Business English

16. Retirement
Even though retirement is the end of the road for business and a long way down the road for some students, it’s a good topic to discuss since it affects everybody eventually. Great questions could be:

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  What is the retirement age in your country?
  

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  What do people in your country usually do once they are retired?
  

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  Where do retired people usually live in your country?
  

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  What are the advantages/disadvantages to retirement?
  

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  What do you think you will do when you retire?
  

17. Work Experience
Everybody talks about his or her work experience and it helps them with who they are in their career today. Some great questions are:

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  What work experience do you have?
  

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  How did you like your previous work?
  

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  What can you gain from work experience?
  

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  What have you learned from your work experience?
  

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  What have you learned about yourself?
  

18. Overtime
Overtime is as enjoyable as it is avoidable. Unfortunately, it’s inevitable but most students will have a thing or two to chime in with about overtime. Good questions could be:

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  How much overtime do you usually work?
  

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  How do you feel about working overtime?
  

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  What is the overtime policy like in your company?
  

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  Describe the worst overtime experience you have ever had.
  

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  What is a solution to reducing overtime?
  

19. Business Trips
Business trips, whether they be domestic or international, are more and more common these days and are a good topic to discuss. After all, most likely your students that go on business trips need to speak English! You could ask:

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  Do you go on business trips at work? Where?
  

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  What are the advantages/disadvantages of business trips?
  

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  What advice do you have for somebody traveling for business?
  

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  Where would you like to go on a business trip? Why?
  

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  What do you think is the future of business trips?
  

20. Competition
If your students want to speak business English well, then they’ll need to talk about competition. The competition is everywhere and is a great topic to really scope out how your students feel about business in general. Great questions could be:

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  Who exactly is your company’s competition?
  

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  What advantages/disadvantages does your competition have?
  

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  How can your company overcome the competition?
  

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  How competitive is your industry?