One of the most important parts of business English is teaching your students the necessary vocabulary for describing a company’s history. This means teaching key vocabulary and collocations for describing a business, as well as using grammar incorrectly.
This Powerpoint presentation is intended for intermediate level students who are new to business English, and it mostly gives them vocabulary with examples. However, you may want to bring attention to the grammar used, such as the passive voice for “was founded,” and so on.
Company History – ESL Language from David Wills
After teaching this language, I try to give my students a listening task to get them using it for a well-known company. I like this video about the history of Apple:
I would use these questions, which are obviously quite simple, but it makes the students really pay attention to those important phrases:
1. When was Apple founded?
2. When was the Apple II first sold?
3. When did they introduce the Macintosh?
4. When did they release the iPod?
