Unsuck It looks like a fun website that translates business speak or management-ese into normal English. There’s also a Browse mode so you can see the phrases and words.
It seems like it could be a really good resource for ESL teachers or students. Introducing the culture of jargon and it’s overuse is one direction. You could discuss some of the terms here and try to get students to translate them or talk about similar phrases they don’t like in their own language. Or have students pick one they like and …Continue

Another work related lesson plan and one that kids love is Odd Jobs. In every country and culture every kid wants to grow up to be a fireman or a policeman or the President or maybe a businessman. But who wants to be a bus announcement reader? Or a circus cleaner? Who gets these jobs and what do these people really do every day?
This lesson plan gives students the chance to play the role of someone with a Truly Odd Job and imagine what they do every day, in the …Continue

Help students find a new career with an entertaining lesson plan that asks students to take a personality test and then finds out which job is suited to them. The test is loosely based on a Myers-Brigg test but adapted for ESL students and also made a little more fun. Make sure students know that this is just for fun and not serious, but it’s a great way for students to practice taking a test in English, thinking about their personality, and about what factors are important for them in …Continue

Some fun games from Games for the Brain. This site is a pretty good resource for webdesigners, blogs and of course English teachers because it has some pretty well-made little games, including word games. And they can be embedded in a website or blog. Thanks to Free Technology for Teachers for this link.
Some of my favorite games for English language learners after the jump:

And a few timed games, so I’ll link to them instead of embedding them:What Did I Search For: Based on search engine results, guess what word …Continue

Some Business English for you guys. One of my classes the other day had a really hard time understanding the difference between:

A budget
To budget
To budget for
To be on budget
So, I’ll briefly explain how we use these terms. It’s important because using them incorrectly can definitely lead to confusionA budget is a financial document that lays out how you plan to use your money OR how you did use your money. A budget can refer to reality or to a future plan. It contains budget items which are the individual things …Continue

Most students who want to learn business English are interested in understanding technical terms and phrases like force majeure, marginal cost and vertical integration. However when they get in the meeting room with English speaking businessmen, they hear a lot of strange terms like getting everyone on board or thinking out of the box or synergy
Some of these new terms, sometimes called office speak are useful, but a lot of them are pretty silly especially when used by bosses who think that using a new word makes them a better …Continue