Business ESL Worksheets, Communication Activities, and Teaching Resources

Sample Business ESL Activities and Vocabulary Worksheets

This is a collection of free, printable worksheets for teaching EAL students language business English. There are role-plays, information gaps, vocabulary worksheets and much more!

Lanternfish ESL Home Communication Activities Worksheet Collections Survival English

My Qualifications Interview/Information Gap

A one-hour information gap activity where students interview each other about their skills and qualifications. This business English information gap activity covers a lot of useful vocabulary for working environments, yet grammatically it should not be too challenging for even beginner/intermediate classes.

Job Fair Role-play

A one hour job fair role-play where students are divided into employers and job seekers. The job seekers will go from employer to employer asking about job benefits and the employers in turn will ask about job qualifications.

Banking Role-Play I

A one hour banking role-play that explores the expressions needed to do five basic transactions at a bank: deposit money, withdraw money, cash checks, exchange currency, and pay bills. Students are divided into bank tellers and bank clients. Bank clients approach tellers and conduct banking transactions.

Banking Role-Play II

A two hour banking role-play where students are divided into bankers and clients. The bankers will explain finacial products such as mortgages and credit cards. Then the bankers will create banking profiles for their clients by asking questions about income and debt. Lost of good finacial vocabulary worksheets for this lesson plan.

Would You like to Leave a Message

In this business telephone English role-play. Clients call the 'Stellar Corporation' looking for a manager, Mary Jenkins. Mary is out so clients have to leave a message with the secretary.

Reporting Changes Role-play

Students have to summarize an annual report of some corporate indicator such as profit, revenue, sales, or costs to other students in this making reports role-play. They also have to explain the reasons why the corporate indicators changed.

Reporting Changes Cloze Activity

This cloze activity reviews language that can be used to describe how profits, costs, revenue or other economic indicators are changing over time. Students describe the change while examing a graph using vocabulary such as 'increased dramatically, fluctuated wildly, peaked, dipped, rose, and dropped.

Relaying News Role-play

This business role-play helps students practice using reported speech to relay news to coworkers. In addition, the students practice stating how real outcomes were different from expecations.

Good News Business Vocabulary Worksheet

This worksheet shows how students can use noun clauses to report the news for a business. Students read sentences about a firm and decide of that is good news or bad news.

Firm Progress Business Vocabulary Worksheet

This vocabulary worksheet demonstrates how to talk about changes in a firm.

Expecations and Stock Prices Business Vocabulary Worksheet

Students decide how statements about a company will impact a firm's stock listing. Students have to consider expectations.

Due to and Because of Business Vocabulary Worksheet

Students practice using the structures due to and because of to describe why changes occurred in a company.

Have You Seen Jill?

This business role-play helps students practice using relative clauses to describe people. The role-play will also give students a lot of chances to use basic workplace expressions such as sending a fax, talking to a client, or meeting with the boss.

Introducing Your Business

This business role-play helps students practice introducing their firms using phrases such as specialize in, based in, have offices in.

Did Anybody Call While I Was Out?

Students relay telephone messages in this business information gap.

There's a Rumor Going Around Gap

This information gap students report stock price changes and rumor about companies.

Have You Seen Today's Headlines?

Student's relay newspaper headlines about future events related to business. (Government to Cut Taxes--> The government is going to cut taxes.)

Have You Finished That Report? Information Gap

In this information gap, students relay information about when a report is needed and why.

Have You Finished That Report? Information Gap (Easy Version)

In this information gap, students relay information about when a report is needed and why. This is the easy version.

Arranging Schedules Information Gap

Students arrange their schedules so that they can meet to discuss some important issues.

Year-on-year Comparisons Information Gap

Students have to compare third quarter figures with second quarter figures and then make a year-on-year comparison.