Plans for next month — Workbook
1. Vocabulary in context
Complete each sentence with ONE word or phrase from the box. Two items are extra.
- We've got a clean drop for Q4 — six items, with owners and dates on each.
- The first drop is the pricing decision by day 10 — if we miss it, everything downstream slips.
- The only drop this month is the signed vendor contract — everything else is just preparation.
- Let's put the newsletter redesign in the drop for now and pick it up in November.
- Fixing the checkout typo isn't strategic, but it's a drop — one hour of work, visible to every customer.
- Before we start, we have to agree on the drop — what's in and what's explicitly out of the project.
- Great idea, but let's drop and re-open the conversation in November planning.
- We might have to drop by two weeks if the finance sign-off doesn't come through.
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2. Future forms — going to · will · present continuous
Write the correct future form for the FUNCTION in brackets.
- 'In our planning meeting last week we agreed: we ___ (open) a pop-up in Porto next month.' [pre-agreed plan]
- 'Your boss asks who'll own the pricing review. You raise your hand: I ___ own it.' [decision made just now]
- 'Checking your calendar: I ___ (meet) the Barcelona supplier at 3pm on Tuesday.' [fixed diary item]
- 'Personal prediction, not a plan: honestly, I think the market ___ (slow down) in Q4.'
- 'Promising a deadline in an email: I ___ (send) you the draft by Friday.'
- 'Recap of a signed-off plan: next quarter we ___ (launch) three new SKUs.'
- 'What time ___ you ___ (see) the client tomorrow?' [asking about a diary item]
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3. Planning-meeting register
Choose the option that sounds professional in a real monthly planning meeting.
Deferring a stakeholder's pet project — which is professional?
Announcing next month's focus — which is strongest?
Committing to a deadline in the meeting — which is strongest?
'Someone should look at pricing.' — which rewrite is strongest?
Pushing back on an unrealistic ask — which is professional?
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4. Find and fix the mistake
Each sentence has ONE grammar or register mistake typical of A2+/B1 professionals. Rewrite it correctly.
- 'We will open a pop-up in Porto next month' — said in the recap of a plan agreed three weeks ago.
- 'I'm going to send you the file, don't worry.' — said as a promise the moment your colleague asks for it.
- 'What time are you going to see the client tomorrow?' [asking about a fixed diary item]
- 'We're going to have opened the shop by December.' — talking about a planned deadline.
- 'Yeah, someone should do that eventually.'
- 'The Berlin project is on the back burner, but we're going to definitely maybe start it in Q4 probably.'
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6. Listening — 60-second planning voicemail
A senior colleague leaves a 60-second voicemail to help a new team lead prepare for her first monthly planning meeting. Listen (or read the transcript) and answer.
- What is the caller's overall goal in leaving this voicemail?
- What specific tool does the caller recommend and why?
- What does the caller explicitly tell her NOT to do in the meeting?
- Name the ONE closing tip the caller gives.
Show transcript
Greta (Senior Colleague):Hi — quick voicemail before your first monthly planning meeting tomorrow. I know you're nervous about it, so please listen.
Greta (Senior Colleague):First: do NOT try to keep every stakeholder happy by putting eleven initiatives in This Month. That is the classic first-meeting trap. It ends with nothing shipping and everyone quietly unhappy in six weeks.
Greta (Senior Colleague):Second: use the three-column board. This Month, Next Month, Later. Nothing else. Ban the words 'ongoing' and 'someday' out loud in the meeting. If nobody in the room is willing to put their name against a date, the item drops to Later. That's your one rule.
Greta (Senior Colleague):Third — and this is the important one — do the deferral messages LIVE in the meeting. Same sentence, three times: 'We're going to do this properly, but not this month — I'm scheduling the kick-off for 4 November, and I'll need X from you by then.' Send them before end of day. Nobody escalates a deferral that already has a date and a clear next input.
Greta (Senior Colleague):Do that and you walk out with three real priorities and seven honest deferrals. That's a good meeting. Good luck tomorrow.
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7. Writing — monthly planning email to the team (120–150 words)
Write the monthly planning email you'd actually send to your team (120–150 words). Structure: (1) one-sentence theme for the month, (2) the three priorities with owner + first step + date, (3) what's being deferred and to when, (4) one risk you're watching for, (5) how you'll signal to them if the plan needs to change. Use AT LEAST two 'going to' forms, one 'will' promise, and one present continuous with a fixed date. Do NOT use: 'exciting', 'lots going on', 'as always', 'stay tuned'.
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8. Case study preview
Look at this unit's Case Study. Answer briefly.
- What is the main planning challenge in the case for Unit 10, and which stakeholder is under the most pressure?
- If you were coaching that stakeholder, what is the ONE deferral sentence you would give them to say out loud — the equivalent of 'we're going to do this properly, but not this month'?
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