writing tasks business english

Your browser is not supported

Sorry but it looks as if your browser is out of date. To get the best experience using our site we recommend that you upgrade or switch browsers.

Find a solution

• Skip to main content
• Skip to navigation
• Macmillan English
• Onestopenglish
• Digital Shop

• Back to parent navigation item

Sample material

• Amazing World of Animals
• Amazing World of Food
• Arts and Crafts
• Mathematics
• Transport and Communication
• Teaching Tools
• Sustainable Development and Global Citizenship
• Support for Teaching Children
• Vocabulary & Phonics
• Spelling Bee Games
• Phonics & Sounds
• The Alphabet
• Onestop Phonics: The Alphabet
• Alphabet Booklet
• Interactive Flashcards
• Warmers & Fillers
• Young Learner Games
• Stories and Poems
• Fillers & Pastimes
• Fun Fillers
• Ready for School!
• Topics & Themes
• Young Learner Topics
• Young Learner Festivals
• Festival Worksheets
• Art and Architecture
• Business and Tourism
• Geography and the Environment
• Information Technology
• Science and Nature
• Topic-based Listening Lessons
• Cambridge English
• Cambridge English: Preliminary (PET)
• Cambridge English: First (FCE)
• Cambridge English: Proficiency (CPE)
• Cambridge English: Advanced (CAE)
• General English
• News Lessons
• Topics and Themes
• Beyond (BrE)
• Beyond: Arts and Media
• Beyond: Knowledge
• Go Beyond (AmE)
• Go Beyond: Arts & Media
• Go Beyond: Knowledge
• Impressions
• Macmillan Readers
• A Time to Travel
• Life & School
• Skills for Problem Solving
• Digital Skills for Teens
• Support for Teaching Teenagers
• Games Teaching Materials
• Business and ESP
• Business Lesson Plans
• Business Skills Bank
• Business Top Trumps
• Elementary Business Lessons
• HR Management
• Business News Lessons
• ESP Lesson Plans
• Career Readiness
• Professional Communication Skills
• Cambridge English: Business (BEC)
• Everyday Life
• Celebrations
• Live from...
• Live from London
• Discussion Cards
• Writing Lesson Plans
• Life Skills
• Support for Teaching Adults
• Vocabulary Lesson Plans
• Language for...
• Vocabulary Teaching Materials
• Macmillan Dictionary Blog
• Vocabulary Infographics
• Kahoot! Quizzes
• Blog Articles
• Professional Development
• Lesson Share
• Methodology: Projects and Activities
• Methodology: Tips for Teachers
• Methodology: The World of ELT
• Advancing Learning
• Online Teaching
• More from navigation items

Cambridge English qualifications for business (BEC)

• 1 Cambridge English qualifications for business (BEC)
• 2 B2 Business Vantage: Reading: Part 1
• 3 B2 Business Vantage: Reading: Part 4
• 4 B2 Business Vantage: Writing: Part 1
• 5 B2 Business Vantage: Listening: Part 1
• 6 B2 Business Vantage: Speaking: Part 2

B2 Business Vantage: Writing: Part 1

By Russell Whitehead

• No comments

An article by Russell Whitehead about the Cambridge English B2 Business Vantage (formerly BEC Vantage) exam Writing component Part 1 (the concise correspondence task) with tips for preparing candidates and a sample task and explanation.

The task type

A description of a business situation is given. Candidates have to write a 40– 50 word internal company comnmunication (a text written by one member of a company or organization's staff to one or more other staff members) using the information provided. The channel of communication to be used (writing a message/memo/email giving instructions/explaining a development/asking for comments/requesting information/agreeing to requests, etc.) will be given in the instructions. Ten marks are available for this task.

Standards of appropriacy: Although the exam task does not directly specify details of the style the writer should use, candidates are expected to show they know how to write to their colleagues in a suitable way. For example, a notice that began with ‘Hi!’ and contained a lot of slang would not be appropriate for the normal office environment.

The tasks are designed to be realistic reflections of the kinds of communicative tasks that people working in a variety of occupations and contexts are required to perform. Of course, the actual specifics of a particular task will vary. However, the language involved is expected to be typical. For example, tasks usually require candidates to identify some things, or to explain the reasons for something, or to apologise for something, and these are functions that people with a broad range of jobs are often required to do.

The candidate’s text will be assessed principally according to whether it communicates what it is supposed to. 

The Business English Certificate Vantage assesses English used in the context of business at Level B2 of the CEFR (Common European Framework). Three pass levels are available for this exam:

• Grade A (CEFR Level C1) – 180– 190 marks
• Grade B (CEFR Level B2) – 173– 179 marks
• Grade C (also CEFR Level B2) – 160– 172 marks

Candidates receive a separate score for each skill area (reading, writing, speaking and listening) and their overall score and grade is the average of these individual scores

Candidates who gain 140– 159 marks receive a certificate stating that they have demonstrated ability at CEFR Level B1.

Candidates whose scores are below 139 do not receive a result, CEFR level or certificate.

When awarding marks, examiners consider the following:

Task achievement: This is about whether the content points are included and are dealt with effectively. Remember that the required points are made very clear in the task – in a bulleted list – and the identities of relevant people involved are too. This real-purpose-driven approach is intrinsic to Business Vantage, and candidates need to be aware of it.

Accuracy: This is about the number and nature of errors present in the text. The key issue here is whether the errors block understanding. If they do, then communication is reduced. However, a number of errors may be made by candidates without it becoming difficult for the reader to know what the text is about.

Range of structure and vocabulary: This about the different sentence structures, verb tenses, functional devices, variety of lexis and so on, that the candidate demonstrates in the text. It can be easy for candidates to forget that examiners can only assess what they see; it is important to indicate the sorts of language that has been successfully learnt.

Organisation and cohesion: This is about how well the information contained in the text is organised and linked together. Although the texts are short, a paragraph division may be relevant. Sentences should be linked to each other in a meaningful order. Where an explanation follows a statement of fact, it should be clear that this is the relationship between the two sentences.

Register and format: This is about how suitably the candidate addresses the reader or readers. It is likely that a neutral or semi-formal register will be appropriate for many of the tasks set. Many tasks will need to be topped and tailed with suitable openings and closings, and generally follow the conventions of business communication.

Spelling is not directly assessed in its own right as a separate category. However, it is likely to have an impact in the categories of Accuracy and Range of structure and vocabulary .

Note: the most important factor is the effect on the reader. Will the reader of the email, memo, etc. understand and know what to do or think?

Useful strategies

It is fundamentally important that candidates grasp the situation for the task. They need to be able to clearly see who is required to write to whom, about what, and why or when and where an outcome is supposed to happen.

The bullet points below act as a kind of plan of content. However, candidates need to provide suitable language to achieve the communication needed. They need to able to convert cues such as suggest … into suitable forms, for example it might be a good idea to …

Paraphrasing is an important aspect of the task. If a candidate simply copies parts of the instructions into his or her text, then the examiner cannot know whether these have been correctly understood or not. There is no demonstration of what language the candidate knows.

Above all, writers should always remember they are writing to readers. What matters most is that the reader gets the right message.

Tips for preparing candidates

Practice is, of course, very important. However, simply getting students to do lots of practice tasks will not in itself make anything any better. A good variety of process-driven writing activities should be conducted with students. Try the following:

• Get students to discuss tasks in detail in pairs and groups before looking at the task and writing straight away.
• Get students to compare notes with other groups.
• Have one of a pair of students try dictating live to the other to create a first draft, then pass drafts round the class for peer correction.
• Give ‘prizes’ to students for the best ranges of vocabulary or structure shown.
• Write good and bad examples yourself and get students to evaluate and assess them.
• Give out jumbled up texts to re-assemble.
• Give out texts with the linkers gapped.
• Give out texts with nonsense words that students have to substitute with suitable vocabulary.
• Give out texts that are inappropriate – too informal, say – and get students to improve them and say why they are inappropriate.
• Give students texts that are too short, and get them to increase them.
• Give out texts that are too long, and get students to edit them down.

You are the manager of the customer services department in your company. A new assistant manager has been appointed to start work next month.

Write an email to all the staff in your department: -  introducing the new assistant manager -  describing the experience of the new assistant manager -  explaining why a new assistant manager is needed in the department.

• Write 40-50 words.

To:  All customer services staff

Subject:  New assistant manager

Sample answer

Look at this sample answer. Use the five categories in Assessment section above to decide how effectively this answer fulfils the task overall. Then look at the Comments provided below.

Sample answer:

Task achievement : All points are reasonably dealt with.

Accuracy:  There are some errors – announce isn’t fitted into the sentence correctly; joining needs as not for;  it should be a strong background , etc. – but they do not make it difficult for the reader to understand.

Range of structure and vocabulary:  A good range of vocabulary and structure is used. Different tenses are correctly employed, results are introduced with so and as , etc. Topical lexis is evident.

Organisation and cohesion:  Paragraphs are used and the information is presented in a logical order.

Register and format:  These are suitable.

Note: a top-scoring answer would not be substantially different to this one. However, there would perhaps be even fewer errors, another item or two of relevant vocabulary might be present, one or two linkers might be used, etc.

• Business / ESP

B2 Business Vantage: Reading: Part 1

B2 business vantage: reading: part 4, b2 business vantage: listening: part 1, b2 business vantage: speaking: part 2, related articles.

Interactive Flashcards: Moving Around Town

Introduce your students to the vocabulary they need to talk about different locations with this set of Interactive Flashcards.

Elementary Business: Employee Well-being

By Karen Capel

Many companies are taking new measures that focus on employee well-being, but is it enough?

Business News Lessons: Forever Young: when is it time to step down?

By Engeli Haupt

Is it appropriate to take age into account when hiring a new CEO?

No comments yet

Only registered users can comment on this article., more from cambridge english: business (bec).

By Adrian Doff

An article by Adrian Doff about the Cambridge English B2 Business Vantage exam (formerly BEC Vantage Business English), speaking part 2 (the 'long turn' task or mini-presentation), with tips for preparing candidates and a sample task and explanation.

An article by Russell Whitehead about the Cambridge English B2 Business Vantage (formerly BEC Vantage Business English) exam Listening component Part 1.

An article by Russell Whitehead about the Cambridge English B2 Business Vantage (formerly BEC Vantage Business English) exam Reading component Part 4.

Join onestopenglish today

With more than 700,000 registered users in over 100 countries around the world, Onestopenglish is the number one resource site for English language teachers, providing access to thousands of resources, including lesson plans, worksheets, audio, video and flashcards.

• Connect with us on Facebook
• Connect with us on Twitter
• Connect with us on Youtube

Onestopenglish is a teacher resource site, part of Macmillan Education, one of the world’s leading publishers of English language teaching materials.

• Privacy Policy
• Cookie policy
• Manage cookies

©Macmillan Education Limited 2023. Company number: 1755588 VAT number: 199440621

Site powered by Webvision Cloud

Business Writing Resources

• Business English
• Pronunciation & Conversation
• Writing Skills
• Reading Comprehension
• Resources for Teachers
• TESOL Diploma, Trinity College London
• M.A., Music Performance, Cologne University of Music
• B.A., Vocal Performance, Eastman School of Music

Written communication is especially important at work. Business writing often follows specific expectations. There are a wide range of standard phrases that are expected in business English that are generally not used in everyday English.

• Please find attached ...
• We regret to inform you that ...
• It has come to our attention that ...

Another challenge is that business writing follows very specific formulas in structure. Take the resume, ​for instance, the writing style you use, the points you highlight about your career or education, and the overall look and feel can play a very important role in deciding whether you are offered a job or not.

There are also a number of documents that are common to business writing . These include office memos, e-mails, and reports. These business writing documents also take on different styles depending on the audience of those who receive the documents. This guide to business writing points you in the direction of the wide variety of resources available on the site.

• Basic Business Letters

These two articles provide an overall framework for writing business letters. They outline specific issues of salutation, structure, letter layout and language use. Finally, there is also a

• Business Letter Writing Basics - Business Letter Writing Basics for English learners. Guide to basic style questions and standard phrases used in business English letters.
• How to Write a Business Letter - This 'how to' provides a quick step by step guide to writing a basic business letter.

Specific Business Letters

Building on basic business letters, these business letters provide specific examples of letters written for common business writing tasks such as making an inquiry, sales letters, placing an order, etc. They include key phrases commonly found in each of business letter types , as well as an example letter on which to model your own English business correspondence.

• Letters of Acknowledgement
• Making a Sale - Sales Letter
• Placing an Order
• Making a Claim
• Adjusting a Claim
• Making an inquiry
• Replying to an inquiry
• New Account Terms and Conditions
• Writing a Cover Letter when Applying for a Job

Specific Business Documents

There are a number of standard business documents that are used on a daily basis at the office. These documents follow standard outlines. This example provides important structural details, an introduction and example document on which to model your own reports.

• How to Write a Business Report

Job Applications

It is extremely important that these key business documents are in order when applying for a job. The cover letter and the resume are key to successfully winning a job offer during the interviewing process.

