Using texts in the business English
classroomKaren RichardsonApril 14th 2014
Agenda
• Types of business texts• Where to find them• What you can do with them • Staying on the right side of the law *
• Tips• Free resources• Useful links
Headlines (of articles)a lesson in their own right!
some ideas:• 1. deciphering what they mean • 2. parsing the language• 3. after looking at a few, decide which article to
read• 4. guessing which words will appear in the article -
followed up by article in a word cloud*• 5. cutting them up into individual words and
reassembling them*
Eurostar stake up for grabs in £10bn state asset sell-off
(Guardian Weekly, Dec 2013)[1 & 2]• Eurostar = Company name (background knowledge) • stake = biz vocab• up for grabs = idomatic phrase• £ = currency symbol• bn = billion abbreviation (in Germany false friend alert)• state = noun not verb• asset = biz vocab (pronunciation)• sell-off = biz vocab
[ 3 & 4 ]
The big picture 1
• Summarizing & retelling • Practise skimming & scanning skills• Read aloud – students or you• Set as pre-class reading task• Set as post-class reading task• Write comprehension questions• Extend, research & present• Discuss & give personal opinions
The big picture 2• Get the scissors out - reassemble, jigsaw reading /
information exchange, missing sections, … *• Write headings for sections• Invent new (better) headlines & titles• Word frequency / word clouds *• Genre, length, style• Required pre-knowledge• Images & graphs
The small picture 1• Keywords• Certain types of words – compound words,
adjectives, phrasal verbs, prepositions……• ESP & vocab fields• Abbreviations, short forms, accronyms• Collocations / word pairs• Fixed expressions• Idioms, metaphors, alliteration …• Tenses & structures
Purpose & emotions
• Purpose- advertising & marketing• Information - ingredients, source, company • Quality assurance• Instructions• Style - personal & caring, signature• Formality – neutral to informal (ps. ….)• Language – soothing, calming, nourishing …..
Company materials*
• Analyse (as above)• Translate• Discuss images• Explain how machines
work• Write requesting more
information / catalogue / appointment …..
Students‘ writing
• Peer feedback• Correct• Improve• Analyse (see above)• Needs analysis• How would you feel…?• Write a response
Further sources of BE texts*
Ready-made & legally-photocopiable lesson plans with BE
texts and articles
Teaching tips
Teaching tips 2
Resources & links• www.onestopenglish.com
• http://www.businessenglishonline.net/
• http://mag.digitalpc.co.uk/Olive/ODE/ELGAZETTE/
• http://www.eltpics.com/
• http://www.eltteacher2writer.co.uk/
Copyright laws: state schools & Unis[US, UK, DE]• http://www.copyright.com/
Services/copyrightoncampus/content/index_class.html
• http://www.copyrightandschools.org/
• http://www.schulbuchkopie.de/index.php/fotokopie-was-geht-was-geht-nicht
Contact & free worksheetwww.compass-elt.de