Choose a problem from the left-hand column or using the vocabulary at the bottom, ask for a suggestion, listen to the suggestion, respond, discuss for longer if you like, then take turns doing the same.
| I’m going to be attending a board meeting for the first time. I don’t know how to use PowerPoint. My boss is always rambling. I think I have too many points/ items on the agenda but don’t know what to drop. My colleagues won’t stick to the agenda. I can’t take notes and contribute to the meeting at the same time. I have to write up the minutes of the meeting in English for the first time. The small talk at the beginning of the meeting takes up almost fifteen minutes. We never reach a consensus. Some people don’t take part in the meeting. The most important person can’t attend. If I ask for a show of hands, most people don’t vote for either option. Most of the meetings I go to are just to rubber stamping decisions made prior to the meeting. It’s a waste of time and really demotivating! I can’t bear haggling over prices. I can’t focus if I don’t have a fag break/ coffee break/ toilet break/ comfort break every hour. AGM/ shareholder’s meeting deadlock (too) direct/ indirect indecisive interrupt/ interruption kick off/ get the ball rolling longwinded (sitting) on the fence online meeting overrun quorum split vote sticking point venue verbal agreement | … is best avoided. … would (probably/ certainly) help. …is generally a good idea/ the right thing to do. …is not a good time to …is to be avoided. …supposed to… A good suggestion is to… Avoid… Be prepared for/ to… Be sure to… Don’t be surprised if Don’t expect to… Don’t forget to… In general,… It is best to It is common/ normal to… It is usually better to… It isn’t considered positive to… It isn’t recommended to… Make sure you… Most people would advise… One recommendation is to… Remember to… The most important thing is to… The normal system is… The standard way of…is to… Under no circumstances should you… Whenever possible, Without exception, you should… You can expect… You may (also) want to… You should make sure that… You’d better…. |
When your teacher stops you, share one good suggestion and see if the class agrees. Then brainstorm language for responding positively and negatively.
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Related pages
Meetings and negotiations page
Advice, recommendations and suggestions page
Over 300 pages of meetings photocopiables here.
Your website is indeed TEFLastic!! Thank you so much for sharing all these ideas :-)