• Finding a Job - Writing a Cover Letter
• Example Cover Letter 1
• Writing Your Resume
• A Guide to Business Letters Types
• Writing for Business: Inquiry Response Letter
• Learn English
• How to Write a Claim Letter for a Business
• Finding a Job for ESL Learners
• The Fundamentals of Writing an Inquiry Business Letter
• Business Letter Writing: Placing Orders
• Sales Letters for English Learners
• Business Letter Writing: Account Terms and Conditions
• Crafting a Letter of Acknowledgment for a Business Setting
• Business Letter Writing: Claim Adjustment Letters
• Cover Letter Example
• How to Write a Resume for Non-Native English Speakers
• Finding a Job for ESL Learners: Interview Basics
• ESL Business Letter Lesson Plan
• Structure of a Formal Letter

Business English Practice Exercises

Improve your vocabulary, grammar, and writing by doing these business English practice exercises. Check back often as new exercises are constantly being added.

Idioms Builder Collocations Business Collocations Advanced Collocations Exercises Word Building Euphemisms in the Workplace Connotation vs. Denotation Verb-Noun Collocations Adjective-Noun and Adverb-Adjective Collocations Preposition Collocations In and On Collocations Make and Do Collocations Phrasal Verb Collocations Business Nouns Exercise 1 Business Nouns Exercise 2 Phrasal Verbs for Business Phrasal Verbs with Multiple Meanings Idioms for Describing People Idioms about Success Idioms about Time Idioms about Feelings and Moods Idioms about Money Idioms about Adversity, Challenges, and Failure Idioms Related to Negotiations and Disagreement s Idioms about Conversation and Communication Positive Adjectives for Describing People Negative Adjectives for Describing People Commonly Confused Words Practice  (general English) Learning Vocabulary through Videos – Top 10 Business Rivalries  (advanced)

Advanced English Grammar Test Past Modals Third Conditional Subjunctive

Intermediate

Word Order Prepositions in Emails Irregular Verbs: Simple Past In/on/at Very/Really vs. Too Infinitive or Gerund Adjective or Adverb First and Second Conditional Even though/Although/In spite of/Despite Even if/Even though Some/Any Less/Fewer

Concise Writing Exercises Common Mistakes in Emails Common Mistakes in Emails 2 Common Mistakes in Emails 3: Collocation Errors

Error Correction

Error Correction 1  (beginner) Error Correction 2A (intermediate) Error Correction 2B (intermediate) Error Correction 2C (intermediate) Error Correction 3A (advanced) Common Mistakes in Emails Common Mistakes in Emails 2 Common Mistakes in Emails 3: Collocation Errors Error Correction for Spanish Speakers   (for Spanish speakers) False Friends (Spanish-English) Exercise (for Spanish speakers)

EnglishGrammarSoft

Business English Writing (A Beginner’s Guide)

Business English writing is a type of professional communication that uses specific language conventions to convey ideas within a business context. This type of writing typically includes memos, reports, proposals, and emails.

In order to be effective, it is important to understand the various nuances of Business English writing.

1 – Business Writing as Communication

Writing is one of the most common forms of communication. There is no special writing scheme. But there is no doubt that this is what complex is capable of. For an effective writing nearly all the writers do similar things like these:

• They produce ideas
• They plan, prepare and develop their writing
• They revise, edit and proofread

2 – Writing Steps

Writing involves certain steps e.g.

2.1 – Prewriting

Prewriting is the process of planning your writing. This includes coming up with an idea, determining your purpose, and outlining your arguments.

2.2 – Organizing ideas

One of the most important steps in writing is organizing your ideas. This means taking all of the information you have and arranging it in a way that makes sense. Once your ideas are organized, you can begin drafting your paper. This is where you actually put the information down on paper.

2.3 – Drafting

Drafting is the next step of the writing process. During this step, writers create a rough draft of their work. This draft may be full of errors and lack organization, but it allows writers to get their ideas down on paper.

2.4 – Revising

Revision is the process of evaluating and editing a piece of writing for clarity, accuracy, and effectiveness. The goal of revision is to produce the best possible work. In order to revise effectively, you should:

• Read your work critically
• Identify problems with clarity, accuracy, and effectiveness

2.5 – Editing

Editing and proofreading are important steps to take once your draft is complete. Editing involves checking for grammar mistakes and ensuring that your sentences make sense.

2.6 – Proof reading

Proofreading is a critical step in the writing process that helps you ensure the quality of your work. It involves reading your document for errors in grammar, punctuation, spelling, and style.

Proofreading is often best done after you have completed a draft of your document. This allows you to see it from a fresh perspective.

3 – Why we write in business?

The goal of business writing is to get your message across in a clear, succinct and effective way. The following are always at the top of the list when it comes to business writing:

• To inform or record;
• To cascade information;
• To achieve a standard;
• To write reports;
• To promote services;
• To write specifications;
• To engage interest;
• To support customers;

4 – Limitation of Business English Writing

Although Business English writing is a powerful tool for communication, it has certain limitations. We avoid these while writing.

4.1 – Cliches

An expression or an idea that is used too often and has lost post of its meaning. In other words phrases that have become overused are cliches.

In Business English writing we must use plain language, and avoid cliches.

Here are some of many expressions:

4.2 – Euphemism

Euphemism is an indirect term. It also too offensive.

In general, try to state your ideas and messages without using words that might hurt or offend your audience.

4.3 – Expletives

An expletive is a meaningless word. Avoid these type of words in your business language

4.4 – Redundancy

Redundancy, in the context of writing, is the use of more words than are necessary to express an idea. This can be done for a number of reasons, such as to make sure the point is clear, to add emphasis, or to ensure that the reader has all the information they need.

Difference between redundancy and repetition is given below:

• Redundancy serves no purpose and is an error.
• Repetition serves a purpose and is not an error. In a sentences, a certain word needs to be used again.

5 – Business Writing Requirements:

In the workplace, you certainly need to know how to access right information and process this when you write. You need to be

• Use the correct level of language and writing.
• Use plain English in business writing.
• Use clear level of language
• Show reader benefit.
• Emphasize with them.
• Provide all necessary information.
• Answer all questions.

6 – Tips for Grammar and Punctuation

Grammar and punctuation are tool to help you understand next and communicate clearly. A good command of these can give a clear meaning to writing.

Following are the errors that need to be focused:

6.1 – Grammar

• Subject verb agreement
• Correct verb form
• Verb tense shift
• The definite and indefinite article
• Proper use of pronouns
• Transitional words and phrases

6.2 – Punctuation

• Correct use of commas: (,) (“ ”) (‘ ’)
• Question mark: (?)
• Exclamation mark: (!)
• Apostrophe: (‘)
• Hyphen or dash:  ( – )
• Brackets: ([ ])
• At sign: (@)
• Semicolon: (;)

6.3 – Words

• Wrong Words
• Missing Words
• Capitalization

7 – Organizational Plans

There are many types of organizational plans that a business can use to articulate its strategies and objectives.

There are two organizational plans:

7.1 – Direct Approach

The direct approach is used when recipient is known, the recipient’s reactions and questions are routine, or there is good news.

DIRECT APPROACH

Address (From)

(Date) Dec 19, 2021.

(Name) Mr. Jon

(Post) Finance Manager

(Company) __ABC

(Address) Glasgow

(To) Dear Mr. _________

Clearly state the main idea (opening)

Include the necessary explanation (body)

Close courteously (closing)

(Name) ________

(Post) Credit Officer

7.2 – Indirect Approach

It is used when we do not know the recipient, the recipient’s reaction and question are not in routine, or there is bad news.

8 – Everyday Business English Writing

How to write a date?

It is important to know that there are many ways of writing date in English.

UK English           DD/MM/YY         1 st March 2021 (01/03/2021)

US English            MM/DD/YY         March 1 st , 2021 (03/01/2021)

Japan English      YY/MM/DD         2021, March 1 st (2021/03/01)

Where D = date, M = month, Y = year

Days of the week, their abbreviations

• Monday, Mon;
• Tuesday, Tue;
• Wednesday, Wed;
• Thursday, Thurs;
• Friday, Fri;
• Saturday, Sat;
• Sunday, Sun

Months and their abbreviation

• January, Jan;
• February, Feb;
• March, Mar;
• April, Apr;
• May, (never abbreviated)
• June, (never abbreviated)
• July, (never abbreviated)
• August, Aug;
• September, Sep;
• October, Oct;
• November, Nov;
• December, Dec;

How to write a time:

Time is a topic that is must understand how to write correctly in English. There are many versions that are correct:

• The office starts at 9 am.
• The office starts at 09:00.
• The office starts at 9 o’clock.
• The office starts at nine in the morning.

9 – Types of Business English Writing

• Letter Writing
• Email Writing
• Proposal Writing
• Writing job application along with CV/Resume.

9.1 – Letter Writing

A letter is a written message for a person. It is a mean to exchange information in written form. Letter is the most formal method of communication in a business relationship.

Types of letter:

• Formal letter
• Informal letter
• Official letter
• Business letter
• Enquiry letter
• Order letter

How to write a business letter?

When you need to write a business letter, it’s important to follow the correct format. This can ensure that your message is communicated clearly and effectively. Keep these points in mind while crafting your own masterpiece!

• Think and plan before writing.
• The language used in business letter must be clear.
• Use simple words and plain language.
• A letter is written must be concise and to the point.
• Write accurate words.
• Avoid unnecessary details but don’t miss important points.
• The language used in a business letter must be courteous.
• Writing should be neat and easy to understand.
• Proper order of ideas.
• Letter should be attractive and good looking in presentation.
• Opening and ending should be good.
• Grammatically accurate.

9.2 – Email Writing

Email writing is a skill that everyone needs in today’s business world. Whether you’re communicating with customers, clients, or colleagues, being able to write clear and concise emails is essential. In many workplaces, email has replaced face-to-face and written correspondence as the primary method of communication between employees.

Parts of an e-mail

• Recipient’s address
• Date and time
• Subject line
• Attachments (if necessary)

An email address is comprised of three parts i.e. user name, symbol & domain name.

How to write an e-mail?

There are a few things you should keep in mind to make sure your e-mail is clear and concise.

• Use professional and accurate e-mail address.
• Use plain language
• Start with greetings
• Message should be clear and focused.
• Avoid unnecessary explanation
• Know your email subject line.
• Write emails appropriately.
• Write emails with right tone.
• Identify yourself clearly.
• Language should be courteous.
• Attach documents of necessary.
• Remove all errors (check spellings)
• Decide on the best way to sign off the email.

9.3 – Proposals

The proposal is a detailed suggestion submitted for approval to a person or an organization. Proposals play important role in business development and relationships.

Some common types include technical proposals, business proposal, sales proposals, research proposals, external/internal proposals, solicited and unsolicited proposals.

How to write a proposal?

Whether it’s for work, school, or other purposes, proposals can be daunting. Here are some tips to get you started:

• Define the purpose of your proposal. What are you trying to achieve?
• Do your research. Knowing your audience is essential when writing a proposal. Who will be reading it? What do they need to know?
• Keep it focused and concise. Be clear and direct in your writing, and try not to include irrelevant information.
• Edit and proofread carefully before submission. Make sure your proposal is error.
• Provide example.
• Present yourself credibly.

9.4 – Report Writing in Business English

A report is a document that presents information in an organized manner. It may inform, analyze, or recommend a course of action. Reports are typically used to communicate with superiors, colleagues, or clients.

How to write a report?

Report writing is a critical skill for professionals in any field. Whether you are submitting a report to your boss or to a client, the ability to write effectively and clearly is essential. There are some steps to follow when writing a business report.

• Define the purpose
• Analyze the purpose
• Make an outline
• Evaluate your information
• Review your outline
• Describe what issues are involved
• Proof review and sign off

Components of a report

There are broad sections

• Cover letter
• Table of contents
• Executive summary
• Involves introduction
• Central section
• Final section
• The end matter includes glossary
• Bibliography

9.5 – Writing Job Application with Resume/CV

In today’s competitive job market, your resume and job application are the key factors whether you get an interview or not. These should be well-written and highlight your skills and experience. We will briefly describe both these skills.

How to write a job application?

When you are applying for a job, it is important to make sure that your application is well-written and error-free. Parts of a job application are:

• Introduction; details
• Body; discuss relevant
• Closing; thanks the reader

Points to consider:

• Take direct start
• Provide relevant material
• Close with important details

How to write a Resume/CV?

CV is a written document of academic career, work and experiences. It’s important to take the time and make sure that your resume is well written and showcases your skills and experiences in the best way possible.

Some common types of resume are:

• Chronological resume
• Combination resume
• Functional resume
• Targeted resume

How to write resume?

Writing a resume varies from person to person depending upon experience, technical skills, non-technical skills and qualification. You can include these points in your resume.

• Phone Number
• Date of Birth
• Marital status
• ID Card number
• Basic education
• Professional education
• Work experience
• Certificate / diplomas
• Language known

10 – Proofreading

Proofreading is the last step of English Writing. During proofreading, we check sentences, grammar, punctuation and verb tenses. We also check spellings and errors. Caring bout words, capitalization, the margins, font size, line spacing and specially title are also part of this step.

How can I improve my business English writing?

Business writing is different from other types of writing. It has a specific purpose, tone, and audience. There are many ways you can improve your business English writing skills.

