Idioms: corporate crime

This ESL worksheet helps learners master 15 idioms and expressions related to corporate crime and unethical business practices. Through authentic dialogues, matching exercises, sentence completion, and engaging discussion tasks, students build fluency and confidence using these idioms in real-world professional and ethical contexts. You might also like the worksheet “Idioms: Workplace ethics” and “Idioms: corruption“.

In the opening activity, learners are introduced to key idioms like cook the books, money laundering, pull strings, and take the fall through a short, realistic dialogue. Students then match the bolded expressions to their definitions, reinforcing comprehension through context. Next, they discuss corporate scandals they have heard about.

Following this, learners read about 5 corporate scandals (Enron, Lehman Brothers, Bernie Madoff, HSBC, Volkswagen), complete the gaps in the text with idioms from the previous activity, and are introduced to the rest of the idioms (e.g., cut corners, follow the money, smoke and mirrors). Then they engage in speaking activities that encourage them to discuss  the impact of corporate crime on society.

In an additional practice activity, students choose the best idiom to complete 6 dialogues.

In the final task, learners explore thought-provoking scenarios about corporate crime and unethical practices, and discuss how they would respond in each situation.

This worksheet is ideal for upper-intermediate to advanced ESL learners aiming to expand their business vocabulary, enhance conversational skills, and confidently discuss complex topics related to corporate ethics and white-collar crime.

For further practice, pair this worksheet with our printable business conversation cards for dynamic speaking sessions.