Business English

Giving presentations

B2 · Professionals · 90 min

Teacher lesson plan

Giving presentations

Learners analyse a short presentation extract in which a customer service manager presents a chart of response times, and identify the signposting phrases that guide the audience. They practise signposting, trend language and handling questions in breakout rooms, then plan and deliver a 2-minute presentation on a real topic from their own work, receiving peer feedback against a checklist.

Aims

Main aim

To develop learners' ability to deliver a short, clearly signposted presentation, including describing a chart and handling questions, in the context of a work update on a video call.

Subsidiary

To clarify signposting language and trend vocabulary.
To provide fluency practice in a two-minute mini-presentation with peer feedback.

Lesson information

Level: B2
Learners: Professionals, 8 students
Duration: 90 minutes
Lesson type: Business English
Environment: Online
Skills: Speaking, Reading, Listening
Topic: Presenting a short work update with a chart
Language focus: Signposting language for presentations; describing trends
Methodology: Text-based, Business-focused (model → analysis → practice → performance)

Learning objectives

By the end of the lesson, students will be able to:

1
Identify signposting phrases in a model presentation and say what each one does for the audience.
2
Use phrases to introduce a talk, outline it, move on, refer to a visual and summarise.
3
Describe a simple trend in a chart using rise, fall, level off and peak with accurate prepositions.
4
Handle audience questions politely, including questions they cannot answer immediately.
5
Deliver a clearly signposted 2-minute presentation on a real work topic and give peer feedback using clear criteria.

Success criteria

Students can find the signposting phrases in Sofia's talk and say what each one does for the audience.
Students can describe one trend accurately with the right preposition (e.g. 'rose sharply from four to nine hours', 'fell by 12%').
Students can give a two-minute talk on a real work topic with an outline, at least four signposting phrases and a summary.
Students can answer a question they cannot answer immediately with a polite follow-up phrase (I'm afraid I don't have …, but I'll …).

Target language

Signposting — structuring the talk

Meaning: Short phrases that tell the audience where the speaker is in the talk: what it is about, what comes next, and when one part ends and another begins.
Form: Introducing: I'd like to talk to you about … / The purpose of this talk is to …
Outlining: I've divided my talk into three parts. First, … Then, … Finally, …
Moving on: That brings me to … / Let's move on to … / Turning now to …
Summarising: To sum up, … / So, to recap the main points, …
Pronunciation: Pause briefly after a signposting phrase (So, || let's move on to …). Stress the key content word: 'That brings me to my SECOND point.'
Use: Used much more in spoken presentations than in writing, especially online, where the audience cannot see body language well.
Examples: Today I'd like to give you a quick update on our response times.
That brings me to my second point: what caused the changes.
To sum up, response times are now lower than ever.

Referring to visuals

Meaning: Phrases that direct the audience's attention to a chart or slide and to the key information on it.
Form: If you look at this graph, you can see that …
As you can see from the chart, …
This slide shows … / I'd like to draw your attention to …
Pronunciation: Stress the key words and pause before the content: 'As you can SEE on this GRAPH, || …'.
Examples: If you look at this graph, you can see that response times rose sharply in spring.

Describing trends

Meaning: Words to describe how numbers change over time: going up (rise, increase), going down (fall, drop), staying the same (level off, remain stable), and reaching the highest point (peak).
Form: rise / fall + from X to Y (the start and end points)
rise / fall + by X (the size of the change)
peak at X / level off at X (the point reached)
rise + sharply / steadily / slightly (how fast or how much)
Pronunciation: rose /rəʊz/, fell /fel/; stress on SHARPly, STEADily, SLIGHTly.
Examples: Response times rose sharply from four to nine hours.
Costs fell by 12% in the second quarter.
Sales peaked at €2.4 million in July.