• Practice using the active voice
• Use shorter sentences and paragraphs
• Use fewer adjectives and adverbs
• Avoid clichés, jargon and buzzwords

Further Reading

• 27 Figures of Speech with Examples
• What is a simile in literature?
• Metaphor and its Types
• Antithesis Examples in Literature
• Euphemism Figure of Speech
• What is a simile in literature? How to write a good simile?
• Apostrophe as a Figure of Speech
• Personification with Examples
• Hyperbole Definition and Examples
• Fable Meaning and Examples in Literature
• What is Epigram in Figure of Speech?
• 71 Idioms with Meaning and Sentences

Similar Posts

Similarities & Differences Between Formal and Informal Language

The difference between informal language and formal language is that the former is spoken and informal, but the latter is written and formal. In this…

Proper Noun Definition and Examples

What you will learn today! Proper Noun Definition How to identify proper nouns? Examples List Exercises Proper Noun Definition Proper noun is a word used…

How do you describe adjectives? 13 Types of Adjectives with Examples

The words which tell something mere or describe or qualify a noun or a pronoun are called “the adjectives”. They may tell the quality or…

5 Examples of Onomatopoeia in Literature

Onomatopoeia It is a figure of speech in which the sound reflects the sense. It is the employment of words that imitate the sound or…

100 Example Sentences with Past Perfect Tense

The past perfect tense is used to indicate that a past action was completed before another past action. Here, you will find 100+ sentences with…

What is a clause? Different Types of Clauses with Examples | Comprehensive Guide

What is a clause? Clause is a grammatical form that has a subject and a predicate. Clause = subject + verb (predicate) Example I (subject)…

Leave a Reply Cancel reply

Your email address will not be published. Required fields are marked *

Save my name, email, and website in this browser for the next time I comment.

20+ Great Business English Topics and Lesson Activities

For Business English students, it’s important that ESL lessons are based on the needs of their day-to-day work.

They want to practice situations taken from their professional environment, and discuss real-life Business English topics.

Some are: making phone calls, being able to hold and carry on conversations, speaking with colleagues, preparing and giving presentations, or negotiations. 

Join our mailing list to receive a free ESL teaching resource every week.

Click to Join

Coming up with creative activities and finding good topics for your lessons can be tough and time-consuming.

The Business English activities in this post will save you time and effort in making quality content for your lessons.

About the Business English Topics And Activities

Topic: airbnb business travel, topic: commuting to work, topic: big business (amazon, coca-cola, netflix, etc.), topic: artificial intelligence and future technology, topic: music, bonus activity.

Lessons including well-designed activities will prepare your students for their professional lives and give them the necessary skills and vocabulary needed to communicate effectively in English.

The 20 activity suggestions you’ll find in this post relate to the topics of business travel, commuting to work, big business, artificial intelligence, technology, and music.

The activities you can do on these business English topics are from specific lesson plans based on videos , which come equipped with a range of different printable Business English worksheets , conversation topics, speaking exercises, listening activities, and writing exercises for adults.

Below are some examples of activities from these lessons that can help your Business English students improve their communication skills.

Airbnb has been expanding their services to open up the market for business travelers.

They are simplifying the process of booking and launched some tools which automatically organize your business trip expenses. This new business travel program is coming out strong.

• Phone Calling
• Writing Accommodation Descriptions
• Leaving Reviews
• Mobile App Concepts
• Debate With Hotel Owner
• Comparing and Contrasting

This topic works especially great with Business English lessons in the real estate, hospitality, or mobile app industries, but also in general for any businessmen or women who have to travel for their jobs.

This is an especially engaging Business English topic for a few reasons: it’s controversial (hotel owners aren’t happy about AirBnB) and it’s a hot topic (more and more people are choosing Airbnb over hotels).

Airbnb is a relatively new global powerhouse, revolutionizing the hospitality industry the same way that Uber revolutionized the taxi industry.

Activity: Phone Calling

Put students in pairs or a group. Assign each student a different role from the roles below, or they can choose one.

Students have to imagine that they are Airbnb hosts who just hosted:

• A small group of middle-aged business travelers
• A small group of young adult party travelers
• A small family of 4 with young children
• An individual traveler who came with his dog

Students then ‘call’ their ‘friends’ (another student in the class) to either leave a voicemail or talk about the experience (or complain about the experience!).

They should describe how the experience was as the host for these types of travelers:

• What was different about hosting each of their stays?
• Was it positive or negative and why?
• Did anything good, bad, surprising, or unusual happen during their stay?

You could even have them imagine what could be a positive and negative experience for hosting these types of travelers.

You could even get a bit more creative with this one by assigning a pair of students a role from the list above, and they have to call the ‘host’ (their partner) and ask them questions or make special requests about their stay, e.g:

• Am I allowed to bring my dog to your property?
• Is there a nice cafe in the area where I can bring my laptop to do work?
• We have a baby who cries a lot during the night. Will this bother you?

Even though with Airbnb, you would probably just message the host online, but in this case, you can make it a phone call to practice speaking.

Activity: Writing Accommodation or Property Descriptions & Reviews

Students work with a partner or group and imagine they are Airbnb hosts offering a special, exotic, or unique type of accommodation rental.

They should discuss and agree on the type of home rental they have to offer, where in the world it is, and create their own online listing for this rental on Airbnb.

In the listing, they should explain what type of rental it is, the location, the check-in and check-out procedure, a description and special features of the accommodation, and other housing details and rules.

Make students offer something different or special about their property – something they wouldn’t get somewhere else. Remember, they want to sell the experience!

Students then present their accommodation profile description to the other students in the class and then give their listing to another student or group.

The other student or group then makes a detailed review for that listing, imagining they actually stayed there.

Activity: Creating Mobile App Concepts in the Sharing Economy

Put students in pairs and give them a list of other mobile apps in the sharing economy.

• Neighborgoods

Based on the name of the app, students have to discuss and explain what they imagine the concept of the app to be and how it works.

After students work together for a couple of minutes, go around the class and ask them to report their answers. If they’re not able to imagine what it might be, you can just tell them.

Ask them questions like:

• Would this type of app be useful for you? Why or why not?
• Which app from this list would help you the most?

Try to create an in-depth class discussion about all of these apps.

For the apps listed above specifically, you can discuss things like:

• If parking is a problem for your students (JustPark)
• What they do with their dog when they go on a trip (DogVacay)
• If they would be interested to drive with a stranger for many hours (BlaBla Car)
• If they’ve ever eaten at someone’s home, from another country or culture (HomeDine)

Then, students can either work with the same or different partners to create their own concept for a mobile app in the sharing economy.

They should focus on things like:

• The special features of the app
• What problem it solves / Why it’s a good idea
• How it works
• What problems could happen when people use your app

An alternative to this one is I’ve also had students imagine that they were the founders of Airbnb, and they have to come up with their own detailed story behind the establishment of the company, which turned out to be a fun activity.

Activity: Debate Between AirBnB Representative and Hotel Owner

Put students in pairs or two small groups and they prepare for a debate.

One student or group takes the position of an AirBnB company representative and the other takes the position of a Hotel Owner.

Each side must prepare, defend, and present their positions to the other groups, presenting information about…

• Why they believe their accommodation service is better (at least 3 advantages of your service) Students must talk about the top reasons to stay in a hotel over Airbnb, or vice versa.
• If you think Airbnb should be legal or illegal and why (obviously the AirBnB rep will say it should be legal and the hotel owner will say it should be illegal)
• The positive impact your service has on society and the economy
• What actual people and guests have said about your accommodation services

You can refer to this article to help students talk about Airbnb versus hotels  if they are having trouble coming up with ideas.

Your role as the teacher will be the moderator during the debate – generating follow-up questions for the students or groups when they present their sides. Keep the debate clean and flowing smoothly.

Activity: Comparing and Contrasting (Hotels vs. AirBnB or Uber vs. Taxi)

If for any reason you don’t want to make this an official ‘debate,’ another thing you could do is just make it a general, in-depth class discussion, conversation, or compare & contrast about the advantages and disadvantages of staying in Airbnb in comparison with hotels.

Make sure students talk about their own experiences.

Transition the discussion to the conflict between Uber and Taxi, because they are facing a similar conflict for similar reasons.

If your students enjoyed the discussion about AirBnB and hotels, an interesting follow-up lesson topic for you might be about a  businessman who is building hotels designed for outer space .

Many businessmen and women in the modern world have to commute for hours and hours per week to their jobs or for work purposes. Sitting in the car or public transit like this can really have a negative impact on one’s overall lifestyle.

• Telling a Story
• Commenting on YouTube
• Expressing Frustrations or Complaining
• Talking About Lifestyle & Daily Routines

The reason this topic works so well in Business ESL lessons is that it reaches such a wide spectrum of people.

Everyone who has a job as an employee in a company, a school, a factory, etc has a unique situation. All Business English students usually have a lot to say about their experience commuting (or home office if they have that privilege!).

Activity: Telling a Story

Students work in pairs.

Student A: This student imagines that he/she spends a lot of time commuting and is very pessimistic about the situation.

This student believes that they have the worst commute in the world. Describe the situation in detail. The student should complain about it as much as possible and why they hate it so much.

They should take notes on:

• Where you live
• Your daily routine
• Where you go to work
• What’s so bad about the commute / What are the conditions of the commute
• How commuting makes you feel

The student then has to tell one negative story that they have had during their commute.

Student B: This student imagines that they spend a lot of time commuting but is very optimistic about the situation.

This student loves the situation that they have. They should discuss and explain in detail why they have the best commute in the world, talk about it as much as possible and why they enjoy it.

Also, they take notes on:

They tell one positive story that they’ve had during your commute.

After the students write notes for their roles (give them a few minutes), have them describe their situations to their partner.

They should listen to their partner’s situation carefully because they should then report the details of their partner’s situation back to the class!

Activity: Commenting on YouTube

At the beginning of the video, the reporter complains about her long daily routine and commute, and then she says to the audience:

“Before you go and post that comment telling me to ‘move closer’, you need to see that I’m not the only person doing this.”

In pairs, students should come up with a response that the following type of people would write or say to the reporter in the YouTube comments section, e.g:

• What could be a rude response to that statement in the comment section of the video?
• What could be an empathetic response to that statement in the comment section of the video?
• What could be a funny response to that statement in the comment section of the video?

Another activity you could do is give students some imaginary comments to that video, and then the students have to write responses to these imaginary comments. You can make it a speaking or writing activity.

For example, here are a few possible comments to that video:

Comment #1:

“Americans are completely crazy and lazy. You drive these huge cars to work and in  reality , you don’t need to. Look at the Netherlands and Denmark – they have very efficient bicycle transport systems and bicycles are much more environmental. It’s stupid to drive everywhere.”

Comment #2:

“The best solution to this problem is self-driving cars. Our tax money should go more to support the production of self-driving cars. That way when people commute they can do productive things.  The solution to public transit is getting better wifi connections on the subways and buses.”

You can instruct one student to write a response which agrees with each comment, and the other student to write a response which disagrees with each comment, something along those lines.

Activity: Expressing Frustrations & Complaining

Put students in pairs, or in two groups. You’ll distribute to each student pair or group two cards which read:

• A: Riding on public transport
• B: Driving in a car

Students must work together to come up with a list of all the things that frustrate them, annoy them, stress them out, or make them angry while (1) riding on public transport and (2) driving a car.

The group which comes up with the most things in the time limit (3 minutes should be good) wins.

This activity usually works really well because everyone gets angry, stressed, frustrated, etc. at some point while driving a car or riding public transportation.

A lot of good vocabulary can also come out of this one. You can even teach a couple of fun phrasal verbs related to driving when you talk about this topic:

• Cut (someone) off  – “I hate when I’m driving and someone cuts me off and then I have to slam on my brakes.”
• Pull (someone) over  – “I hate when I’m driving only a little bit above the speed limit and a police officer pulls me over.”
• Freak out  – “I hate driving with my father. He always drives aggressively and freaks out about small things.”
• Run over  – “I hate when I run over a nail or a sharp object and my tire goes flat.”
• Hold (someone) up  – “I hate when traffic holds me up and makes me late for work.”

You can use this activity for teaching students other terminology that is useful for expressing complaints or frustrations:

• I get frustrated when…
• I get all stressed out when…
• It gets me so worked up when…
• It pisses me off when…
• I totally freak out when…
• I lose my mind when…
• It drives me nuts when…

Have students then use these expressions to talk about their frustrations commuting or about their job in general.

Activity: Talking About Lifestyle, Commuting, and Employment Situations

Spending hours commuting and then hours at the office has become so integrated into the modern working world that it can have quite a profound impact on our quality of life and lifestyle, which is why it’s good to talk about in a language lesson.

Here’s an activity you can do that will give your students a good opportunity to talk about their lifestyle, commute, and employment situation.

It’s also simple, easy to prepare, and generates quality conversation.

Print a number of statements on cards and give them to the students or write them on the whiteboard in class.

Put students in pairs or groups. Have them discuss if they think the following statements are generally true or false and why:

• People are generally happier if they travel to work by car instead of public transportation.
• In the USA, people generally commute to work or school by train or bus.
• 10 days of paid vacation per year is fair from an employer.
• Regular exercise helps people deal with stress from work.
• People are more productive if they have a 4-day working week instead of 5.

