BusinessEnglish4U

Congratulations!

2006-12-18T18:03:00.000Z

Dear trainees,

Many Congratulations!

From now on, if you need anything, you can contact me here. Leave a comment and I'll answer as soon as possible.

I wish you all the best!

Your English trainer,

Susana Araújo

Step by step: tips for improving your English

2006-12-18T17:45:00.000Z

Dear trainees,

You have now finished this business English training and I was wondering what you would and could do to help improve your English from now on.

Here are some tips from www.learning-english.ca that could help you:

Join a conversational English course.
Go to online chat rooms and bulletin boards. Ask lots of questions!
Read a book a month.
Find an english speaking penpal.
Learn a new word every day.
Read English newspaper articles online.
Practice listening every day.
Watch English movies.

Any more suggestions?

Please, leave your comments.

Tell me what your favourite tip is.

What will your next step be?

Do you speak English? - Asking for information

2006-12-13T12:31:00.000Z

Can you see yourself in this situation?
Take a look and enjoy the humour :-)

Improve your English pronounciation - I

2006-12-13T12:27:00.000Z

Hi again!

Sometimes it's not very easy to pronounce certain words and sounds in English.
Here is a funny video of a French learning English.
The sentence you will listen is: "I would like to buy a hamburger."

As you can see, it's not just you having similar difficulties when speaking English. This is part of a process which requires a lot of practice, repetition and hard-work.

Don't give up! Keep on working and have fun learning English!

Improve & Practise your English with Borat - I

2006-12-12T23:11:00.000Z

Comedian Borat’s new movie has a very famous man who is learning english! Below is the movie trailer, with the conversation written out.
See if you can correct Borat’s English!

Borat: My name a Borat. I journalist for Khazakhstan. My government send me to U S and A to make a movie film. Please you look…

Borat: (on street) Hello nice to meet you I need talk..

Man: Go away

Borat: why, I want to talk

Borat: (on subway) Hello my name a Borat, I new in town…

(holding chicken) yes ah he bite…

Man by car: Welcome to our Country

Borat: My name a Borat…

Man by car: Ok good… I’m not used to that but thats fine…

Borat: (in classroom) What is a NOT joke?

Professor: A NOT joke is where I say, “that suit is black — NOT !”

Borat: This suit is NOT BLACK!

Professor: No no. NOT has to be the end.

Borat: OK… this suit is black not.

Professor: This suit is black pause, do you know what a pause is?

Borat: OK… this suit is black [long pause] NOT!

Borat: (as cowboy) May I say we support your war of terror.

Lady: I think that the cultural differences are vast.. and I think he is a delightful man and it wouldn’t take very much time for him to become Americanized.

Borat: (in car) You want to have a drink?

Man: You can’t drink…

Borat: (talking to black boys) I like you peoples, how can I be like you?

Borat: (in hotel) What’s up vanila face?

Borat: (with women) Is it not a problem that a women has a smaller brain than a man?

Lady: We are finished, we have to leave.

Borat: (at table) She is your wife?

Man: No, that’s my wife.

Borat: In my country they would go crazy for these two, not so much…

Borat: Please, you come see my film. If it not success I will be execute.

Share and enjoy!

source: www.learning-english.ca

Formal Writing: Application Letter

2006-11-03T08:31:00.000Z

INDIVIDUAL WORK

Look at the job advertisements below and choose the one that best suits you.
Then, write a letter applying for the job.

Formal writing: Answer to an Enquiry Letter

2006-10-30T08:29:00.000Z

GROUP WORK

Join in your groups.

Write a letter answering to the informations asked by your group colleagues from SZM and Licalelu Fashion.

Formal writing: Enquiry Letter 3

2006-10-25T08:21:00.000+01:00

GROUP WORK

Join in your groups.

Write a letter of enquiry to the bank advertised in the picture below:

Ask:

about banking services offered;
to send someone to your company for a demonstration;
about other informations you may find useful.

Formal writing: Enquiry Letter 2

2006-10-23T08:13:00.000+01:00

GROUP WORK

Join in your groups.

SZM - Industry Assistance:
Write a letter of enquiry to Licalelu Fashion, asking about:

the ordered dummy;
what materials to use/colour/size/gender;
totally robotized or partially mechanic?

