Competition

This video-based Business English lesson plan is aimed at pre-intermediate (A2) and low-intermediate (B1) professionals. It deals with the topic of competition in business and is packed with useful expressions and collocations, as well as speaking activities. Students will discuss the benefits of business competition, strategies to stay competitive and will work on creating a strategy for a business aiming to increase its market share. For higher-level students, you can take a look at the related topics “Big tech monopolies”, and “Idioms: competition”. You can also combine this lesson with other video-based Business English lessons suitable for A2-B1 level students, such as “Teamwork” and “Hard skills and soft skills”.

Speaking: The lesson starts with 10 discussion questions about students’ favorite brands and products, why they like them and who are their competitors, as well as the benefits of competition for consumers. 

Confusing words: Students learn the difference between competence, competition, and competitor. First they match each word to its definition. Then they complete 8 sentences with the correct word.

Vocabulary: Students learn 9 important business collocations (e.g. competitive advantage, customer satisfaction, customer loyalty, market share, profit margin, business model). First they create the  collocations. Then, to practice, students choose the correct expression to complete 8 sentences. After that students analyze the sentences and write down the verbs that are commonly used with these expressions (e.g. increase market share, measure customer satisfaction, do market research). To extend on the topic of verb+noun collocations, students choose the correct verb to complete 9 sentences (e.g. dominate the market, increase sales, beat the competition). After that there are 3 activities to practice all of these collocations. First, students are tasked with writing 5 sentences related to competition, using some of the vocabulary they’ve just seen. Next, they are asked to complete 5 sentences with their own ideas. Finally, students discuss the competition in their industry, using 8 discussion questions given.

Listening: This is a video-based lesson. Students watch a short video called “The benefits of competition”, and complete 2 comprehension activities. First, they are asked to tick the benefits mentioned in the video. Next, they complete the transcript with the words they hear.

Speaking: Business strategies. The rest of the activities are focused on speaking and practicing the vocabulary learned in this lesson. Students look at 13 strategies to stay competitive and discuss the advantages and disadvantages of each one. Next, they are given 2 business scenarios and are asked to come up with ideas on how to increase their market share, applying some of the strategies from the previous activity. Finally, and this task can also be given as homework, students are tasked with researching a well-known company, its pricing strategy, business model and competitive advantages.

To review the vocabulary from this lesson, you can use the conversation cards, which feature 12 conversation questions and double down as flashcards for students to use individually.