
gain further work in the future. As a
corporate teacher, you should dress
like a corporate individual.
31
 5 GO WITH THE FLOW
If you find that your planned
PROVE TO BE HANDY IN YEARS TO
COME.
The best advice to anyone consider-
lesson on business writing is putting
ing corporate teaching is to keep it
them to sleep, a quick change of tac-
light, bright and informative. By fol-
tics has never gone astray. The stu-
lowing these steps anyone can be a
dents have generally worked a long
successful trainer when gracing the
day, and giving them the task of writ-
boardroom or meeting room of a com-
ing an email makes them feel like they
pany.
are continuing their work. If you no-
tice their attention span beginning to
falter, start a classroom conversation.
Get them talking about things they are
interested in, such as their hobbies,
families, life outside work. This also
shows that you are a caring teacher,
with a genuine interest into the well-
being of your students.

6 THEY’RE ADULTS,
NOT CHILDREN
Never reprimand or discipline an adult
student for arriving late or not doing
homework. They are adults and can
make up their own minds.. They prob-
ably had a good excuse for not doing
the homework, or came late to class
due to a work meeting. Always re-
member that you can lead a horse to
water, but not make it drink. The same
rule applies for adult students.

7 GIVE THEM SOMETHING

THEY CAN USE
When it comes to using material from
a book, skip the parts that are not
relevant to them. If you’re teaching a
group of accountants, focus on mon-
ey related topics, rather than irrel-
evant topics, such as ‘booking a ho-
tel room’. If your students don’t need
to know about presentations, don’t
teach them it. The best approach is to
replace the redundant task with a fun
activity, such as a team project that
gets the students working together.

8 KEEP IT PERSONAL
Give out your email address and
let them know that you are always
there for any help or assistance if they
need any help with English in their
job. This creates a personal bond,
meaning good feedback for you, and
a way for them to improve their Eng-
lish skills, which directly relate to their
job.

