A note for the trainer:
- Conduct a quick recap on what was covered in the previous class.
Notes for the trainer:
Write the word ‘Company’ on the right of the board.
As a quick-fire activity, ask trainees to say which adjectives and verbs could come in front of it.
Sample answers:
family-owned
multinational
small
medium-sized
Profitable
failing
bankrupt
work for a
stay with a
Change
Notes for the trainer:
Inform your trainees that they will be looking at ‘Companies’.
Go through the agenda, pointing out the sections that trainees will be looking at.
Notes for the trainer:
Ask trainees to discuss briefly in pairs what they understand by the quotation.
With the whole class, ask pairs for their opinions.
Another example is our schools in Egypt. No matter what we do to develop schools and to change the curriculum, but we never understand that our main problem is the teacher himself. We need to train teachers and enhance their skills, then we can get better education.
Guru: (In Hinduism and Buddhism) a spiritual teacher.
Notes for the trainer:
Conduct this exercise as an open discussion.
Provide a number of points for trainees to think about for each type of company, e.g.: work environment, pay, promotion possibilities, and job security.
The answer in many cases will be 'It depends'. Teach this expression, then ask trainees to say what it depends on.
- What is the difference between an international company and a multinational company?
International companies are importers and exporters, they have no investment outside of their home country. Multinational companies, on the other hand, do have investment in other countries.
Family-owned business: Any business in which two or more family members are involved and the majority of ownership or control lies within a family. (It is the oldest form of business organization). Note that 90% of American businesses are family-owned. It’s good because it’s a long term business and the quality is maintained as it is connected to the name of the family.
Self-owned business is to have your own start-up.
- Work environment: May be more friendly in a small family business. But some family-owned businesses are multinationals with
thousands of employees, and the environment may not be that different to working in an ordinary multinational. Self-employed people working on their own sometimes complain about feeling isolated. You may feel more in control running your own company,
but there again, if you have employees to look after, this can be a big responsibility.
- Pay: Small family companies may or may not pay good wages and salaries. One issue here is that when multinationals come to an area with low unemployment, they may make it more expensive for firms in the area to employ people in office or factory
jobs. On the other hand, some multinationals are well known for paying very low wages to people in places such as fast-food outlets. The pay of self-employed people, of course, varies enormously.
- Promotion Possibilities: There will be fewer opportunities for promotion in family companies, especially if family members are in key positions. Multinationals will probably offer more scope (opportunities) - the fast-food worker may become a branch manager and possibly go even further, but examples of top managers who have risen all the way from shop-floor level are rare.
- Job Security (probability that you will keep the job): Family companies may hesitate longer before laying people off
(explain this expression) out of a feeling of responsibility towards their employees. Multinationals have had different attitudes towards laying people off, but companies in general are probably quicker to lay people off than before.
Notes for the trainer:
Before conducting this exercise, check that trainees know what the different industries are.
Practice stress and pronunciation of the names of the industries.
Write them up on the board, putting the stressed syllable in capitals: TelecommuniCAtions, EnginEERing, REtailing, etc.
Get trainees to repeat the names with the correct stress. Then get them to discuss the questions. Also ask them if there are any companies they would not like to work for.
- Retailer: a person or business that sells goods to the public in relatively small quantities for use or consumption rather than for resale. [Supermarkets or Hypermarkets]
A note for the trainer:
- Inform your trainees that they will be looking at the vocabulary used to describe companies and that used in company reports to describe performance.
Answers:
1) Toyota
2) Japanese
3) fashion/retail ( … which is a fashion retailer)
4) American Express
5) Pharmaceuticals (Roche is a Swiss pharmaceutical company.)
6) Korean
7) Nokia
8) Finnish (Which is specialized in telecommunications)
9) Container-ship operator (hapa-gloyed)
10) Oil and gas
Notes for the trainer:
Share the link to the online Matching Game.
Advise trainees to do the exercise individually or in pairs.
Check answers with them.
OR
- Conduct it as a hangman activity (unhide the next slide).
OR
- Conduct it as a laminate activity (refer to the ‘Describing Companies’ file located in the ‘Handouts’ folder).
Answers:
1) turnover (Point out that this is only used in BrE. Americans just talk about 'sales'.) Note that “turnover” refers also to employees joining and leaving a company.
2) net profit
3) parent company
4) workforce
5) market share
6) head office
7) share price
8) subsidiary
A note for the trainer:
Click on “Click me” hyperlink to take you to the ‘Hangman Game’ PPT.
