Summary
This downloadable PDF lesson plan for English teachers focuses on reporting meeting outcomes and client feedback. This ESL class material improves business communication skills, covering reported speech and professional vocabulary for relaying information.
This lesson helps B2 students master the art of relaying information in a business context. Activities include a warm-up discussion on communication, a vocabulary matching exercise with reporting verbs, and a listening task to debrief a client meeting. Students will then dive into a detailed grammar focus on reported speech, practice with a reading exercise, and learn useful phrases for summarizing. The lesson culminates in a practical writing task where students compose an email to summarize client feedback.
Activities
- Vocabulary and listening: The lesson starts with matching reporting verbs (state, mention, emphasize) to their meanings. This is followed by a listening exercise where students complete a summary of a client meeting debrief, practicing the new vocabulary in context.
- Grammar practice: A clear explanation of reported speech, including tense backshift and modal verb changes, is provided. Students then apply this knowledge by converting direct quotes from a project meeting into accurate reported speech sentences.
- Practical application: Students learn key phrases for summarizing and reporting information. The lesson concludes with a production task where they write a professional email summarizing client feedback notes, using all the language and skills learned.
Vocabulary focus
This lesson expands students' vocabulary beyond the simple verb "said." It introduces a range of precise reporting verbs essential for professional communication, such as to state, to emphasize, to clarify, to advise, and to confirm. The plan also provides a bank of useful phrases for starting summaries, reporting specific points, and outlining decisions and action items, enhancing fluency and professionalism.
Grammar focus
The core grammar point is reported speech, a crucial skill for relaying information accurately. The lesson clearly explains the rules of tense 'backshift' (e.g., present simple to past simple), changes to modal verbs like will to would and can to could, and necessary adjustments to pronouns and time adverbs (e.g., 'tomorrow' becomes 'the next day'). Students practice this structure through targeted exercises.
