INGLESE
Facoltà di Economia
II Semestre a.a. 2013 – 2014
30 ore - 4 CFU
Dott. Alice Endellion MACKENZIE
mackenzie@unisi.it
Prerequisiti
Livello B1 - COUNCIL OF EUROPE
(PET – BEC- preliminary)
BEC – Idoneità
Già consegnato e verbalizzato online
IMPORTANTE
Se la prenotazione all'appello non rispetta la
sequenza stabilita dalle regole di
propedeuticità l'esame sostenuto sarà
annullato.
Il B1 deve essere già verbalizzato online per
poter accedere all’iscrizione all’appello della
prova d’Inglese di questo corso.
Esame Fuori Corso
L’esame fuori corso è riservata agli studenti:
- fuori corso
- a tempo parziale
- agli iscritti all’ultimo anno di corso per l’anno
accademico di riferimento
Course Level: B1 + / B2
Lavorando verso B2
Working towards level B2
In the
Common European Framework of Reference
I risultati
I risultati con l’esito della prova saranno sempre
caricati sulla segreteria online dopo una o due
settimane max.
www.https://segreteriaonline.unisi.it
Valutazione della Porva: IDONEO / NON IDONEO
Verbalizzazione sul libretto
cartaceo
Sarà possibile verbalizzare la prova sul libretto
cartaceo durante ricevimento.
Controllate online per eventuale variazioni con avvisi
riguarda l’orario di ricevimento
Ricevimento
Mercoledì dalle 12:00 alle 13:00
mackenzie@unisi.it
Durante periodo delle lezioni
Presso Dip. Studi Aziendali e Giuridici
Laboratorio Linguistico
Calendario
Inizio corso: 7 marzo 2014
Fine corso: 9 maggio 2014
Gruppo [00-49]
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Mercodelì dalle 10:00 alle 12:00 Aula Caparrelli
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Venerdì dalle 08:00 alle 10:00 Aula Caparrelli
Gruppo [50 – 99]
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Mercoledì dalle 14:00 alle 16:00 Aula Caparrelli
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Venerdì dalle 10:00 alle 12:00 Aula Caparrelli
AIMS
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To improve reading comprehension skills and help develop
general awareness of the particular language used in economic
or business type articles.
To become more familiarised with a set of business and
economic vocabulary via the acquisition of the key words and
phrases and via the analysis of their patterns of collocation and
word formation.
To consolidate language accuracy via the analysis and
practice of the key grammar items from B1+ up to elements of
B2 level.
To enhance writing skills in an economic or business context
in such a way to encourage students to writing more
effectively and appropriately.
Course Reading and Vocabulary
Topics
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Companies and Start-ups
Finance and Corporate Governance
Marketing and Advertising
Manufacturing and Productivity
Innovation and Creativity
Describing Statistics/ Graphs and Trends/Numbers
Jobs: Job Seeking -Recruitment – Interviewing
Career Management –Job Motivation -Absenteeism
Protecting the Environment
Economics and Happiness
E-Business
Trade – Fair Trade - Ethics
Writing Focus
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Business letters
Letter of complaint
Letter of enquiry
Thank you letters
Letter of appology
Invitation to conferences
E-mails for making/confirming arrangements
Job application letter /cover letter
Rejection letters – Letter of appointment – and
corresponding replies
Grammar Content (B1 + - B2)
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Present simple and continuous, present perfect
Past simple, past continuous, past perfect simple and continuous
Future forms (be going to + inf, present continuous, will/shall + inf
All conditionals and future time clauses
Future perfect and future continuous
The Passive: All forms
Gerunds and infinitives
Comparatives and superlatives
Adjectives, adverbs and adverbial phrases
Phrasal verbs (a selection)
Relative pronouns and defining/non defining relative clauses
Reported speech
Modals of obligation, deduction, ability and possibility
Past modals (must/might/can't, etc. + have past participle)
Structures after wish
Used to/ be used to/ get used to
Clauses of purpose and contrast
Prepositions in economic context
You should already be familiar with the following
grammar questions and able to answer them.
