Who's naughty and who's nice?

It’s hard to miss the hundreds of top ten articles circulating at this time of year. The end of the decade has added another reason to do the annual survey and rank everything from bad business deals to the best travel gadgets. If you have somehow missed them, Time magazine has cornered the market with their “Top 10 everything of 2009” feature.

Interestingly, the lists are not always without controversy. It was already too late in the game for Golf Digest to stop press when its "Ten Tips Obama Can Take From Tiger" cover story came out this week. Tiger Woods' recent scandal has prompted numerous letters to the editor.

Critics claim that list-writing signals a significant decline in journalistic ability, but one nice aspect is that these lists make great teaching material. They’re entertaining, easy to read and offer plenty of room for student input.

Following the motto, “If you can’t beat ‘em, join ‘em”, here are my ten – make that 11 — top ten lists for the business English classroom:

• 10 business lessons you’ve learned since 2000.
• 10 ways that you’ve developed yourself professionally.
  
• 10 qualities you’d like to see in your colleagues.
  
• 10 areas your company needs to focus on in 2010.
  
• 10 questions you’d like to ask your boss.
  
• 10 reasons you deserve a raise.
  
• 10 clients that you’ve enjoyed working with.
  
• 10 changes you’d like to make at work.
  
• 10 ways you’ve improved your business English.
  
• 10 phrases or vocabulary items that you now use confidently.
  
• 10 memorable classroom activites.

So if the holiday rush has left you with little time to plan, simply ask your students to make a list and, as the song goes, check it twice.

Happy holidays.