ESL CORPORATE TEACHING IS

A GREAT PLACE TO MEET SOME
UNIQUE CHARACTERS WHILE
BUILDING CONTACTS THAT MAY

32
Workplace and Academic Phras-
es: What Students Need to Know
Recently I received an email from
a student. She had not been com-
ing to class—in fact, not all term,
and this was the first I had heard
from her, not a particularly unusual
situation when dealing with college
students. What was unusual was
her proposal to make up the term
in a week.
Somewhat stunned, I flatly refused.
This resulted in a return email which
was such an odd combination of the
formal, academic register --“indeed,”
“shocking,” “with all due respect,” and
the informal conversational style “last
straw,” “swept under the rug,”-- that
I was further irritated with her as it
seemed pretentious. Then I realized
the student was just attempting, only
partially successfully, to use the aca-
demic register, probably to impress
me in order to advance her cause, and
combining it with the more known con-
versational. Academic and workplace
vocabulary do not come “naturally”
just by being exposed to it, but it is
necessary in those situations requiring
formality, distance, and logic, and re-
quires practice. Furthermore, although
different in form, workplace and aca-
demic vocabulary perform the same
functions such as opening a commu-
nication, closing it, showing similarity
and contrast, demonstrating results,
etc., but in a more formal register than
the conversational.
10 WORKPLACE &
ACADEMIC TERMS
YOUR STUDENTS
SHOULD KNOW
1 TO WHOM IT MAY
CONCERN
This is the traditional opening of a
business letter, directed at someone
the writer doesn’t know. Somewhat
archaic, it is still used in formal situ-
ations. Less formal communications
will most likely open with “Dear Sir or
Madam.”
2 IT SHOULD BE NOTED
THAT
This is used in an academic or busi-
ness communication in order to call
the reader’s attention to something: “It
should be noted that Monday is a holi-
day, and the banks are closed.” This
is much more formal-sounding than “I
just want to let you know—” which per-
forms the same function but in more
informal language.
3
TAKE INTO ACCOUNT
This phrase roughly means “to
remember” or “to consider”: e.g., “In
planning the schedule, please take
into account the holidays at the end
of the month.” It does have a different
meaning than either “remember” or
“consider” in that it implies that there
are a number of factors to consider in
making plans, and this is one of them.
4
MAKE USE OF
This phrase means about the
same as the less formal “use”: e.g.,
“make use of existing resources”
means the same thing as “use exist-
ing resources.” Although there may be
a slightly different shade of meaning in
that “make use of” implies using what
is already there rather than going out
and acquiring it, while “use” does not,
this phrase demonstrates the tenden-
cy of business/academic phrases to
use (or make use of) more words than
necessary.
5 AS WE HAVE SEEN
This phrase has the function of
referring back to an earlier point: “As
we have seen, the company is in a
financial down mode and must con-
sider reducing—” Again, more words
are used here than strictly necessary.
While in general direct, as it makes
claims to be, there is also a tendency
of this register to use words to obscure
rather than clarify meaning. The above
sentence could be accomplished with,
“We are losing money, and need to
cut expenses,” something few want to
hear.
6 THIS IS NOT TO SAY THAT
With this phrase, the writer con-
cedes a point to the opposition: “Va-
nilla is really the best ice cream fla-
vor. This is not to say that chocolate
doesn’t also have merits...” A writer
who can recognize other viewpoints is
generally taken more seriously by the
reader.
7
RAISE AWARENESS OF
“Raising awareness” is a con-
cept that has its origins, I believe, in
the Civil Rights Movement: civil rights
abuses are so often ignored because
they seem “natural” and just “the way
things are,” so the first step to ad-
dressing a social ill such as segrega-
tion was seen as “raising awareness”
that there even was a problem. This
phrase has been expanded to apply
to almost any problem: e.g., “Raise
awareness on the lack of space in the
workroom.”
8
TAKE ADVANTAGE OF
This is a phrase that does seem
to have a different meaning than con-
versational English, where it also ex-
ists. In conversational English, “take
advantage of” is often used to refer to
exploiting people, perhaps sexually,
as in “He took advantage of her na-
ivety.” In academic/business English,
which is more impersonal, the focus
tends to be on exploiting the nonhu-
man: e.g., “take advantage of existing
oil supplies.”
9 USE RESOURCES
“Use resources” is one of those
phrases used a lot in the business/ac-
ademic world, usually with a focus on
saving or not spending money: e.g.,
“use our existing resources,” “maxi-
mize the use of our resources,” and
“use our resources wisely.”
10 GENERATE A PLAN
Again, this is one of those
phrases that mean about the same as
another, simpler one in conversational
33
 English, where we simply “make a
JUST BEING ACQUIRED.
plan” or “come up with plan.”
With practice, however, students can
master this register and the language
HOW TO TEACH that will increase their chances of aca-
ACADEMIC AND demic and business success.
BUSINESS PHRASES

1 CALL ATTENTION TO IT
The first part of writing in the
academic/business genre is to notice
it exists. When reading an academic
essay or business letter, call attention
to specific vocabulary items the au-
thor uses and discuss why he or she
might have made those choices.

2 NOTICE THE FORM

AND THE FUNCTION
After the students have some aware-
ness of the register, work on analyz-
ing it with them. How is this particular
phrase functioning? Is there are com-
parable phrase we use in conversa-
tion? Have students “translate” some-
thing from the formal register to the
informal and then as their skill grows,
from the informal to formal. This be-
gins practice with the register.

3 PRACTICE
Now is the time to work on ac-
tual practice with academic/business
language. Assign students a topic and
task, so that they are more focused
on the language than they would be
if they were deciding topic and task
themselves: e.g., “Write an essay in
which you argue for state-sponsored
tuition in college” or “Write a letter in
which you try to convince a business
why you deserve a refund for a de-
fective washing machine that began
malfunctioning just as it warranty ex-
pired.” Remind students to stay in the
academic/business register as this
will cause people to take them more
seriously and advance their causes.

4 EXTENDED PRACTICE
In further practice, students can
begin choosing their own topics and
matching the register to the topic and
task.

