Meetings and negotiations needs analysis and introduction
Ask your partner questions to find out their experience and needs in the area of English meetings and negotiations, and write brief notes in the boxes below
| You– Name, job, education, etc. |
| You and meetings in English- Who/ Where/ When/ What about/ Your role |
| Past |
| Present |
| Future |
| Studies (of these skills, of Business English, and/ or of General English) |
| Past |
| Present |
| Future |
| Knowledge of meetings and negotiations in English |
| Strengths and weaknesses in English (English meetings and more generally) |
| Best way of learning these skills (in your opinion) |
Discuss the last question above as a class.
On your own, put the things that you could cover in class in order of priority or write a number next to them.
| Classroom topic/ activity | Importance |
| Cultural differences between meetings and negotiations in your country and in English-speaking countries such as Britain and America | |
| Cultural differences between meetings and negotiations in your country and in other non-English-speaking countries | |
| Error correction | |
| Language for scheduling meetings | |
| How to write minutes | |
| How to write an agenda | |
| How to chair a meeting | |
| Customer-supplier negotiations | |
| Trade negotiations | |
| Interrupting and turn-taking | |
| Starting and ending meetings | |
| Small talk at the beginning and end of meetings | |
| Negotiating with people within your company | |
| Idiomatic language used in meetings |
Try to agree on a top ten with your partner and then with the rest of the class
Write phrases like those you used in the previous discussion and could use in business meetings in the right boxes below.
| Start the discussion/ negotiation |
| Move the discussion on |
| Insist |
| Soften your position/ Compromise |
| Ask other people to contribute |
| Bring the discussion to a close |
Compare as a class.
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Related pages
Meetings and negotiations page
Over 300 pages of meetings photocopiables here.
