| Last updated: June 10, 2025
LESSON OVERVIEW
The main objectives of this updated first Business English lesson are:
- for students to practise talking about themselves and their work;
- for students to watch a video about work-life balance;
- to test students’ knowledge of some grammar structures and prepositions.
Students choose correct grammar structures and prepositions, create questions, talk about themselves and their work and do a listening comprehension activity. The lesson has been updated to give students more opportunities to speak and to make listening comprehension more accessible. Now, the lesson also helps the teacher evaluate students’ grammar abilities.
B2 / Upper Intermediate60 minStandard LessonPremium Plan
WARM-UP AND PREPOSITIONS
This first Business English lesson starts with a warm-up activity in which students complete some sentences about their experience with English. Then, students look at a list of topics covering areas like free time, work, family and friends and weekend plans. A student chooses a topic and talks about it for 30 seconds. The other student listens and asks follow-up questions. They take turns until they have discussed six topics altogether. After that, students read seven sentences about work and education. They complete them with prepositions (e.g. apply for, deal with, in charge of). Next, they write four questions for a partner using the phrases with prepositions. They also ask each other’s questions.
VIDEO AND GRAMMAR
In the next part of this first Business English lesson, students look at the beginnings of six tips on how to improve work-life balance. They brainstorm what the tips might be. Then, they watch the video with the six tips and compare their answers. After that, they briefly discuss the tips in the video and add more tips to the list. Next, they read eight sentences and choose the correct verb form in each. The verb forms include tenses like Future Simple and Present Perfect Continuous, as well as grammar structures like comparatives, passive voice and the Second Conditional. In the final step of this first Business English lesson, students decide which of the statements are true for them and provide some details.
Other ESL Brains first lesson worksheets:
- Nice to meet you! – first lesson with A2 students
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Stay interested, stay motivated – first lesson with new students (B2/C1)
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Trades and trends! (first lesson with B2/C1 Business English students)
WORKSHEETS
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What an amazing lesson plan! Thank you!
That’s great! Thanks for the comment!
In the e-lesson plan, Slide 4 doesn’t work. “Click a number to uncover a topic to talk about.” There aren’t any topics assigned to the numbers.
Well, it works fine on our side. The thing is that the numbers are clickable in the Present mode. In the Edit mode, you must click the element (the red box) to see the link. Previously, only the numbers were linked but now we’ve updated this e-lesson plan and the boxes are clickable as well. See how it works in this short video: https://youtu.be/mAdvNxJT6jU
Can you bring back the old feature, please (clickable tiles)? It was great! 🙂
Hi! Guess what! We’ve just made the changes to the e-lesson plan and the clickable tiles are back 🙂 I hope it will make your classes more interactive and fun. Enjoy!
Love you and your work! THANK YOU SO MUCH!
🙂
That’s a great lesson to start. Thank you!!
Great lesson! One small correction: the display title on this website is currently, “My, my work and I.” The first word should be, “Me.”
OMG, sorry for that 😊 I was changing the title so that it’s the same in the post and worksheets, but I’m way too quick! Already changed! Thanks for letting me know!
Loved it!!
Happy to hear that 🙂
I believe the grammar here is ‘collocations’, not just prepositions.
Love this lesson. A suggestion: a regular, non-business first lesson for this level (B1/B2) – it would be greatly appreciated!
Happy to hear that and thanks for the suggestion! For sure, we’ll consider creating such a lesson 🙂