Business Greetings and Introductions

Upper-intermediate (B2) 30 minutes
Business networking worksheet preview showing vocabulary, grammar and reading exercises, error correction, ordering, speaking role-play activities for upper-intermediate B2 level students

Business Networking Worksheet - Vocabulary, Grammar and Reading Exercises: Error Correction - Speaking Activity: Role-Play - Pair Work

This comprehensive business networking worksheet helps students practice phrases to greet and introduce themselves and others in professional settings. First...

Business Networking Worksheet - Vocabulary, Grammar and Reading Exercises: Error Correction, Ordering - Speaking Activity: Role-Play, Freer Practice - Pair Work This comprehensive business networking worksheet helps students practice phrases to greet and introduce themselves and others in professional settings. First, students complete phrasal verbs in networking event extracts with verbs from a box in their correct forms. Students then find mistakes in business greetings and introductions and correct them. Next, students put sentences in the correct order to form a business networking dialogue. After that, in pairs, students write a business networking conversation where two people are meeting for the first time and want to learn about each other's companies and roles. Finally, pairs role-play their networking dialogues to the class.

Business Networking Board Game

Upper-intermediate (B2) 25 minutes
Business networking board game preview featuring vocabulary and speaking activities, gap-fill exercises, impromptu speech, and freer practice for upper-intermediate B2 level students

Business Networking Board Game - Vocabulary and Speaking: Gap-fill, Impromptu Speech, Freer Practice - Group Work

In this engaging business networking board game, students practice networking vocabulary and talking in response to networking discussion...

Business Networking Board Game - Vocabulary and Speaking: Gap-fill, Impromptu Speech, Freer Practice - Group Work In this engaging business networking board game, students practice networking vocabulary and talking in response to networking discussion prompts. In groups, players take turns rolling the dice and moving their counter along the board. When a player lands on a square, another student picks up a card and reads out the sentence using the word 'blank' for the business networking word or phrase in bold, e.g. 'At networking events, it's important to BLANK by showing interest in the other person.' The player listens to the sentence, chooses a business networking word or phrase from the game board, and says it aloud to complete the sentence, e.g. engage. If the player says the correct word or phrase shown on the card, they stay on the square. If not, they move their counter back two squares. If a player lands on a 'Talk about...' square, they talk for 30 seconds in response to the networking discussion prompt to remain on the square. The first player to reach the finish wins the game.

Connect and Converse

Upper-intermediate (B2) 30 minutes
Business networking activity preview featuring vocabulary and speaking activities, gap-fill exercises, asking and answering questions, and freer practice for upper-intermediate B2 level students

Business Networking Activity - Vocabulary and Speaking: Gap-fill, Asking and Answering Questions, Controlled and Freer Practice - Group and Pair Work

In this insightful networking activity, students complete, ask and answer conversation questions containing networking words and phrases. First, in two groups...

Business Networking Activity - Vocabulary and Speaking: Gap-fill, Asking and Answering Questions, Controlled and Freer Practice - Group and Pair Work In this insightful networking activity, students complete, ask and answer conversation questions containing networking words and phrases. First, in two groups, students complete conversation questions with networking words or phrases from a box. Next, students pair up with someone from the other group. Students then take turns asking the conversation questions to their partner, who responds accordingly. For the first question in each set, students include the corresponding networking word or phrase in their response. Afterwards, students share what they learned about their partner with the class.

Networking Bingo

Upper-intermediate (B2) 25 minutes
Business networking bingo preview featuring matching and group work for upper-intermediate B2 level professional networking skills

Business Networking Game - Vocabulary: Bingo, Matching - Group Work

In this free networking vocabulary game, students play bingo by listening to definitions of networking words and phrases and marking the matching terms on their cards. In groups, the bingo caller reads a definition at random from the caller's sheet,...

Business Networking Game - Vocabulary: Bingo, Matching - Group Work In this free networking vocabulary game, students play bingo by listening to definitions of networking words and phrases and marking the matching terms on their cards. In groups, the bingo caller reads a definition at random from the caller's sheet, e.g. 'Building professional relationships for mutual benefit.' The players listen and look at the networking words and phrases written on their bingo cards to see if they have one that matches the definition, e.g. making connections. If they do, they cross it off. The game continues until a player has crossed off four words or phrases in a row. When this happens, the player shouts 'Bingo!' and then makes a realistic networking sentence with each crossed-off word or phrase to verify their win. If the player makes a mistake in any of the four sentences, they are allowed one chance to fix it. If they correct it, the win counts. If not, the bingo is void, and the game continues. If the sentences are correct and the words or phrases match the definitions, the player wins the round. Players then continue to see who can cross off all 16 networking terms first without making sentences. Groups play several rounds, with students taking turns being the bingo caller and players using a different bingo card each time.

Networking Role-Play

Upper-intermediate (B2) 30 minutes
Business networking role-play preview featuring speaking activities, role-play, and communicative practice for upper-intermediate B2 level professional networking skills

Business Networking Role-Play - Speaking Activity: Role-Play, Communicative Practice - Group Work

In this useful business networking role-play, students take on the roles of professionals attending a networking event and practice introducing themselves and steering conversations toward a...

