Summary
This comprehensive ESL class material helps B2 level English learners develop skills for managing questions in professional settings, particularly during presentations. The lesson explores various types of questions and questioners, offering practical phrases and strategies for maintaining composure and control. Students will learn to acknowledge, defer, or deflect questions gracefully, enhancing their communication and presentation abilities. The material includes reading, video analysis, grammar exercises on polite language, and practical role-play scenarios.
Activities
Students discuss personal experiences with public speaking and handling difficult questions, exploring what makes questions challenging and their preferred Q&A timing and approaches.
Learners complete a gap-fill exercise in an article about maintaining credibility and rapport while handling various question types during presentations.
Students match common phrases used in Q&A sessions (e.g., acknowledging, deferring, admitting uncertainty, involving the audience) with their corresponding purposes.
After watching a video, students summarize four distinct strategies presented for dealing with unplanned questions, questions about future content, persistent questioners, and difficult-to-answer questions.
Students learn about using modal verbs, conditional structures, and the passive voice to make responses more polite and professional, then rewrite direct statements accordingly.
Learners devise appropriate and professional responses to various challenging Q&A scenarios, such as off-topic, repeated, overly technical, or confidential questions.
Students complete sentences with the correct form of verbs commonly used in professional communication to manage questions effectively and politely.
In groups, students take on roles of presenter, difficult questioner (e.g., skeptic, rambler, know-it-all), and observer to practice the learned strategies and receive constructive feedback.
Learners write a professional email responding to a detailed follow-up question received after a presentation, practicing formal written communication skills.
Students discuss cultural differences in handling questions, the role of body language, managing nerves, and create a personal action plan for improvement based on the lesson.
Vocabulary focus
This lesson emphasizes vocabulary crucial for managing Q&A sessions professionally. Key terms include words like acknowledge, rapport, deflect, credibility, leverage, gracefully, disrupting, and onus. It also focuses on verbs for professional responses such as appreciate, raise (a point), address, believe, be willing to, wonder, go beyond (the scope), and suggest (tabling a discussion).
Grammar focus
The primary grammar focus is on using polite language and constructing indirect requests. This involves employing modal verbs (e.g., could, would, might) to soften requests and make suggestions less assertive. Students will also practice using conditional structures (e.g., "If you wouldn't mind...", "Would it be alright if...") for less direct communication, and understanding the use of the passive voice to depersonalize statements and maintain professionalism when responding to questions.
