LESSON OVERVIEW

The main objectives of this ESL lesson on delegating are to:

• talk about delegation at work and management abilities;
• watch a video and listen to a conversation between coworkers;
• practise useful phrases for work delegation.

With this lesson, students discuss management skills (e.g. conflict resolution, strategic thinking), watch a video about a struggling manager and explore issues and solutions. They share opinions on delegation at work, review useful phrases for delegating in the workplace (e.g. take something off someone’s plate) and examine different delegation scenarios. Students also listen to a conversation related to the video from the lesson and role-play situations at work.

WARM-UP AND VIDEO

This ESL lesson on delegating starts with a warm-up. Students review different management skills (e.g. adaptability, conflict resolution). They give examples of situations where managers need each one. Students then pick the top three skills for new managers and explain why. Afterwards, they look at situations related to workplace challenges in management and match them with the skills from the previous task. Students justify their answers and say what they would do if they were a manager in those situations. Moving on, they watch a video about a manager who is struggling in his role. Students watch the first part of the video and say what they think will happen next. Then, they watch the rest of it and check if they were right. Following that, students watch the first part of the video again and complete a table with issues and solutions in the video.

VOCABULARY AND ROLE-PLAY

In this part of this ESL lesson on delegating, students read questions and responses about work delegation. They say how much they agree with each response. Then, students read a quote and find a delegation phrase (get someone up to speed on something). They explain its meaning and use it in another sentence. Afterwards, students match delegation-related phrases (e.g. bring someone on board) with their purpose. They then read scenarios involving delegation and choose the correct words to complete them. After that, students decide which options are best for the people and the company and justify their decision. Next, they listen to a conversation between coworkers. Students say what has changed and list the phrases from the previous task they notice. Afterwards, they get cards with more conversations and role-play them in pairs. Finally, they discuss delegation more and how to use new phrases.

HOMEWORK/REVISION

This ESL lesson on delegating also includes an additional task that you can use as homework or revision. In the task, students complete the gaps in statements about delegation at work. They then choose three statements and write a short response to each one. The task is available in the teacher’s version of the worksheet. You can print it and hand it out to your students. It’s also included in the e-lesson plan.