| LESSON OVERVIEW
The main objectives of this ESL lesson on delegating are to:
- talk about delegation at work and management abilities;
- watch a video and listen to a conversation between coworkers;
- practise useful phrases for work delegation.
With this lesson, students discuss management skills (e.g. conflict resolution, strategic thinking), watch a video about a struggling manager and explore issues and solutions. They share opinions on delegation at work, review useful phrases for delegating in the workplace (e.g. take something off someone’s plate) and examine different delegation scenarios. Students also listen to a conversation related to the video from the lesson and role-play situations at work.
C1 / Advanced60 minStandard LessonUnlimited Plan
WARM-UP AND VIDEO
This ESL lesson on delegating starts with a warm-up. Students review different management skills (e.g. adaptability, conflict resolution). They give examples of situations where managers need each one. Students then pick the top three skills for new managers and explain why. Afterwards, they look at situations related to workplace challenges in management and match them with the skills from the previous task. Students justify their answers and say what they would do if they were a manager in those situations. Moving on, they watch a video about a manager who is struggling in his role. Students watch the first part of the video and say what they think will happen next. Then, they watch the rest of it and check if they were right. Following that, students watch the first part of the video again and complete a table with issues and solutions in the video.
VOCABULARY AND ROLE-PLAY
In this part of this ESL lesson on delegating, students read questions and responses about work delegation. They say how much they agree with each response. Then, students read a quote and find a delegation phrase (get someone up to speed on something). They explain its meaning and use it in another sentence. Afterwards, students match delegation-related phrases (e.g. bring someone on board) with their purpose. They then read scenarios involving delegation and choose the correct words to complete them. After that, students decide which options are best for the people and the company and justify their decision. Next, they listen to a conversation between coworkers. Students say what has changed and list the phrases from the previous task they notice. Afterwards, they get cards with more conversations and role-play them in pairs. Finally, they discuss delegation more and how to use new phrases.
HOMEWORK/REVISION
This ESL lesson on delegating also includes an additional task that you can use as homework or revision. In the task, students complete the gaps in statements about delegation at work. They then choose three statements and write a short response to each one. The task is available in the teacher’s version of the worksheet. You can print it and hand it out to your students. It’s also included in the e-lesson plan.
WORKSHEETS
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I haven’t tried the lesson yet, but I can already tell it’s going to rock! The vocabulary is great -not overloaded, yet not oversimplified. There are plenty of ways to develop a conversation beyond the activities in the worksheets, and it’s right up my IT student’s alley.
Hi Anna,
Great to hear you like the look of the lesson. Let me know how it goes once you’ve tried it out! Thanks for your super positivity!
Rich
It’s great! Thank you!
Thank you, Ilona. I hope the lesson went really well!
The stuff is great, however describes hypotetically ideal situation which does not frequently happen in the place where I live.
I run individual classes for a number of CEO’s representing private business and state treasury partnerships. The skill of delegating tasks is sometimes unfortunately perceived as a sign of weakness and deficit of managerial skills …
Guess, which group does it refer to?
The clash between political and business loyalty is killing effectiveness and hampering growth of businesses . It forces skilled and gifted people to balance on a tightrope and go for rotten compromises.
Thanks for your comment, Pipson. I’m delighted that you enjoyed the material. I totally agree that delegation can be seen differently in different places and within different organisations. I wonder how we could tweak the material to take into account our own experiences?
Have a great day!
Rich
Thank you for this amazing lessons. I would like to ask for lessons that are more focused on conversations. As many students work in business but they feel like they need to improve conversation. And the speaking lessons are more to reflect on topics rather than to dialogue in real life contexts. I would like outline conversation lessons, where the student can follow a structure and then practice alone. Thanks.
Thanks for your comment and your positivity about our lessons, Ornella. Let me point you in the direction of some lessons that include dialogues that you can practise for different business situations.
Negotiation Skills
Dealing with people you disagree with
The Four-Day Week
Let me know if those help or if you’re looking for something slightly different. I’m sure we can find something suitable 🙂
Have a great day!
Rich
Great Rich!
Looks very interesting, thanks1