This is a complete list of all the business English lessons published on Business English Pod from 2006 to present, starting with the most recent lessons.
Learn business English with over 600 business English lessons on everything from meetings, presentations, negotiations and interviews to business writing, grammar and vocabulary. Each lesson includes a comprehensive PDF transcript, complete with dialogues, teacher explanations, examples, and speaking practice sections. Look up key words and idioms in the glossary and practice the target language in the review section. Our mobile-friendly lesson modules combine audio and transcripts for an immersive learning experience, perfect for learning business English online on both desktop and mobile devices. Additionally, every lesson comes with practice quizzes to reinforce your listening, language, and vocabulary skills.
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The votes are in and the most popular lesson, as voted for by listeners, is BEP 126 – Problem Solving Meetings. This post contains the study notes PDF and links to the online English quizzes for BEP 126.
In this Business English Pod episode we’re going to look at making a project progress report during a meeting.
All managers need written progress reports from their staff, but it is often necessary to make a verbal progress report during a meeting. A verbal report can be thought of as a combination of a presentation and a question and answer session.
When making a progress report, you’ll need to start with the overall status of the project, and then go on to explain how much of the work has been completed, at what stage the work is now, what remains to be done and, of course, what problems might have arisen. Because the format is “live”, people may interrupt to ask questions or make comments and you should be sure of your facts when you go into the meeting.
We’ll be listening to Angela, who works in the Operations department of her company. Blaine & Co. They plan to move to a new head office and the renovation, or preparation, of their space is currently underway. Angela has visited the new office and spoken with the key people on-site. As the dialog starts, she is called upon to give a verbal report on the progress of the renovation.
Listening Questions
1) What did Angela do to prepare for this meeting?
2) Will Blaine & Co. be able to move as planned?
3) Where will Blaine & Co. get money to cover the extra costs?
Business English Pod e-Books enable you to learn on the go with MP3 audio lessons and the detailed PDF study guides, including a full transcript of each lesson. The revised editions include over 100 online Flash quizzes, exercises and flashcards designed to help you practice and use all the language covered in the course.
Click the launch button below to start the online quizzes for Unit 210 – Managing the Discussion:
Here are the links to the different lessons included in your free trial. Click on a lesson link to open the lesson page and access the PDF transcript, quizzes, lesson module and phrasecast for the lesson.
In this lesson from the new edition of our English for Meetings e-Book and app, we look at how to structure and participate in a successful problem solving meeting.
One of the most common reasons for holding a meeting is to solve a problem. But, while we might have the right people at the meeting, the process is often flawed because one question hasn’t clearly been asked and answered: “What is the problem?” So, in this lesson we’re going to focus on how to define the problem through discussion and then restate the problem as a challenge.
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We have over 600 MP3 and video Business English lessons covering essential Business English for meetings, presentations, telephoning, negotiations, travel, socializing and lots more. You can make real progress with your language skills using our lessons and the PDF study notes and online activities available to members.
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About Business English Pod
Since 2006, we have been a leading provider of mobile-friendly learning resources for Business English with over 100 million lessons downloaded. Teachers, schools, companies, and individual learners around the world rely on BEP to improve their Business English.
Each Business English Pod lesson starts off with a realistic dialog. Next, we explain what was said in the dialog step by step and uncover the language and techniques used by native speakers. At the end of every lesson you’ll have the chance to practice the language and techniques yourself. We’ve got lots of great topics, lots of different accents, and lots of real-life business situations to help keep you motivated and learning every day.
Our Business English lessons cover a wide range of useful topics, situations and skills, including: presentations, telephoning, negotiating, socializing, travel, meetings, interviews, conversation, and more. Our goal is to teach natural and effective language. We want our learners to be able to face different business and work situations with confidence in their English abilities.
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If you choose to become a premium member, you will get access to PDF study notes, including a full transcript, vocabulary and language review exercises for each lesson. Online quizzes and lesson modules are also available to premium members for extra practice.
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This second part of a two-part Business English Podcast series on running and participating in a problem-solving meeting.
In the first part of this meeting (see BEP 126), the team spent time answering the question: “What is the problem?” In today’s episode, we’re going to focus on how to brainstorm solutions to a problem through discussion, how to evaluate and eliminate suggestions and then agree a plan of action.
Kathryn, the head of Human Resources at a medium-sized company, is meeting with department heads to discuss a problem they are having with low staff morale. The team has identified the root cause of the problem as the separation of staff across 3 different office locations.
Kathryn wants everyone to critique the ideas that the group has brought forward, in order to eliminate impractical suggestions. We’ll see how she confirms the best solution and how her team suggests points for action. As the dialog starts, Kathryn closes the brainstorming session and sums up the input that has been received.
Listening Questions
1) How many ideas does the group come up with for solving the staff morale problem?
2) Which idea does the group agree is the best one to try?
3) Name one of the action points suggested near the end of the meeting.
One of the most common reasons for holding a meeting is to solve a problem. A meeting can be a great place to do this, because it is possible for a variety of people with different experiences and perspectives to work together to identify the problem and come up with possible solutions.
But, while we might have the right people at the meeting, the process is often flawed because one question hasn’t clearly been asked and answered: “What is the problem?” So, in today’s episode we’re going to focus on how to define the problem through discussion and then restate the problem as a challenge. In the second part of this series, we’ll look at how to evaluate and eliminate suggestions and then agree on a plan of action.
We’ll be listening to Kathryn, the head of Human Resources at a medium-sized company, who is meeting with department heads to discuss a problem they’re having with low staff morale across all departments of the company. Morale is a word used to describe a general feeling or mood.
Kathryn wants everyone to consider possible hidden reasons for low morale at the company. We’ll see how she helps participants focus on breaking down the morale problem. As the dialog starts, Kathryn calls everyone to attention and begins the meeting.
Listening Questions:
1) What is the surface problem that Kathryn and the others can see?
2) What does the group decide is the true cause of this problem?
3) What is the challenge that the group faces at the end of the dialog?
In this Business English Podcast, we’ll be looking at the language used to make appointments on the telephone.
We live in the era of remote communication: teleconferencing, videoconferencing, and online meetings. More and more group efforts are getting done from a distance. In theory, at least, it’s possible to work closely with anyone in the world without leaving our desks. Nevertheless, there’s something about a face-to-face meeting that no virtual one can replace. We still need to shake people’s hands, read their body language, and make personal connections. That’s why – even today – one of the commonest uses for the telephone is to make appointments. In this episode, we’ll take a close look at making appointments on the phone.
Gordon Knight works for Bridgewater, a U.S. pension fund. (Pension funds are institutions that invest retirement savings.) At a recent conference, Gordon met Penny Yip, a senior financial analyst for the Asia Markets office of Solomon-Clyde. Solomon is a boutique – or small and specialized – global investment company that deals only with institutional customers – very large clients, like Bridgewater. Now, Gordon plans to be in Malaysia, and he phones Penny to set up an appointment to discuss possibilities for investment.
Listening Questions:
1. Where and when does Gordon say he met Penny?
2. When does Gordon suggest meeting with Penny?
3. Why does he want to meet with Penny?
4. What time do they finally agree on?
This is a preview of our revised e-Book for business meetings: 
