In Company Web Guides - Pre Intermediate level

In Company Second Edition Web Guides

Pre-intermediate

The In Company Web Guides provide a quick and helpful way to motivate your students and contain resources which are up-to-date and enjoyable. Click on the unit numbers below to jump to the units you want:

General
Quotes
http://www.planware.org/quotes.htm
Every unit in In Company begins with a short quote. Here are a lot of quotes that are linked to business.

Unit 1
Social networking
http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/List_of_social_networking_websites
Ask students to compare some of these sites.

Business collocations
http://esl.about.com/library/business/bl_vocab_buscollocations1.htm
To expand your students' business collocations why not encourage them to try this online quiz?

Unit 2
Woman at work
http://postcards.blogs.fortune.cnn.com/2009/10/26/40-under-40-where-are-the-women/http://money.cnn.com/magazines/fortune/mostpowerfulwomen/2009/index.html
Find out who are the most successful women in business.

Taking things easy
http://www.arc.sbc.edu/stressquiz.html
You or your students could take this online stress quiz to see how stressed or relaxed your lives are. The quiz fits in nicely with the material on page 14 as it includes adverbs of frequency.

Unit 3
Telephone skills
http://esl.about.com/library/weekly/aa092000a.htm
Lots of links to telephone skills materials.

http://www.esl-lab.com/tel1.htm
So what exactly do you say? All those role plays and listening activities are all well and good but if you get the basics wrong . Students can practise getting it right first time with this online listening task, which can be done as text only as well.

Unit 4
Asking questions
http://www.linguarama.com/ps/294-3.htm
Meeting people for the first time and starting a conversation can be quite difficult, especially in a foreign language. Here's a chance for students to practise with some typical questions and responses.

Describing other people
http://www.talkeasy.co.uk/link/materials/esl11.html
Useful vocabulary for describing other people.

Unit 5
Company histories
http://www.nintendo.com/corp/history.jsp
On page 30 there is a short history of Nintendo, the Japanese entertainment company. Here is a fuller version of the company history which could be turned into a jigsaw information gap activity.

Future of the internet
http://news.bbc.co.uk/1/hi/technology/5370688.stm
Insights into the future of the internet. Ask students to carry out thier own prediction surveys.

Unit 6
Correspondence
http://www.linguarama.com/ps/grammar.htm
Here is a selection of grammar activities all with a business theme. Select the ones that you think will help your students the most (or that link in with a particular unit in the book, eg, simple past Vs present perfect for Unit 9).

E-mails
http://www.eslnetworld.com/email2.html
http://jerz.setonhill.edu/writing/e-text/e-mail.htm
http://www.teachingenglish.org.uk/try/lesson-plans/email-writing
Three sites devoted to teaching your students more about e-mails. However, probably the most effective learning tip is to encourage students to practise writing e-mails to each other.

Unit 7
Hotels
http://www.esl-lab.com/checkin/checkinrd1.htm
http://www.esl-lab.com/hotel1/hotel1.htm
So your students think they know all about hotels? But, can they do the most basic thing and check-in successfully? Encourage them to try these online listening tasks to see how good their skills really are.

Comparing hotels
http://perso.wanadoo.fr/tefl.teacher/page7.htm
A couple of excellent activities specifically designed for business English students. Click on the 'View the activities in PDF form' and then use the scroll bar on the left to click on one of the last two activities; 'Ranking hotel facilities' and 'Find the differences: two hotels'. Both these activities focus on exactly the same language and topic covered in Unit 7.

Note that you need to have Adobe Acrobat Reader installed on your computer in order to read these activities (this can be downloaded for free).

Unit 8
Did I ever tell you?
http://www.bbc.co.uk/business/features/confessions/index.shtml
The BBC Business site brings you stories (and confessions) from some of the top British business people. Put your students into groups of four. Choose four stories and ask each student in the group to read a different one. Then ask students to retell their stories to the others in their group.

It's in the telling
http://www.onestopenglish.com/section.asp?sectiontype=listsummary&theme
=mag&catid=58178
Telling anecdotes isn't easy, so why not show your students some good examples? Although this site is all about teaching anecdotes, the format is clear. You'll also find that your students can relate to many of these anecdotes as they have spent quite a bit of time in classrooms (albeit 'on the other side of the fence').

Unit 9
Spirit of enterprise
news.bbc.co.uk/1/hi/programmes/working_lunch/education/2872223.stm
Not just a strange business idea, but a strange advertising technique. Use the story here for some basic comprehension questions (you could either write the questions before the lesson, or the students can write questions for each other while they read the article).

Famous entrepreneurs
http://entrepreneurs.about.com/od/famousentrepreneurs/Famous_Entrepreneurs.htm
Ask students to study some famous entrepreneurs and what made them so succesful.

Unit 10
Stressed to the limit
http://www.britcoun.org/italy/students/rome/topjobs.htm
What do you think the most stressful jobs are (in your country)? Write down your ideas and then compare them with the ideas expressed by some students in Italy. Are your ideas the same? Different? Surprising?

Stressed?
http://library.thinkquest.org/12153/stress.html
Ten tips on how to deal with stress. Start off by asking your students to write down three ways of reducing stress. Then get them to look at this web page and see if their ideas are there.

http://www.arc.sbc.edu/stressquiz.html
Two online stress tests that are designed to tell you how stressed you are. After students have taken the tests they can look at the results and see if they agree with them. Finally, why not get students to design their own stress quiz?

