2.2.2 DESCRIBING PROBLEMS AND SOLUTIONS

DESCRIBING PROBLEMS AND SOLUTIONS

1. Warm up

Can you describe a time when something didn’t go as planned? How did you handle it?

Have you ever had to solve a difficult situation on your own? What did you do?

Tell me about a project that didn’t go smoothly. What lessons did you learn?

How do you decide what to do first when multiple issues appear at the same time?

Do you prefer to deal with problems immediately or wait and think first? Why?

Can delaying a decision sometimes make a situation worse? Give an example.

2A. Vocabulary

Look at the words in bold in the following sentences.

  1. The engineering team spent the afternoon troubleshooting a software issue that was causing the system to crash.
  2. It’s a long shot, but if we submit the proposal early, there’s still a chance it will be approved.
  3. The launch was delayed by a minor technical hiccup, but everything is now back on track.
  4. The patch was intended as a quick fix, not a permanent solution to the underlying problem.
  5. Limited funding has become a major obstacle to expanding the project further.
  6. The investigation revealed a manufacturing defect that could affect the product’s safety.
  7. Instead of relying on short-term measures, the company is investing in long-term solutions to improve efficiency and stability.
  8. The quick fix solved the immediate problem, but it didn’t address the underlying issue.
  9. After weeks of testing, the engineers finally identified the root cause of the system failure.
  10. The team faced a major setback when the supplier delayed the delivery of critical materials.

2B. 

2C. Discussion questions

2D. Problem-Solution Brainstorm

Look at the following complex problems. In small groups, for each one, list:

Quick fixes

long-term solutions

possible obstacles

underlying issues/root causes

3A. Listening: Problem solving

https://www.linguahouse.com/esl-lesson-plans/business-english/problem-solving/audioplayer/problem-solving-ex3

3B. Dialogue completion

3C. Useful phrases

Look at the expressions related to problems and solutions.

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3D. Role plays

In pairs, role play the following situations using the expressions from this lesson. Take turns to be Colleague A and Colleague B.

You can’t get hold of the sales director and you need to speak to her immediately because  one of your clients has an urgent request.

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You haven’t received any payment from one of your clients.

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One of your best clients is thinking about switching to one of your competitors.

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4.Debates

Divide into 2 groups, For and Against.

Then decide on which topic to talk about first.

  • Technology solves more problems than it creates.
  • Modern lifestyles create more problems than they solve.
  • Governments should focus on prevention rather than fixing problems after they occur.

5. Describing problems

Study the following adjectives:

critical     insignificant     irrelevant     minor     ongoing     persistent     severe      trivial     unimportant     urgent

Now describe the following problems using the adjectives from this exercise:

      1. You are stuck in traffic and will be a few minutes late for your English lesson.
      2. Your computer suddenly breaks down.
      3. You are making breakfast and you discover that you have run out of coffee.
      4. One of your colleagues is late for work almost every day.
      5. A financial crisis has seriously affected your company’s profits.
      6. You are in an important business meeting and it starts to rain outside.

The images used in this topic were taken from Pexels.

 

To download the pdf for this topic, click on the link: https://drive.google.com/file/d/1ctmPDB35RHoMLKucXbSyf4bar2B2dyJ4/view?usp=sharing

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