Handling questions

Meaning: Polite phrases to welcome a question, check you understand it, buy time, and promise to follow up when you do not know the answer.
Form: That's a good question.
So, if I understand you correctly, you're asking …
I'm afraid I don't have those figures with me, but I'll email them to you after the meeting.
Does that answer your question?
That's a good question. Let me think about that for a moment.
Let me check the exact figure and get back to you.
Pronunciation: Falling intonation on 'That's a good question.'; rising intonation on 'Does that answer your question?'
Examples: I'm afraid I don't have the exact figures with me, but I'll send them to you this afternoon.

Materials

Student lesson shared on screen or as a PDF in the chat
Line graph of response times (January–June): the teacher draws or projects it from the response-time table in the student lesson
Zoom (or similar) with breakout rooms and a shared whiteboard
Learners' own simple chart or one slide for their talk (optional)
Timer visible on screen for the 2-minute talks

Anticipated problems

use
Problem
Learners use unnatural, translated signposting (*Now I pass to the next point).
Solution
Point back to the phrase bank and ask: 'Which phrase from the table can you use here?' Learners tick three phrases to use in their talk.
meaning
Problem
Confusion between rise BY and rise TO (*Sales rose by €2.4 million, meaning they reached €2.4 million).
Solution
Draw the arrow on the whiteboard: from 4 → to 9 = by 5. Ask: 'What was the number at the end? How big was the change?'
task
Problem
Some learners say they have nothing interesting to present.
Solution
Offer the topic list in the student lesson (a project update, a new process, team results, a tool your team uses) and help them choose in the first minute of planning.
classroom management
Problem
Online, breakout rooms start slowly and talks go over time.
Solution
Put the running order and the 2-minute timer in the chat before opening rooms. One learner in each room is the timekeeper and holds up a hand at 1 min 45 sec.
task
Problem
Peer feedback is too general ('It was good').
Solution
Learners must use the feedback checklist and give one specific strength and one specific suggestion, quoting a phrase the speaker used.

Online setup

Before the lesson starts:

Send the student lesson as a PDF in the chat before the lesson starts, and have the response-time line graph slide ready to share (draw it from the 'Sofia's response-time data' table).
Turn on annotation so you can trace the trend line on the graph, and enable the shared whiteboard for the phrase table.
Create two breakout rooms of four in advance and allow screen sharing in the rooms, so speakers can show their own slide.
Prepare the running order for each room, the 2-minute timer and the trend poll, ready to paste or launch.
Check sound and cameras at the start: speakers present with their camera on and look at the camera, not at their notes.

