ESL WORKSHEET - Working in teams

LESSON PLAN FOR ENGLISH TEACHERS

TEAMWORK*

LinguaHouse
Mar. 28, 2023

Level: Pre-Intermediate (A2-B1)
Type of English: Business English
Tags: Human Resources (HR); Business People; Office Life; Behavior, Feelings and Emotions; Companies and Jobs; 16-18 Years Old; 18+ Years Old; Article Based
Publication date: 03/28/2023

*This lesson has been updated.

This lesson looks at the vocabulary and situation around teamwork. Exercises focus on reading and listening skills and provide students with an opportunity to discuss questions related to the topic (by Joe Wilson).

• CLICK HERE to download the student’s worksheet in American English.
• CLICK HERE to download the teacher’s lesson plan in American English.
• CLICK HERE to download/listen to the audio in American English.
• CLICK HERE to download the student’s worksheet in British English.
• CLICK HERE to download the teacher’s lesson plan in British English.
• CLICK HERE to download/listen to the audio in British English.

AUDIO TRANSCRIPT

Speaker 1: I think teamwork can really increase productivity for a business. When teams work well together, it means that everyone doesn’t need to worry because they can trust that their colleagues are going to get the work done. It’s also really good for problem-solving. If one person is having difficulty, there are usually other people who know what to do or can just help with the work. It’s so much better than just worrying about the situation on your own. To add to that, everyone in the team can bring a different perspective to the situation. We all look at our work in different ways and, on our own, we often do things the same way all the time. Working with a team lets us see that there are different ways of looking at situations. We can learn from each other and try new ways of approaching problems.
Speaker 2: It’s really essential that you are able to collaborate with people from different backgrounds. You should always listen to other people’s ideas, whether you are the boss or the newest member of the team. We can all learn a lot from each other and it’s important not to think that your ideas will always be the best. Everyone has different experiences and you should respect the opinions of everyone in the group. You also need to be very flexible. If you are working together as a team, you can’t think that there are jobs that you will not do. You can’t always organize a project so that everyone only does their own job. You must be happy to help other people with their work. If you do that, you will also find that other people will help you with yours.
Speaker 3: Some people like to carefully define their jobs and are not very flexible about what they will and will not do. When you have this in a team, you can create a feeling that everyone will only do their own work and not help others. It becomes all about the individual and not the group. So, it becomes much more difficult for a manager to assign tasks because everyone is so careful about what they will do. In this situation, it is so much harder for all of the work to get finished and actually makes a lot more problems for everyone. As a result, it is very difficult to motivate everyone because there is no interest in the success of the team, everyone is only interested in their own success.

Adapted from: https://www.linguahouse.com/esl-lesson-plans/business-english/teamwork. Accessed on March 28, 2023. © 2008–2023 LinguaHouse.com. All rights reserved.