Career · Lesson Plan
Business Telephone Skills
The telephone can dominate your workday unless you manage it. This lesson teaches students to take charge of business calls: scheduling and prioritizing outward calls, filtering inward calls so they don’t interrupt focused work, and — most importantly — listening actively to capture an accurate message using encouraging prompts and clarifying questions. Practical etiquette and efficiency skills for any job.
For Teachers
Lesson at a glance
- Topic
- Career
- Grade Level
- Grades 9–12
- Resource Type
- Lesson + Worksheet
- Estimated Time
- 45–60 minutes
- Format
- Lesson + activity
- Materials
- Printable lesson, activity sheet, whiteboard
What Students Learn
Learning objectives
- Schedule and prioritize outward calls
- Filter inward calls to protect focused work
- Practice active rather than passive listening
- Use prompts and questions to capture an accurate message
- Apply basic business telephone etiquette
Materials
What you’ll need
- Printed lesson and activity (one per student)
- Pencils
- Telephone (for role-play, optional)
Key Terms
Vocabulary
- Active listening
- Listening with prompts and questions to confirm the message.
- Passive listening
- Letting a caller talk without confirming understanding.
- Prioritize
- Order tasks by importance and urgency.
- Filtering
- Screening calls so they don’t interrupt other work.
- Etiquette
- The accepted polite conduct for a situation.
- Reformulating
- Restating what a caller said to confirm it.
For Teachers
Lesson plan
Estimated time: one 45–60 minute class period.
Lesson sequence
- Manage the phone (12 min). Scheduling and prioritizing outward calls; filtering inward calls.
- Active listening (15 min). Encouraging prompts and clarifying (wh-) questions to get an accurate message.
- Etiquette (10 min). Professional phone manner and efficiency.
- Role-play (11 min). Students practice a business call using active listening.
Assessment
Assess the role-play for call management and accurate, active listening.
Discussion
Discussion questions
- How can you keep the telephone from dominating your day?
- What is the difference between active and passive listening?
- How do you prioritize the calls you need to make?
- Why filter inward calls during focused work?
- What questions help you capture an accurate message?
Printable Lesson & Activity
Business Telephone Skills — Lesson & Activity
A printable lesson and activity on business telephone skills: scheduling and prioritizing calls, filtering interruptions, and active listening.
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