Lesson procedure

90 / 90 min

Stage & aim	Time	Teacher	Students	Interaction	Mode
Lead-in To get learners talking about their own experience of presentations at work and to activate the topic.	5′	Ask the whole class: 'When did you last give a presentation at work? Who was the audience?' Then ask: 'Think of a bad presentation you watched. What made it difficult to follow?' Take answers from 3–4 learners, aloud or in the chat, and write key ideas on the whiteboard (e.g. no clear structure, too many slides, read from notes). Board: Shared whiteboard: 'A bad presentation = …' with learners' ideas.	Talk about their own experience of giving and watching presentations and say what makes a talk hard to follow. ↳ Before you start	T-S, Whole class	Main room
Context: model presentation To give learners a realistic model of a short, well-structured work presentation and check they understand the content.	8′	Show the line graph slide. Read the extract aloud at natural speed while learners follow in the student lesson (or play your own recording). Learners then answer the true/false questions alone and compare in breakout rooms of 2 for 2 minutes. Check answers on the main call, asking learners to correct the false sentences. Instructions: “Read and listen to Sofia's presentation. Then answer the five true or false questions on your own. After that, you will go to a breakout room to compare with a partner for two minutes, and then come back to the main room.” ICQs Do you answer the questions alone or with a partner first? (Alone first.) How long do you have in the breakout room? (Two minutes.)	Listen to and read the model presentation, answer five true/false questions and compare answers with a partner. ↳ Exercise 1: Understanding the presentation	S, Breakout rooms	Screen share
Language focus: signposting To help learners notice how signposting phrases guide the audience and to clarify their meaning and use.	12′	Ask: 'Why was Sofia's talk easy to follow?' Elicit that she tells the audience what is coming. In breakout rooms of 2 (4 min), learners underline the signposting phrases in the model and do the matching exercise. Back on the main call, check answers and build the phrase table on the whiteboard by function. Ask the CCQs. Model the pause after signposting phrases and drill 'That brings me to my second point' and 'To sum up' chorally, then individually. Instructions: “In your breakout room, underline every phrase that tells the audience what is coming next. Then do Exercise 2 together. You have four minutes, then the rooms close and we check in the main room.” CCQs “That brings me to my second point.” Is Sofia starting a new part of her talk or finishing the whole talk? → Starting a new part. “To sum up, response times are now lower than ever.” After 'to sum up', does the audience expect new information or a short version of what she said? → A short version of what she said. “I've divided my talk into three parts.” Why does she say this at the start — to help the audience or to fill time? → To help the audience know what to expect. “Please feel free to stop me if anything isn't clear.” Can the audience ask a question in the middle of the talk? → Yes. ICQs What do you underline — numbers or phrases that guide the audience? (Phrases that guide the audience.) Do you do Exercise 2 alone? (No — together, in your breakout room.) How many minutes do you have? (Four.) Board: Phrase table by function: Introducing \| Outlining \| Moving on \| Referring to visuals \| Summarising \| Handling questions, with 2–3 phrases each.	Underline signposting phrases in the model, match phrases to their functions in pairs, then repeat key phrases with natural pauses and stress. ↳ Exercise 2: What does the phrase do?	Breakout rooms, T-S	Breakout rooms
Language focus: describing trends To clarify the meaning of key trend words and the prepositions used with numbers.	8′	Show the graph again and trace the line with the annotation tool, eliciting a word for each part: 'rose sharply … peaked at … fell steadily … levelled off'. Learners say which arrow in the vocabulary box matches each part of the line. Draw 4 → 9 hours on the whiteboard and label from, to and by. Ask the CCQs. Highlight past forms rose/fell and drill 'rose sharply', 'fell steadily'. CCQs “Response times peaked at nine hours in March.” Was nine hours the highest point on the graph? → Yes. “In June it levelled off at around three hours.” In June, were response times going up, going down or staying about the same? → Staying about the same — they levelled off. “Costs fell by 12%.” Is 12% the final number or the size of the change? → The size of the change. “Prices rose slightly in the autumn.” Was it a big change or a small change? → A small change. ICQs What do you look at to choose the word? (The arrow and the line on the graph.) Board: Arrow from 4 to 9 hours: 'from 4 to 9 = rose BY 5 hours'; peak at / level off at.	Connect trend words to parts of the graph, answer quick questions about the numbers, copy the trend vocabulary and repeat the key expressions. ↳ Describing trends	T-S, S	Screen share
