This is a ready-made, video-based lesson you can use with your upper-intermediate / advanced adult students. Copy and paste whatever you want and use it to your heart’s content.
A How easy would it be to persuade your boss to…? Rank each item 0 (hard) to 5 (easy) and compare your answers in groups. Who has the least flexible boss?
[ ] schedule fewer meetings
[ ] set more realistic deadlines
[ ] allow you to work from home
[ ] implement a new idea you had
[ ] allow you to go on sabbatical for a year
[ ] (you choose!)
B Choose an item you ranked 0, 1 or 2. Discuss questions 1-4 with a partner. Make short notes.
1 What is the first argument you would you use to persuade your boss?
2 After the first “no”, what would you say next?
3 What would you be willing to offer in return?
4 What would you do if the negotiations broke down?
C Watch three short excerpts from House of Cards. Write 1-5 next to each photo. There are two extra items. Use video 1 (scroll down).
1 military moves 2 initial salary 3 pay rise 4 controversial bill 5 foreign trade
D Watch video 1 again. Mark 1-5 T (true) or F (false). Which negotiation(s) had a clear outcome? Who won? Who lost?
Video 1
1 The woman is making an official offer. ___
2 She seems surprised the man is so focused on money. ___
Video 2
3 The man with the Russian accent wants to reduce the number of missiles. ___
Video 3
4 Frank Underwood (Kevin Spacey) is opposed to the emergency bill. ___
5 They need to raise money to rebuild a city that was torn apart by a natural disaster. ___
E Check using video 2.
F Complete 1-6 using your intuition. We’ve given you the first letters. Then watch video 3 to check.
1 What are you t________ in terms of salary?
(How much do you intend to pay?)
2 That’s way below what I’m w________.
(I deserve to earn more than that.)
3 That’s way beyond our m________.
(We can’t afford that!)
4 Then we have a d________! (We’ve reached an agreement.)
5 We were always able to w________ out our differences.
(We were always able to reach an agreement.)
6 Gentlemen, is there no r________ for a compromise?
(Can’t we reach an agreement?)
G Refer back to exercise B. Look at your notes again. In pairs, role play a boss-employee conversation. Use at least 2 blue expressions from exercise F.
Video 1:
Video 2:
Video 3:
Answers:
C: 2, 1, 4
D: 1.F, 2.T, 3.F (eliminate), 4.T, 5.F (it hasn’t happened yet)
E. 1. thinking, 2. worth, 3. means, 4. deal, 5. work, 6. room
Thanks for sharing your brilliant lesson. Great work!
My pleasure, Cristina. Glad you found it useful.
Brilliant lesson. Congrats!!!!!
Thank you, Jurandyr.
Simply WOW!
Luiz, I love this! It is such an interesting lesson! I’m using it tonight, I’ll let you know how it went : )
Please let me know how it goes, Gabi. These lessons are so risky to post. One, there’s not an editor to look at them and say “I don’t think this is gonna work.” Two, they’re not piloted. But I still think they’re worth the risk. There are a lot of ready-to-use video lessons on the web, but, imho, few of them are actually good. You know, good in the sense of making sure students leave the lesson better than they were when they started.
Thanks! I’m going to ‘trial’ it in a class of intermational students and I’ll let you know.
Thank you so much for dedicating your time to help others saving theirs!
That’s priceless!!
That’s the spirit, Doris. Thanks for stopping by!
Very good lesson !!! It worked out fine. Chunks of lgg in ex. F ewre great ! Tks for sharing, Luiz.
I’m glad it worked out fine, Célia. Thank you!
Um beijo
I learned about your blog some weeks ago. You are doing an amazing job. I have used a couple of your activities and they really enhanced my lessons. Thanks a lot and keep it up!
Thank you!
Luiz,
I just started teaching English speaking classes at a college in China and I’ve found your lessons to be super helpful- the kids really seem to love the videos and the discussions. Thanks for all the work and effort you put into these lessons.
Could I ask for a favor? I was looking through some of your older lessons for more ideas and videos, but it seems some of the videos were hosted on sites that aren’t available anymore…. any chance you could rehost some of them on Vimeo?
Thanks a bunch!
Mike
Hi Mike,
I reuploaded all the videos I’d kept on my Hard Drive. The others are gone for good, I’m afraid.
Sorry 🙁
Excellent activity, as usual ! My students loved it. Thank you, Luiz Otávio!
Glad to hear that, Mercedes. What level?
Hi Luiz, I’ve just discovered you. Where have have you been all my life? I love your style. I’m teaching Business English to Upper-Intermediate Myanmar students; they are just going to love this lesson. Explaining ‘pissing’ contest is going to be fun, they’ve lived such sheltered lives. Thank you ever so much for sharing.
Its really interesting how one can take certain things like knowledge for granted. That music video made me realise words that grew up knowing how to pronounce or read could be a challenge to others. And thanks for the 70 useful sentences for academic writing.
From SueCha
This is great Luiz! I’m going to use it tomorrow with my business English students! Thanks a lot! You know… Sharing is caring!
Thank YOU for stopping by!