Emails at Work: Say It Better
ESL Lesson PlansEmails at Work: Say It Better

Emails at Work: Say It Better

Help your students write clearer and more professional workplace emails with this practical B1 ESL lesson for adults. Learners explore the difference between direct and polite communication through realistic email examples, matching tasks, rewriting activities, and guided writing practice. Students learn useful polite request phrases such as Could you…, Would it be possible…, and I’d appreciate it if… while improving tone, clarity, and workplace communication skills. The lesson finishes with a communicative writing task where learners create their own professional email to a colleague or client. Perfect for Business English classes, workplace communication lessons, and adult ESL learners preparing to use English at work.

Skills

  • Write clear, polite emails to request information or action.
Online Interactive
Based on CEFR
Fully Customizable
1

Discuss the questions.

1
How do you usually ask for help from someone at work or school?
2
What makes a written message sound rude or unfriendly?
3
When is it better to write a short message instead of a long one?
4
What would you do if someone misunderstood your message completely?
5
Why is it sometimes harder to be polite in writing than in person?
2

Read the emails. Which one sounds more polite?

3

Match the sentence halves.

4

Rewrite the messages to make them more polite.

5

Complete the email with polite phrases.

6

Read the email. Is it polite? Improve it.

7

Write about the topic.