LEARNING THE LANGUAGE FOR

BUSINESS/ACADEMIA IS NOT EASY,
AND STUDENTS’ FIRST ATTEMPTS
MIGHT BE LIKE MY STUDENT’S IN
THE INTRODUCTION, AN ODD COM-
BINATION OF THE FAMILIAR CON-
VERSATIONAL AND THE ACADEMIC

34
10 Sports Idioms Your Students
Need to Know for the Workplace
SPORTS ARE SOMETHING OF AN
OBSESSION IN AMERICAN CULTURE,
Idiomatic Meaning: to meet a goal
easily and without opposition.
10 TO DROP THE BALL
— American football: Acci-

AND DISCUSSION OF THEM IS NOT
LIMITED TO THE SPORTS FANATIC.
In fact, some knowledge of sports
may be required even of people who
don’t enjoy them to even successfully
engage in small talk, for example. In
addition, understanding idioms from
sports may be required to function not
only in informal situations but more
formal: recently at the Democratic
National Convention, for example,
former President Bill Clinton’s speech
was said by a reporter to have “hit it
out of the ballpark,” a term drawn from
baseball, when a player hits the ball
so hard and far that it allows everyone
on base to score: therefore, I know
from this idiom that Clinton’s speech
4
OUT IN LEFT FIELD
— Baseball: Left field is “out,”
where the game is not played and no
scores made.
Idiomatic Meaning: A person who is
out in left field makes off-topic or out-
landish remarks, that don’t seem part
of the “game.”
5
THE HOME STRETCH
— Baseball: the very last part of
the game at the end of the ninth in-
ning.
Idiomatic meaning: The “homestretch”
of a project is the final phase.
dentally dropping the ball allows the
other team the possibility of scoring.
Idiomatic Meaning: To make a serious
mistake, usually through inattention
or carelessness, that affects a whole
team or group.
METHODS FOR
TEACHING SPORTS
IDIOMS
1 DISCUSSION
OF THE SPORT
Many ESL students have little knowl-
edge of American football, basketball,
and baseball and therefore might

was a rousing success, at least in the
view of this reporter. Knowing idioms
like this is important to function in
both informal and formal situations in
American English, so teaching these
idioms should be part of the ESL cur-
riculum.
6
have trouble connecting idioms to the
TO STRIKE OUT
sport. Spend some time explaining
— Baseball: a player who each sport, the object of the game,
swings at a ball three times and does and how it is played.
not hit it properly strikes out and must

10 COMMON SPORTS
go to the end of the line.
Idiomatic Meaning: To strike out in a
business deal is to fail after trying.
2 MATCH THE IDIOM
TO THE SPORT
Once students understand the sports,
IDIOMS FOR THE ESL
7
connect the idioms that go with it. For
CLASS TO NOT GET
example, once students understand
TO FIRST BASE the object of baseball is to hit the ball,

1 TO DO AN END RUN
AROUND
— American football: when a player
goes around a teammate to score in-
stead of passing the ball.
Idiomatic Meaning: To leave a key
— Baseball: a player who strikes out
cannot go to first base to attempt to
score but must go to the end of the
run around the bases and get back to
home plate, and avoid being called
“out,” then students will begin to un-
derstand how “to strike out” and “to
line.
not get to first base” are connected
Idiomatic Meaning: To try at a venture
idioms.
or project but fail to even complete the

3
first stage.
person out of a process. MATCH THE DEFINITION

2 TO HIT IT
OUT OF THE BALLPARK
— Baseball: a ball that is hit out of the
ballpark will allow everyone on base
8 A HOME RUN
— Baseball: to run around the
TO THE IDIOM
Once students have connected idi-
oms to their respect sports, they can
plates to home plate and score.
begin to produce definitions for each
Idiomatic Meaning: a big success.
idiom, first by matching the definition

9
to score. to the idiom and then by generating
Idiomatic Meaning: to meet a goal
TO PASS THE BALL the definitions on their own.
more than was expected. — American football and basket-

3 A SLAM DUNK
ball: to hand off the ball to a teammate
rather than trying to score oneself.
Idiomatic Meaning: To give a task,
4 PRACTICE
IN CONVERSATION
— Basketball: to score in one It’s now time to practice the idioms
usually undesirable, to a colleague.
shot by evading blocking to shoot the in speaking. Have students choose
ball through the hoop. about three idioms and practice using

35
 them first in a short “speech” or mono-
logue on their own and then practice
using them in dialogue.

