Language and communication are a core aspect of teaching and learning in mathematics, and teacher dialogue is central to this. As part of a larger project that explores how mathematics classroom language is impacted by standardised testing, this paper explores how two teachers use language in "redirecting," "progressing," and "focusing actions" in the introduction aspects of two different lesson types. The data suggest that the lesson intentions lead to very different interactions of dialogue, and this dialogue in turn points to different approaches to teaching mathematics.