Put students in pairs or groups. Have them discuss if the following statements are true or false for them personally and have them explain why:

• There is a positive working atmosphere at my job.
• I am satisfied with my work-life balance.
• Every day I eat a balanced and healthy breakfast before work.
• When I commute to work I try to be productive on the way.
• I prefer working from home rather than going to an office.
• I spend too much time at work socializing with my colleagues.

Speaking about daily routines is also a great activity if you’d like to focus on the present simple as a grammar point for your lesson.

Using big companies and corporations as a topic in your Business English lessons is practical for obvious reasons and you can make it fun too for your students.

It’s especially great to use big business as a topic if you actually have adult students who work in big companies, but they’re also applicable topics for students who have their own business or who work in smaller companies.

• History & Fun Facts
• Developing a Product
• Making Slogans
• Analyzing the Impact of Technology on Jobs

Activity: History & Fun Facts About Big Companies

As a lead-in or warm-up exercise to a lesson about big business, you can search and find some fun or interesting facts or history about the companies.

One quick activity you could do to lead to a topic is a simple fill-in-the-blank that looks something like this:

Below are 5 interesting facts about Amazon. Let the students fill in the blanks with words that they think fit.

• The founder Jeff Bazos wanted to name the company Amazon which has products from ‘A to Z’ symbolizing a large size, just like the Amazon ________________________ .
• Amazon.com started as a bookstore in Jeff Bazos’ ________________________ .
• The combined ________________________ of Amazon’s warehouses is enough to hold more water than 10,000 Olympic pools.
• Today Amazon has more than 350,000 ________________________ .
• One of Amazon’s first offices had a ________________________ which employees would  ring every time a sale was made.

Below are 5 interesting facts about Coca-Cola. Fill in the blanks with words that you think fit.

• The Coca-Cola ________________________ is recognized by 94% of the world’s population.
• The word “cola” is derived from the kola ________________________ , which contains caffeine and can have medicinal value.
• Coca-Cola can be a good ________________________ for insect bites on your skin.
• Coca-Cola spends more money on ________________________ than Microsoft and Apple combined.
• A few people once tried to sell the Coca-Cola ________________________ to Pepsi, but they were reported to the FBI.

A fun activity you can follow up with this one is instruct students to research any big business they have in mind and search for some fun facts about that company or the story behind how it started.

If they can’t think of one, you can give them  a list of the biggest or most well-known companies  in the world.

Have them give a few-minute presentation in the following lesson about the start or history of the company and a few fun facts about it. This is also good for developing presentation skills for adults in English.

They can use the questions below to help them give their presentation:

• Who started the company and when? How did the idea originate?
• What were some important moments in the company’s history?
• What are some of the company’s most successful products or services? Describe them in detail.
• What’s special or different about this company compared to the competitors?
• What are some fun facts about your company?

Activity: Developing a Product

Amazon launched a prototype store called ‘Amazon Go’ in December of 2017 – it’s a type of grocery store where you can go shopping and add things to your virtual cart so that you don’t have to wait in line or check out.

You add the products to your shopping cart and you can just leave the store, and Amazon will automatically charge your account.

They have developed other types of products and services over the years that have been successful, such as the Amazon Kindle (E-Reader) and Amazon Echo (voice-controlled smart speaker/personal assistant).

In this activity, what you do is have students work together on product development for Amazon or for another big company.

Students work with a partner or group. They imagine to be product developers for Amazon and create two of their own products, or services provided and sold by Amazon.

They should discuss and create names for the products or services, which industry the products or services are in, and then write a description for each explaining how it works, what problem it solves, what’s so special about it, as well as what problems they have experienced in the development.

It can be a special kind of mobile app, tech gadget, clothing item, or something else.

Of course, it doesn’t necessarily have to be from Amazon. You can have students choose another company.

One way you could get your students to come up with a good idea is instruct them to think of some brands that they generally buy, and then brainstorm what products they think would be cool to have from those brands.

Or you can have them think of some problems or frustrations they have in their daily life and what product or service would solve those problems for them. In the case of Amazon Go, the problem was that people hate waiting in lines at supermarkets.

Remind students that it doesn’t have to be realistic, it can be something imaginary.

Most of your students who will do this activity probably haven’t developed a product before. Keep it basic, simple, and fun, and it should go ok.

You just want students to be creative and work together to make something special.

One time I had a group who made a personal assistant who did all of his presentations for him because he hated public speaking, which I thought was pretty funny.

Students should then present their new product to the other students or groups.

Activity: Making Slogans

This is a straightforward activity and easy to assign and it works great with any student who is in marketing. Students also tend to have fun with it.

Basically, all you need to do is assign students to make a slogan for whatever company or brand you’re discussing.

One thing I’ve done to make it interesting and add a little twist to it is to have students make a list of good and bad slogans for one company.

That one has definitely brought a couple laughs to the lesson, especially for the bad slogans.

Here are a few examples I’ve gotten from students for bad company slogans for Coca-Cola:

• “Feed your sugar addiction.”
• “Put on the big pounds.”
• “Teeth are overrated.”

Anyway, give them some examples of some real slogans that have already existed for the brand before they make their own.

A few actual ones for Coca-Cola are:

• “Open Happiness”
• “Life Tastes Good.”
• “Taste the Feeling.”

The advantage of having students make their own slogan or quote is that it lets student use creativity. When students have to think creatively, they’re forced to use important vocabulary terms and language structures in a special kind of way.

In any case, have your students share and present their slogans and quotes to the other students in the class.

Another great type of ESL group activities are information gap activities. Get 10 ideas here.

Activity: Analyzing the Impact of Technology on Jobs

Another great theme and activity that comes from a discussion about companies like Amazon, is analyzing the impact of technology on jobs.

That’s one big criticism of concepts like Amazon Go that I’ve discussed with my students. The more jobs that robots do for us, the more jobs they take away from humans (Amazon Go takes jobs away from cashiers).

One activity you could do on this is to have students brainstorm and come up with two more jobs, companies, or businesses that have been taken over or lost to technological advances.

Students should specify the name or type of the technology, which industry it is in, and three general impacts of this technology (can be positive or negative impacts).

Two examples I remember hearing from students was about VHS and video rental stores being lost to online streaming services like Netflix, and driving jobs being lost to self-driving cars.

Technology : Online streaming

Industry : Entertainment

• It put VHS video rental stores out of business
• It makes people lazier because they don’t go to the video store anymore
• Illegal online pirating of films and TV becomes easier

Technology : Self-driving cars

Industry : Automotive

• Less need for delivery drivers, truckers, and taxis
• Fewer accidents on the road because machines are more precise than humans
• People can focus on other things in the car if they don’t have to concentrate on driving

You can give these examples to your students if they don’t think of them.

You can also give students the task of coming up with two jobs where it could be very difficult for technology to take over. Which jobs do you think technology couldn’t do in the future? Students should specify why it would be difficult to take over these jobs using this technology.

Doing an ESL lesson activity about the impact of technology on jobs leads us to the next point: Artificial intelligence and future technology, which has its feet in many industries and certainly draws interest from Business English students.

• Interview With a Humanoid Robot
• Making a Sci-Fi Film Plot
• Forming Opinions

This topic works especially great with Business English lessons in the IT or programming industry, but also in general for any businessmen or women who use technology regularly for their jobs.

This is an especially engaging Business English topic for a few reasons – it can get a little dark (a humanoid robot which can communicate freaks people out a bit!) and it’s also relevant – artificial intelligence and machine learning is making its way into a lot of industries, products, and software these days.

It’s interesting when the stuff that used to be sci-fi stuff turns into reality, and that’s what you want to focus on in your Business English lessons.

Activity: Interview With a Humanoid Robot

Watch the video about Sophia the robot with your students.

Basically, what students do is make an interview with her.

Sophia the robot makes for a great English lesson, period. Students are usually quite intrigued by “her” and there are so many different directions you can take this lesson.

After watching the video, instruct each student to create and write five extra questions that they would want to ask Sophia. (Questions which are not in the video interview).

After they are finished making their questions, they ask their partner the questions they made. Students then answer their partner’s questions from the perspective of Sophia the robot.

Here are some words or topics students could either use in their questions or use just as general topics to help them make their questions:

After a student answers each question, their partner should try to ask a follow-up question or two – a question you ask on the spot based on the answer you get.

Explain the concept of a follow-up question to your students and show them examples:

Original question : “What emotions do you feel?”

Answer : “I feel curious.”

Follow-up question : “Why do you feel curious?”

Answer : “I feel curious because I want to know why I was created and why I’m different than normal humans.”

Follow up question : “Can you imagine why you were created?”

Having students ask follow-up questions is great practice for developing interview and conversational skills because they have to think on their feet without time to prepare.

Activity: Making a Sci-Fi Film Plot

Watch the sci-fi short film about ‘Sight Systems’ which forecasts the evolution of ‘Google Glasses’ and Virtual Reality (which are also great topics to discuss in your Business English lessons).

After you watch the video with your students, a fun activity you could have your students do is to imagine that they are directors creating the next scenes to the short film they just watched about Sight Systems.

They should work in pairs and discuss and write what the next five scenes will be. Have them describe the scenes in detail and explain what happens in each scene.

Students then share what they came up with the other students in the class.

After this, put the students back together and they should come up with a short plot for a similar type of short film that they saw.

The plot must focus on the dangers of future technology. Alternatively, you could give them the option of creating a movie plot focusing on the bright sides of technology.

Activity: Forming Opinions and Interview Quotes

This activity can actually be applied to a range of different topics.

Put the students in pairs and have them imagine to be speaking from the perspective of the following companies or people.

Students have to make an opinion from the standpoint of each company or person.

• Gas Company
• Electric Car Company
• Solar Panel Company
• Environmental Activist
• Auto Technician
• Car Consumer

For the people above, you could have students imagine they were interviewed about their thoughts on electric charging highways.

What do they think about electric highways? Do they support or oppose them? Let them explain their opinion.

Then they have to agree on what would be the most important quote or statement from that interview.

Give students some  useful phrases for expressing opinions  to help them make their opinions or quotes, which are at least three sentences long and they explain their opinion.

You could give students an ideal example quote from an interview with an Environmental Activist:

“In the long-term, electric charging highways will be a great solution for decreasing pollution because it promotes the consumption and usage of electric vehicles, which are much better for the environment than gas-powered vehicles. However, in the short-term, electric charging highways could produce a negative impact on the environment because of the intense construction work that will be needed to create these highways all across the country. Therefore, I see a positive long-term effect and a negative short-term effect.”

You want your students to form something similar for each of the roles, then students should present the opinions or quotes they made together to the rest of the class.

Doing ESL lesson activities about music is fun and there’s a lot of different directions you can take this topic in a lesson.

Music is also a big business with all of the jobs in music production, sound technology, festivals, online streaming services like Spotify, and these days even vinyl is making a comeback.

• Organizing an Event
• Making a Business Plan
• Giving a Presentation

This topic works especially great with Business English lessons in the music industry, but also in general for any businessmen or women who use are interested in music.

This is an especially engaging Business English topic for a few reasons – people love music and it’s a big part of life for many people.

Activity: Organizing an Event

Have students work with a partner. They should imagine they are event organizers and are planning a festival concept for next summer.

They want to make it even better than the Belgian festival “Tomorrowland” and the most luxurious festival in the world.

What luxuries will there be? What special things can be added, implemented, planned, organized, or done in order to create a better festival experience for the guests?

Students should discuss these points together. They can use the discussion questions below to help them:

• What special luxuries, things, offers, products, facilities, and features you will provide?
• What will be different about the campsite? How will you make it better than Dreamville?
• Describe the atmosphere. What’s unique about the stages and performances?
• Describe the security concept. How will you make the event safe and what are the policies?

Students should then give a presentation about their festival concept to the other groups and describe in as much detail as possible what the festival will be like.

After hearing from the other groups, students can discuss which festival concept was the best and why and give advice about what might help their festival to be better.

Activity: Making a Business Plan

Students work together with a partner or group. They imagine that they are opening a vinyl store in their town. They must make a business plan and a to-do list.

Watch the video “Czech businessman leads vinyl revival” here.

They can answer these questions in their business plan:

• What is the name of your vinyl shop?
• Other than vinyls, what will you need to get started?
• How will your vinyl shop stand out from the competition?
• Describe what kind of theme or atmosphere the shop would have. How would you decorate the shop/front window?
• Describe your ideal kind of customer or target market.
• Describe your ideal kind of employee or shop assistant.
• What could be some clever ways to advertise your shop?
• What will be the biggest challenges of opening the shop?

Students can then present their business plan to the other students in the class.

Activity: Giving a Presentation

Students work with a partner or group. They imagine they are giving a presentation to a group of vinyl fanatics.

They should choose from one of the topics below they’d like to do a presentation about, or they can also make their own topic.

They should prepare and give a one-minute presentation to the other groups on their chosen topic.

Even if they don’t know much about the topic, you can just instruct them to be as creative as possible and come up with some interesting things to talk about.