5 TEACH CORRECT
PRONUNCIATION
Idiom instruction is the perfect time to
teach correct stress and pronuncia-
tion, especially what the French call
“liaison,” or the connecting of words
in rapid speech. To just take the first
idiom on the list, the phrase “to do an
end run around” is not pronounced
that way, with each syllable receiving
equal stress, but rather something like
“tuh-do-uh-end-run-uhround,” with the
content words stressed and the struc-
ture/grammar syllables unstressed
“schwa” sounds pronounced “uh,” and
then the whole phrase run together.
This is native, fluent speech, and be-
cause idioms are even more connect-
ed than most speech, a perfect time to
teach liaison.

6 PRACTICE THE IDIOM

IN WRITING
Believe it or not, these idioms are so
pervasive that they are used in writ-
ing, sometimes relatively formal writ-
ing, like business memos and letters.
A team leader might very well email
his team with gratitude that they are
finally in the “home stretch” of a proj-
ect. Have students see if they can use
three to five idioms in a memo or letter
on a specific topic either assigned by
the teacher or generated by the stu-
dent.

TEACHING SPORTS IDIOMS MAY

SEEM A PERIPHERAL PART OF
THE CURRICULUM THAN SOME
CONCERNS, SUCH AS TEACHING
CORRECT SENTENCE STRESS AND
WRITING.
That is true to some extent, but these
idioms are such a large part of U.S.
culture that pronunciation and writ-
ing tasks can be easily connected to
them.