A note for the trainer:
- Get trainees to do this exercise individually or in pairs.
Answers:
1) turnover (Point out that this is only used in BrE. Americans just talk about 'sales'.)
2) net profit
3) parent company
4) workforce
5) market share
6) head office
7) share price
8) subsidiary
Notes for the trainer:
Ask trainees to complete the extract from a company report using appropriate words or phrases from the box.
When done, move on to the next slide, play the recording and let trainees correct themselves.
Audio track: 1_17
Cash flow: the amount of money moving into and out of a business.
Notes for the trainer:
Conduct this exercise as an open discussion or in groups.
Refer to the next slide for some useful phrases and expressions trainees may use.
A note for the trainer:
- Inform your trainees that they will be listening to Susan Barratt, the Chief Executive Officer of Nature's Way Foods, a fresh food preparation and packaging company. She talks about what makes the company so successful.
A note for the trainer:
Conduct this exercise as a warm up right before going through the listening part.
Audio track: 1_18
A note for the trainer:
- Flip slides for one-by-one answers.
- CEO stands for Chief Executive Officer. He is the person with the most important position in a company.
Audio track: 1_19
Answers:
1) markets (in which they operate)
2) products
3) time [time-poor = lacking free time]
4) Miles [food miles = the distance a food item takes to be transported from producer to consumer]
5) run
6) volume
7) millions
8) efficient
9) systems
Indulgence = joy
Audio track: 1_20
Answers:
1) Achieving what you set out [start] to achieve and creating a team ethic [spirit].
2) The relentlessness [continuous] of the role as a Chief Executive.
Audio track: 1_21
People
2) understanding
3) achieve
4) direction
5) enthusiasm
A note for the trainer:
- After getting familiar with the reasons for a company’s success, play this video to clarify reasons for a company’s failure.
Notes for the trainer:
Refer to the Course Book, page 17.
Inform your trainees that they will be discussing the merits of employee ownership of companies, then reading an article on either Tata or John Lewis and swap information.
Notes for the trainer:
Conduct this exercise as an open discussion or in groups.
Circulate, monitor and assist if necessary.
Discuss their findings.
- An employee-owned company: a company where the company’s employees are share holders. In these companies, employees are often given shares in the company as part of their salary.
Note for the trainer:
Refer to the Course Book, page 17.
This exercise enhances trainees’ ability to take notes from a text or a speech. It develops the skill of taking notes, which is crucial in business.
In this exercise, divide your trainees into pairs (A and B).
Ask each trainee to take 5-10 minutes to read his own passage
Give each trainee another 5 minutes to explain his article to his partner, and the latest should take notes based on what he understands.
Sample answers
- John Lewis is owned by its employees, but Tata isn't.
- Tata has got 100 subsidiaries, but John Lewis hasn't got any.
- John Lewis isn't family-owned, but Tata is.
- Both companies are successful.
Tata
- India's biggest company.
- CEO about to retire (for second time).
- Will consider candidates from outside to replace him.
- Future of group important to national economy.
- Has 100 subsidiaries (including India's biggest private-sector steel company, its biggest information-technology outsourcing company and its biggest automotive producer).
- 65% of its $71 billion revenue generated overseas.
John Lewis
- Owned by its employees
- Employs 69,000 people
- Has a 'bonus day'
- Has a reputation for trustworthy products and employees who know what they're talking about and are eager to help.
- Each employee has a say in how the company is run and has a share of the profits.
- Britain's largest example of a worker co-ownership.
- Want their staff to be happy.
A note for the trainer:
- Conduct this exercise as an open discussion.
Notes for the trainer:
Refer to the Grammar Reference in the Course Book, page 142.
Inform your trainees that they will be looking at and revising on the (sometimes tricky) differences between the Present Simple and the Present Continuous tenses.
Trainees may have met these tenses before, of course, but choosing the correct one will probably go on causing problems even when they become more advanced speakers.
A note for the trainer:
- Before projecting the the usage of the Present Simple Tense, ask trainees “When can we use the Present Simple Tense in English?”
The present simple is also used for routine activities with adverbs of frequency: always , never, sometimes, generally, often, etc.
Extra Information
A note for the trainer:
- Before projecting the explanation, ask your trainees “Where is the right place to put frequency adverbs in a sentence? Before or after the verb?”
Notes for the trainer:
Project the sentences.
Ask trainees, randomly, to answer each sentence.
Sample answers:
I usually get up at seven in the morning.