Here are the topics they can choose from:

• How to create a sustainable future for vinyl
• The guide to shopping for and listening to vinyl like a pro
• The future of music
• Why the age of vinyl in the 70s beats today’s digital age
• The steps to starting up a successful vinyl shop

You can have students do research on the internet if they have access.

You can also give students the choice to also come up with their own idea for a presentation, anything in the music sector. It doesn’t have to be specifically related to vinyls.

The most important thing is that students have a structure for their presentation, have researched important information about it, and teach the class something interesting.

You can also have students include one of each of the following things in their presentation:

• A problem (Music has become too digital in modern ages.)
• A statistic or fact (Over 7.6 million vinyls were sold in the US in 2018.)
• An opinion (We believe that vinyls will continue to be popular for years.)
• A quote (Zdenek Pelc said, “If people like something, they need something touchable.”)

This one last bonus activity you could do will help your students develop the skills they need for business and professional reasons.

Have them give a “show and tell” presentation or just simply talk about three gadgets, tools, products, services, etc they’ve bought in the recent past related to one of their personal interests.

Have the students teach the class either how to use this product or service, how it works, why they bought it, what the features are, what problem it solves for them, etc.

Here are some actual examples from my students, which you can show your students to give them an idea of what you’re looking for:

• A new running watch
• A subscription to Netflix
• A Nintendo NES Classic Edition
• A new bicycle helmet
• A portable speaker

All of these activities referenced are meant to be engaging for your adult students in Business English lessons, but the most effective way to do them is with the full lesson plans via the links above.

Watching the videos with your students should generate extra discussion and give you extra content to work with.

Find more resources and ideas for your ESL lessons here.

3 thoughts on “20+ Great Business English Topics and Lesson Activities”

Brilliant content. Relevant topics and articles with comprehensive structural lesson plans. Thank you.

Practicing the business English lessons in he student life can be very helpful in longer run. This helps in the proper development of the individual for professional world. Thanks so much for sharing this!

This sight seems to be very good. Complete lessons for a teacher like me. Thank you so much for sharing it free of charge.

Leave a Comment Cancel Reply

Your email address will not be published. Required fields are marked *

ESL Speaking

Games + Activities to Try Out Today!

in Activities for Adults

Business English Activities, Games & Dialogues | Business Lesson Ideas

If you teach business English, then you’re certainly in the right place! We’re going to give you the rundown on our top business English games and activities as well as recommendations for worksheets, lesson plans and more.

Activities for Teaching Business English

Business English Games and Activities

Are you ready to see some of the best ESL activities and games for teaching business English? Then let’s get to everything you need to know!

#1: Role Plays

I love to incorporate role plays into my business English classes. The situations are endless! For example, an important telephone conversation with a client. Or, present your passport to the immigration officer at the airport. Or, meeting a potential client for the first time.

You can use role-plays to help your students practice these important situations which will increase their confidence in a huge way. Find out more about using them in your classes here: ESL Role Plays .

#2: Current Events Presentations for ESL Business English

Business English students are generally pretty up-to-date on what’s happening in the world. Plus, they’re often expected to do presentations at work so this is a nice activity to use in your classes. Find out more about how I set it up here:

ESL Current Events Presentation .

• Mint Condition
• Dispatch same day for order received before 12 noon
• Guaranteed packaging

#3: Help with Expressing Opinions

In business, you’ll often be called upon to express an opinion about something. For example, which marketing idea is the best, or who to partner up with for a project. However, ESL students are often quite weak at this because they don’t have the necessary vocabulary and they may also lack practice.

Here’s some solid advice that you can give your students about how to do this well: Expressing Opinions in English .

• Amazon Kindle Edition
• Bolen, Jackie (Author)
• English (Publication Language)
• 81 Pages - 06/22/2021 (Publication Date)

#4: Task Based Activities for Business ESL Lessons

We love to use task-based activities with our students. There are just so many things you can do! In groups, students could do any of the following:

• Come up with a new product
• Create an innovative advertising campaign for a current product
• Do a company profile
• Audit a website

The possibilities are endless so get creative and think of some interesting things for your students to do. You can find more ideas here: ESL Task Based Teaching .

#5: Cocktail Party

It’s quite common for business people to meet important clients at a party or meet and greet event. However, for English learners, this can be a challenging situation because they may not feel that confident at small talk. Try out this ESL activity that replicates these very situations:

ESL Cocktail Party Activity .

#6: English Central or YouTube Videos Related to Business

We LOVE to use videos in our English classes. You can find one for just about any topic, grammar point or vocabulary set under the sun. Except there’s more to it than just pressing play and sitting back and relaxing. The best teachers design activities that help get the most out of them.

Here are some of our best ideas: English Central and YouTube Videos for ESL Students.

#7: Business English Reading Lesson

It’s very easy to plan your own ESL reading lesson about literally any topic. I love to make my own lessons for Business English because you can include the most recent topics in the news. Find out how to do that here:

#8: Conversation Starters

Small talk and basic conversational English is vital for business English students. It often doesn’t work that well if you tell students to just talk to each other. Instead, give them some conversation starters to get the ball rolling and you’ll usually find that the results are much better.

Here are some of my best ideas: ESL Conversation Starters.

#9: Practice Opening Conversations

It’s sometimes not that easy to start a conversation with someone that you don’t know. However, there are certainly some tried and true topics that work very well for this situation. Find out more details right here: How to Open a Conversation in English.

• COTTEN (Author)
• 208 Pages - 04/10/2016 (Publication Date) - Pearson Education ESL...

#10: Dialogue Substitution for Business English ESL

If you’re teaching beginners, it can be a little bit tricky to design activities for them. One of the best ones to consider is dialogue substitution. You can use it for a variety of situations that business people might encounter from situations at the airport, telephone conversations or talking about a problem related to their company.

The way it works is that you give students the beginning of a conversation with blanks in it. Students have to work together to finish the conversation and then present it to the class. Find out more details about it here: ESL Dialogue Substitution .

#11: The Expert Speaking Activity

If you want to give your students some practice with small talk, try out this fun, interactive activity. The way it works is that students think of three things that they know a lot about, or are an expert in. Then, students go into pairs and can talk about these topics with each other. You can switch partners every few minutes.

Find out more details here: The Expert Speaking Activity .

#12: Plans for the Future

Business often involves making plans for the future. For example, planning for that next marketing campaign or deciding on a vision for the company. Students will need to be proficient in using future grammatical constructions for this. Find out some of our top recommendations here: Future Forms ESL Activities .

Or, you may want to check out some of these ideas here: Making Predictions Games .

#13: ESL Surveys

We LOVE to use surveys in our classes. They’re interactive and get students up and out of their seats talking to everyone in the class. Plus, you design them for any topic and in this case, you’d want to lean towards current events or business-type things.

Do you want to try them out in your classes? Find out more details about how to design them and use them in your classes here: ESL Surveys .

Teaching Business English

#14: Filling out an Application Form

If students are in our business English classes, it’s quite likely that they may apply for jobs abroad. In this case, they’ll have to fill out applications in English. We can give them some practice with this in class before they have to do it for real.

You can easily find applications on Google. Print them off and have your students work on them in class or for homework.

#15: Running Dictation

If you want to introduce some grammar, vocabulary or topic via a conversation, here’s a fun way to do it that gets beyond just reading it from the textbook. Print off the dialogue and then cut it up into strips which you’ll tape on the wall around the classroom.

Put students into pairs and one person is the runner/reader/speaker while the other person is sitting down with pen and paper and is the writer. Students have to work together to get the entire conversation down on paper and then put it into the correct order.

It’s challenging, fun and students always really enjoy it! Try out this 4-skills ESL activity today: ESL Running Dictation.

#16: Mock Interviews

English interviews are very common these days, even in non-English speaking countries. They’re an excellent way for companies to weed out the people who can actually converse in English from those who can’t.

Help your students out with them by doing some mock interviews in your classes. But, remember this key tip. DO NOT let your students memorize answers. Interviewers can smell this out from a mile away. Instead, encourage taking a few notes about answers to common questions but then just speaking.

#17: Proof-Reading and Editing

It’s quite common for our students to have to write business emails in English. We can help them out with this in a big way by teaching them about proofreading and editing. After all, it’s not that common to have a colleague or boss checking emails before they go out to clients, so it’s an important skill for our students to know.

Check this article out to find out how I teach this skill to my students: Proof-Reading and Editing for English Learners.

#18: Resume and Cover Letter Writing

When I teach business English, one of the primary homework assignments is that students have to prepare a resume as well as a cover letter for a sample job that I think of. Of course, give students lots of help with how to do this, along with some samples that they can follow.

My goal is that students have something they can take with them and use when applying for positions with just a little bit of editing.

• 196 Pages - 04/16/2023 (Publication Date)

#19: TED Talks

I love to use TED Talks with my business English learners. There are just so many good presentations on a huge variety of topics, especially important business ideas.

#20: Self-Introductions

A self-introduction in English is a great skill for your students to have. They’ll often have to do one in a job interview, at a conference or at a meeting where the people aren’t familiar with each other. Check out this video for the simple steps to follow:

#21: Breaking News English

With my students, I’ll often print off some lessons from Breaking News English . They take current events and grade them to make them easier for beginner to intermediate students (more advanced students should just use the regular article). There are also some excellent discussion questions and vocabulary activities that you might want to consider using.

#22: Business English Pod

If students are motivated to study business English on their own, one of my favourite resources that I like to direct them to is BE Pod . They are podcasts, phone conversations and a whole ton of other good stuff related to business. There is a paid version, but the free one is useful enough.

#23: Business English Vocabulary and Dialogues 

One of the more valuable things for our students can be to help them expand their business English vocabulary. One way to do this is with real-life dialogues, filled with idioms, expressions, and phrases. Check out these Business English dialogues here:

• 128 Pages - 11/25/2020 (Publication Date)

#24: Business English ESL, Using Movie and TV Clips

There are a ton of great movies and TV shows that cover various aspects of the business world. You can easily find them on YouTube, or you may already have a few favourites.

I love to include these in my ESL business English conversation classes. They make a nice lead-in activity for just about any grammar, vocabulary or skill you might want to focus on. Find out some of my top options here:

Teaching with Movies and TV .

#25: Business English Listening Lesson Plan

It’s super easy to create your own listening lesson about almost any topic. Just follow these simple steps:

#26: Have a Debate

I love to talk about interesting things and I’m sure that your students are the same! Why not have a little debate about something related to the business world? Here are some ideas:

Debate Questions

For something a bit more casual, check these ones out:

Debating Topics for Friends

#27: Business English Game: Describe the Word

A simple business English game is to put students into pairs or small groups. Then, one student has to pick a word from a list and describe it to the other people who have to guess what it is. It’s a nice time-filler game at the end of class because it’s a nice review activity.

#28: Business English Charades

Another fun game to try out in class is charades. Come up with a bunch of words or phrases related to what you’ve been teaching the students. Then, put students into teams and they have to take turns acting out that word or phrases and their teammates have to guess what it is. Check it out:

Charades for ESL .

#29: Make a Sentence using Business English Vocabulary

Try out this challenging sentence-making activity. If you’re using a textbook, open it up to a page at random and quickly choose a word. Students have 30 seconds to make an interesting sentence about it. If you have a big class, they can share with a partner. If a small class, share with everyone.

#30: Make a Crossword Puzzle

It’s quite easy to make your own puzzle using Discovery’s puzzle maker (do a Google search for it). Input the clues and the answers and the website does the rest! It can serve as a nice review activity or homework assignment before a midterm or final exam.

What about Business English for Beginners?

Business English for beginners can be a little bit tricky. How can you negotiate a complicated deal, or talk about a contract if you struggle with making a basic sentence and don’t know a lot of even general vocabulary?

Here are my top 5 tips for teaching beginners Business English:

• Start with basic conversational English skills first. It’s quite difficult to teach exclusively Business English unless students are at least a very high beginner level of basic skills.
• For topics and contexts, choose something with a business focus. Perhaps a simple reading or listening passage talking about a company or a problem that someone may face in the business world.
• A lot of business involves small talk! Focus on this skill by giving students lots of practice.
• Don’t ignore basic writing skills. Things like capital letters and punctuation, along with basic openings and closings can go a long way in writing a business email, for example.
• Focus on industry-specific jargon. Each industry has a specific vocabulary related to it. Target this to your students. A needs analysis is key to this.

What are some Common Business English Topics?

There are a few business English topics that must be covered in a class. Here are some of the most popular topics and skills for a Business English class to cover:

• Negotiations . A large part of business involves negotiation so this topic should certainly be covered!
• Interviews . Help students out with their English interview skills.
• Managing a crisis . Businesses have problems. Help students work through these problems, in English. It’s certainly an important topic to consider teaching.
• Presentations . Many people in the business world have to make a presentation at one point, or another. Help students out with this!
• Meetings . All meetings have certain conventions including opening and closing, turn-taking, etc. Conducting a meeting as a class is a nice topic.
• Hiring and firing . All businesses need employees! This makes hiring and firing them an important topic to include.
• Performance reviews . Similar to the one above, there is a certain set of language used to evaluate work.
• Resumes and cover letters . A nice topic is to help students prepare their resumes and cover letters in English.
• Risk management. An interesting Business English topic is how a company can manage risk and prevent bad things from happening.
• Small talk. A lot of business happens informally, at lunch or around the office. Help students learn how to initiate, conduct and close these types of conversations.

