Summary
This downloadable PDF lesson plan for B1 ESL students focuses on using the Past Simple tense in professional contexts, specifically for giving project updates and writing quarterly reports. This business English material uses listening, reading, and interactive exercises to teach students how to clearly describe completed actions and achievements.
This lesson helps intermediate students build confidence in their business communication skills. The activities include a warm-up discussion on project work, a listening exercise based on a project update, and a vocabulary matching task with key project management terms. Students will practice forming the Past Simple with both regular and irregular verbs and apply this grammar through reading comprehension and speaking activities, ensuring they can report on past events effectively.
Activities
- A warm-up discussion where students talk about their experiences with projects, setting the context for the lesson.
- A listening comprehension exercise where students fill in the blanks in a project update report to practice listening for details and Past Simple verbs.
- A drag-and-drop vocabulary matching task to learn essential business terms for reports, such as "phase," "deliver," and "ahead of schedule."
- A grammar focus on the Past Simple tense, covering regular, irregular, and negative forms, with a sentence completion exercise to reinforce the structure.
- A reading comprehension activity based on a quarterly project review, followed by speaking practice where students discuss their own work experiences using the target language.
Vocabulary focus
The vocabulary section introduces key terms used in business reports and project management. Students will learn and practice words like 'phase,' 'deliver,' 'challenge,' 'address,' 'ahead of schedule,' and 'productive' to describe project progress and outcomes effectively.
Grammar focus
This lesson concentrates on the Past Simple tense. It covers the formation of both regular (adding -ed) and irregular verbs, as well as the negative form (didn't + verb). The grammar is practiced in the context of writing and speaking about completed actions at a specific time in the past, which is essential for project updates.
