Business Spotlight
A series of self-contained lesson plans by Karen Richardson that you can use in a business English class with pre-service or in-service students, in one-to-one teaching situations or to focus on a particular topic, business skill or area of business-related language. Each lesson plan provides you with material for approximately 90 minutes’ teaching.
Business Spotlight lesson plans
Business Spotlight: Out of office
This lesson, which is based on an article from Business Spotlight magazine, is about how more employees are now working away from the office, also known as teleworking. Teacher’s notes cover strategies on idiomatic phrases. Student activities include a key words and phrases exercise, formulating questions and discussing the ability to telework in their own jobs.
Introduction to the series
Karen Richardson introduces a new series of lesson plans based on articles from Business Spotlight magazine, an award-winning bi-monthly magazine for teachers and learners of English for business. This article provides an overview of the series, as well as hints and tips on how best to exploit it.
Masters of the universe
Author: Karen Richardson
This lesson, which is based on an article from Business Spotlight magazine, is about how ordinary people can help provide information required for the advancement of scientific, environmental and humanitarian projects. Teacher’s notes cover strategies on alternatives to web research in class. Student activities include a key word exercise, completing a table using web research and discussing the major points raised in the article.
Far from home
Author: Karen Richardson
This lesson, which is based on an article from Business Spotlight magazine, is about culture shock, and explores the causes, symptoms and how to cope with it. Teacher’s notes cover strategies on teaching with flow charts. Student activities include answering questions in a flow chart, matching words to make collocations and a discussion on how to best prepare an employee for life abroad.
The Golden State?
Author: Karen Richardson
This lesson, which is based on an article from Business Spotlight magazine, is written by an American expat who talks about how the situation in her home state of California has changed in recent years. Teacher’s notes cover strategies on teaching specific vocabulary. Student activities include finding two-word expressions, completing a state file on California and a discussion on the economic crisis.
Do you talk too much?
Author: Karen Richardson
This lesson, which is based on an article from Business Spotlight magazine, is about talking too much and highlights how you can recognize this in yourself and do something about it. Teacher’s notes cover strategies on visualization. Student activities include constructing a diagram / flow chart, delivering a presentation and researching different communication styles.
The five Ps of participation
Author: Karen Richardson
This lesson, which is based on an article from Business Spotlight magazine, is about participating in meetings and offers hints and suggestions which have been divided into five easy-to-remember categories. Teacher’s notes cover strategies on brainstorming sessions. Student activities include identifying imperative structures, writing an email to a colleague and a class debate.
Creature comforts
Author: Karen Richardson
This lesson, which is based on an article from Business Spotlight magazine, is about pet-care and, in particular, the estimated global revenue of the industry as well as its many sides - innovative, necessary and emotional. Teacher’s notes cover strategies on teaching compound adjectives. Student activities include a key word exercise and a web task on the costs of keeping an animal.
A new revolution
Author: Karen Richardson
This lesson is based on an article from Business Spotlight magazine, written by a Saudi Arabian woman who talks about the restrictions that women in her country encounter in their everyday lives. Teacher’s notes cover strategies for noticing the use of metaphors. Student activities include a gap-fill exercise, comprehension questions and a discussion about women’s rights.
Reach for the top
Author: Karen Richardson
This lesson, which is based on an article from Business Spotlight magazine, looks at the pros and cons of appraisals and both employees’ and managers’ attitudes towards them. Teacher’s notes cover strategies on using concordancers. Student activities include matching and gap-fill exercises plus a preparation task for the students’ next appraisal.
Time to take a 'RISC'
Author: Karen Richardson
This lesson, which is based on an article from Business Spotlight magazine, is about negotiating and, in particular, a four-step guide to structuring a successful negotiation. Teacher’s notes cover strategies on employing students as observers in role-play activities. Student activities include matching and gap-fill exercises plus a role-play for small groups.
Africa's broken heart
Author: Karen Richardson
This lesson is based on an article from Business Spotlight magazine which is written by a South African woman who gives her account of a trip to Zimbabwe. Teacher’s notes cover strategies for reading numbers and figures out loud. Student activities include completing a country file on Zimbabwe, and analyzing and translating expressions from the article.
What I've learned: Tony Hawk
Author: Karen Richardson
In this lesson, which is based on an article from Business Spotlight magazine, the American skateboarder Tony Hawk gives advice on how to turn your passion into your profession. Teacher’s notes cover strategies for multi-word expressions. Student activities include a discussion in which students provide career advice and web-related tasks on Tony Hawk’s business ventures.
New beginnings
Author: Karen Richardson
This lesson, which is based on an article from Business Spotlight magazine, covers the topic of immigration in Canada – which is considered a model for successful immigration policy. Teacher’s notes cover strategies for paraphrasing. Student activities include rewording excerpts from the article and a webquest investigating ethnic diversity.
Daring to fail
Author: Karen Richardson Type: General lesson plan
This lesson, which is based on an article from Business Spotlight magazine, features an interview with a businesswoman, Anna Koark, who talks about her experience of insolvency. Teacher’s notes cover strategies for pair and group discussions. Student activities include comprehension exercises about Anne’s career and a discussion about life choices.
Great expectations
Author: Karen Richardson Type: General lesson plan
This lesson, which is based on an article from Business Spotlight magazine, is about intercultural communication and, in particular, how different countries and cultures conduct business deals. Teacher’s notes cover strategies for addressing accuracy while still keeping fluency in tasks. Student activities include gap-fill exercises and an in-depth discussion.
Do women need quotas to get to the top?