Business English dialogues and topics

Business English Resources 

If you’re looking for some resources for teaching Business English, here are a few of my go-to websites and course books:

• Business English Pod
• Market Leader textbook
• Breaking News English
• CBC (Canada), BBC (UK), CNN (USA), etc. websites for higher-level students and authentic materials.
• How I Built Thing podcast
• Learn English (British Council) has a nice section for business English
• How to Teach Business English Book (Evan Frendo)

Business English Worksheets

If you want to find some business English worksheets that you can just print and use with your students, here are some of the best resources:

ISL Collective

Busy Teacher

Business English Lesson Plans

If you’re looking for some ready-made ESL lesson plans for business students, then you’re in the right place. Here are some of our top recommendations for ESL business English lesson plans:

Lingua House

One Stop English

Business English ESL FAQs

There are a number of common questions that people have about teaching ESL business English. Here are the answers to some of the most popular ones.

What is ESL Business English?

ESL Business English is a specific ESL niche tailored to business terminology, topics and corporate culture. It is useful for businessmen, businesswomen, and business students.

How do I teach Business English for ESL?

Here are a few quick tips for teaching Business English ESL:

• Do a detailed needs analysis to find out what students want to achieve and also to uncover strengths and weaknesses.
• Find out which contexts students use business English (negotiation, writing emails, interviews, etc.)
• Dress and act professionally.
• Choose materials well to keep students motivated and interested.
• Have a high degree of flexibility.

Is Business English formal?

Business English is more formal than just regular chit-chat with friends. It may also have some industry-specific jargon which you’ll need to learn. However, simple communication is often best so aim for this instead of overly complicated grammatical structures.

What makes a Good Business English Instructor?

A good business English instructor is one who dresses and acts professionally, the same as their students. This means that they are punctual, competent and well-prepared for each lesson. It can also be useful for the instructor to have a background in business themselves.

What is one of the challenges of teaching Business English?

One of the main challenges in teaching business English is that companies and students often expect some serious results. This may mean increased pressure on the teacher to deliver them. However, many teachers are handsomely rewarded for this stress if they are elite teachers.

What are some fun Business English games?

Some fun business English games are charades, Pictionary, describing a word, role-plays, crossword puzzles with business English vocabulary, and running dictation.

Business English Dialogues

• 115 Pages - 12/01/2020 (Publication Date)

If you’re looking for some business English dialogues for your students, look no further than these books! They are filled with dialogues, vocabulary, and practice exercises to cover a huge range of business topics.

They’re ideal for use in a course, or for self-study at home. Consider using them for 1-1 tutoring as well. Whatever the case, get ready for some great results with these dialogues for Business English.

ESL Business Activities: Join the Conversation

What are your thoughts about these business English activities? Have you tried out one of them from this list or do you have another recommendation? Leave a comment below and let us know. We’d love to hear from you?

Also be sure to give this article a share on Facebook, Pinterest, or Twitter. It’ll help other busy English teachers, like yourself find this useful resource.

Last update on 2024-04-03 / Affiliate links / Images from Amazon Product Advertising API

About Jackie

Jackie Bolen has been teaching English for more than 15 years to students in South Korea and Canada. She's taught all ages, levels and kinds of TEFL classes. She holds an MA degree, along with the Celta and Delta English teaching certifications.

Jackie is the author of more than 100 books for English teachers and English learners, including 101 ESL Activities for Teenagers and Adults and 1001 English Expressions and Phrases . She loves to share her ESL games, activities, teaching tips, and more with other teachers throughout the world.

You can find her on social media at: YouTube Facebook TikTok Pinterest Instagram

Thank you! Will definitely be trying some of these business English activities out with my students next week.

I teach business English in China and found this list so helpful! Thanks so much for all the ideas and I’ve honestly never heard of Business English Pod before. I know, crazy!

Thank you, Jackie. It’s great to know there’s support out there like yours.

Leave a Reply Cancel reply

Your email address will not be published. Required fields are marked *

Our Top-Seller

As an Amazon Associate, I earn from qualifying purchases.

More ESL Activities

How to Write Your Own Story in 5 Simple Steps

Most Common Words Starting with A with Pictures

ESL Kindergarten Games, Activities, Lesson Plans, Resources for Kindy

Animal Names: Animals that Start with the Letter U

About, contact, privacy policy.

Jackie Bolen has been talking ESL speaking since 2014 and the goal is to bring you the best recommendations for English conversation games, activities, lesson plans and more. It’s your go-to source for everything TEFL!

About and Contact for ESL Speaking .

Privacy Policy and Terms of Use .

Email: [email protected]

Address: 2436 Kelly Ave, Port Coquitlam, Canada

• Welcome to Life
• About the Authors
• Component Overview
• New and Updated Features
• Life Product Video
• First Edition, American English
• First Edition, British English
• Critical Thinking
• Memorization
• NGL Mission and Values
• Visuals in Life
• Coming Soon
• Pre-intermediate
• Intermediate
• Upper Intermediate
• CPT Walkthrough
• American English
• British English
• Audio: Student's Book
• Audio: Workbook
• Student's Book Video
• Audio: Student Book
• Grammar Practice Worksheets
• Interactive Reading Practice
• Pacing Guide
• Placement Tests
• Teacher's Book
• Workbook Audio
• Student's Book Audio
• Audioscripts (Word)
• Videoscripts (Word)
• Reading Texts (Word)
• Ready-Made Lessons
• Grammar Summary Answer Key
• Workbook Answer Key
• Communicative Worksheets
• Web Research
• CEFR Correlation

Business Writing Worksheets

• Academic Worksheets
• Extra Practice Activities
• Split Editions TB References
• Answer Keys
• Web Research for Life
• Communicative Activities
• Unit Tests for Life
• End Of Year Tests
• End Of Year Test
• Academic Skills Lessons
• Classroom Presentation Tool Resources
• Life Pacing Guide
• Four Skills
• Full Multi-Choice
• Short Multi-Choice

You are here

ESL Activities

ESL Games, Activities, Lesson Plans, Jobs & More

ESL Writing Activities, Games, Worksheets & Lesson Plans

If you’re teaching writing and are looking for some of the best ESL writing activities, along with worksheets, lesson plans and more then you’re in the right place. Keep on reading for everything you need to know about teaching English writing.

ESL writing exercises and games

Let’s check out the top ESOL writing exercises and activities to consider trying out with your students.

ESL Writing Activities and Games for All Ages

Are you ready to get into the ESL writing exercises? Then let’s get to the best English writing ideas. Also, check out some great writing prompts ideas to use in your writing lesson.

#1: 3 Things ESL Writing Activity

I’m ALL about simple and easy for writing activities in emergency situations when you don’t have a lot of time to prep. 3 Things is ideal because it requires nothing except a pen and paper and also requires no prep time.

The way it works is that students think of 3 random things. Then, they give those words to a partner who has to write a short story using them. It can be serious or silly and kind of depends on the words chosen.

Do you want to give it a try with your students? Check out all the details here: 3 Things English Writing Activity .

#2: Journaling for English Learners

When I teach ESL writing classes, I always have students keep a journal. It can either be with pen and paper or online. It’s a fun way for students to work on writing fluency and have some freedom to write about topics they want to write about, not just the ones that I assign.

If you want to see how I set up this ESL writing exercise, check out the following: Journaling for ESL Students . It makes a nice free write activity.

#3: Postcards ESOL Writing Exercise

If you’re looking for a simple, fun ESL writing activity, then you may want to consider having your students write some postcards. Ideally, you could get your hands of a stack of blank, unused postcards. But, if not, students can design their own and then trade with someone else who can fill in the back.

Learn more about this fun writing activity here: ESL Postcard Writing Activity .

#4: A to Z Alphabet Game

Remember that writing is more than a 5-paragraph essay. It’s any time a student is writing something, even one word. With that in mind, you may want to try out this ESL writing game for beginners.

The way it works is that you name a topic. Jobs or animals for example. Then, students have to think of one word for each letter. I give my students a certain amount of time and the team with the most words is the winner.

Do you want to give this writing activity for beginners a try? Check it out here: A-Z ESL Writing Activity .

#5: Conjunctions and Transitions

Words like but, so, and, however, etc. are key in English writing because they join ideas, sentences and paragraphs together. This makes writing easier to understand and helps it to flow better. Even beginners can learn about using things like and or but.

Here are some of the ideas for teaching these words: ESL Conjunction and Transition Activities .

• Amazon Kindle Edition
• Bolen, Jackie (Author)
• English (Publication Language)
• 85 Pages - 02/02/2020 (Publication Date)

#6: Whiteboard Games for ESL Writing Practice 

I don’t know why, but students really love to write on the whiteboard. There are a ton of relay type ESL writing activities that you can do. Here are some of the best ones:

ESL Whiteboard Activities .

#7: Dictogloss ESOL Writing Exercise

If you want to challenge your students with some serious listening and writing, then consider this dictogloss ESL activity. The way it works is that you find a passage or write one at an appropriate level for your students.

Then, put the student into pairs and read out the passage at a slightly faster pace than normal. Students have to take notes and then attempt to recreate what they heard by writing. Read the passage again and students add to what they have. Finally, they can compare their version with the original one.

Do you want to give it a try? Read this first: Dictogloss ESL Writing and Listening Activity .

#8: How to Teach English Writing to Beginners

Back when I did the CELTA course, my tutor told me that writing doesn’t have to be a 5 paragraph essay. It can actually be any time the students are writing something in English. With this in mind, here are some of the best activities for absolute beginners to English writing:

Teaching ESL Writing to Beginners .

#9: Fill out an Application Form

One very practical writing activity that we can do with our students is getting them to fill out an application form. If they plan on living in an English speaking country, they’ll certainly have to do this. And, there’s often some very specific vocabulary and expected answers that you can help them with.

More details here: ESL Writing Application Form .

#10: Sentence Structure Activities

Try out these activities to give students some ESL writing practice opportunities.

In speaking, our students can sometimes get away without having great sentence structure. This is because people often speak in sentence fragments and rarely in full sentences.

However, in writing, sentence structure is key and vital to helping our students get their ideas across on paper. Here are some of the best activities to help our students practice this:

ESL Sentence Structure Games and Activities .

ESL writing games and activities

#11: Is that Sentence Correct?

A simple reading and writing activity is this one that focuses on error correction. The way it works is that you make some sentences, some of which have errors and some that do not. Students have to decide which ones are incorrect and them correct them. It’s ideal for review at the end of class or the beginning of the next one.

Learn more about this writing activity here: ESL Error Correction Activity .

#12: Proof-Reading and Editing

A key part of writing well is proof-reading and editing. Everyone does it, even professional writers! Instead of the students relying on me to correct their errors for them, I like to teach them do to edit their own work. It’s a key skill in the writing process but often overlooked by many English teachers.

Check out this activity for helping students with this writing skill: ESL Proofreading and Editing .

• 146 Pages - 06/18/2020 (Publication Date)

Spending some time working on self-editing skills, instead of relying on the teacher-editing model is a nice way to improve student autonomy in English writing classes.

#13: Focus on Fluency Activity

Many ESL writing textbooks (and teachers too) focus on accuracy in English writing at the expense of fluency. However, both are needed if students are to become proficient in English essay writing. After all, no employer is going to appreciate an employee who can write a simple, but perfect email in half a day! Most would expect it to happen in a few minutes. But, this nice free write activity helps students with writing more quickly.

Check out this ESOL writing exercise to help our students out with this: Fluency ESL Writing Activity .

#14: How to Teach ESL Writing on the Let’s Talk TEFL Podcast

#15: Word Association

I like to use this quick writing activity if I know that students have studied the topic of the day before. For example, jobs and weather are very common in almost all ESL textbooks and if students are at a high-beginner or intermediate level, I guarantee that they already know some of these vocabulary items.

You can find out how to do it right here: ESL Word Association Activity .

#16 : ESL Surveys

I love to use surveys in my classes. They are a super versatile activity that covers all 4 skills, including writing. It’s also easy to make a survey for just about any topic or grammar point. See why I love them so much?

If you want to know more, then you’ll want to check this out: TEFL Surveys.

• Smith, Jennifer Booker (Author)
• 134 Pages - 03/31/2016 (Publication Date)

#17: Opinion Activities and Games

Opinion essays are a classic writing activity for both English learners and students in high school or university. That’s why I like to give my students some chances to practice writing and supporting their opinions in my classes. Do you want to try out some of the best ones? You can find out all the details right here:

ESL Opinion Activities .

#18: Parts of Speech Activities for ESL

English writing is ALL about parts of speech. After all, if you don’t know where the verb, subject, object, adjectives and adverbs go, how can you have any chance of making a coherent English sentence? It’s nearly impossible!

That’s why I like to do some worksheets and practice with my students related to this. If you want to try it out too, here are some of the best ideas:

ESL Parts of Speech Activities .

Top 17 ESL writing games and activities

#19: Spelling Challenge Game

Spelling is an important, but often neglected part of writing. In my opinion, it’s worth spending some classroom time on and one way to do that is with this word challenge game. Because it’s done on the whiteboard, it’s ideal for smaller classes.