36
9 Best Tips to Give ESL Students
for Professional Business Emails
How do your students’ email writing
skills stack up? At this day and age, ESL
students who are not learning good, pro-
fessional email writing skills will be at a
serious disadvantage in comparison to
those who already possess them. In
business in particular, professional email
communication is absolutely crucial.
Of course, we’re responsible for teach-
ing the correct grammar and vocabulary,
but effective email writing is so much
more than that. It is just as important to
teach students how to be respectful and
set the right tone. Here are 9 tips that will
help your students write effective, pro-
fessional emails - every time!
HOW TO HELP
YOUR STUDENTS
WRITE EFFECTIVE,
PROFESSIONAL EMAILS
1
MAKE THAT SUBJECT LINE
CLEAR
The subject line indicates what the email
is about, and so it gives the recipient a
certain idea of what to expect. The sub-
ject line is crucial because it often deter-
mines whether the email will be read or
sent directly to the trash.
Students must understand that the sub-
ject line should be clear, descriptive and
rarely include a complete sentence - un-
less it is absolutely necessary. A good
rule of thumb is to keep it to no more
than 50 characters. Also, it’s good to
convey how personal and timely your
message is. Here are some examples of
effective subject lines you can give your
students:
Your requested information
Preliminary schedule for the conference
Agenda for next week’s meeting
2 ATTACH DOCUMENTS THAT
ARE RELEVANT
A lot of people are wary of attachments.
They may take time to open, may con-
tain a virus, or may require a program
your recipient does not have. Students
should only include attachments that
they deem to be absolutely necessary
and relevant to the email. It’s advisable
for them to include some reference to
the attached document within the main
body of text (“Please find attached...”,
“you’ll find the report attached”).
3 DON’T CC EVERYBODY
This is a common mistake with
those who are inexperienced at send-
ing professional emails. When you send
an email to someone, it is not absolutely
necessary to ‘cc’ (send a copy to) your
boss or other members of the team ev-
ery time. Students must learn to judge
if it is necessary to send a copy of the
email to someone else in addition to the
main recipient.
4 CLEARLY STATE
YOUR PURPOSE
Students should learn to state the pur-
pose of their email early on (“I’m writ-
ing to let you know that...”). This gives a
clear indication to the recipient whether
it is something urgent that requires im-
mediate attention or something that can
wait. Any personal messages, holiday
greetings or best wishes should be men-
tioned at the end of the email after busi-
ness has been taken care of.
5
KEEP IT SHORT AND EASY
TO READ
People are busy and often have inbox-
es flooded with emails. Students must
understand that writing an email is not
like writing a letter. Sentences should be
shorter, just like paragraphs – ideally no
more than five lines. If the email is turn-
ing out to be too long and complicated,
it’s a good indication they should call this
person instead.
6
USE SIMPLE LANGUAGE
This is not the time for students
to show off their literary skills and all of
the fancy words they’ve learned in ESL
class. Although we teach students to
use phrasal verbs in spoken English and
more literary terms in written English
(consider the use of “put off” vs. “post-
pone” or “put up with” vs. “tolerate”),
they should stick to the simpler phrasal
verbs in emails – unless it is a very for-
mal one. In general, it is better to use
simpler language to go with the shorter
sentences and avoid words like “hence-
forth”, “acknowledge receipt of” or “in the
event of”.
7 DON’T SHOUT
Students, particularly those who
are young and inexperienced are often
unaware of the fact that writing in capital
letters IS LIKE SHOUTING in email lan-
guage. Tell students that the best way to
emphasize a date or hour, or any par-
ticular piece of information is by making
it bold.
8 USE ABBREVIATIONS SPAR-
INGLY
The subject of abbreviations is not as
simple as it may seem – students must
often use their own judgment as to which
they should use. There are some that
are used very often in Business Eng-
lish, like ASAP or FYI, but these are of
standard use. Make sure students learn
to differentiate business abbreviations
from those that are more informal, like
those used in text messages or SMS.
Moreover, they must be sure recipients
will be able to understand the abbrevia-
tion. When in doubt, it’s better to spell it
out. They should also be used sparingly
– just a couple per email. An email filled
with abbreviations may just be too hard
to decipher.
9
CLOSE THE EMAIL WITH
COMPLETE CONTACT INFO
In addition to the usual closing (Re-
gards, Sincerely, etc.) encourage stu-
dents to add a more complete email
signature that includes phone, email or
other relevant contact info. It will give
their emails a more professional touch.
IT’S HARD ENOUGH FOR ESL STU-
DENTS TO LEARN THE PROPER
GRAMMAR, VOCABULARY AND ALL
AROUND SOLID WRITING SKILLS. BY
PROVIDING THEM WITH THESE TIPS,
YOU’LL BE MAKING THINGS A LITTLE
EASIER. THEY’LL THANK YOU FOR IT!
If you have any other professional email
writing tips that you usually share with
your students, be sure to share them be-
low as well!
37
 To Whom It May Concern:
Phrases, Structures, and Register
I just downloaded some information
from a writer’s website about its ma-
terials submission policy. This was not