Business Networking Role-Play - Speaking Activity: Role-Play, Communicative Practice - Group Work In this useful business networking role-play, students take on the roles of professionals attending a networking event and practice introducing themselves and steering conversations toward a specific, professionally focused topic. First, students prepare for the role-play by completing a character's professional information on a profile card. Students then read a talking point card, which contains a secret business topic they want to talk about, a reason for bringing it up and a question they must answer by the end of the role-play. Students then take on their character roles and circulate within the group, making conversation. Each time they meet someone new, they introduce themselves, chat, and steer the conversation toward their assigned business topic. As the students talk, they try to gather information to help answer the question on their cards. After everyone has spoken to each other, students guess each other's business topics and reasons for bringing them up. Students then reveal their roles and professional goals and give feedback about the questions on their talking point cards.

The Business Networking Challenge

Upper-intermediate (B2) 20 minutes
Business networking game preview showing vocabulary matching activities for upper-intermediate B2 level students to learn networking strategies and responses

Business Networking Game - Vocabulary: Matching - Group Work

This productive business networking game helps students learn practical business networking strategies and responses for handling common networking interactions. In groups, students take turns picking up a question card and reading...

Business Networking Game - Vocabulary: Matching - Group Work This productive business networking game helps students learn practical business networking strategies and responses for handling common networking interactions. In groups, students take turns picking up a question card and reading it aloud to the group, e.g. 'What's a good way to start a conversation at a networking event?' The players then race to find the matching response card on the table and pick it up. The first player to pick up the right card, read the response and hand it to the reader wins and keeps the pair of cards, e.g. 'You could start by asking about their industry or their latest project.' If a player picks up the wrong card, they are out of the round and the other players can answer. The game continues until all the question cards have been matched. The player with the most pairs of cards at the end of the game wins.

Taking Part in Business Networking

Taking part in business networking involves introducing yourself, learning about other people's work and developing relevant professional conversations. Students need language for explaining their roles, showing interest and moving between topics without turning an exchange into a rehearsed monologue.

This page contains six B2 resources, including a worksheet, speaking activities, a role-play and games, with one free game.

The table shows networking functions with hypothetical examples that can be adapted to the setting and relationship.

Networking functionPurposeExample language
Introduce yourself Give the other person a clear starting point. 'Hello, I'm Maya. I work in product development.'
Explain your role Describe your work without assuming specialist knowledge. 'I help our team turn customer feedback into product improvements.'
Invite the other person to speak Learn about their work or interests. 'What kind of projects are you working on at the moment?'
Ask a follow-up question Show interest in something the speaker has mentioned. 'You mentioned a new project. What does it involve?'
Connect to a relevant topic Introduce a related professional interest. 'That relates to something our team is exploring. Could I ask how you approached it?'
Close the exchange politely End the conversation while acknowledging the other person. 'It was good to hear about your work. Enjoy the rest of the event.'

How to Communicate at Networking Events

Keep introductions easy to respond to: Give a short explanation of your role or professional interest, then leave room for the other person. In classroom practice, role information can give learners without work experience a starting point.

Build on what you hear: Encourage students to ask a relevant follow-up question before moving to a new topic. Referring to something the partner has said makes the conversation responsive rather than a sequence of unrelated prepared questions.

Guide the conversation without forcing it: Link a topic you want to explore to the current exchange and check that the other person is willing to discuss it. Keep questions appropriate to the context and allow the conversation to end naturally.

3-Step Framework for Teaching Business Networking

This B2 sequence uses separate resources to connect suitable responses, vocabulary use and spoken discussion. It can be spread across lessons.

1. Recognise Suitable Responses: Students listen to questions about networking interactions and race to select matching response cards. Reading the chosen responses aloud connects a situation with a possible way to handle it, giving learners examples to consider before longer exchanges.

2. Use Vocabulary in Conversation: Students complete networking questions with words and phrases, then pair with someone from the other group to ask and answer them. They use a specified expression in their first response and report what they learned. This moves from matching responses to developing answers with a partner.

3. Respond with Less Preparation: Students play a board game that combines completing spoken vocabulary clues with thirty-second responses to networking discussion prompts. The two task types bring together word choice and extended speaking. Treat the timed response as classroom practice, not as a rule for how long someone should speak at a real event.

Common Mistakes with Business Networking Language

Omitting for after responsible: Use responsible for when explaining duties. Incorrect: 'I'm responsible managing customer accounts.' Correct: 'I'm responsible for managing customer accounts.'

Ignoring information the other person has shared: An unrelated prepared question can make the exchange feel disconnected. Disconnected response: After 'We've just launched a new service', asking 'How many offices do you have?' Relevant follow-up: 'What does the new service offer?'

Common Questions About Teaching Business Networking

What role-play helps students practice business networking?

Networking Role-Play gives students professional profile cards and a business topic to explore. They introduce themselves, circulate and guide conversations towards their assigned topic while gathering information to answer a question. Afterwards, students reveal their roles and goals and discuss what they learned, giving the networking exchanges a specific communicative purpose.

What worksheet helps teach business introductions?

The worksheet Business Greetings and Introductions develops phrases for introducing yourself and others through vocabulary work, error correction and a model dialogue. Pairs then write a conversation between two people meeting for the first time to learn about their companies and roles. Performing the dialogue gives students supported practice using the language.

What free game helps students practice networking vocabulary?

The game Networking Bingo asks students to match spoken definitions with words and phrases on their cards. To confirm a four-in-a-row win, students make a realistic networking sentence with each expression. This adds a contextual check to the matching task, so recognising the meaning alone is not enough to claim that win.

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