Business English- Meeting people criteria board game

Business English- Meeting people criteria board game

Instructions
Put one counter each on the Start square (e.g. an eraser for one person and a coin for the
other person). Roleplay the situation in the square with your partner. As you are speaking,
they will tick the criteria below that your speaking matches. After you finish, you can move
one square for each thing that they ticked, e.g. two squares if they only ticked “Starting
smoothly” and “Ending smoothly”. However, you must land on the last square and do
that before finishing the game.

Are there any cultural differences in the situations described in the board game?

When you finish the game, brainstorm useful English phrases for each situation, especially
to start and end the communication.

What places would you go on a company tour, and what would you say about what
happens in each place?

---------------------------------------------------------

Meeting people criteria board game

Instructions
Put one counter each on the Start square (e.g. an eraser for one person and a coin for the
other person). Roleplay the situation in the square with your partner. As you are speaking,
they will tick the criteria below that your speaking matches. After you finish, you can move
one square for each thing that they ticked, e.g. two squares if they only ticked “Starting
smoothly” and “Ending smoothly”. However, you must land on the last square and do
that before finishing the game.

Are there any cultural differences in the situations described in the board game?

When you finish the game, brainstorm useful English phrases for each situation, especially
to start and end the communication.

What places would you go on a company tour, and what would you say about what
happens in each place?

---------------------------------------------------------

Written by Alex Case for UsingEnglish.com © 2015

Business English- Meeting people criteria board game

4. Start a conversa-

tion with someone

who you met at the

same conference or

trade fair last year.

3. You hear

somebody on the

train from the airport

speaking the

language of a

country you’re

visiting next week

for the 1

st

time. Start

a conversation and

ask about doing

business there.

2. Start a conversa-

tion with someone

who you don’t know

on the shuttle bus

from the airport

1. START

Start a conversation

with someone you

don’t know at a con-
ference or trade fair.

5. Start a conversa-

tion with someone

you know who is in

the same lift from

the 42

nd

floor to the

ground floor.

6. Start a conversa-

tion with a colleague

from a different de-

partment who is in

the company cafete-
ria at the same time.

7. Go to a col-

league’s office to ar-

range a meeting

with them for next

week.

8. Phone someone
to meet them while
you are in their city

12. STOP HERE

Go to a room where

some visitors have

just finished listen-

ing to a presentation

on your company

and take them on a

tour of your com-

pany.

11. Go to a room

where some visitors

are waiting and give

them a short pre-

sentation on your

company, division,

department, section

and/ or team.

10. Email someone

who you met for the

first time last week
to arrange a meet-

ing in the next two

weeks.

9. Phone someone

who you know well

to invite them to din-

ner in a Japanese

restaurant at the

end of the month.

Criteria to tick
Use one column below for each go, erasing if you run out of space.
Starting in the right way/
Starting smoothly
Being polite/ Using correct
formal language and/ or being
friendly/ Using correct informal
language
Avoiding silence (thinking
aloud, not pausing, etc) and not
speaking your own language
Using language that you have
studied during this course
Ending in the right way/ Ending
smoothly

Written by Alex Case for UsingEnglish.com © 2015