Controlled practice: signposting and trends To give accurate practice of signposting phrases and trend language in a presentation context.	12′	Learners complete Exercise 3 alone (5 min), then compare in breakout rooms of 2 and read the completed presentation aloud to each other, taking turns sentence by sentence (4 min). On the main call, check answers and correct pronunciation of rose, fell and levelled off. Instructions: “Complete the presentation in Exercise 3 with words from the box. Use each word once. Work alone first. Then, in your breakout room, compare answers and read the sentences aloud, taking turns. You have four minutes in the room.” ICQs Can you use a word twice? (No.) After you compare, what do you do? (Read the sentences aloud, taking turns.)	Complete the eight-sentence presentation in Exercise 3 with signposting and trend words, compare with a partner and read it aloud with natural pauses. ↳ Exercise 3: Complete the presentation	S, Breakout rooms	Breakout rooms
Controlled practice: handling questions To practise polite, professional responses to audience questions, including when you do not know the answer.	6′	Learners choose the best response in Exercise 4 alone (2 min). Check answers quickly. Then run a quick-fire round: read out difficult questions (e.g. 'What will the figures be next quarter?') and nominate learners to respond with a phrase from the 'Signposting phrases' table. Praise natural, confident answers. In the quick-fire round, make sure at least one learner uses a buy-time phrase for a difficult question. ICQs Do you choose one answer or more? (One.) Alone or with a partner? (Alone.)	Choose the most professional response to four audience questions, then respond to the teacher's questions on the spot. ↳ Exercise 4: Handling questions	S, T-S, Whole class	Main room
Task preparation: planning a mini-presentation To let learners plan a 2-minute presentation about their own work, using the signposting phrases and a simple trend or visual.	11′	Show the topic ideas and the five-line outline. Model a quick outline for your own teaching (e.g. 'Student numbers this year'). Learners choose a real topic from their own work and complete the outline with key words only, not full sentences. Ask learners to paste their outline into a private chat message when ready, read it and suggest signposting phrases; learners who need help message you in the chat, and you join them briefly in a breakout room. Remind them to include one trend or one visual. Learners tick three phrases in the 'Signposting phrases' table that they will definitely use. Instructions: “Choose a topic from your real work. Complete the outline with key words only — no full sentences. Your talk must be two minutes, use at least four phrases from the table and describe one trend or one slide. You have ten minutes.” ICQs Do you write full sentences or key words? (Key words.) How long is your talk? (Two minutes.) How many signposting phrases do you use? (At least four.)	Choose a real topic from their own job, plan a five-part outline in key words, choose at least four signposting phrases and prepare one trend to describe. ↳ Plan your mini-presentation	S	Main room
Freer practice: mini-presentations and peer feedback To give learners the chance to deliver a clearly signposted presentation on a real work topic, handle questions and give and receive peer feedback.	20′	Put two breakout rooms of 4 in the chat with a running order. In each room: speaker presents for 2 minutes (share screen if they have a slide), one listener asks a question, and the other two give feedback using the checklist (one strength + one suggestion). One learner is timekeeper. Move between rooms, listen to at least two talks per room and note good language and errors for feedback. Instructions: “In your breakout room, each person gives a two-minute talk. After each talk, one person asks a question and two people give feedback with the checklist: one thing that was good and one thing to improve. Follow the order in the chat. The rooms close after eighteen minutes, and you come back to the main room.” ICQs How long is each talk? (Two minutes.) After each talk, how many people give feedback? (Two.) What two things do you say in feedback? (One strength and one suggestion.) Do you come back to the main room after each talk? (No — after eighteen minutes, when the rooms close.)	Deliver a 2-minute presentation, answer one question from the audience, and give peers specific feedback using the checklist. ↳ Peer feedback checklist	Breakout rooms	Breakout rooms
Feedback and error correction To praise effective signposting and correct common errors from the presentations.	6′	Bring everyone back. Ask each room: 'Which phrase did someone use really well? How many talks had a clear outline and a summary?' Paste 4–5 anonymous sentences you heard into the chat or whiteboard — some correct, some with errors (e.g. Now I pass to my next point. Sales rose of 15%.). Learners type corrections in the chat. Review and praise good language. Then finish with the exit task in the chat: the one signposting phrase each learner will use in their next real presentation, and one trend sentence about their own work with from, to or by. Board: 4–5 sentences from the presentations, e.g. Now I pass to my next point. → Let's move on to … / Sales rose of 15%. → Sales rose by 15%.	Share examples of effective signposting, correct sentences from the presentations in the chat and type their exit sentences.	T-S, Whole class	Chat
Homework To transfer the language to a real upcoming work situation.	2′	Set the homework and explain that learners will share one recording or script in the next lesson.	Note the homework task.	T-S	Main room

