With this B1-B2 Business English lesson on office speak, students develop practical professional vocabulary and workplace phrases such as get the ball rolling, fall through the cracks, move the needle, run something by someone, circle back to something, and many more. They also explore how professional language works in real workplace contexts – when to use it, when it becomes jargon, and what happens when you strip it out entirely.
lesson overview
This B1-B2 Business English lesson covers eleven essential phrases and collocations that professionals use daily in meetings, emails, and workplace conversations. By the end of the lesson, students will be able to recognize, understand, and confidently use expressions like move the needle, fall through the cracks, get the ball rolling, and run something by someone in realistic professional contexts. The lesson also includes a humorous clip from The Office (US) that sparks a genuine discussion about communication style at work – because even a business lesson should be fun. The lesson is available in both a printable format and an online presentation, designed for smooth navigation in presentation mode using only the spacebar.
Target Audience:
- Level: B1 – B2 (Intermediate to Upper-Intermediate)
- Best for: Adults
Content Breakdown:
- Warm-Up Discussion
- Match the Phrases to Their Meaning
- Mini Speaking Check-In
- Fill in the Gaps
- Mini Speaking Activity
- Watch the Clip – Kevin Malone from The Office (US) strips professional language to the bare minimum
- Discuss the Clip
- Speaking Challenges – ten discussion cards for personal storytelling using target language
- Wrap-Up Discussion
HOMEWORK (Extra Language Immersion):
Watch and Reflect:
Students watch a practical video introducing the FLIPS framework – a five-step approach to having difficult conversations at work. The follow-up questions across three parts guide students from comprehension of the framework, through connecting its ideas to the lesson vocabulary, to honest personal reflection on how they handle difficult conversations in their own professional lives.