Unit 11
YouTube
http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/YouTube
More about YouTube.

Top jobs
Why not ask your students to find the best job they can. Direct them to any online job site (simply enter "Top jobs" in the search bar on your search engine and choose the best site for your country/region). Set a time limit and ask the students to find the best job they can and write down the details. Afterwards, ask the students to share their findings and to vote on the best job.

Unit 12
Conversation gambits
http://www.wikihow.com/Start-a-Conversation-When-You-Have-Nothing-to-Talk-About
More tips on starting coversations.

What do you say?
http://www.esl-lab.com/greet.htm
One of the key things with conversations is being able to respond appropriately. This online listening activity (which can also be done in text form) helps students practise some of the most typical exchanges.

Unit 13
Air travel
http://www.esl-lab.com/plane1/pln1.htm
http://www.esl-lab.com/airport/airportrd1.htm
One of the biggest problems with air travel is understanding the announcements at the airport. See how well your students manage with these online listening tasks.

Air rage
http://news.bbc.co.uk/1/hi/uk/309291.stm
http://www.spiked-online.com/Articles/00000002D1E3.htm
What is air rage? What is the main cause of air rage? Is air rage a big problem? These are some of the questions that students could answer after reading these two short articles on the topic.

Unit 14
CVs and Résumés
http://www.jobsite.co.uk/career/advice/cv_faq.html
What do you put on your CV and where? FAQs answered to give students a better idea of CV conventions.

http://www.how-to-write-a-resume.org
How to Write a Résumé offers free cover letter, thank you letter, and résumé writing tips. Research how to write a résumé, distribute your résumé to hiring managers, and tips for how to get an interview.

Interview questions
http://www.collegegrad.com/jobsearch/16-15.shtml
Students can practise interviews using a selection of questions from this web page which lists the 50 most frequent questions used at interviews.

http://esl.about.com/library/weekly/aa120797.htm
Another site with standard interview questions but one which goes a little further by giving example answers and commentary on the answers. The material here could easily be adapted for a role-play or simulation activity.

Unit 15
Collocations
http://www.quia.com/jg/28284.html
A couple of matching activities with time expressions - fun and educational.

Time idioms
http://www.learn-english-today.com/idioms/idiom-categories/time-idioms.htm
Idioms relating to time.

Unit 16
Getting things done
http://www.linguarama.com/ps/392-3.htm
http://www.linguarama.com/ps/196-3.htm
http://www.linguarama.com/ps/295-3.htm
http://www.bbc.co.uk/worldservice/learningenglish/radio/specials
/142_requests_offers/page9.shtml
Getting things done is often a matter of behaving in the correct way. These activities link nicely with the topics in Unit 16; such as asking favours and being polite.

Unit 17
Office gossip
http://news.bbc.co.uk/1/low/talking_point/1035367.stm
Is office gossip good for you? What do your students think? In groups, get them to discuss what they think about office gossip and then they can take a look at a few opinions posted on this site. Alternatively, print out a number of the opinions posted on this site and develop them into character cards to be used in a role play/debate on the topic of office gossip: a good thing or not?

Say Vs tell
http://home.freeuk.net/lumi/tell.htm
http://www.collegeem.qc.ca/cemdept/anglais/saytell.htm
http://www.collegeem.qc.ca/cemdept/anglais/saytell7.htm
Three sites that deal with this tricky problem. If you think your students need more practise then why not guide them here.

Unit 18
E-commerce
http://www.school-for-champions.com/ecommerce/basics.htm
Nice clear site that takes you through the basics of e-commerce and compares it to more traditional sales techniques. Looks at both the advantages and disadvantages of e-commerce and then tests students' knowledge with a fun online quiz.

http://ecommerce.about.com/cs/faqstutorials/
Everything you could ever want to know about e-commerce and more.

Unit 19
Telesales
http://www.esl-lab.com/market/marketrd1.htm
An online listening activity specifically designed for English language students. This activity is based on a telesales phone conversation.

Working from home
http://news.bbc.co.uk/1/hi/business/1454583.stm
Ask students to make two columns on a piece of paper; one with the heading Advantages and the other with the heading Disadvantages. Then get them to read through the article about working from home and write down the arguments under the appropriate headings. Use these arguments as the basis for a class discussion or debate.

http://news.bbc.co.uk/1/hi/programmes/working_lunch/2265994.stm
Another article on working from home.

Unit 20
When in Rome .
http://iteslj.org/Lessons/Kajiura-Intercultural.html
Unit 20 deals with intercultural communication and the need to understand the culture of the people with whom you are trying to do business. Here is a simple lesson plan outline which sets up a role-play/simulation activity designed to examine intercultural issues. If you like, you can give each group a set of characteristics that they need to follow (eg, Group A: you cannot say no; when you meet people you do not like any physical contact etc. Group B: you want definite answers to all your questions; you like to shake hands when you meet people and when you leave etc).

http://www.schulersolutions.com/cross_cultural_communication.html
Tips on things to be aware of when doing business with other cultures. Ask students whether they agree with the advice and if they can think of some practical examples.

http://www.linguarama.com/ps/392-1.htm
A short reading text with some vocabulary questions. A good place to start and then lead into a discussion.

www.businessenglishonline.net