Support & challenge

Support

For learners who need more help

Ask weaker learners to tick three phrases in the 'Signposting phrases' table that they will definitely use, and to keep the table open while they present.
In planning, give weaker learners a topic from the 'Topic ideas' list and show your own completed five-line outline as a model.
Put weaker learners last in the running order of their breakout room, so they hear three talks before they speak.

Challenge

For stronger learners and fast finishers

Fast finishers in Exercise 3 write two sentences describing a trend in their own department's figures.
In a stronger room, the listener asks a difficult question that the speaker cannot answer, so the speaker must use a follow-up phrase.
Stronger learners present without notes and refer to a second visual or trend.

Checking learning

Peer checklists: when the rooms close, each room reports how many talks had a clear outline and a summary.
In s4, after the CCQs — concept check in a poll: 'Sales rose by €2 million.' Is €2 million the final number or the size of the change? (The size of the change.)
Exit task in the chat: each learner types the signposting phrase they will use in their next real presentation and one trend sentence about their own work with from, to or by.

Homework

Improve your mini-presentation using your peers' feedback and record it (2–3 minutes), or write the full script (250 words).

Use at least six signposting phrases from three different categories and describe one trend with an accurate preposition (from, to, by or at). Highlight the phrases in your script or list them under your recording.

Teacher notes

If a learner cannot share their screen, they can describe their chart in words; this is good practice in referring to visuals.
If one breakout room finishes early, its learners give each talk a second time, using one suggestion from their feedback.
Face-to-face adaptation: run the mini-presentations in two groups of four at opposite ends of the room.

Student lesson

Giving presentations

Signposting, describing trends and handling questions

How do you feel when you give a presentation?

Before you start

Discuss these questions with the class. You can also write your answers in the chat.

When did you last give a presentation at work? Who was in the audience?
Think of a presentation that was hard to follow. What went wrong?
Do you find online presentations easier or harder than face-to-face ones? Why?

Model presentation: customer response times

Good morning, everyone, and thanks for joining. For those who don't know me, I'm Sofia Marín, and I manage the customer service team in Valencia. Today I'd like to give you a quick update on our response times over the last six months. I've divided my talk into three parts. First, I'll show you where we are now. Then I'll look at what caused the changes, and finally I'll suggest two next steps. Please feel free to stop me if anything isn't clear.

So, let's start with the numbers. If you look at this graph, you can see that our average response time rose sharply from four hours in January to nine hours in March. That was the peak, and it was a difficult time for our customers and for the team. Since April, however, the figure has fallen steadily, and in June it levelled off at around three hours. In other words, we are now back to a much more comfortable level than in the spring.

That brings me to my second point: what caused the changes. The rise was mainly because of the launch of our new booking system. Customers had problems with it, so they called us more often. To help, we ran extra training for the team and added a new FAQ page, and that is why the figures have fallen since April. Finally, I'd like to suggest two next steps. First, we should add two more staff on Monday mornings. Second, we should keep updating the FAQ page. To sum up, response times are now lower than ever, but we need more staff on Mondays. Thank you. I'd be happy to take any questions.

Sofia's response-time data

Month	Average response time
January	4 hours
February	6.5 hours
March	9 hours (peak)
April	6 hours
May	3 hours
June	3 hours (levels off)

Exercise 1: Understanding the presentation

Read Sofia's presentation. Are the sentences true or false?

1
Sofia is talking to people who all know her well.TF
2
Her talk has three parts.TF
3
Response times were highest in March.TF
4
The new booking system made response times shorter at first.TF
5
Sofia asks the audience to wait until the end to ask questions.TF

Signposting phrases

What you want to do	Useful phrases
Introduce the topic	Today I'd like to talk to you about … / The purpose of this talk is to …
Outline the talk	I've divided my talk into three parts. First, … Then, … Finally, …
Move on	That brings me to … / Let's move on to … / Turning now to …
Refer to a visual	If you look at this graph, … / As you can see from the chart, … / This slide shows …
Summarise	To sum up, … / So, to recap the main points, …
Handle questions	That's a good question. / Let me think about that for a moment. / Let me check the exact figure and get back to you. / I'm afraid I don't have those figures with me, but I'll email them to you.

Pause for a moment after a signposting phrase. It gives your audience time to follow you: So, … let's move on to the costs.

Exercise 2: What does the phrase do?

Underline the phrases in Sofia's presentation that tell the audience what is coming next. Then match each new example below to what it does for the audience.