Make sure you also cover the B1 + level and some
B2 elements of grammar which will be covered in
this course:
See part II of grammar section in Dispensa for B2
elements.
Grammar type questions B1 level
1 She _______ if he’d ever been to Spain.
a) said
b) told
c) told me
d) asked
2 The product _______ three times before it goes to the packaging
area.
a) is tested
3
b) tests
c) are testing
d) are tested
They are planning _____ their new campaign next Spring.
a) launch
b) launching
c) to go launching
d) to launch
4) You look exhasted!
I am. I ………………infront of the computer all
morning.
a)worked
b)have been working
c)did work
5) How long………….you ………….English?
Since October. (learn)
6) When I woke up this morning, I could hear that it
…………very hard. (rain)
1: Which one of the following expresses a future possibility?
John ____________ computer science at university next year.
a) might study
c) will study
b) is going to study
d) is studying
2: Which one is NOT possible? I'll call you when __________.
a) I've arrived
c) I'll arrive
b) I'm arriving
d) I arrive
4: Which future form is correct and natural?
Guess what? _____________ married next spring!
a) I'll get
c) I'm going to get
b) I'm getting
d) I get
5: Which expression describes time in the past, and not
the future?
a) from now on
b) one day
c) in the old days
d) sooner or later
6:Which sentence expresses a definite future
intention/plan?
Mary ______________ a new house.
1.
might buy
2.
may buy
3.
is going to buy/ is buying
4.
is thinking about buying
Other grammar type questions:
Transform and finish the sentence to have the same
meaning:
1) «Have you got the documents we need?»
She asked whether I ……………………………..
2) “Are you still working for Novartis?”
He asked if I …….still …………….....................
You also need to know (B2)
• Third Conditional
• Structures after Wish
• Future time clauses
• Future Perfect and Future Continuous
• More verbs which take Gerund or Infinitive
• Past modals: must/might/can’t etc. + have + past
participle (deductions and speculations about past
actions)
• Reporting verbs (some)
Grammar Practice online
http://www.examenglish.com/FCE/fce_grammar.htm
http://www.bbc.co.uk/worldservice/learningenglish/q
uizzes/quiznet/archive_2003.shtml
15 Lessons
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1 - Course Presentation
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2 - Companies
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3 – Company Finances
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4 – Marketing and Selling
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5 – Brand Management
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6 - Advertising
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7 –Innovation & Creativity
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8 –Describing Statistics
9 – Graphs and Trends
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10 – Economics and Happiness/E
Business
11 – Business and the
Environment
12 – Jobs and Recruitment
13 –Jobs and Career
Management
14 –Writing Emails and
Letters I
15 – Writing Emails and
Letters II
Companies
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Setting up business, the founders of companies, company success
Different types: Mergers, takeovers, partnerships, multinationals,
joint ventures, family businesses, high-tech corporations.
Company changes: company structures in the past and in the
present. Standardised/customised production
What kind of changes? Re-locating, out-sourcing, off-shoring
Different types of companies: mergers, multi-national, subsidiaries,
joint-ventures
How companies face change. What are the challenges? Are they
threatened? Companies and globalisation.
Companies and productivity – Manufacturing –
Groups of people in companies: shareholders, management,
workforce
Companies and Corporate
Governance
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Company financial performance, financial
reporting: regular or irregular? (Auditors like SEC)
We are talking about mismanagement and
irregularities, accounting failure, bankruptcy
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Corporate rule? More strict?
Company investigations and financial risks as a
consequence of globalisation
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Scandals (like Parmalat, Enron, Ahold)
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Companies in dept due to overstating their profits
Financial Terms
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Market shares
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Shareholders
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Turnover/Revenues
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Dividend, gross profit, net profit….
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Depts/credits
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Margin/mark up/ profits …
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Stock exchange
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Capital
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Loan
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leasing
MARKETING and BRANDS
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The various activities of the marketing activities: the so
called marketing mix:
the “4 P”: Product, Price, Promotion and Place.
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Marketing and Brands: Brand image
Images linked to products; people's attitudes to brands. Do brands
provide us with beliefs?
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Do brands stand for what they really are?