a contract but rather an explanation of
the site, its business, and its services
for writers, so it was not written in “le-
galese,” or legal language but rather
the business genre, which is suppos-
edly concise, clear, and direct so that
future clients can understand the ser-
vices the company offers. However,
this piece of literature was so full of
language that clouded the issue rath-
er than clarified that I put it away for
“future reading,” which may be never,
given this experience, and if I don’t get
back to the reading on the services
I will not visit the website again. The
irony that this poor writing was posted
on a website for writers is probably not
lost on you. Students should learn the
language of business, both to under-
stand it and to use it, but they should
also learn to use it so that the listener
or reader can actually understand.
REGISTER OF
BUSINESS ENGLISH
Different situations call for different
language use or register: the expected
vocabulary, structures, and tone for
the situation. For example the aca-
demic register I use in the classroom is
different from the conversational one I
use at home: e.g., in academic Eng-
lish, “As a reminder, it is highly unlikely
that any late work can be accepted
this month, given the circumstances
of the upcoming holidays.” This is in
sharp contrast to the language of con-
versational English: “I said do it now,
not later.” Academic English tends to
be impersonal and indirect in contrast
to conversational English, which is
brief and personal. Similarly, business
English has its own register expecta-
tions of conciseness, directness, and
impersonality.
PHRASES OF
BUSINESS ENGLISH
A lot of language exists in often-re-
peated phrases. For example, most
people will recognize the greeting from
38
a business letter, “To Whom It May
Concern,” which has an impersonal-
ness in that no name is mentioned,
and the passive voice, which facilitates
impersonalness as no agent need be
named, is used.
COMMON PHRASES
FROM BUSINESS
ENGLISH
1 ON THE JOB MARKET
to be actively looking for work. “I
didn’t expect to be on the job market at
my age, but I lost my job.”
2 TO LET GO
to terminate someone’s employ-
ment, often for cause: “I had to let Tom
go because he just can’t get along with
anyone.”
3 ON THE (FIRING) LINE
to be at risk, usually a job. “My
job here is on the line, so I have to
work really hard.”
4 TO GET THE AXE
to be terminated, but perhaps
due more to loss of company revenue
than cause: “The company has so lost
so much profit during the recession
that fifty employees might get the axe.”
5 ABOVE AND BEYOND
(THE CALL OF DUTY)
Derived from the military, this phrase in
business means to have exceeded ex-
pectations on a particular task: “Mary,
your work on the report was above
and beyond the call of duty.”
6 IN THE BLACK/RED
from bookkeeping, where finan-
cial gains are recorded in black and
losses in red. So a company that is
doing well financially, for example, is
“in the black.” “Red/black ink” is also
used: “Our books are covered in red
ink” means the company is suffering a
lot of financial losses.
7 TO LEARN THE ROPES
this means to learn the expec-
tations and duties of a job: e.g., “I’ll
spend the first couple of months at the
company just learning the ropes be-
fore taking on clients.”
8 A NUMBERS CRUNCHER
A numbers cruncher works in a
field that requires a lot of mathemat-
ics, such as accounting. The phrase
can be used as a pejorative: “What
does he know... he’s just a numbers
cruncher.”
9 THE GOLDEN HANDSHAKE
Extra money given to an employ-
ee at retirement, often as an incentive
to retire early.
10 A GLASS CEILING
a barrier that does not al-
low certain individuals, often minorities
and/or women, to rise to management
level. “Rhonda didn’t get the promo-
tion because that company has such
a glass ceiling.”
METHODS TO TEACH
BUSINESS ENGLISH
PHRASES
1 RAISE CONSCIOUSNESS ON
THE BUSINESS REGISTER
Explain that there is this thing called
the “business register,” language for
business situations, and how it differs
from everyday conversational English.
Give a few examples, and ask stu-
dents to do the same.
2 REAL EXAMPLES FROM
BUSINESS DOCUMENTS
Bring in samples from your own mail:
business phrases are there! Also have
students bring in their own samples.
Choose one and go over it as a class,
pointing out the phrases mostly from
the business register and how the
writer uses them. Also consider put-
ting students in groups and giving
each group a sample letter and have
them locate common business phras-
es.

3 PRACTICE WRITING
ASSIGNMENTS FROM THE
BUSINESS REGISTER. USE A
TARGET NUMBER OF PHRASES
Give students the task of writing a
document like the ones they have
been studying. Give a purpose to the
writing (to obtain payment, advertise
services, etc.)Then assign a set num-
ber of business phrases for students
to use.

4 PRACTICE WRITING
DOCUMENTS USING
TARGETED PHRASES
Select key phrases from model docu-
ments and discuss their functions: to
open, to introduce the reason for writ-
ing, to offer examples, to close, and
so forth. Give students a writing task
and some phrases they will need and
write.

5 ROLEPLAY
Have students in pairs or groups
roleplay specific situations: a job in-
terview, a meeting, a termination, etc.
See how long they can maintain the
business register, including its phras-
es.

THE BUSINESS REGISTER IS DIS-

TINCT FROM THE CONVERSATIONAL
ONE AND IS ENDEMIC THROUGH-
OUT OUR SOCIETY IN WORKPLACE
SITUATIONS.
Therefore, students should become
aware of and able to use the language
of this register.

39