Business English Idioms - Risk Management

I used to be a risk taker.  In my younger days, I was carefree and often careless. However since becoming a mum I've gradually become more and more cautious.  When we hear the phrase 'risk management' we usually think about business, but as a mum of two teenage boys, risk management is an essential part of parenting.  During the summer holidays I heard myself chanting various mantras over and over: "Be careful" "It's not worth the risk" "Better safe than sorry" "Just in case".  I realised that we use many idioms in English to talk about taking risks and being careful, so I thought I'd prepare a presentation to explore some of these expressions with my business students (and possibly fellow parents).

 Business English Idioms 

Risk management

What is risk management? 

It is a strategy used to understand, evaluate and take action to increase the likelihood of success and reduce the possibility of failure.

Since the global financial crisis in 2008, risk management has become a business priority.  However, the necessity to be cautious often interferes with a company's need to take risks in order to develop and remain competitive.

Risk management is a common topic of conversation in both everyday life and at work, so let's look at some of the common idioms used in English to talk about taking risks and being cautious. 

Do you 'throw caution to the wind' and take risks or 'play it safe' and prefer to be cautious?

Click to see the full-sized presentation: http://app.emaze.com/742619/business-idioms-risk-management

How to order pizza - Elementary level lesson plan

It's been a long time since my last post, life has been rather unpredictable lately and it's also the school holidays; I've been spending less time online, but on the upside I've been spending more time with my family, which has been wonderful.  However the holidays are coming to an end and I've been thinking about my wonderful group of beginners and decided it was time to start planning some lessons for September.


This year I would like to continue to focus on improving the group's spoken proficiency, I want them to feel comfortable and confident to speak in real life situations. The objective of this first lesson is to learn how to place an order for pizza over the phone.   It's a situation that will give them the opportunity to review some of the language that they've already learnt, for example: giving information like name/address/telephone numbers, using 'can' to request and in addition to that, there will be lots of opportunity for speaking, listening and role-play. 

How to order pizza

Lesson level: Elementary

Target vocabulary: 
Food: Pizza/toppings/drinks/side dishes. 
Numbers: Money/Prices. 
Restaurant language: Menu/Take-away/Eat-in/Order.  
Requests: I'd like/Can I have.  
Giving information: Name/address/telephone number/Verb to be.

Materials: Menu handout/dialogue handouts/ toy money/ fake telephones or mobile phones/ paper and pens.

1. Hand out the menu (prices should be changed according to your country).

Pizza Menu

Back to basics 2 - The Verb To Be

This is the second post in my 'Back to basics' series.  As I told you last time I'm working with a wonderful group of adults who prefer paper to technology;  I have been creating printouts to use in class and as with all my infographics, my objective is to transmit each grammar point in a simple, one page format. One of the main challenges of teaching this group, is finding a way to help them retain vocabulary.  By using only specific language in order to constantly recycle, I feel that I'm starting to make progress, it's a case of 'one step back, two steps forward':

This is the infographic that I created to introduce the verb - To be in the Present Simple tense:

The verb BE

http://www.scribd.com/doc/230910514/The-verb-BE

How to get started as an online teacher of English

As winner of the British Council's Teaching English blog award last month, I was invited to write a guest post for their  'Voices' blog.  My post gives advice about how to get started as an online teacher:

How to get started as an online teacher of English

Online Teaching - Voices

If you have any ideas regarding this topic, please comment;  Google+ members please comment below.  If you're on Facebook please message me there and of course you can always send me an email: emma_segev@yahoo.co.uk

Thanks and I hope you found this post helpful :-)

The Present Simple 1 - Back To Basics

I am very proud to announce that this post has been awarded the 'Teaching English Blog Award for Innovative Teaching Ideas' by the British Council.

I would like to take this opportunity to thank Teaching English  for their support and thank everyone who voted :-)

This post is the first of a series of three, on the topic of the Present Simple tense. It contains a printable infographic covering the basics of the Present Simple and three printable worksheets.  

Getting back to basics:

If you've been following my blog, you'll know that I've been on a journey of discovery, concerning using technology to create materials and using technology to teach and study.  


A few weeks ago I began teaching a group of 12 adults face-to-face.   I was excited to get back into the classroom, I mainly teach online today, and try out some of my new creations on a group. I checked the equipment: I had a computer and projector, a fast internet connection and a full class.  I was ready and raring to go.....
We have had three lessons so far and I must say I'm thoroughly enjoying teaching the group.  It's a pleasure to teach face-to-face and a challenge to teach adults at this level; it's really great to get 'back to basics'.  This experience has reminded me that although using technology to teach is amazing, it's not always appropriate.  As teachers we shouldn't allow it to distract us as I did, from what is really important, 'the students'.  The truth of the matter is, the tools we use are far less important than the way we teach.

The minute the lights went out, the atmosphere changed in the classroom and I felt the tension rise.  One student couldn't see well, another said the writing was too small, another said she was getting too hot from the projector.  I had made an extremely basic mistake. The group's native language is Amharit, they have all had to learn Hebrew, so English is a third or for some of them a fourth language; at beginner level, the experience of a first lesson with a new teacher was daunting enough, without adding unfamiliar technology and teaching methods. Most of them don't have smart phones and for this group, this method, at this stage, was just not suitable.  So I switched off my overhead projector, sharpened my white board pen, dusted off my flash cards and reverted back to traditional methods.  

I have been working with the group on the topic of places in a town and shops.  I highly recommend using the lesson materials from the British Council's Teaching English website, my students really enjoyed them.  In our next lesson I'm going to use the language that we've worked on to introduce the Present Simple tense. I have created some printable materials in order to do this: 

Click on the link below to print or save:

Present Simple Infographic Word

http://www.scribd.com/doc/228736855/Present-Simple-Infographic-Word