Licalelu Fashion:

Write a letter of enquiry to SZM - Industry Assistance, asking about:

your project for remodeling a store;
possibility to make any future changes,
price/terms of payment.

Formal writing: Enquiry Letter

2006-10-20T08:09:00.000+01:00

INDIVIDUAL WORK

Write a letter of enquiry to Sea Stars asking about:

new sales catalogue and price list;
quantity discounts;
terms of payment.

Remember to use formal language and be aware of the formal structure of your letter.

The power of Punctuation

2006-10-14T01:59:00.000+01:00

Dear business english trainees,

Here I am again posting another activity for you. As you know, we've talked about it in classes, punctuation is very important when writing. Therefore, I would like you to look at the sentence below and try to punctuate it.
Remember that you can´t change sentence structure. You can only add punctuation.

"A woman without her man is nothing"

I'm looking forward to your posts. I just can´t wait!

Your teacher,

Susana Araújo

Informal Postcard

2006-10-13T19:05:00.000+01:00

INDIVIDUAL WORK

Informal postcard to a friend

Write an informal postcard to a friend telling him/her about your holidays.
Remember to use informal language and try to use connectors "and", "but" and the apostrophe -s ('s).

Company Facilities and Directions - Group Work presentations

2006-10-11T14:57:00.000+01:00

SZM - Industry Assistance

Company Facilities and Directions

2006-10-02T14:43:00.000+01:00

GROUP WORK

What facilities does your company have?
What facilities are near your company?

Look at this list and decide about what facilities does your company have and what facilities are near your company. You can add any other facilities.

car park for staff
bus stop or metro / underground station
drinks machines
showers
post office
banks
cafeteria
toilets
shops
phone box
special rooms for smokers
gym
good restaurants
conference room
lifts / elevators
reception area
board room

Layout Facilities

Draw the layout of your company facilities and describe it using prepositions of place: next to, in front of, between, etc, …

Directions to your company

Imagine a customer wants to go to your company but doesn't know how to get there. Write the directions to get to your company.

Humor in voicemail messages

2006-09-28T22:55:00.000+01:00

I dialed a number and got the following recording:

"I am not available right now, but thank you for caring enough to call. I am making some changes in my life. Please leave a message after the beep. If I do not return your call, you are one of those changes."

Group Writing - A Telephone Conversation

2006-09-17T19:51:00.000+01:00

Here is a telephone conversation done in class with the trainees that attended the course on the 15th September:

A- Good morning. SZM Industry Assistance. Manuel Bernardo speaking. How can I help you?

B - Good morning. Could I speak to Mr. Silva, please?

A - OK, I will put you through.

B - Thank you. I will wait.

C - Good morning. Faria da Silva speaking. How can I help you?

B - Good morning. I'm Linda Martins from Licalelu Fashion. I'm calling to ask about the new project for our store.

C - I'm sorry, but the person responsible for this project isn't in at the moment.

B - I apologize my mistake, but I didn't know you weren't the responsible for that.

C - OK, no problem. The person reponsible is Celina.

B - Could you tell her to call me back?

C - Certainly. Miss Celina is going to call back as soon as possible.

B - OK, thank you.

C - Bye-bye.

Formandos : Bernardo, José, Celina and Carla.

A company visit! - Group Work presentations

2006-09-10T17:50:00.000+01:00

A company visit to SZM - Industry Assistance

A company visit to Licalelu Fashion

A company visit!

2006-09-05T17:00:00.000+01:00

GROUP WORK

Showing a visitor around!

Join in your groups and prepare your dialogues based on the following situation:

A visitor is on a business trip to your country. He is going to visit your company.
A receptionist/Personal Assistant welcomes the visitor.
A host shows the visitor around.

Think about your roles and use your imagination. Here are some guidelines to help you.

A. Visitor

- first time visiting the company/country?
- choose topics to make small talk
- ask some details about the company you are visiting
- ask some recommendations about what to see and do in the city
- comment on the Office/company space/equipment/employees

B. Receptionist/Personal Assistant

- welcome visitor
- offer something
- choose topics to make small talk
- give some recommendations about what to see and do in the city
- take visitor to the host’s office

C. Host

- welcome visitor
- choose topics to make small talk
- answer to some details about your company
- ask about your host’s company
- show the visitor around the company

HAVE AN EXCELLENT WORK!