Want to find out what it’s all about? You can right here: ESL Spelling Challenge Activity.

#20: Dictation 

A nice TEFL writing activity that you might want to try out is dictation. It covers not only writing, but also listening, spelling, punctuation, grammar and vocabulary in a big way. Is it obvious why I like it so much?

Try it out with your students today. Learn more here: ESL Dictation Writing Activity .

#21: Write an Interesting Story in English

It can be fun to get students to write their own stories in English. Check out these 6 simple steps to get started:

Writing and Interesting English Story .

#22: TEFL Writing Activities and Games

#23: Brainstorm Games and Activities

One of my favourite, simple ESL writing activities is to get students to brainstorm words or things related to a certain topic or category. It’s a nice way to get some creative juices flowing and can also be used for a quick warmer or review activity.

There are a number of engaging, student-centred activities to consider. Here are some of my favourites: Brain Storming Games.

#24: Freeze Writing Activity

Group writing activities for TEFL classes are few and far between. However, freeze is one of the best ones to consider. Students have to work collaboratively to make stories, line by line is a fun and engaging way.

Want to give it a try? Find out how: Freeze Activity .

#25: Five-Paragraph Essay Writing

For higher-level students, it can be a worthwhile activity to teach students how to write academic essays. Here’s an outline and some tips for how to do that:

Five-Paragraph Essay Template . 

#26: More Ideas for TEFL Writing

#27: fill in the blank sentences games.

A nice option for beginners in English writing is to use fill in the blanks. This adds a bit of structure to it and makes it much easier for students! Have a look at some of my favourite options:

Fill In The Blank Sentences Games .

#28: Round Robin Story

Try out this simple story writing activity that can be used for speaking & listening, or writing. Learn more:

Round Robin Story .

#29: Five Senses

Try out this simple activity that involves a lot of adjectives. It can be done with speaking or writing.

#30: Story Starters ESOL Writing Exercise

Provide students with a sentence or a short paragraph to serve as a story starter. Students then continue the story, adding their own ideas and developing the plot. This game encourages creativity, storytelling, and writing fluency. Try out one of my favourite ESOL writing exercises!

#31: Picture Prompts

Show students a captivating image or provide them with a set of pictures. Ask them to choose one or a combination of pictures and write a story, description, or dialogue based on the visuals. Pictures can stimulate imagination and inspire students to write.

#32: Sentence Relay

Divide the class into teams. Give each team a writing prompt or topic. The first student from each team writes a sentence based on the prompt, then passes the paper to the next student, who adds another sentence. The relay continues, and students build a coherent piece of writing. The team with the most creative and well-structured writing wins.

#33: ESL Writing Olympics

Create a series of writing challenges that test different writing skills, such as grammar, vocabulary, sentence structure, or creative writing. Set a time limit for each challenge, and award points to students based on their performance. Students can compete individually or in teams, making it a lively and competitive writing activity.

ESL Writing FAQs

There are a number of common questions that people have about teaching English writing. Here are the answers to some of the most popular ones.

What is ESL Writing?

ESL technically refers to English as a Second Language but the more common usage is anyone who is a non-native speaker of English, whether or not it’s their second, third or fourth language. ESL writing focus specifically on writing skills.

How can ESL Students Improve Writing?

There are a number of ways that ESL students can improve their writing skills:

• Practice, both in class and outside of class is key.
• Give students a reason to write.
• Use peer correction.
• Offer self-editing checklists.
• Give students some freedom to choose what to write about.
• Use a variety of writing activities and games.
• Give students a chance to revise their work based on feedback.
• Strive to make English writing fun and engaging
• Make it relevant to real-life.
• Ensure that your ESL writing classes target the level of the students.

How Can ESL Beginners Learn to Write?

Remember that ESL beginners will not be able to write a 5-paragraph academic essay. Instead, you may want to focus on things like filling in the blanks on a worksheet or writing very simple sentences with a subject, verb, and object.

Why is Writing Difficult for ESL Students?

Writing can be a little bit difficult for ESL students because it not only involves vocabulary and grammar, but things like punctuation, capital letters as well as style and other writing conventions. What does make it easier is that it doesn’t happen in real time like with speaking.

What types of writing assignments are suitable for English learners?

Start with simple assignments like journal writing, personal narratives, and gradually progress to more complex assignments such as essays and reports.

How can I make writing more engaging for English learners?

Make it engaging by using interesting prompts, creative assignments, and real-life scenarios that connect to their experiences and interests.

Should I focus on grammar and vocabulary in writing instruction?

Yes, grammar and vocabulary are essential components of writing. Students should learn to use them correctly to convey their ideas effectively.

What’s the role of peer review in teaching writing to English learners?

Peer review helps students develop critical reading and editing skills, and it allows them to receive feedback from peers before finalizing their work.

How can I help English learners overcome writer’s block?

Encourage them to start with a simple outline, use writing prompts, and create a supportive, low-pressure writing environment in the classroom.

What strategies can I use to assess English learners’ writing effectively?

Use rubrics and clear criteria for assessing content, organization, grammar, and vocabulary. Offer specific feedback to help students understand their strengths and weaknesses.

Did you Like these ESOL Writing Exercises?

• 72 Pages - 12/09/2019 (Publication Date) - Independently published (Publisher)

Yes? Thought so. Then you’re going to love this book you can easily find on Amazon: ESL Writing Activities, Games & Teaching Tips . It’s the first and only ESL activity book dedicated exclusively to teaching writing and it’s a must-have if you’re teaching these kinds of classes.

You can easily get these ESL writing activities in both digital and print formats. Consider keeping a copy on the bookshelf in your office and using it as a handy reference guide. Or, bring the digital version with you on your phone or tablet to your favourite coffee shop for some serious lesson planning for your English writing classes.

It really is that easy to have ESL writing classes! Check out the book on Amazon, but only if you want to get yourself a serious dose of ESL teaching awesome in your life:

Do you Have an ESL Writing Grading Rubric?

If you’re looking for a bit of guidance on how to evaluate your students’ writing, then you’re in the right place. We strongly recommend using a simple rubric that’ll save you a ton of time. Plus, students will understand why they got the grade that they did. All the details can be found here:

ESL Writing Grading Rubric .

ESL Writing Lesson Plans

If you’re looking for some ready-made writing lesson plans that can help your students improve their skills in a big way, you’ll want to check out our top recommendations:

One Stop English

ESL Library

Writing practice for English learners

ESL Writing Worksheets

The good news for English teachers is that there are a ton of English writing worksheets to help you out with just about anything! Why reinvent the wheel if another English teacher has already done the hard work, right? Here are some of the best ESL writing worksheets:

Busy Teacher

ESL Writing Assignments

If you’re not sure about writing assignment options for your ESL/EFL students, here are some of the best ideas that you’ll want to check out:

Tips for Teaching Writing to English Learners

Teaching writing to ESL learners requires a combination of strategies to develop their skills and confidence. Here are some tips to enhance your ESL writing lessons:

Provide Clear Instructions

Begin each writing task by clearly explaining the objectives, requirements, and expectations to the students. Break down the task into smaller steps to make it more manageable.

Model Writing

Show students examples of well-written texts in the target genre or format. Analyze the structure, language features, and organization. Model the thought process and decision-making involved in writing.

Teach the Writing Process

Introduce students to the writing process, which includes prewriting, drafting, revising, editing, and publishing. Emphasize the importance of brainstorming, organizing ideas, and revising for clarity and coherence.

Develop Vocabulary and Language Skills

Help students expand their vocabulary and language skills by providing word banks, relevant phrases, and sentence starters. Teach them how to use transition words and cohesive devices to enhance the flow of their writing.

Focus on Grammar and Sentence Structure in TEFL Writing Games and Activities

Address common grammar errors and sentence structure issues that students may encounter. Incorporate targeted grammar exercises and provide feedback on their writing to improve accuracy.

Encourage Pre-writing Activities

Engage students in pre-writing activities, such as brainstorming, mind mapping, or outlining, to generate ideas and organize their thoughts before starting to write. This helps students structure their writing more effectively.

Provide Writing Prompts

Offer a variety of engaging and relevant writing prompts to spark students’ creativity and interest. Ensure the prompts are aligned with their language proficiency level and encourage critical thinking and personal expression. Here are some ideas:

Peer Feedback and Revision

Incorporate peer feedback sessions where students exchange their writing with classmates for constructive feedback. Encourage students to revise their work based on the suggestions provided, promoting collaboration and revision skills.

Offer Individualized Support

Provide one-on-one guidance and support to students who may require additional assistance. Offer personalized feedback and suggestions for improvement based on their individual writing challenges.

Celebrate Progress

Recognize and celebrate students’ progress in writing. Highlight their strengths and areas of improvement, and provide specific feedback on their achievements. Encourage a growth mindset and foster a positive writing environment.

Encourage Frequent Writing Practice

Assign regular writing assignments to give students ample opportunities to practice their writing skills. Provide a variety of writing tasks, such as descriptive essays, opinion pieces, narratives, or reflective journal entries.

Use Authentic Materials for ESL Writing Activities

Integrate authentic materials like newspaper articles, short stories, or blog posts to expose students to real-life writing and develop their understanding of different writing styles and genres.

Have your say about these ESL Writing Activities and Exercises

What do you think about these writing ESL activities? Did you try out one of them from this or have another that you’d like to recommend? Leave a comment below and let us know what you think.  We’d love to hear from you.

Also be sure to give this article a share on Facebook, Pinterest, or Twitter. It’ll help other busy English teachers, like yourself find this useful resource for teaching English writing.

Last update on 2022-07-17 / Affiliate links / Images from Amazon Product Advertising API

About Jackie

Jackie Bolen has been teaching English for more than 15 years to students in South Korea and Canada. She's taught all ages, levels and kinds of TEFL classes. She holds an MA degree, along with the Celta and Delta English teaching certifications.

Jackie is the author of more than 60 books for English teachers and English learners, including Business English Vocabulary Builder and 39 No-Prep/Low-Prep ESL Speaking Activities for Teenagers and Adults . She loves to share her ESL games, activities, teaching tips, and more with other teachers throughout the world.

You can find her on social media at: YouTube Facebook Pinterest TikTok LinkedIn Instagram

Top Selling ESL Activity Book

As an Amazon Associate, I earn from qualifying purchases.

More ESL Activities and Games

ESL Flashcard Games & Activities For Kindergarten, Children & Adults

Daily Routines ESL Activities, Games, Lesson Plans & Worksheets

Compound Noun Activities, Games, Worksheets, & Lesson Plans

Musical Instruments Names with Pictures: Top 25

About, contact, privacy policy.

Best-selling author and English teacher Jackie Bolen has been talking ESL activities and games since 2015. The goal is to bring you the best ideas, lesson plans, and activity recommendations for your TEFL classes.

Get in touch: About + Contact

Privacy Policy and Terms of Use

Email: [email protected]

Address: 2436 Kelly Ave, Port Coquitlam, Canada

Recent posts

• IELTS Speaking Part 2 Topics: Gift
• IELTS Speaking Part 2 Topics: Birthday
• IELTS Speaking Part 2 Topics: Family
• IELTS Speaking Part 2 Topics: Movie
• IELTS Speaking Part 2 Topics: Book
• Link copied!

IELTS General Writing Task 1: Business Letter

IELTS Business Letter is a formal or semi-formal type of letter that is usually written when you need to write a letter to a company or an organisation.

Here is an example how the task may look like:

WRITING TASK 1 (General)

You should spend about 20 minutes on this task.

You work in an international company. You need to take some time off work. Write a letter to your employer. In your letter

• explain why you need this time off
• give details of when you want this time off
• say who can do your work when you are away

Write at least 150 words.

You do NOT need to write any addresses.

Begin your letter as follows:

Note! You will find the IELTS Business Letter Sample with grammar corrections and estimated band score down below.

IELTS Business Letter Structure & Vocabulary

We have listed the structure of a typical IELTS formal letter and a selection of useful language and phrases for you to use. It is important here to use a formal, neutral style, no contractions, exclamation marks, no colloquial language, no direct questions.

BUSINESS LETTER

• 1 Dear Sir/Madam, (or name if given)
• 2 Explain who you are and why you are writing
• 3 Explanation in more detail
• 4 Suggestions
• 5 Formal ending, name, signature
• Dear Sir/Madam, (or name if given)
• I am writing in regard to books I borrowed from the library on July 15, 2021, and never returned.
• I am writing to apologise.
• I would like to apply for one of the scholarships I saw advertised in …
• I am writing to inform you that I will be leaving the company.
• At present I am training to be a ... and I finish my course at the end of June.
• The reason I apply for the scholarship is that ...
• I understand that other students may need those books and deeply apologise for the inconvenience. I will return the books as soon as possible.
• I would appreciate being given the opportunity to ... and would be very grateful if you would consider my application.
• I look forward to hearing from you!
• Yours sincerely, ... (you know the name of person you are writing to)
• Yours faithfully, ... (you don't know the name!)

IELTS Business Letter Sample (Corrected)

Begin as follows: Dear ... ,

Dear Mr. Smith,

I am writing to ask for an unpaid holiday leave for two weeks. Unfortunately, my sister had a car crash in Thailand and she needs a kidney donor and since I am her closest relative I might be the only one who could save her.