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Describing functions and quality of products
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Are people vulnerable? Are we manipulated into buying things?
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What products appeal to customers?
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What is brand loyalty? brand image? Brand stretching? Brand
awareness?
Selling and Marketing - Advertising
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Different traditional selling methods: sales promotions,
sponsorship, public relations, advertising media, direct
marketing…
New ways of marketing: “guerrilla marketing” a different
approach. Online advertising: pop-ups, banners…(controlled)
word of mouth
What is a sales pitch? A sales rep? (representative) An
advertising campaign? Branding? A dealer? Agressive/soft talk
How difficult is it to market your product
successfully?Marketing and targetting a market: potential
customers (market research) Who are your potential
customers/clients?
PRODUCTS
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lifecycle of products
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Product range
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Product placement
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Product endorcement
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Lauching products
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Sales forecasts
Other terms and key words
to go into companies
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Suppliers
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Wholesalers
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Retailers
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Sponsorship
Describing statistics
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Describing trends and graphs:
Increase, rise, decline, jump, soar, plummet,
rocket, slide, nosedive, fluctuate…
What is a peak? a drop? a recovery?
Adjectives and adverbs? Used to describe to what
degree, by how much and how fast trends change.
Dramatically hugely or slightly moderately
significantly, substantially, rapidly, sharply
Describing statistics
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You need to be able to interpretate graphs and
trends
You need to be able to use prepositions in this
particular area of the language:
Eg: the share price rose to 16 euro by 15 %
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Understand the importance of linkers in graph
descriptions: while/ whereas/ although/despite
Example: The prices of petrol had plunged in
Spain last month whereas the prices of petrol in
France were still gradually increasing.
Graphs and trends continued
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The difference between similar verbs: rise/raise.
Does the price of petrol rise or raise as a result
of the political issues taking place at the moment.
Are these transitive or intransitive verbs? Do they
take an object?
Jobs and Recruitment
Here we are focussing on language to express
different ways for getting a job. Job
advertisements, internet, personnal contacts...
We are therefore talking about «job-seeking»
The online job market: job-search website.
What different work experiences one can get before a
permanent job: work placements, apprenticeships,
graduate trainee schemes, stages…
What kind of work? Part-time?shift work?Tele-work?
Sample vocab
To get promoted
To apply for an interview
To be sacked/ to get the sack/to be made redundant/
unemployed/to be dismissed/ to be disbanded/ to be fired
To have a salary/ to be on the dole
To be shortlisted for a job/ to be accepted/ to be rejected/ to
be selected
What are skills? Qualities? Qualifications? References?
Referees?Achievements?
Job Motivation and Recruitment
in HR (Human Resources)
Job satisfaction and job motivation
What different ways can a company motivate its
employees?
What is the difference between:
employer and employee
What about candidates and applicants?
And interviewer and interviwee? An interview?
About jobs …
Does pay depend on job description?
Or job productivity?
Or by raising productivity?
Word formations:
Example: word formation
An applicant applies for a job
To apply for a job/ a post
To send in your application
Example: Word collocation:
To fill in an application form
To meet a deadline to hand in your application
To make a complaint about a problem
Productivity
Here we are talking about productivity in
manufacturing context. The way companies can
improve their productivity.
We will be talking about the suppliers and the
manufacturers and the application of «just in time
delivery» or BTO «built to order» and sales
forecasts, assembly lines, delivery, quality control,
staff shortage
Other terminology: stock, warehouse, efficiency,
wasting resources, cutting costs
Competition
There are many idioms (expressions) used when
talking about competition:
What is their origin? Sport? Water?
We will focus on common expressions used for a
better understanding of the articles.
Eg: «be neck and neck» = fair competition
« a one horse race» = the only competitor (no other
rivals)
Innovation and Creativity
Innovation and new designs for products making
better returns/ generating profits
Launching new products
What is a breakthrough? (an important discovery or
development)
What is a prototype? (a first or preliminary version of
a device from which other forms are developed)
Innovation continued
Entrepreneurship:
Entrepreneurs and their willingness to take risks and
identify opportunities –
Success? Or failure?
