For upper intermediate businessmen I use almost exclusively found news
articles from the newspaper or magazine. If you let him choose
the article from his newspaper or magazine, it ensures that outside of
class, he (1) buys and reads or at least browses through one English
language periodical per week, and (2) does a little thinking in English
about it. It also ensures (3) a topic he is interested in.
You probably know the standard techniques for working with periodical
articles: have the student read through the article and/or you
read and he listens then answers your questions about the content;
correct his pronunciation and ensure he knows the vocabulary; ask
related questions about it, initiate conversation. The main
problem is that with careless teachers this becomes rote, with the
teacher sitting chin-on-hand while the student plods through a reading,
both nodding in their seats. But if you are alert to the
possibilities-- introducing topic-associated vocabulary, bringing to
notice grammar points as they occur, constantly intercalating
invitations to discussion-- you will find current periodicals a perfect
renewable resource. Use the unique clues in each article to lead
you to what needs to be taught that day-- points of grammar, structure,
vocabulary, listening, or pronunciation.
As you learn the student's interests, you can begin selecting your own
articles on those topics from periodicals or the internet-- and these
have the advantage that you can develop them ahead of time, creating
gapping activities (delete every tenth word of the first paragraph and
have the student insert them after listening to your reading of it),
matching activities (separate the captions from the maps), and a number
of other tasks available in most ESL teacher resource and guide texts.