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Section 1 / 8
Warm-up
Lesson 2
Meetings & Giving Opinions
Business English B1Lesson 28 sections43 exercises
1.1
Meetings & Giving Opinions
Today is about surviving — and leading — a meeting in English: giving your opinion clearly, agreeing and disagreeing politely, and jumping into a fast-moving conversation without losing your nerve.
1.2
After this lesson you'll be able to...
- Use meeting vocabulary confidently (agenda, action items, consensus…)
- Give an opinion and politely agree or disagree
- Interrupt and take the floor without sounding rude
- Run a short meeting from start to finish
1.3
Get to know each other (3 minutes)
- Do you attend a lot of meetings at work?
- Are your meetings usually in English or another language?
- What's the most frustrating thing about meetings, in your experience?
1.4
Say it out loud
Practise opening a meeting. → Thanks everyone for joining — shall we get started?
1.5
Fact worth knowing
Studies show the average professional spends over 20 hours a week in meetings — and considers roughly half of that time wasted. Running a tight, well-structured meeting is a genuinely valuable skill.
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Section 2 / 8
Vocabulary
2.1
Meeting vocabulary
2.2
Giving and responding to opinions
| From my perspective, … | З моєї точки зору, … |
| I see your point, but… | Розумію вашу думку, але… |
| With respect, I'd have to push back on that. | При всій повазі, я б з цим не погодився. |
| Could I just come in here? | Можна я тут втручусь? |
| Let's park that and come back to it. | Давайте відкладемо це і повернемось пізніше. |
2.3
Try out the new words
Say what's usually on your team's agenda. → Our agenda usually includes … .
Describe reaching consensus. → We reached consensus by … .
2.4
Which word is it?
A task assigned to someone at the end of a meeting
action item
General agreement among everyone in the group
consensus
To postpone a topic for later discussion
to table / to park (an idea)
Someone who deliberately argues the opposite view to test an idea
devil's advocate
Your available time and capacity to take on more work
bandwidth
2.5
Fill in the missing word
I don't have the ____ to take on another project right now.
Let's ____ Sarah in on this decision.
We need to ____ on a single approach before moving forward.
2.6
Translate the phrase
протокол засідання →
відхилятися від теми →
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Section 3 / 8
Grammar
3.1
Softening opinions with modals
| Suggesting | "We could… / Why don't we… / What if we…?" |
| Recommending strongly | "I'd strongly suggest we… / We really ought to…" |
| Softening disagreement | "I might be wrong, but… / Correct me if I'm off here, but…" |
| Hedging a claim | "It seems like… / It might be worth considering…" |
3.2
Direct or softened?
"You're wrong." → soften it:
"Do this." → soften it:
3.3
Fill in the correct modal
What ____ we prioritise this quarter? (should/must)
We ____ consider a different vendor. (could/have to)
3.4
Turn this into a polite suggestion
"change the deadline" →
"ask marketing first" →
3.5
Say it about your own work
Make one real suggestion about something at your job, using "What if we…?" or "We could…".
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Section 4 / 8
Reading
4.1
Read: a meeting excerpt
"OK, let's dive into the first item on the agenda — the Q3 budget. From my perspective, we should reallocate more towards marketing." "I see your point, but I'd push back on that a little — engineering's bandwidth is already stretched thin, and if we cut their budget further, we risk missing the deadline entirely." "That's fair. Could we table this and circle back once we have the actual numbers from finance?" "Sounds good. I'll loop in Finance today and we'll revisit on Thursday. Action item: I'll send the updated figures by Wednesday."
4.2
True or false?
Everyone immediately agreed to reallocate the budget.
False — one person pushed back.
They decided to table the discussion.
True
There is an action item to send updated figures.
True
4.3
Find the meeting language
Find the phrase used to politely disagree.
"I see your point, but I'd push back on that a little."
Find the phrase used to postpone a decision.
"Could we table this and circle back…?"
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Section 5 / 8
Practice
5.1
Picture your meeting
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Agenda → Opinions → Action items. Every good meeting follows roughly this shape.
5.2
Match the phrase to its function
"Could I just come in here?"
"Let's park that for now."