Author: Karen Richardson Type: General lesson plan
In this lesson, which is based on two articles from Business Spotlight magazine, two professionals offer their opinions on whether quotas are necessary to help women get to the top of their professions. Teacher’s notes cover strategies for encouraging inductive learning. Student activities include a group discussion activity and internet research to create a profile of a female CEO.
All together now
Author: Karen Richardson Type: General lesson plan
This lesson, which is based on an article from Business Spotlight magazine, looks at the reality of multi-generational workplaces and the methods that can be adopted to keep everyone happy. Teacher's notes cover strategies for teaching and learning the importance of preparation time for speaking activities. Student activities include generating more tips on how to improve a multi-generational workforce and a group discussion.
Should networking sites be banned from work?
Author: Karen Richardson Type: General lesson plan
In this lesson, which is based on an article from Business Spotlight magazine, two experts offer differing opinions on whether social networking should be used at work. Teacher's notes cover strategies for handling idiomatic language. Student activities include discussing the key arguments in groups and taking part in a role-play at an inter-departmental meeting.
Emotional roller coaster
Author: Karen Richardson Type: General lesson plan
This lesson, which is based on an article from Business Spotlight magazine, looks at the personal conflicts two managers faced as they took the most difficult management decisions of their careers. Teacher's notes cover reading and information exchange activities. Student activities include an information exchange activity and discussions.
Specialist or generalist?
Author: Karen Richardson Type: General lesson plan
In this lesson, which is based on an article from Business Spotlight magazine, an American career coach discusses why we should consider becoming specialists (rather than generalists). Teacher's notes cover strategies for essential and non-essential business vocabulary. Student activities include answering comprehension questions and embarking on a project.
Who can you trust?
Author: Karen Richardson Type: General lesson plan
In this lesson, which is based on an article from Business Spotlight magazine, an American career coach talks about practices and methods used to tell when someone is lying. Teacher's notes cover strategies for personalizing language. Student activities include answering comprehension questions and taking part in a role-play.
My home is my castle
Author: Karen Richardson Type: General lesson plan
This lesson is based on an article from Business Spotlight magazine that talks about the Indian government’s use of satellite images of slums and to what ends this information may be used. Teacher's notes focus on hidden agendas and cover PowerPoint presentations in class as a teaching and learning strategy. Student activities include writing a country file and preparing a PowerPoint presentation.
Is it ever OK to lie in a job interview?
Author: Karen Richardson Type: General lesson plan
In this lesson, which is based on two articles from Business Spotlight magazine, a former recruitment director and a director of a top employment website offer differing views on whether candidates should lie in job interviews. Teacher's notes cover strategies for staging complicated tasks. Student activities include summarizing the text and writing and answering comprehension questions.
End and beginning
Author: Karen Richardson Type: General lesson plan
This lesson is based on an article from Business Spotlight magazine that deals with the problematic but essential Business English topic of losing a job. Teacher's notes cover strategies for report writing. Student activities include practice of vocabulary and expressions useful for discussing this topic and writing a report.
Career focus: Recruiter for love
Author: Karen Richardson Type: General lesson plan
In this lesson, which is based on an article from Business Spotlight magazine, Sophia McDonald talks about her company, Sophisticated Matchmaking, and how her previous work experience and her people skills have helped her become a successful matchmaker. Teacher's notes cover strategies for teaching and learning idiomatic expressions. Student activities include a business vocabulary crossword, and note-taking and summarizing exercises.
What I've learned: 50 Cent
Author: Karen Richardson Type: General lesson plan
In this lesson, which is based on an article from Business Spotlight magazine, the American rapper 50 Cent talks to the author Robert Greene about his life, career and business decisions. Teacher's notes cover strategies for holding a class debate. Student activities include discussing quotes from the article and writing a summary of 50 Cent's life.
Planning the future
Author: Karen Richardson Level: Pre-intermediate, Intermediate, Upper intermediate, Advanced Type: General lesson plan
In this lesson, which is based on an article from Business Spotlight magazine, two students, who have decided to study abroad, talk about matters that are important to them, such as tuition fees and future job prospects. Teacher's notes cover strategies for reading for detail. Student activities include filling in a table with information from the article and rewriting parts of the dialogue.
The art doctor
Author: Karen Richardson Type: General lesson plan
In this lesson, which is based on an article from Business Spotlight magazine, a self-made businessman talks about his decision to dramatically change his career path and the consequences it has since had on him and his life. Teacher's notes cover strategies for using word clouds and word wheels, and student activities include writing a CV and completing an online career test.
Moving down under
Author: Karen Richardson Type: General lesson plan
In this lesson, which is based on an article from Business Spotlight magazine, Nerida Frost talks about how she moved from Germany to New Zealand with her family. The article deals with the opportunities and challenges that may be encountered when moving to another country for work reasons. Teacher's notes cover strategies for teaching and learning word frequency and corpora, and collocations. Student activities include writing a country file and presenting it to the class.
Making a start
This lesson is based on an article from Business Spotlight magazine that deals with the stages of kick-off meetings and their importance in the success of new projects. Teacher's notes cover strategies for skim-reading and recording new language, and student activities include setting an agenda and writing an email. This lesson is free for all onestopenglish users.
The case against self-employment
Author: Karen Richardson Type: General lesson plan
This lesson is based on an article from Business Spotlight magazine that deals with the advantages and disadvantages between having a full-time (or part-time) employment contract and being self-employed. Teacher's notes cover strategies for brainstorming and using opposites, and student activities include a business simulation and writing a questionnaire.
