Making Appointments and Plans

This worksheet teaches basic phrases used in telephone English. It also provides intensive practice of the Present Continuous (with future meaning) for appointments and schedules.
There are two versions to the first page. One is for student A and the other for student B. Exercise three is an information gap activity, where each student has different data. All the other exercises are the same.
 Pair students off as A and B. Give one set of worksheets to each student. The first page is different for A and B.
Students should ask a partner the opening question. Don't spend too long on this exercise, since there is discussion at the end. This exercise gives you a chance to assess your students' ability of the Present Continuous.
 Follow the instructions. You may want to pre-teach advertising, budget and factory. Students should work alone,
and then check in pairs. After going through the answers with the group, students can practice the conversation once, and then change roles.
 Before beginning this exercise, you may wish to make a presentation on the Present Continuous on the board. Emphasize how it can be used when talking about schedules. Check that students can produce the question form.
Ask students to read the diary and the instructions on the right. Tell the students that they must not look at their partner's worksheet.

Demonstrate with a confident student. You could write an example on the board with a gap, and elicit the question.
 This exercise allows students to use telephone English expressions from exercise two in a natural business conversation.
Explain that the conversations will follow the format of exercise two. For some variety, students need to think of three excuses for being busy. Write an example on the board, if your students lack imagination.
After changing roles once, students should team up with a different partner, so they can practice speaking to as many different people as possible.  This final exercise gives students the chance to personalize the language.
Students should work in pairs or small groups. Monitor and make notes, but try not to join in. After the conversation comes to a close, go through some relevant errors your students made.