Making Contacts: present tenses for networking and small talk
About this lesson
A B2 Business English lesson plan on networking and small talk in English, with the present simple and present continuous.
- Grammar
- The present simple for jobs and company facts (We roast six days a week.), the present continuous for now and current projects (We're expanding into Europe.), and state verbs.
- Topic
- Networking at a coffee trade fair, from a profile on the fair's app to a first talk at a stand, with words like elevator pitch and sales lead.
- Activities
- Two app profiles to read, a talk at the stand to hear, self-checking drills, a chat and a speaking wheel, then a follow-up message and a recorded introduction.
What's inside
Chapter 1Warm-up: Name Badges On
Chapter 2Reading: Who's Who at the Fair
Chapter 3Listening: A Tasting and a Handshake
Chapter 4Grammar: What Do You Do? What Are You Doing?
- Study the scheme: present simple or present continuous?Grammar schemeTry it
- Choose the correct form: present simple or present continuousChoose the optionUnlock
- Put the verbs in the present simple or the present continuousFill in the gapsTry it
- Choose the correct answer: state verbs and two meaningsQuizUnlock
- Drag the verbs into Claire's message to her teamDrag and dropUnlock
Chapter 5Speaking: Work the Room
Chapter 6Homework: Keep in Touch
Networking vocabulary
10 words and phrases from the lesson, each with a picture and audio in edio.
+7 more with pictures and audio in the lessonMore words
- break the ice
- elevator pitch
- follow up on
- supplier
- procurement
- sales lead
- in the pipeline
Grammar: present simple and present continuous at work
A first conversation at a trade fair moves between two tenses. The present simple gives what stays true: a job, a company, a routine (I'm in procurement.). The present continuous gives what is happening now or for a while: this week's tastings, a current project, a trend. Learners tell What do you do? from What are you doing?, keep state verbs out of the -ing form and meet three verbs with two meanings.
Present simple or present continuous?
Facts and routines, or now and for a while? And the verbs that don't usually take -ing.
Facts and routines, or now and for a while
Jobs, routines, schedules and company facts take the present simple: We roast coffee six days a week. The fair opens at nine. The present continuous, am, is or are + -ing, covers right now, temporary situations, current projects and trends: We're expanding into Europe.
Two presents, two jobs
Present simple: facts and routines
- Jobs and permanent facts: I work for Kade Hotels.
- Routines: We roast coffee six days a week.
- Company facts: Wrenfield supplies about 300 businesses in Oregon and Washington.
- Schedules: The fair opens at nine every morning.
- Asking about a job: What do you do?
Present continuous: now and for a while
- Right now: We're pouring our Ethiopian this morning.
- Temporary situations: Claire is staying in Amsterdam this week.
- Current projects: We're expanding into Europe.
- Trends and changes: More and more guests are asking for better coffee.
- Asking about now: What are you doing?
The forms
| Form | Present simple | Present continuous |
|---|---|---|
| Positive | I/you/we/they work · he/she/it works | I'm · he/she/it's · we/you/they're working |
| Negative | I don't work · she doesn't work | I'm not · she isn't · they aren't working |
| Question | Do you work…? · Does he work…? | Are you working…? · Is she working…? |
Signal words: usually or at the moment?
Usually, every month and on Mondays point to the present simple: Claire usually works from the Portland office. Right now, at the moment, this week and more and more point to the present continuous: More and more guests are asking for better coffee.
| Present simple | Present continuous |
|---|---|
| usually · often · sometimes · never | now · right now · at the moment |
| every day · every month · twice a week | this week · this month · this fall |
| on Mondays · in the mornings · all year round | Look! · Listen! · more and more |
State verbs stay simple
Verbs of knowing, wanting, liking and owning, plus seem and depend, describe states, so they normally take no -ing, even with now: I know that coffee, not I'm knowing; We need a new supplier; It depends on the price, not It's depending.
| Meaning | Verbs | Example |
|---|---|---|
| Knowing and believing | know, believe, understand, mean | I know that coffee. (not I'm knowing) |
| Wanting and liking | want, need, prefer, like, love | We need a new supplier. (not we are needing) |
| Owning | own, belong, have (= own) | Kade has twenty-eight hotels. The grinder belongs to the fair. |
| Other states | seem, depend | It depends on the price. (not it's depending) |
Think, have and see: two meanings
Three verbs change meaning with the form: I think it's excellent (an opinion) but We're thinking about a new supplier (considering); We have twelve cafés (owning) but I'm having lunch with a buyer (an action); I see what you mean (understanding) but I'm seeing a lot of buyers (meeting).
| Verb | State: simple | Action: continuous |
|---|---|---|
| think | opinion: I think it's excellent. | considering: We're thinking about a new supplier. |
| have | own: We have twelve cafés. | eat, do, take part: I'm having lunch with a buyer. |
| see | understand: I see what you mean. | meet: I'm seeing a lot of buyers this week. |
Typical mistakes
“What are you doing?” “I'm a procurement manager.”
