Business English- Negotiations Jigsaw Dialogues and Useful Phrases
A LESSON PLAN FOR ENGLISH LANGUAGE TEACHERS
Students split and sort out cut up and mixed up formal and casual negotiations, analyse the language in them, test each other on the phrases, then roleplay internal and external negotiations with people they know and don't know.
Lesson Plan Content:
Formal and informal negotiations jigsaw dialogues
Without looking below, sort the cards that you are given into ones which are from near the beginning of a negotiation, ones which come from near the end of a negotiation, and ones which are from the middle (= the body of the negotiation).
Divide the phrases into two conversations by looking at the two different levels of formality and different topics
Put the two conversations into order to make two complete negotiations of different kinds.
Hint 1: One negotiation is successful but the other finishes with no agreement.
Hint 2: One pair of people know each other and the other pair of people don’t know each other.
Hint 3: The first person to speak in each conversation is written in italics.
Hint 4: There are 19 cards in Conversation A and 21 cards in Conversation B.
Check your answers with photocopies or as a class.
Ask about anything you don’t understand, think could go in a different position, etc. Then do the brainstorming task below.
Test each other on the phrases:
- Read out a phrase and see if your partner can say what function it has
- Say one of the headings below and help your partner make suitable phrases, helping them with key words, gapped sentences, etc
- Say a phrase and see if your partner can reply
- Say a phrase, listen to your partner’s reply, and then together roleplay the rest of the conversation
Without any help if possible, roleplay negotiating in the same situations as in the dialogues:
- Conversation A: Unsuccessful casual/ friendly internal negotiation with a colleague who you have met before
- Conversation B: Successful formal/ polite external negotiation with a supplier who you’ve never met before
Roleplay other internal negotiations and external negotiations, starting with your own real-life situations.
Brainstorming stage
Without looking at the cards, write as many suitable phrases as you can in each category below. Many phrases not in the dialogues are also possible.
Starting negotiations
Requests/ Suggestions
Positive reactions (accepting, thanking, being flexible, etc)
Negative reactions (rejecting, insisting, etc)
Look at the dialogues for ideas, brainstorm more, then compare as a class.
Cards to cut up/ Suggested answers
Conversation A: Unsuccessful casual/ friendly internal negotiation with a colleague who you have met before
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Hi John.
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Hi Steve. Long time no see.
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Yes, it’s been ages, hasn’t it? Good summer holiday?
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Not bad. Went to Hawaii again. What about you? Beach as usual?
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Yes, I must go somewhere different for once next year! … Well, it’s been nice to catch up but we should probably get started, I reckon.
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Yeah, let’s. Can you kick off by clarifying the situation for me?
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Sure. Basically, the thing is, my department is having tons of problems with the new tech stuff, so we really really need more training.
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Really? When we spoke a while ago, you said the number one priority was language skills, didn’t you?
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Yeah, that was true at the time, but we’ve had to recruit a bunch of new staff and they don’t have the technical knowledge of us old timers.
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I get that, but I’m afraid changing the staff development plan in the middle of the year like you are saying wouldn’t go down very well at head office.
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They probably won’t be too keen on the idea, but can’t you ask the language training provider for an intensive course to still leave time and money for IT training?
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I think they’d find that really hard to agree to. You’ll just have to ask your staff to teach themselves in their free time.
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That doesn’t really sound like something they’d go for. I guess loads of them will just quit.
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Well, I’m afraid I don’t really know what to suggest. Like I said, it’d be a right pain to change the language training so late in the day.
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So, looks like we’ve come to some kind of a stalemate. Why don’t we sleep on it and chat again tomorrow?
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Okay, let’s. Was good to see you again anyway.
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Great to see you too. Hopefully our next meeting will be a bit more productive.
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Hope so too! See you next week.
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Yup. See you then.
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Conversation B: Successful formal/ polite external negotiation with a supplier who you’ve never met before
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Good morning. My name is Hanson Smith. I’m Head of Purchasing here. You must be Herr Schmidt.
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That’s right, but please just call me Marcus.
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It’s a pleasure to meet you, Marcus.
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Pleased to meet you too, Hanson.
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How was your flight from Germany?
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It was okay. I saw a couple of movies and got some work done, but there was lots of turbulence so I couldn’t sleep so well.
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I’m sorry to hear that. Well, we’ve got a lot to get through, so this might be a good time to look at the agenda, if you don’t mind.
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Of course. No problem. Let’s do that.
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The main reason why we invited you here today is to discuss the price that we pay you.
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Yes, I read your email. Did you get my email with our initial quotation?
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Yes, thank you for sending that. We’ve considered your proposal of $540/ t, but I’m afraid it doesn’t seem to be a very competitive offer to us. Could you possibly accept $460?
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I’m afraid that sounds a little low. Unfortunately, we would find that price rather difficult to agree to.
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Well, that was only a ballpark figure. Let’s try to find some kind of a middle way. How would you feel about $500?
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I was still hoping for something quite a lot better. Could possibly you move a little more on that?
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Well, I think we’ve already been fairly flexible on the price. Another possible option could be to agree on $500, but just for a small sample order.
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I’d be very willing to consider that. Shall we perhaps say just three tons to start with?
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That’s a deal! In that case, would it be at all possible for you to deliver by the beginning of next month?
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That won’t be a problem. In fact, I’m pleased to say that we can have it to you by the end of this month.
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Thank you. That will really help with the production schedule. Well, I think we’ve more or less covered everything.
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Yes, I think that’s all for today. It was a pleasure to meet you. I’ll send you an email confirming everything by the end of business today.
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Thank you very much. It was great to meet you too. I look forward to hearing from you. Goodbye.
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