Cross-Cultural Negotiations

B2 · Upper-intermediate1 hr 7 minBusiness EnglishLesson 5 of 8 · Outline

Aims

Goal: run a negotiation with a relationship-first, indirect-communication partner — build rapport at their pace and catch the unspoken 'no'.

The lesson, stage by stage

  1. Warm up5 min

    Warm-up: Reading the room abroad

    2 warm-up questions

  1. Reading10 min

    Reading: Negotiating Across Cultures

    Read a 252-word text about Negotiating Across Cultures

  2. Vocabulary8 min

    Vocabulary: Cross-Cultural Negotiation Vocabulary

    7 items

  3. Reading10 min

    Reading: Three model moments

    Read a 329-word text about Three model moments

  4. Practice7 min

    Practice: Match Cultural Behaviors to Descriptions

    Matching exercise, 6 items

  5. Practice7 min

    Practice: Build Cross-Cultural Negotiation Sentences

    Word-ordering exercise, 5 items

  6. Dialogue10 min

    Dialogue: Navigating a Cross-Cultural Negotiation

    Role-play: You're negotiating with a Japanese business partner who values relationship-building, indirect communication, and respect for hierarchy. Practice adapting your style. (8 lines)

  7. Discussion10 min

    Discussion: Your mission: the patient negotiation

    3 discussion questions

Open the full lesson

The remaining 7 stages of this lesson, with the procedure, the examples and the exercises, are included with Starter, along with the interactive version you can teach from. Lesson 1 of this course is free: the full plan is on this site, and a free account opens it in the interactive player.

Target vocabulary

In a Tuton account these words become your student's vocabulary deck, so they come back in practice between lessons.

high-contextlow-contextsaving facehierarchyprotocolrapportpatience

This plan comes from the Negotiations & Persuasion course in the Tuton library. Browse all free lesson plans.