“What do you do?” “I'm a procurement manager.”
A job is a fact: present simple. What are you doing? asks about right now.
I'm knowing Lukas from the fair.
I know Lukas from the fair.
know is a state verb.
It's depending on the price.
It depends on the price.
depend is a state verb.
We are needing more cups this week.
We need more cups this week.
A state verb stays simple, even with this week or now.
Since when? How long?
For something that started in the past and is still true (since 2019, for five years), use neither present: I've worked here since 2019, not I work here since 2019 or I'm working here since 2019. That's the present perfect: more in the next lesson.
More lessons on this grammar: Present simple vs present continuous lessons and exercises · Present simple lessons and exercises · Present continuous lessons and exercises
Try the present tenses for networking exercises
Try them yourself: these are the same exercises your students do in edio.
What's in the lesson
- 10 auto-checked exercises
- 3 games
- 2 teacher-checked tasks
- 2 real-life documents
- 1 grammar scheme
- 1 set of word cards
- 1 audio clip
- 1 picture
- 1 transcript
The main objectives of this lesson are to:
- introduce yourself and your company in the present simple: I'm in procurement. We supply about 300 businesses in Oregon and Washington.
- talk about current projects and trends in the present continuous: This week I'm tasting a lot of coffee. More and more guests are asking for better coffee.
- keep state verbs in the simple form and spot the verbs with two meanings: It depends on the price. We're thinking about a smaller roaster.
- follow up after a trade fair with a short message that ends in a clear next step: a call, a meeting or a document
Lesson 1 of Business English B2 · A Year at Wrenfield opens the unit First contacts, whose four lessons cover networking, a company's story, a business lunch and emails. It returns to the present simple and present continuous, which English A1.2 first sets side by side, adds state verbs and verbs with two meanings, and points ahead to the present perfect of lesson 2. At a trade fair, one introduction needs both tenses: what a company does, and what it's doing this year.
The warm-up opens discussion boxes about networking events, then ten word cards with pictures and audio, from break the ice to in the pipeline, and a matching task. Students read two profiles on the fair's networking app, by the founder of Wrenfield, a fictional coffee roaster in Portland, Oregon, and by a Dutch hotel group's procurement manager, then hear the two meet at her stand in an AI-voiced dialogue. After the scheme come four self-checking drills, ending with the founder's message to her team. In the speaking chapter, students choose the most professional replies in a chat with the buyer after the fair, then spin a wheel of prompts, from an elevator pitch to ending a conversation politely.
Homework starts with two self-checking tasks: the right forms for a new colleague's profile, and a memory game of phrases and meanings. Then students write a follow-up message after an event and record a two-minute introduction for a possible client, both reviewed by the teacher.
- Grammar:
- present simple · present continuous · state verbs
- Topic:
- networking · trade fairs · introductions
Teaching tips
- Have students write their own app profile first: company, based in, here to meet, right now. Set beside the two profiles in the reading, it shows which lines need the present continuous.
- Turn the room into a trade fair: half the group staffs a stand, the other half walks around asking What do you do? and What are you working on at the moment?, then they swap.
- With a one-to-one client, start from their real company: its facts and routines in the present simple, this quarter's projects in the present continuous. Note each state verb with -ing and replay the sentence at the end.
- Play the stand conversation with two columns on the board, always and this week. Students sort what they hear, such as I buy the food and drink and I'm tasting a lot of coffee.
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The whole course: Business English B2 · A Year at Wrenfield
20 lessons at B2 in American English that follow a year at Wrenfield Coffee Roasters in Portland, Oregon, as founder Claire Morgan and her team win a Dutch hotel contract. Learners network, write emails, run meetings, negotiate, handle complaints and present figures, with one grammar point per lesson.See the course
Unit 1 First contacts
networking, a company story, a business lunch and emails: present tenses, the present perfect, question tags, indirect questions
Lesson 1 · you're hereMaking ContactsPresent simple and present continuous at work
Lesson 2Our Story: From Cart to RoasteryPresent perfect and past simple for company history
Lesson 3The Business LunchQuestion tags and short answers
Lesson 4Emails That Get AnswersIndirect questions and polite requests
Unit 2 Meetings and figures
scheduling, sales figures, running a meeting and negotiating: future forms, trends, gerunds and infinitives, conditionals
Unit 3 Problems and growth
a complaint, a late shipment, a launch and hiring: the present perfect continuous, the passive, comparatives, relative clauses
Unit 4 Reports, prices and feedback
reporting back, explaining prices, expenses and feedback: reported speech, linking words, modals of obligation, past modals
Unit 5 Looking back and ahead
what went wrong, other cultures, an agency and next year: the third and mixed conditionals, past deduction, the causative, the future perfect
