Communication to arrange
communication is now normal
Expressions
Teacher ’s notes
Level: Upper intermediate–advanced
In pairs, students find the expressions in the article,
Time: 90 minutes discussing what they think they mean and what other
words they could use instead of these expressions.
Students then ask and answer the questions that contain
Summary: This lesson is about how our variations of the expressions.
ways of communicating have changed over
the past few years, as a result of electronic
communication. In this lesson, students: Key:
1. study a text about how communication 1. arrive or land in
has changed; 2. put in a phone number and call it either by touching the
2. write out a step-by-step procedure for touchscreen or pressing numbers on the handset
communicating in a business setting; 3. make someone feel afraid or scared
3. discuss how they prefer to communicate 4. make a quick visit to see someone
with various groups of people. 5. open the door to see who is there
Materials: One copy of the worksheet Business communication
per student
Students work in pairs or small groups and talk about
Group size: Any what they normally do in the situations listed, e.g. Do
they first send an email? Do they call someone’s personal
assistant? Do they consider the time zones involved?
Do they check if any software updates are necessary?
Note: This lesson plan is for both pre-experience and
Then they should choose the situation that is the most
in-work business students based on an original article
complex, write down every step they go through in detail
first published in Business Spotlight issue 7/2019.
and then share this information with other students.
Warmer
Discussion
Working individually, students write down as many
In pairs or small groups, students discuss the first set of
forms of communication as they can in three minutes.
questions. Hold a short, whole-class feedback session
When the time is up, they should compare what they’ve
afterwards. Then hold a group discussion about these
written with other students.
more general communication questions. Do the students
Some suggested answers: phone, text message, instant have similar or different opinions?
messaging, face-to-face conversation, email, letter, telephone or
video conference, written memo, speech Webquest
Key words In the article, the author says that her ‘face contorts into
a Munch-like Scream’ at the thought of someone simply
Students match the key words with the definitions and just stopping by to visit a friend without announcing
then find them in the article before reading carefully their intention to do so first. The students find an image
through the article and noticing how they are used in of Edvard Munch’s 1893 painting, The Scream, and
context. The words in the task are in the order that they decide what kind of emotions they think the figure in
appear in the article. the painting is portraying. Then, keeping these emotions
in mind, they should say what, at work, makes them feel
Key:
like the person in the painting.
1. recall 6. contorts
2. associate 7. impromptu
3. layer 8. rude
4. uptight 9. indicate
5. unscheduled 10. suspect
D •
TE DE E
SI A L
EB LO B
W N IA
© Springer Nature Limited 2019 (Macmillan Education is part of the Springer Nature Group) and Spotlight Verlag GmbH, 2019
M W P
O DO O
FR BE C
BUSINESS SPOTLIGHT / Communication to arrange communication is now normal
N T
O
CA HO
•P