1The purpose of this talk is to explain our new budget.
2First, I'll look at the results. Then I'll discuss the reasons.
3Turning now to the second quarter, …
4As you can see from this chart, …
5So, to recap the main points, …
6So, if I understand you correctly, you're asking about costs.
7I'm afraid I don't have the exact figures, but I'll send them to you.

aoutlines the talk
bmoves on to a new point
crefers to a visual
dsummarises the talk
echecks a question
fpromises to follow up
gintroduces the topic

Describing trends

rise / increase (↗) — rose / increased

go up

Sales rose from €1.8 million to €2.1 million.

fall / drop (↘) — fell / dropped

go down

Costs fell by 12% in the second quarter.

peak at (↗↘) — peaked

reach the highest point

Response times peaked at nine hours in March.

level off (→) — levelled off

stop rising or falling and stay about the same

In June, the number levelled off at three hours.

remain stable (→) — remained

stay the same for a period

Staff numbers remained stable all year.

sharply / dramatically

quickly and by a large amount

Orders increased sharply after the advertising campaign.

steadily

gradually and regularly

Customer complaints have fallen steadily since April.

slightly

by a small amount

Prices rose slightly in the autumn.

Watch the small words: from 4 to 9 hours (start and end), by 5 hours (the size of the change), peaked at 9 hours (the point reached).

Exercise 3: Complete the presentation

Complete the presentation with the words from the box. Use each word once.

purposedividedlooksharplypeakedbybringssum

1
Good afternoon, everyone. The of this talk is to update you on our online orders.
2
I've my talk into two parts: the figures, and our plans for next year.
3
If you at this chart, you can see the results for the last twelve months.
4
Online orders increased in November, from 3,000 to 7,500.
5
They at 8,200 in December, just before the holidays.
6
In January, orders fell 40%, which is normal for that time of year.
7
That me to my second point: our plans for next year.
8
To up, it was our best year so far, and we expect further growth.

Exercise 4: Handling questions

Choose the most professional response in each situation.

1
"What were the figures for the Madrid office?" (You don't have them.)a) I don't know.b) I'm afraid I don't have those figures with me, but I'll email them to you this afternoon.c) That's not my job, sorry.
2
"Sorry, could you go back to the last slide?"a) Of course. So, this slide shows our costs by region.b) I already showed that.c) Wait until the end, please.
3
"So are you saying we need more staff, or better software?" (The question is not clear to you.)a) What? Say it again.b) Both, I think. Next slide.c) So, if I understand you correctly, you're asking what our main priority is?
4
You have just answered a long question.a) Does that answer your question?b) OK, finished.c) Do you understand me?

Your mini-presentation

What makes a presentation easy to follow?

Topic ideas

An update on a project you are working on
Your team's results this quarter or this year
A new process, tool or system your team uses
A problem at work and how your team solved it

Plan your mini-presentation

Plan a two-minute talk about your own work. Write key words only for: 1 Introduction and purpose, 2 Outline, 3 Main point with one trend or slide, 4 Second point, 5 Summary and invitation to ask questions. Choose at least four phrases from the table. Tick three phrases in the 'Signposting phrases' table that you will use.

Peer feedback checklist

In your breakout room, listen to your colleague's talk. Then give one strength and one suggestion, using these questions. Quote one phrase the speaker used.

Was the purpose of the talk clear from the start?
Did the speaker outline the talk and signal each new part?
Did they describe the trend or slide clearly, with accurate numbers?
Did they summarise at the end and invite questions?
Did they answer the question politely and clearly?
Did they speak to the camera and not read their notes?

Giving presentations

Aims

Lesson information

Learning objectives

Success criteria

Target language

Materials

Anticipated problems

Online setup

Lesson procedure

Support & challenge

Checking learning

Homework

Teacher notes

Before you start

Model presentation: customer response times

Exercise 1: Understanding the presentation

Exercise 2: What does the phrase do?

Exercise 3: Complete the presentation

Exercise 4: Handling questions

Your mini-presentation

Plan your mini-presentation

Peer feedback checklist

Plan your own lesson in minutes