20 Brilliant Business English Listening/Speaking Skills Activities

20 Brilliant Business English Speaking and Listening Skills Worksheets

Business English listening/speaking skills exercises  can include:

basic socializing activities
telephoning practice
common office exchanges
short role plays with colleagues, customers and clients
practice asking, requesting and providing information

February 18th, 2023

1 Quantifiers for colleagues

This is a Business English vocabulary and listening/speaking exercise exploring some common Business English vocabulary. It also focuses on the use of quantifiers (all, most, some, a few, none etc.).

(download PDF)

See the YouTube video

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2 The Intern

This is a reading/listening comprehension exercise about a day in the life of an intern and contrasts it with university life. Students need to watch the video and then complete the sentences with the the vocabulary they hear. The pictures match the chronological order of the video.

(download listening/speaking PDF)

(see the video on YouTube)

 3 Calling to Complain (gap fill and answers)

       This is a “calling to complain”telephoning language exercise  to help English language learners practice expressions and phrases used in everyday phone conversations. Students can try and complete the dialogues and then listen to the audio to check/compare their answers.

(download PDF)

(Calling to complain YouTube video)Calling to complain

4 Financial crisis vocabulary

These days, you hear and see words such as “inflation” and “bear market” everywhere. So this is a lesson about financial crisis vocabulary.

(download PDF)

(see the YouTube video)Financial crisis vocabulary

5 Business skills

It’s easy for students to talk about business skills as it relates to their personal preferences and abilities.  Students can listen to the audio or watch the video and complete the worksheet. The video adds more images illustrating the vocabulary related to this topic. The speaking section can also be expanded to include all the skills shown in the pictures.

Business Skills (PDF)

(See the YouTube video)Business skills

6 Create a conversation: starting a business

This is a listening/speaking lesson about starting a business. This is  a surefire topic for classroom discussion and dialogues. Use the worksheet below to brainstorm ideas about starting a business. Then get students to listen to the dialogues and try to complete the gap fill worksheet. Finally, students write a conversation using their own ideas.

Starting a business  (PDF)

Open a laundromat

Starting a restaurant business

7 Ideas for starting a business brainstorming

This is a good topic for business English students. And millennials in general are really sharp on the nuances of strategies for starting a business. Good fun!

Ideas for starting a business (PDF)

8 Asking for information : business English dialogues gap fill (with audio and answers)

Students need to be versatile and flexible when they speak English. This gap fill exercise provides a number of everyday conversations and situations .  It challenges students to complete the short dialogues with the appropriate vocabulary. Or students can listen to the audio and complete the conversations.

Asking for information business English gap fill (PDF)

(see as Youtube mp4 video)

Asking for information audio mp3

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4 online shopping and delivery services listening/speaking and vocabulary exercises

8 Business English vocabulary exercises

5 cool advertising & branding vocabulary & language exercises

 8 describing graphs  language exercises

5 intercultural body language, gestures and etiquette language exercises

9   Making requests exercise (with audio and answers)

           This is a  Business English  ESL exercise to help students learn how to make polite requests in English. Students can try to complete the speech bubbles. Then they can listen to the audio and compare their answers. Or it can be used as a stand alone listening exercise.

Business English making requests (PDF)

(see as Youtube video)

Making requests audio

 10 Business problems and solutions (with audio and answers)

Problems and solutions exercises make for good speaking and discussion classes. Here, students match the problems to the pictures and give solutions in answer to the questions. as above, the solutions exercise could be expanded to include all the problems shown in the pictures.

Business problems and solutions (PDF)

(see the video on YouTube)Business problems and solutions vocabulary audioBusiness problems and solutions questions and answers

11 Telephone conversation speaking and listening about a delivery (with audio and answers)

This is a telephoning exercise for English language learners to practice using  the language necessary for making business phone calls. Students listen to the audio and complete the conversation. There are 2 worksheets One is easy and one is more difficult.

Telephone delivery conversation (PDF)Telephone delivery

12  Office conversations (with audio and  answers)

This is a business English ESL exercise to help students practice common office conversations. First, brainstorm ideas for the conversations. Then students can listen to to the audio and complete the speech bubbles.

Office conversations  (PDF)Office conversations

13 Elementary business socializing (listening with answers)

This is an elementary business English ESL listening exercise exploring the language and vocabulary used to make short conversations in various business and social situations. Student listen and  complete the short conversations for each situation. Then they can compare answers.

Business socializing (PDF)

Elementary business socializing

 14 Business socializing and phoning (with  answers and audio)

       This is similar to the above but more general.  It helps students   become familiar with common office conversational exchanges. 

Business socializing and  telephoning (PDF)

Business socializing and phoning

 15 The gig economy: good or bad?

This is a great contemporary topic for university students. There is no more contemporary business English topic then the “gig economy”. It’s an excellent discussion/debate topic.

Gig economy (PDF)

 16 Company activities: What do they do?

The words create, produce, develop, design, invent, build, sell, provide and manufacture are often used interchangeably to describe company activities. This activity focuses on these and related words and the subtle differences between their usage.

What do companies do?(PDF)

 17  Problems and solutions: write a conversation

This is a more personalized and fun exercise in which students write a conversation talking about 2 problems in their lives.

Problems and solution conversation writing (PDF)

Related Resources

4 Working from Home exercises incl. parts of speech and vocabulary

Related Resources:

ESL Listening Activities Guide

8 Business English Vocabulary Exercises

10 Super Essential Academic Vocabulary Lessons

5 Kinds of Collocation and Phrasal Verb Exercises

10 Jobs and Careers Vocabulary  and Speaking exercises

4 Money and Finance Worksheets

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18 Talking about office problems

This is an elementary ESL speaking exercise for talking about problems in the office. First, students try to match the vocabulary at the bottom of the page to the pictures. They can then use that vocabulary to answer questions about the pictures.

Talking about office problems (PDF)

Related Resource:

4 Tantalizing Telephone Dialogue Exercises for Business English

5 Cracking Complaints and Annoyances Language and Speaking Exercises

19  Discussing business activities speaking lesson

    This is an ESL   speaking and writing lesson  for talking about common business activities and tasks.. First, students match the expressions to the pictures. Then, they can have short conversations discussing the business activities they like and dislike.

Discussing business activities (PDF)

20 Team building

his is a business English ESL exercise exploring the language and vocabulary of team building. First, students match the vocabulary to the pictures. When it is clear they understand the words, they can write questions  about team building. Finally, students can ask each other questions.

(download PDF)

21 Elements of common work conversations (with answers)

        This is an ESL exercise  for teaching common English  expressions in an office setting. Students match the words to the pictures and the sentences. 

Elements of common work conversations (PDF)

Related Resources:

10 Role Play Speaking Activities

11 Classroom Debate and Discussion Language Activities

5 First Day of Class Activities

3 Great Icebreakers to Start a Class

8 Invitation and Request Dialogues for Everyday Scenarios

22 Business woman: what is she saying ? (with answers)

This is a business English ESL exercise introducing some common expressions and sentences. Students need to interpret the meanings of the woman’s gestures and match the vocabulary to the pictures.

Business woman: what is she saying (PDF)

 23  Telephoning speaking skills

    This is a  telephoning language exercise  for English language learners to practice the English expressions and phrases used in everyday phone calls.

Telephoning speaking skills  (PDF)

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