Create a Company - Group Work presentations

2006-09-04T18:31:00.000+01:00

These presentations refer to the post Create a Company!, posted in July.

Licalelu Fashion - a textiles company

Celicar - a computer hardware company

SZM - an industry assistance company

Summer Holidays!

2006-08-01T15:47:00.000+01:00

Just to wish you all a great Summer!
Enjoy your holidays as much as you can and I'll see you again in September!
Don't forget you may comment this post telling about your holidays [não esqueçam que podem comentar este post para falarem sobre as vossas férias].

Here are some clues to help you start:

Where did you go? [onde foi?]
What did you do? [o que fez?]

Create a Company!

2006-07-31T16:29:00.000+01:00

GROUP WORK
This was the first group work I suggested to my class. They worked on it very well. I must say that the presentations were very good as they tried hard always to speak in English and they also interacted with each other (group to group) asking and answering questions about their brand new invented companies.
Well done class!

Create a Company!

Join in groups and create a company with your partners. Follow these steps.
Then, present your company to the rest of the group.

1. Type of industry
2. Company name
3. Location
4. Main Activity
5. Products and/or services
6. Number of employees
7. Factories, subsidiaries, …
8. Organization chart
9. Your responsibilities, duties, daily routines
10. Customers/suppliers/competitors
11. Deliveries
12. Advertisements
13. Payment conditions

Company Presentation 2

2006-07-31T16:25:00.000+01:00

Here is the second work proposal from Module 4: Company Presentation.
I expect the works to be published in September, as we are now "closed" for holidays!

WRITTEN WORK

Present and describe your company:

1. Structure and location

2. The activity of your department

3. Your department’s staff

4. Your department’s equipment

Company Presentation 1

2006-07-31T16:00:00.000+01:00

Here is the first work proposal from the previous module (Module 4: Company Presentation).
The class did very well (apart from two trainees that didn't do it at all). This blog didn't exist then, so the works weren´t published. However, I expect them to be published when we come back from holidays. That is in September ;-)

WRITTEN WORK 1

Draw the organization chart of your company. Include:

· the different departments

· the hierarchic relations between them

· your and other departments’ responsibilities, duties, daily routines

You've got mail! - to José Silva

2006-07-21T18:50:00.000+01:00

Good afternoon José!
Hope everything's OK!
Here you are some translation programmes that you asked about:
Smart Translator 2.0
Global Translator
Babylon Pro 4.0
Babylon 6
You can download the last one at http://www.babylon.com/affiliates/landing/index.php?id=CD269&camp=74&lang=eng&WT.srch=1
If you need anything else, I'll be glad to help.
Have a nice weekend!

What are you going to do this weekend?

2006-07-21T17:53:00.000+01:00

second chill out task:
Good afternoon everybody!
How are you?
Are you still working? Don't worry ... Weekend is coming! That's great!
By the way, [a propósito] what are you going to do this weekend?
Me? Well, the usual [ o habitual]. On Saturday, I'm going to do some house cleaning and then I'm going to visit my parents. At night, I'm going out for a nice coffee. On Sunday morning, I'm going to get up early and I'm going to have my breakfast in a coffee esplanade near [perto] my flat. I haven't made plans for the afternoon yet. [haven´t made ... yet = ainda não fiz]
What about you?

2006-07-19T01:12:00.000+01:00

Hi again class!
Hard day at work? Let's chill out a bit.

Here is your first chill out task:

Post a short text introducing yourself. Say your name, where you work and what your work reponsibilities are, etc, etc, ...

Feel free to express yourself and...have FUN!

2006-07-18T18:55:00.001+01:00

Hi there class!

How are you doing?
I created this blog for you.

Here you will:

work to improve your business english language skills outside classes
make comments and suggestions
publish your works

and I will:

provide you extra activities&material
guide you through links on business english language learning
help you whenever you need

Best wishes of a nice work!

Your English Teacher

2006-07-02T02:07:00.000+01:00

WELCOME!

Hello and welcome to our Business English blog!
We are a class of 13 portuguese adult trainees attending a Business English course in Filomarketing, Lda, in Vermoim, Famalicão.
This is our virtual learning environment where we can work autonomously to improve our business english language skills.
Feel free to wander around and leave us your comments and suggestions.
We would be very grateful!