Summary
This downloadable PDF lesson plan for English teachers provides class material for a B1 business English lesson focused on giving project status updates.
This ESL resource is designed to equip students with the necessary vocabulary and grammar to communicate effectively about work progress in a professional environment.
Lesson Structure & Activities
This practical lesson helps B1 students learn how to give clear and professional project updates. The activities follow a typical sequence moving from controlled practice to free production:
- Controlled Practice: Starts with vocabulary matching and a listening gap-fill activity.
- Language Focus: Students then tackle a grammar exercise on verb tenses crucial for discussing progress.
- Contextual Reading: Includes reading a short article about a common business issue: a project setback, followed by studying useful phrases for managing and communicating such issues.
The lesson culminates in a guided role-play, allowing students to apply all the new language in realistic business scenarios. This final activity aims to build confidence and fluency for the workplace.
Activities
- Students build a strong vocabulary base by matching essential project management terms like "on track," "bottleneck," and "milestone" with their correct definitions, preparing them for the subsequent activities.
- The grammar section focuses on the practical difference between the present perfect and simple past for reporting, followed by a gap-fill exercise to reinforce the correct usage in context.
- A short listening exercise sharpens students' comprehension skills as they listen to a project manager's update and fill in the missing keywords, tuning their ears to common professional phrases.
- The lesson culminates in a dynamic speaking activity where students role-play giving status updates in different business scenarios, using the phrases, grammar, and vocabulary learned in the lesson.
Transcript
00:00 The project is currently on track, but we've encountered a minor delay with the testing phase.00:08 We're expecting to resolve it by tomorrow afternoon.00:15 The development team has made excellent progress, completing two key modules ahead of schedule.00:25 However, resource allocation for the next quarter needs to be reviewed.00:35 Overall, I'm optimistic about meeting our revised deadline, provided we address these issues promptly.00:45 We'll have a more detailed update at the next stakeholder meeting.
Vocabulary focus
This lesson focuses on essential vocabulary for discussing project management and progress. Students will learn and practice key terms including: "on track," "deadline," "delay," "ahead of schedule," "milestone," "resolve (an issue)," "bottleneck," and "resource allocation."
Grammar focus
The main grammar point is the crucial distinction between the present perfect and the simple past. Students learn when to use the simple past for finished actions at a specific time (e.g., "We sent the report yesterday") and the present perfect for recent news that has a result now (e.g., "We have made excellent progress").
