How to start a business. A real business!

In this Business C2 lesson, the student will learn and practice using vocabulary related to money and entrepreneurship.

We like some businesses and their products more than others. We are sometimes willing to pay a bit more (or much more) just to get our favorite brand of socks, or we don’t mind travelling across the town and queuing for half an hour to get the sort of ice cream we love. When starting our own business, we would like people to love our product and return to our shop every time they need a new item. Enjoy learning new business vocabulary along with some priceless knowledge about how to start a business. Not just any business! But a really good one that will blow people’s minds!

Warm-up discussion

The lesson starts with a quick discussion related to running and owning a business. The student ticks the features of a good business from the list.

Vocabulary: Entrepreneur

First, the student learns what an entrepreneur is. Then, they sort out the adjectives commonly used to describe entrepreneurs. Also, they circle occupations that are best considered examples of entrepreneurship.

Furthermore, the student gets familiar with the words based on the word entrepreneur (entrepreneurial, entrepreneurship, intrapreneur, and enterprise).

The student also learns synonyms of the word pioneer (e.g. trailblazer, vanguard, founder, etc.).

Video: How to start a business

The student watches a short video on how to start a business and learns some interesting and useful information. Then, they decide whether the statements based on the video are true or false. New vocabulary is extracted from the video and definitions are provided, which the student needs to complete (remuneration, payslip, payroll, and increment).

Business expressions and idioms

Here, the student is presented with some common expressions used in the business world (belly up, a smart cookie, a dogsbody, out of the loop). Moreover, they learn some useful informal business idioms, such as dead wood, empty suit, seagull manager, and stress puppy.

Video: How to create a company: Elon Musk’s 5 rules

After hearing Elon Musk’s five rules of starting a business, the student puts these rules in the correct order. Then, they sort out the words associated with these five rules.

Next, the student learns four new words sometimes used in the business context (casualization, crackdown, absenteeism, swingeing). They practice using these four words in sentences.

To sum up what they’ve learnt, the student fills in the gaps in a business mind map and then remembers expressions, idioms, rules, and ideas they discussed during the lesson.