Office Vocabulary ESL Lesson

OBJECTIVE & OVERVIEW

This office vocabulary ESL lesson provides activities, PDF worksheets, and digital materials designed for beginner A1 students. In this lesson, students will:

• Learn a variety of office spaces and office vocabulary
• Be able to describe their workplace using the verb “to be” + adjectives
• Be able to describe their workplace using the verb “to have” + nouns
• Discuss the activities people do in various office spaces

PREVIEW & DISCUSSION

In the first part of this office vocabulary ESL lesson, students look at images of a woman named Emma giving an office tour. These images show the spaces in her office. Students match these office spaces with their names.

In the second part, they describe the workplace from Emma’s perspective. There is a list of 8 adjectives for students to choose from, and they must choose the 4 they think that Emma would choose, based on the images. Additionally, they discuss activities in different office spaces using nouns given as prompts. For example, students must say sentences like:

“In the open space, people do work or speak about work.”

Then, just before watching the video, students discuss a few questions related to office tours and office spaces.

VIEWING ACTIVITY

During the viewing activity, students watch a video featuring a young woman, Emma, giving a tour of her workplace at Amazon. They put the places mentioned in the order Emma visits them on the office tour. You’ll see Emma go around to the open space, small spaces, kitchen, gaming room, resting room, and outside area. Then, students must match sentence halves based on the activities possible in each office space. They then watch the video again to correct mistakes in sentences about Emma's workplace.

DISCUSSION & GRAMMAR

In the viewing follow-up, students discuss questions related to the video, such as whether they would like to work in Emma's office and what they like most about it.

They also read some sentences about Emma's workplace. They choose the correct options regarding the use of the verb “to be” and “to have” in these sentences. Some of these include sentences like, “Our workplace is friendly.” and “We have a gaming room.” There is a short part for students to write the correct conjugations for the verb “to have” and “to be”.

Finally, in the fourth part, students complete sentences using the correct verb forms of "to be" and "to have." The sentences include useful vocabulary about offices and workplaces.

OFFICE TOUR TIME!

In Option A, students prepare to give a workplace tour to important visitors by writing about their workplace. They describe it using to be + [adjective] and to have + [noun]. Then, they role play the tour, with one student introducing their workplace and the other asking questions or making comments.

In Option B, students work with a partner to describe their workplaces. They can take turns describing them. There is a set of provided vocabulary terms to describe their offices or workplaces in this activity. Some of these vocabulary terms include:

• big
• friendly
• new
• comfortable
• light
• kitchen
• gaming room
• window
• outside area

BENEFITS OF USING THIS OFFICE VOCABULARY ESL LESSON

Real-world Relevance: Students engage with vocabulary and activities directly connected to real office environments. This can help them develop their workplace communication skills.

Confidence Building: By actively engaging in role-play activities and discussions, students will be able to confidently tell someone about their office or workplace.

Grammar & Vocabulary Practice: Activities like describing their own workplace using the verb “to be” and “to have” allows students to practice grammar and office vocabulary at the same time. By doing this, it makes the topic more relevant and meaningful to their work lives.