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General Education Office
BUSINESS ENGLISH
LA.231/LA.331/LA.3501
Unit 2: Work and Leisure
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Objectives
By the end of this class you should be able to…
1.
List basic work and leisure activities.
2.
Use days, months, and dates vocabulary effectively.
3.
Describe routines and use time management vocabulary
4.
List work or career and lifestyle expectations.
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Unit 2. Balancing Working and Living
In the past, getting one job for your whole life was the dream.
But nowadays the idea of keeping only one job is not realistic.
These days it is more popular to work for short-term contracts instead of
yearly contract renewals.
In the past, knowing your schedule all the time allowed for people to plan
leisure activities easily.
In the modern world these activities are more difficult to plan for, so knowing
how to do this effectively is important for a long career.
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Technology
Technology makes our jobs faster and easier to do, but this also means
we now have more work to do.
E-mail, laptops, and mobile phones have doubled our work and give our
employers the chance to contact us anywhere and anytime.
Most workers using these technologies in their jobs will work their normal
hours, and take their equipment home to do more work. This saves the
company time and money, and makes you work harder
.
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Flexibility
Nowadays more and more people are trying to balance their worklife and
their homelife more efficiently.
Working part-time jobs or negotiating more flexible working hours is
becoming increasingly more popular.
What are some other forms of flexibility and jobs?
 Teleworking, or homeworking, is becoming popular, as are people who
choose to “downshift” – take less demanding, and less paying jobs – in
order to avoid a negative lifestyle.
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Aspects of a good job
A)
Work in pairs. Discuss the things people might want from work,
For example, a large office, nice colleagues
B)
Work in pairs. Make three word partnerships in each box to find
out what four people want from their work.
1
high
long
helpful
colleagues
salary
holidays
2
friendly
travel
job
security
opportunities
boss
3
company
mobile
parking
phone
facilities
car
4
fast
flexible
sports
facilities
promotion
hours
C) Now listen and check the word partnership they use. (16)
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Aspects of a good job
A) Match some word partnerships from Exercise B to their meaning 1 to 6
1) A lot of money
high salary
2) A lot of time away from work
3) Good people to work with
4) The chance to go to different places on business
5) Move quickly to a higher position at work
6) You can change the times when you start and finish work
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Prepositions of Time
We use:
•at for a PRECISE TIME
•in for MONTHS, YEARS, CENTURIES and LONG PERIODS
•on for DAYS and DATES
at
in
on
PRECISE TIME
MONTHS, YEARS, CENTURIES and
LONG PERIODS
DAYS and DATES
at 3 o'clock
in May
on Sunday
at 10.30am
in summer
on Tuesdays
at noon
in the summer
on 6 March
at dinnertime
in 1990
on 25 Dec. 2010
at bedtime
in the 1990s
on Christmas Day
at sunrise
in the next century
on Independence Day
at sunset
in the Ice Age
on my birthday
at the moment
in the past/future
on New Year's Eve
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Prepositions of Time
A) Complete these time phrases with in, at or on. Then write the phrases
under the correct preposition.
1
2
3
_at_ night
4
____ the autumn 5
____ 15th May 6
at (x3)
____ Thursday
____ the afternoon
____ Tuesday evening
in (x3)
at night
on (x3)
7 ____ June
8 ____ New Year
9 ____ the weekend
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Prepositions of Time
B) Complete these sentences with in, at or on.
1) We have a lot of big orders _________ March.
2) The office closes for three days ________ New Year.
3) There is an important meeting _______ 15th June.
4) The CEO visits our branch ______ the summer.
5) We deliver large goods ____ Monday afternoons.
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Describing your routine
A) Before you read the article. Discuss these questions.
1) What is a typical day in the life of the CEO of a big company?
2) What do CEOs do at weekends?
B) Look through the article Carlos Ghosn, Superstar, on Page 16. Can you
find any of the ideas that you discussed in A.?
C) Answer these questions.
1) Why do some people call Ghosn ‘7/11’?
2) Why is Ghosn’s schedule busy?
D) Decide whether these statements are true or false?
1) Many people think Ghosn is Japanese.
False
2) Ghosn speaks three foreign languages.
3) He lives in Europe.
4) He often travels between Europe and Asia.
5) He meets international customers at weekends.
6) He has four children.
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Describing your routine
E) In each box, match the words that go together.
1
2
3
football
business
car
a) leader
b) maker
c) player
4
5
6
7
attend
meet
spend
speak
a) customers
b) languages
c) meetings
d) time
F) Work in pairs. Tell your partner about your day and about your weekend.
I get up………
I arrive at work/college at…..
At weekends, I…..
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Describing your routine
Language Focus
We use the present simple tense to talk about habits and work routines.
I travel overseas.
He attends meetings.
Does he meet international customers? Yes he does. / No he doesn’t.
We don’t drive to work.
A) Complete the article about Giorgio Armani’s working day.
Use the verbs in the box.
B) Complete the information about Masami Kimura.
Use the correct form of the verbs in brackets.
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Leisure Activities
A) Match the leisure activities to the pictures.
c
a
b
d
1 running
2 walking
3 biking
4 swimming
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Leisure Activities
B) Use words from the box to complete the leisure activities below.
going to
1
2
3
4
playing golf
_______ TV
_______ restaurants
_______ CDs
playing
watching
5
6
7
8
clistening to
__________
__________
__________
__________
tennis
the cinema
football
the gym
C) Talk about leisure activities. Use the verbs in the box 1 and the time
phrases in box 2. e.g., I love running at the weekend.
1
love
like
quite like
don’t like
2
at the weekend
on Friday night
in the summer / winter
in August / December
in the morning / afternoon / evening
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Leisure Activities
Language Focus – Adverbs and expressions of Frequency
•
We use adverbs of frequency and expressions of frequency
with the present simple to say how often we do things.c
He often arrives at the office at 7 o’clock.
He sometimes finishes at 11pm.
How often does he get up early?
He always gets up early.
•
Adverbs of frequency often go:
- before the main verb: Karla sometimes works from home.
- after the verb to be: I am always at work before 9.00am.
never
0%
•
sometimes
often
usually
always
100%
Expressions of frequency go at the beginning or the end of a
sentence.
Two nights a week, he works late at the office.
He works from home once a month.
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Adverbs of Frequency
a) Write the words in brackets in the correct places in these sentences.
usually
1) She gets up early. (usually)
2) They start their meeting at 9 o’clock. (always)
3) We are late for meetings. (never)
4) I am busy in the afternoon. (often)
5) The office closes at 3pm. (sometimes)
b) Complete the expressions of frequency below. Use words from the box.
three
then
twice
Sunday
week
time
1 from time to time
3 once a _______
5 every _________
2 now and _______
4
6 _____ times a week
________ a month
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Adverbs of Frequency
d)
An interviewer asks people from different countries about their typical
day. Listen and complete this chart. (17)
Rodolfo
(Mexican)
1 What do you do when
you get to work?
Isabel
(Swiss)
Sigrid
(Austrian)
check email
2 Where do you have
lunch?
3 How often do you travel
on business?
f)
Work in pairs. Ask and answer these questions. Add similar ones of your
own.
How often do you….
1
2
3
4
play sports?
use a mobile phone?
drive to work / college?
go to a gym / fitness centre?
5
6
7
8
entertain at home?
go on business trips?
go abroad on holiday?
buy a newspaper?
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Summary
Now you can:
1.
List basic work and leisure activities.
2.
Use days, months, and dates vocabulary effectively.
3.
Describe routines and use time management vocabulary.
4.
List work or career and lifestyle expectations.