I normally have breakfast before 8 a.m.
I’m always tired on Sunday evenings.
I sometimes study English in the evening.
I’m never late for class.
A note for the trainer:
- Make sure trainees use the Simple Present tense when conducting this activity.
A note for the trainer:
- Before projecting the usage of the Present Continuous Tense, ask trainees “When can we use the Present Continuous Tense in English?”
Describing temporary situations includes 2 points:
1) Talking about something happening at this moment.
- Sarah is studying her lessons
- It is snowing out there
- The children are sleeping, so please be quiet.
2) Talking about something that is happening around the time of speaking (period of time) but not necessarily at the exact moment
- A company marketing director can say “we are improving the way we sell our products” even when she is not at work.
- We are planning a trip to Jamaica.
- I’m reading a great book. (not necessary at the moment of speaking)
- We are constantly improving the way we sell our products.
A note for the trainer:
- Feel free to explain the key words and project the extra examples in the next slide, depending on the level of your trainees.
Extra information
Notes for the trainer:
- Feel free to conduct this as extra information.
- Inform trainees that these verbs can never be used in any progressive tense (neither the Present Continuous Tense nor the Past Continuous tense).
Notes for the trainer:
Get trainees to do this exercise in pairs.
Ask them to act as if they are doing something (e.g., driving, swimming, eating, etc.).
Let the other partner guess what his colleague is doing. Examples: (She’s swimming. - He’s dancing.)
Answers:
Are holding
Are using/ use
Works/ is writing
Deals/ am dealing
Come/ am living
wants
Answers:
Are
Offer
Have
Are growing
Employ
Are considering
Are preparing
Are looking
Need
offer/ are offering
Notes for the trainer:
This activity is about developing the crucial Soft Skills that they need to work on to be ready to join a workplace, which are interviewing and communication skills.
Explain that trainees are going to role-play a job interview, following the instructions in the role play boxes.
Point out that they will need to be careful about when they use the present simple and when they use the present continuous.
Get one or two pairs to perform the role-play for the whole class.
When trainees have done the role-play once, praise strong points.
Ask trainees to come up with their own interviewing questions and relate it to their own track (in terms of technical questions), and come up with their own role-play.
A note for the trainer:
- Ask trainees what experience they have of giving presentations both in their own language and in English. What did they find most difficult in each case? (Surveys show that speaking in front of an audience is the activity that most managers fear above all else, even in their own language.)
A note for the trainer:
- Play the video to grab trainees’ attention to the fact that fear of public speaking is something normal and a common issue; however, you need to find a channel to release your stress by rehearsing, reading about your presentation’s topic and being well-prepared for your presentation.
Audio track: 1_22
Answers:
To talk about his company.
A group of prospective employees.
- Prospective employees: people who are expected to be hired.
Audio track: 1_22
First
2) After that
3) Next
4) Finally
Audio track: 1_23
Notes for the trainer:
Prepare trainees for what they are going to hear by getting them to look at the chart.
Play the recording two or three times as necessary, stopping after key pieces of information, and get students to complete the chart.
Answers:
Florence
Clothing and fashion accessories
€300 million
€28 million
Talented team of young designers, first-class distribution system, creative advertising and promotion.
Advertises on all Italian TV networks and in other major European markets; sponsors fashion shows; products are endorsed by music and sport celebrities.
Answers:
D
E
A
B
C
A note for the trainer:
- Conduct this exercise as an open discussion.
A note for the trainer:
- Refer to the Course Book (pages 20 & 21) and the Teacher’s Manual (pages 24 & 25 ).
Audio track: 1_24
Reasons for falling profits:
Prices: Looking high, as two main competitors have cut theirs
Products: Not a very wide range of flavours; packaging not very exciting; need more new, exciting products; more health-conscious products (e.g. fat-free flavours, natural ingredients, no additives)
Equipment: Needs upgrading, especially fleet of trucks
Environment: Recycle containers; take fat out of waste products; give pure water to local communities
Outlets: Need more, in addition to supermarkets and ice-cream stores
Notes for the trainer:
Set the writing task for homework or get trainees to do it in pairs in class.
For more information on writing proposals and a proposal sample, please refer to the Writing File in the Course Book, page 127.
Give a rough maximum number of words for the proposal - perhaps 200-250 words, depending on the level of class.
Refer to the Teacher’s Manual (page 204) for a model answer.
Notes for the trainer:
- Conduct a quick recap.
- Invite questions, if trainees have any.
