Meetings 1: Getting down to business

The beginning of a meeting presents a major dilemma: is it better to get straight down to business, or is it important to allow or even encourage small talk? The texts in this lesson present arguments from opposing viewpoints, which may help students to question their own assumptions. The lesson goes on to introduce useful language for both small talk and getting down to business, with practice in the form of role-plays.

Getting down to business
Author
Jeremy Day

Topic: Meetings and getting down to business

Level: Intermediate (B2) and above

Aims:

  • To discuss the importance and drawbacks of small talk at meetings.
  • To teach some useful phrases for small talk.
  • To teach some useful phrases for starting a meeting.
  • To provide practice and feedback of the situation of starting a meeting.

Plan components

Lesson plan: download
Worksheets: download

The plans and worksheets are downloadable and in pdf format - right click on the attachment and save it on your computer.

Copyright - please read
All the materials on these pages are free for you to download and copy for educational use only. You may not redistribute, sell or place these materials on any other web site without written permission from the BBC and British Council. If you have any questions about the use of these materials please email us at: teachingenglish@britishcouncil.org

Comments

Submitted by Ekaterina Isaeva on Sat, 08/10/2024 - 05:04

But The Meeting Cost Clock link is not working ((((

Submitted by Raquel Brandao on Tue, 03/07/2017 - 10:28

Very interesting lesson and fun to do. Very positive! Thanks for sharing!

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