New ideas/ the ability to seeing things from different
perspectives…
The abilty to spotting the need for new techniques or
devices.
TRADE and Globalisation
Does globalisation damage local (goods, services or cultures)
Does globalisation have an impact on living standards? Does it
increase competition between companies?
We will be talking about the Fair Trade Market: A new area
giving hope to smaller producers to survive after suffering
from globalisation.
A solution to the world to tackle poverty and save farmers
from bankruptcy.
Key words: subsidies, deregulation, wealth, prosperity,
survival, dumping, tariffs, quotas, customs, breaking into
new markets, to booming or declining trade.
Trade Celebrities and Charities
Here we will be talking about the involvement of celebrities in
international politics and economies.
Celebrities hope or aim to change/influence the relationship
between governments and charities.
Key terms: debt relief campaign (to draw attention to problems
like for example the need to lift quotas and duties.
Lobbying, boycotting….
Economics and Happiness
Here we are talking about the relationship between
happiness and wealth/ happiness and economics.
Evidence from economists and psychologists has
shown that our wellbeing depends on cooperation
and the public good not on personal enrichment.
Environmental Issues
Here we are talking about Green Issues.
The role of business in protecting/destroying the environment.
Does international business community have responsibility or a
role to play to sustain the natural resources it commercially
exploits?
Key words: sustainable development exploitation,waste,
resources, pollution, emissions renewable energy,
biodegradable materials, consumption, recycling
«Are we doing are bit for the environment?» what solutions are
there for the plantet? What are the goals? What’s on the
agenda?
Reading: useful text books
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Intelligent Business, Christine Johnson (P. Longman) –
intermediate
Market Leader, D.Cotton, D.falvey, S.Kent (P. Longman)
– intermediate
New Business Matters - Coursebook, Powell, Martinez,
Jillett (Thomson &Heinle) Intermediate/Upper-intermediate
Business GOALS 3 – Workbook, Gareth knight (Cambridge
Professional English)
Longman Business English Dictionary
Business Benchmark, Norman Whitby (CUP) Preintermediate to intermediate)
Advanced Grammar in use, Hewings, M (CUP)
Email English, Paul Emmerson (Macmillan)
More reading:
English for Economics, Business & Work, Autore:
Giulia Corazzza – (Gruppo Editoriale: Simone)
Livello del corso d’Inglese B1 + verso B2
Course Material
DISPENSA
Available in the copisteria copinfax in via Rossi.
Students are asked to have this for attending the
lessons.
Other material will be made available during the
course itself.
EXAM
Duration: 1 hr. 30 min
Four Sections
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I. Reading - 30 min
II. Vocabulary - 20 min
III. Grammar - 20 min
IV. Writing - 20 min
Exam Dates: check online
Summer:
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24 June 2014
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16 July 2014
Autumn:
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September 2014
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September 2014
Winter:
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January 2015
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February 2015
Part I: Reading comprehension based on articles from the
Economist or The Financial Times (similar to those studied
during the course): gap filling, paragraph order, matching,
multiple choice, true/false, open questions.
Part II: Vocabulary: Lexis deriving from topics covered in the
course: gap filling, matching, multiple choice, word collocation,
word formation.
Part III: Grammar: multiple choice, sentence transformation
with same/similar meaning.
Part IV: Writing: letter, email, fax, graph/table description
(about 100 words).
Exam Example: for writing section
Reply to an email: (about 100 words)
Write a reply to an application letter making sure you
do the following:
- Thank the candidate for the letter
- Give the news that she is not shortlisted for the
post
- Explain the reason why
- Express good wishes.
Typical starting sentences
• With reference to your letter of 8 June, I ...
• I am writing to enquire about ...
• After having seen your advertisement in ... , I
would like ...
• Thank you for your letter of 8 May.
• Thank you for your letter regarding ...
Typical ending sentences
If you require any further information, feel free to contact
me.
I look forward to your reply.
I look forward to hearing from you.
We look forward to a successful working relationship in the
future.
Should you need any further information, please do not
hesitate to contact me.
Once again, I apologise for any inconvenience caused.
I would appreciate your immediate attention to this matter.