Professional English Online
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Greening your office
Teacher’s notes
Level
B1/B2 (Intermediate to Upper-intermediate)
Preparation
Before you use this lesson plan:
• visit the proposed websites to check they are
operational
• ensure students have Internet access in the
classroom, or else hand out the worksheet.
Warmers
Long (10–15 minutes)
In groups, students brainstorm the following points
about how green they think their particular workplace
is (write these points on the board):
• Can you think of any ways in which your
workplace could be greener? Think about how
much electricity is used; the level of heating and air
conditioning; the use and recycling of paper.
• What suggestions could you make to your
employers for making the office greener?
Short (5 minutes)
Write the following phrases on the board and elicit
their meanings:
• Green your office
• Carbon footprint
‘Green’ is used as a verb to express the act of making
the office greener. ‘Carbon footprint’ is a measure
of how much carbon is emitted by an individual or a
company, and is one indicator of the environmental
impact the person or company has.
Set the scene
(5 minutes)
Either distribute copies of the student’s page to your
learners or ask them to visit the online student’s page.
Ask them to read the Situation. Go through the steps
described in task 1.
Professional English Online © Cambridge University Press 2008
Present the tasks
(5 minutes)
Explain the procedure:
1. Divide the students into two groups – the
employees and the employers.
2. Ask them to read the situation in task 1. During this
phase monitor their interactions and note down any
mistakes you overhear.
3. Ask the students to visit the websites and fill in the
grid.
4. Students prepare for a meeting by filling in the
appropriate tables for employer and employee.
5. Ask students to read task 2. Have them visit
the website in task 2 to select three phrases for
agreeing and three phrases for disagreeing in
preparation for the meeting.
6. Once students have completed tasks 1 and 2 ask
them to hold the meeting. Monitor the meetings,
noting down any mistakes you overhear.
Do the tasks
Research (20 minutes)
• If computers are available, allocate one to each
small group or pair and let the students do their
research.
• If computers are not available, set the research as
homework. Emphasise they do not need to spend
more than 20 minutes collecting information.
Meeting (15 minutes)
Refer students again to the points they need to cover
and the expressions to be used from the website in
task 2.
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 Professional English Online
www.cambridge.org/elt/pro

Greening your office

Group A – Employees
Aims Tasks
• To practise reading skills and finding relevant 1. Consider various options for making your
information in a text workplace greener.
• Preparing and carrying out a negotiation 2. Prepare for a meeting to discuss how to implement
your decisions.
Situation
You and a group of colleagues at work have realised that your office environment is very wasteful
– people leave their computers and lights on during their lunch breaks, people print out a lot of paper
and then throw it away, and so on. You have decided to put together some requests for your employer so
that together you can all reduce the carbon footprint of your office.
You will first visit a website containing tips on how to make your office more environmentally friendly
and put together a list of requests to present to your employer. You will then prepare the negotiation with
your employer, anticipating any objections they may raise.

Task 1 — the research

Visit the following two websites and decide on the five most important and practical changes you would like
to ask your employer to make. Once you have decided on your requests complete the tables below to help you
prepare for your negotiation.
http://www.bbk.ac.uk/sustain/staff-students/rorytips
http://www.moneyfacts.co.uk/Ethical/articles/green-workplace.aspx

Request Reason(s)

Employer’s possible objections Counter-arguments

Task 2 — the meeting

Now prepare for the meeting with your employer.
Visit http://www.englishclub.com/business-english/negotiations-process.htm and note three phrases you will use to
express agreement, and three phrases to express disagreement.

Professional English Online © Cambridge University Press 2008 PHOTOCOPIABLE

 Professional English Online
www.cambridge.org/elt/pro

Greening your office

Group B – Employers
Aims Tasks
• To practise reading skills and finding relevant 1. Consider various options for making your
information in a text workplace greener.
• Preparing and carrying out a negotiation 2. Prepare for a meeting to discuss how to implement
your decisions.
Situation
You are aware that your office is somewhat wasteful – your employees leave the lights and their
computers on during lunch breaks, print out e-mails and reports and then throw them away after
reading them, and so on. You are interested in saving money and resources and are well aware that a
green policy is good PR. However, you are also aware of other issues such as the fact that employees take
different lunch breaks, meaning a lights-off policy for a particular time is unreasonable; some people can
read more efficiently from paper than from a screen; re-using paper on both sides can have security and
sensitivity issues; and the fact that implementing more energy-efficient technologies can be expensive.
A group of your employees has requested a meeting to discuss possible ways in which to make the office
greener. You want to prepare for the meeting by researching the area, but you are aware that you need to
remain critical and evaluate the real impact any changes would have on the office itself and your business
on the whole.

Task 1 — the research

Visit the following two websites and decide on the three changes you think can most reasonably be made,
taking into account all the relevant issues. In addition, think of two more changes you think your employees
will probably request, but which you feel will not be possible, and give the reasons why. There are two tables
below to help you gather the information.
http://www.newbuilder.co.uk/newbuilder/NewsFullStory.asp?ID=668
http://www.carbontrust.co.uk/energy/startsaving/employee_influence.htm

Possible change Reasons why these are possible

Anticipated requests from employees Reasons why these are not possible

Task 2 — the meeting

Now prepare for the meeting with your employees.
Visit http://www.englishclub.com/business-english/negotiations-process.htm and note three phrases you will use to
express agreement, and three phrases to express disagreement.

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