Summary
This downloadable PDF lesson plan for English teachers provides C2-level class material on intellectual property law. This business English lesson uses reading, listening, and role-play activities to explore patent disputes and legal negotiation language.
This lesson guides advanced students through the complexities of intellectual property. Activities begin with a warm-up discussion and a vocabulary matching task. Students then complete a listening gap-fill about patent filing and analyze a news article on a patent dispute. The lesson culminates in a grammar practice on nominalization and a role-play negotiation, allowing students to apply all the language and concepts learned in a practical business scenario.
Activities
- Students begin by discussing intangible assets and their importance, activating their prior knowledge before diving into the core vocabulary of intellectual property law through a matching exercise.
- A reading comprehension task based on a fictional news article about a patent dispute challenges students to analyze legal strategies, followed by a listening gap-fill exercise on the patent filing process.
- The lesson culminates in a dynamic role-play where students act as legal representatives for two opposing companies, using the lesson's vocabulary and phrases to negotiate a settlement for a patent infringement case.
Vocabulary focus
This lesson focuses on high-level legal and business vocabulary essential for discussing intellectual property. Key terms include: patent infringement, proprietary technology, litigation, prior art, cease and desist order, injunction, licensing agreement, and trade secret. The material also includes useful phrases for asserting rights and negotiating settlements in a business context.
Grammar focus
The grammar section focuses on nominalization, a key feature of formal legal and business English. Students learn how to transform verbs and adjectives into nouns (e.g., 'infringe' to 'infringement') to create a more abstract, impersonal, and authoritative tone. The exercise combines this with the use of the passive voice to shift focus from the actor to the action itself, a common technique in legal writing.
