Business Spanish: Week 9

Photo of a computer and tablet with the words Business Spanish Lesson Plans from Annie Abbott
by Ann Abbott

 This week we will work again on Chapter 6 of Éxito comercial: La oficina. Last week we covered the Lectura comercial and the Lectural cultural. This week we will do the readings about the countries and the minicaso práctico.

Lunes: ¿Qué sabes de...?

This reading is about Costa Rica and Panama. I'll divide the students into the following groups:
  1. Costa Rica: Export. You must advise a US business person who is interested in creating an export business to Costa Rica. Advise him/her on what products/services he/she could successfully export and why. What risks/benefits should she/he anticipate? What specific steps should he/she take before making a final decision?
  2. Costa Rica: Import. You must advise a US business person who is interested in creating a business with import(s) from Costa Rica. Advise him/her on what products/services he/she could successfully import and why. What risks/benefits should she/he anticipate? What specific steps should he/she take before making a final decision?
  3. Costa Rica: Business Travel. Prepare the complete travel package (tickets, itinerary and detailed pre-departure instructions) for two Chicago business people (one male, one female) who want to spend three full days exploring a variety of import/export opportunities. Present them with two options: a deluxe travel package ($$$) and an economy travel package ($).
  4. The same three topics with Panama.
(Students did a great job. They worked hard during the class period. I pushed them to look up prices of shipping, research rules and regulations on certain products, look up information about local Chambers of Commerces, etc.)

Miércoles: Minicaso práctico

Three students will be the facilitators of the case analysis, p. 202. They will spend ~12 minutes on discussion and analysis with their small groups. They will then have ~5 minutes to come to a concrete decision that they will present to the protagonist(s) of the case. While the facilitators finish filling out the rubric, the other students will form new groups to compare/contrast their discussions and strategize for their turns as facilitators. Finally, each group will very briefly present their conclusion.

Viernes: Taller de asesoría

My team is doing a great job on the Spanish Advising - Illinois Facebook page. But I think they're getting a little too comfortable. 

Last week I shook things up by telling them all that they needed to create an original video about courses on the spring timetable. (Because I have observed over the years that my students are terrific at scouring the internet for information to use in posts but not as good at taking the next step at creating original content.)

This week I will ask them to look at this trove of quote images. Using their creativity and thinking about what "Emily" (their ideal client) would like, I'd like them all to create at least two. They can continue using PowerPoint to edit their photos the way that I have showed them previously. Or they can try something new with an online photo-editing site: PicMonkey or Canva.

More lesson plans

Week 11
Week 10
Week 9
Week 5
Week 4
Week 3
Week 2
Week 1

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