5.3
Put the words in order
point / your / but / see / I / , / push / I'd / back
5.4
Fill in the missing phrase
________ (From my/On my) perspective, we should wait.
5.5
A meeting fact
Meetings that end with clearly assigned action items (who does what, by when) are far more likely to actually produce results than meetings that just end with "let's keep in touch."
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Section 6 / 8
Speaking — Run the Meeting
6.1
How to use this section
Your tutor will play a colleague. You will run a short meeting from start to finish, using the phrases from today. Don't just answer questions — practise opening, giving opinions, disagreeing, interrupting, and closing with action items.
6.2
Opening the meeting
🎙️ Task: open a meeting about choosing a new supplier.
Starter: "Thanks everyone for joining. Today's agenda has one item: choosing our new supplier. Let's dive in."
6.3
Giving your opinion
🎙️ Colleague: "I think we should go with the cheaper supplier."
Starter: "From my perspective, price shouldn't be the only factor — what about their delivery times?"
6.4
Disagreeing politely
🎙️ Colleague: "Honestly, I don't think that's a real problem."
Starter: "I see your point, but I'd have to push back on that — we had exactly this issue last quarter."
6.5
Interrupting to make a point
🎙️ Your tutor keeps talking without stopping — jump in!
Starter: "Sorry to interrupt, but could I just come in here for a second?"
6.6
Playing devil's advocate
🎙️ Task: deliberately argue the OPPOSITE of what you actually think, to stress-test the plan.
Starter: "Let me play devil's advocate for a moment — what if the new supplier can't scale with us next year?"
6.7
Postponing a difficult topic
🎙️ The conversation about budget is going nowhere.
Starter: "I think we're going in circles — could we table this and circle back once we have real numbers?"
6.8
Checking for consensus
🎙️ Task: check if everyone agrees before moving forward.
Starter: "So, just to check — are we all aligned on going with Supplier B? Any objections?"
6.9
Assigning action items
🎙️ Task: close the meeting with clear next steps.
Starter: "Great, so to summarise: I'll draft the contract by Friday, and you'll loop in Legal. Let's touch base again Monday."
6.10
Handling a rude interruption
🎙️ Your tutor interrupts you mid-sentence.
Starter: "Let me just finish this point, and then I'd love to hear your thoughts."
6.11
Full mock meeting — no stopping
FULL RUN-THROUGH
Now run one complete meeting, start to finish, on a topic from your real job. Open it, give at least one opinion, disagree with your tutor at least once, interrupt at least once, and close with clear action items — all without switching to Ukrainian.
6.12
Let's talk — reflection
- Which phrase felt most natural to you today?
- Do you find it harder to agree or to disagree in English?
- What's one phrase you'll try in your next real meeting?
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Section 7 / 8
Cool down
7.1
Now I can...
- Use meeting vocabulary confidently
- Give an opinion and agree/disagree politely
- Interrupt without sounding rude
- Run a short meeting start to finish
7.2
One more thing before you go
Say one polite disagreement phrase one final time, from memory.
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Section 8 / 8
Homework
How to do your homework
- Do the exercises below and press Check in each one. Green = correct. Red shows what was expected.
- Do the writing and speaking tasks and tick them when they are done.
- Write your name and press Copy my result, then send the text to your tutor.
8.1
Words to remember
| agenda / minutes / action item | порядок денний / протокол / завдання з наради |
| consensus / to table (an idea) | консенсус / відкласти (ідею) |
| to circle back / to loop in | повернутись пізніше / долучити когось |
| devil's advocate / bandwidth | адвокат диявола / вільний ресурс часу |
| to align on / to digress | дійти згоди щодо / відхилятись від теми |
8.2
Fill in the softened opinion
____ we consider a different approach? (What if)
8.3
Translate the phrase
давайте відкладемо це і повернемось пізніше →
8.4
Write it yourself
Write a short meeting agenda for a real (or imaginary) project, with 3 topics and one action item per topic.
8.5
Practise out loud
Before your next real meeting, practise your opening line and one disagreement phrase out loud three times.
Tick what you have done
- 8.4 Write it yourself: Write a short meeting agenda for a real (or imaginary) project, with 3 topics and one action item…
- 8.5 Practise out loud: Before your next real meeting, practise your opening line and one disagreement phrase out loud th…