I would like to fly out as soon as possible, as her condition is getting worse very fast according to doctor Liu's phone call. I have already booked the first available flight to Asia and the return tickets as well. Therefore, the exact period of time of my absence would be two weeks starting from the 21st of January. I will arrive to back in the UK in the early morning of the 7th of February and I would be able to start working at the same day.

Since my colleagues Mr White and Mr Black both have a full overview of my duties, they could very well do my work during the above mentioned weeks. However, I could be contacted in urgent matters should anything urgent arise / in a matter of great urgency .

Please consider this extreme situation I am facing at the moment and allow me to have this time off work.

Yours sincerely,

Jane Stafford

(193 words)

Band Score Estimate (prior to corrections)

Brief comments:

• to be in / to go to a place
• arrive in/at

"I have 7+ years of IELTS teaching experience . I will correct your grammar and give suggestions for more appropriate word use. I will give you tips on how to answer the question in the way the IELTS examiners expect." — Claudia, IELTS teacher from the UK

LETTER RESOURCES

Types of Letters

Job Application Letter

Complaint Letter

Business Letter

Request Letter

Informal Letter

Linking words for IELTS

How it works.

See a sample →

1. Choose your plan

• Detailed feedback
• Overall band score + for each criterion
• Grammar and content corrections
• Suggestions for improvement

2. Submit your order

We are here to help.

Whether you have any questions, want to leave feedback or discuss cooperation possibilities, do not hesitate to contact us. We are here to help and will answer as soon as possible. In the meantime, discover our site and let it help you smooth your IELTS journey and make your studies more efficient.

You will find useful information on all the four IELTS test components:

Got a question? We'd love to hear from you!

Will A.I. Boost Productivity? Companies Sure Hope So.

Economists doubt that artificial intelligence is already visible in productivity data. Big companies, however, talk often about adopting it to improve efficiency.

Credit... Shira Inbar

Supported by

• Share full article

By Jordyn Holman and Jeanna Smialek

• April 1, 2024

Wendy’s menu boards. Ben & Jerry’s grocery store freezers. Abercrombie & Fitch’s marketing. Many mainstays of the American customer experience are increasingly powered by artificial intelligence.

The question is whether the technology will actually make companies more efficient.

Rapid productivity improvement is the dream for both companies and economic policymakers. If output per hour holds steady, firms must either sacrifice profits or raise prices to pay for wage increases or investment projects. But when firms figure out how to produce more per working hour, it means that they can maintain or expand profits even as they pay or invest more. Economies experiencing productivity booms can experience rapid wage gains and quick growth without as much risk of rapid inflation.

But many economists and officials seem dubious that A.I. — especially generative A.I., which is still in its infancy — has spread enough to show up in productivity data already.

Jerome H. Powell, the Federal Reserve chair, recently suggested that A.I. “may” have the potential to increase productivity growth, “but probably not in the short run.” John C. Williams, president of the New York Fed, has made similar remarks, specifically citing the work of the Northwestern University economist Robert Gordon.

Mr. Gordon has argued that new technologies in recent years, while important, have probably not been transformative enough to give a lasting lift to productivity growth.

“The enthusiasm about large language models and ChatGPT has gone a bit overboard,” he said in an interview.

The last time productivity really picked up, in the 1990s, computer manufacturing was getting a lot more efficient at the same time that computers themselves were making everything else more efficient — allowing for a sector-spanning productivity increase. Today’s gains may be less broad, he thinks.

Other economists are more optimistic. Erik Brynjolfsson at Stanford University has bet Mr. Gordon $400 that productivity will take off this decade. His optimism is based partly on A.I. He ran an experiment with it at a large call center , where it especially helped less experienced workers, and has co-founded a company meant to teach firms how to leverage the technology.

Many companies seem to be in Mr. Brynjolfsson’s camp, hopeful that the shiny new tool will revolutionize their workplaces. Companies are using A.I. and generative A.I. for everything from writing marketing emails to helping set prices to answering employees’ human resources and legal questions.

Here are a few areas where companies say the latest A.I. technology is being used in ways that could influence productivity, pulled from interviews, earnings calls and financial filings.

Got an annoying task? There’s an A.I. for that.

Employees spend a lot of time trying to figure out human-resources-related questions. Companies have been investing in generative A.I. to help answer those queries more quickly.

At Walmart , the largest retailer in the United States, with 1.6 million workers, the company’s employee app has a section called “My Assistant,” which is backed by generative A.I. The feature uses the technology to quickly answer questions like “Do I have dental coverage?,” summarize meeting notes and help write job descriptions.

Walmart rolled out the technology to its U.S. corporate work force last year.

The retailer has been clear that the tool is meant to boost productivity. In an interview last year, Donna Morris, Walmart’s chief people officer, said one of the goals was to eliminate some mundane work so employees could focus on tasks that had more impact. It’s expected to be a “huge productivity lift” for the company, she said.

The algorithms want to sell you things.

Tony Spring, Macy’s chief executive, said the department-store chain was experimenting with A.I. to tailor its marketing. The company is using generative A.I. to write elements of emails, and is exploring ways to use the technology to add product descriptions online and to replicate images of outfits or other products for sale over new backgrounds.

“It’s certainly showing up as a tool for some colleagues to reduce workload,” Mr. Spring said in an interview.

Abercrombie & Fitch is using generative A.I. to help design clothes and write descriptions for its website and app. Designers use Midjourney, an A.I. graphics program, to help them generate images as they brainstorm clothing ideas. Workers in Abercrombie’s marketing department also use generative A.I. to help write the blurbs for products’ descriptions. (Employees later edit the copy.)

Samir Desai, Abercrombie & Fitch’s chief digital officer, said the technology helped speed up a laborious process, given that Abercrombie and its brands could post a couple of hundred new products on its website in a single week.

“I think right now it’s a lot of trust and belief that these are productivity enhancers, efficiency boosters,” Mr. Desai said, noting that it was difficult to quantify how much time and money was being saved. “I think we’ll start to see that manifest itself in just how much work certain teams are able to get through versus the prior years.”

A.I. pairs well with burgers and ice cream.

Some companies are hoping to use the latest A.I. technology to help match prices to demand, somewhat like the way that Uber sets prices for cars based on how many people want to ride.

Wendy’s, for instance, has floated the idea of using A.I. to identify slower times of the day and discount the prices of menu items on its digital boards.

The technology could also help with inventory management. Ben & Jerry’s put cameras that use A.I. into the freezers at grocery stores to help alert the company when a location was running low on pints of Cherry Garcia or Chunky Monkey. The camera sporadically captures an image of the freezer shelves, and the technology assesses the quantity that’s left, sending alerts to Ben & Jerry’s parent company and its distributors.

“The software identifies what is about to run out and also helps plan the most efficient routes for trucks that can restock the inventory,” Catherine Reynolds, a spokeswoman for Unilever, the parent of Ben & Jerry’s , said in a statement.

The A.I. technology is installed in 8,000 freezers, and the company said it planned to significantly increase that number this year. On average, freezers with the A.I. technology increased sales 13 percent because they were replenished with fresh pints of ice cream, particularly the most in-demand flavors, Ms. Reynolds said.

A.I. is getting into the weeds.

Deere, the maker of farm equipment, has been using A.I. alongside cameras to improve herbicide sprayers . The equipment recognizes and targets weeds specifically, allowing for more precise use of chemicals. The technology was introduced in 2022, and the company estimates that it covered 100 million acres and saved eight million gallons of herbicide last year.

The technology can allow “customers to reduce their herbicide use, lower their costs and minimize impact on their crops and land,” John C. May II, the firm’s chief executive, said at a news conference in February.

Are these game-changing improvements?

Skepticism of A.I.’s potential for major change is based largely on the fact that many of its applications mimic things software can already do: There are clear improvements, but not necessarily game-changing ones.

But while it could take time for companies to fully harness A.I. tools, the fact that the applications are potentially so broad has made some economists optimistic about what the new technologies could mean for productivity growth.

Analysts at Vanguard think that A.I. could be “transformative” to the U.S. economy in the second half of the 2020s, said Joseph Davis, the financial firm’s global chief economist. He said the technology could save workers meaningful time — perhaps 20 percent — in about 80 percent of occupations.

“We’re not seeing it in the data yet,” he said, explaining that he thinks that a recent pickup in productivity has been more of a snapback from a steep drop-off during the pandemic. “The good news is that there’s another wave coming.”

Jordyn Holman is a business reporter for The Times, covering the retail industry and consumer behavior. More about Jordyn Holman

Jeanna Smialek covers the Federal Reserve and the economy for The Times from Washington. More about Jeanna Smialek

Explore Our Coverage of Artificial Intelligence

News  and Analysis

U.S. clinics are starting to offer patients a new service: having their mammograms read not just by a radiologist, but also by an A.I. model .

OpenAI unveiled Voice Engine , an A.I. technology that can recreate a person’s voice from a 15-second recording.

Amazon said it had added $2.75 billion to its investment in Anthropic , an A.I. start-up that competes with companies like OpenAI and Google.

The Age of A.I.

Teen girls are confronting an epidemic of deepfake nudes in schools  across the United States, as middle and high school students have used A.I. to fabricate explicit images of female classmates.

A.I. is peering into restaurant garbage pails  and crunching grocery-store data to try to figure out how to send less uneaten food into dumpsters.

David Autor, an M.I.T. economist and tech skeptic, argues that A.I. is fundamentally different  from past waves of computerization.

Economists doubt that A.I. is already visible in productivity data . Big companies, however, talk often about adopting it to improve efficiency.

The Caribbean island Anguilla made $32 million last year, more than 10& of its G.D.P., from companies registering web addresses that end in .ai .

When it comes to the A.I. that powers chatbots, China trails the United States. But when it comes to producing the scientists behind a new generation of humanoid technologies, China is pulling ahead .

Advertisement

Solar Eclipse 2024 Writing Prompt Craft activities 1st - 2nd - 3rd Grade

Description

Discover our enchanting Solar Eclipse 2024 Writing Prompt Craft Activities, "El eclipse solar" available in both English and Spanish, perfect for 1st, 2nd, and 3rd graders! This bilingual educational resource is crafted to spark the curiosity and creativity of young learners, encouraging them to delve into and express their thoughts on the magnificent spectacle of a solar eclipse.

Key Features:

• Bilingual Writing Prompts: Engage your students with stimulating writing prompts available in both English and Spanish, designed to foster creativity and expressiveness regarding the solar eclipse phenomenon.
• Grade-Appropriate Activities: Our activities are tailored to meet the cognitive and writing abilities of students in 1st, 2nd, and 3rd grades, ensuring a learning experience that is both age-appropriate and enjoyable.
• Craft Integration: Merge art with science as students bring their written thoughts to life through engaging and thematic craft activities, enhancing their comprehension and enjoyment of learning.
• Cultural and Linguistic Relevance: By offering activities in both English and Spanish, students can explore and learn in the language they are most comfortable with, promoting inclusivity and a deeper connection to the content.

Questions & Answers

• We're hiring
• Help & FAQ
• Privacy policy
• Student privacy
• Terms of service
• Tell us what you think

Are you a learner at A2 English level (pre-intermediate) ? This section offers writing practice to help you write short, simple texts, notes and messages. Texts include messages, forum posts, personal profiles, forms and emails.

Each lesson has a preparation task, a model text with writing tips and three tasks to check your understanding and to practise a variety of writing skills. Make a start today.

Choose a writing lesson

A personal profile

Learn how to write a personal profile for a social app or website.

• Read more about A personal profile

An accommodation form

Learn how to fill in an accommodation preference form.

• Read more about An accommodation form
• Log in or register to post comments

An email about a business event

Learn how to write an email about a business event.

• Read more about An email about a business event

An email cover letter

Learn how to write a cover letter or email to respond to a job advert.

• Read more about An email cover letter

An email explaining a problem

Learn how to write an email to explain a problem.

• Read more about An email explaining a problem

An email to ask a colleague to do something

Learn how to write an email to ask a colleague to do something.

• Read more about An email to ask a colleague to do something

An expression of interest

Learn how to write an email to ask for more information and express interest.

• Read more about An expression of interest

An online discussion forum

Learn how to write posts on an online forum.

• Read more about An online discussion forum

Instructions for a colleague

Learn how to write instructions for a colleague.

• Read more about Instructions for a colleague

Messaging to cancel a plan

Learn how to write text messages to cancel plans.

• Read more about Messaging to cancel a plan

Messaging to make plans

Learn how to write messages to make plans with friends.

• Read more about Messaging to make plans

My last holiday

Learn how to write about your last holiday.

• Read more about My last holiday

Learn to write in English with confidence

Our online English classes feature lots of useful writing materials and activities to help you develop your writing skills with confidence in a safe and inclusive learning environment.

Practise writing with your classmates in live group classes, get writing support from a personal tutor in one-to-one lessons or practise writing by yourself at your own pace with a self-study course.

Explore courses

Online courses

Group and one-to-one classes with expert teachers.

Learn English in your own time, at your own pace.

One-to-one sessions focused on a personal plan.

Get the score you need with private and group classes.