'In Company Second Edition Intermediate' Practice Online
This course accompanies 'In Company Second Edition Intermediate'. It corresponds to CEFR level B2 and Cambridge ESOL FCE. There are 20
syllabus items, each matching a student's book unit. Within each syllabus item, resources are grouped into two categories - 'Topic Focus' and
'Grammar Focus'.
UNIT 1
0
Description
This syllabus item provides practice of the kind of language we use to talk
about the role of English - and other languages - in global communication.
Syllabus components Syllabus component description
1 Global English
Grammar Focus
Topic Focus
1
2 Making contacts
This syllabus item provides practice of the kind of language we use to talk
about conferences and socialize with people we meet at conferences. It also
provides practice of the present simple and the present continuous.
Syllabus components Syllabus component description
Topic Focus
Grammar Focus
2
This syllabus item provides practice of the kind of language we use when we
make or receive phone calls. It also provides practice of the past simple.
Syllabus components Syllabus component description
Topic Focus
Practising the past simple. Practising all forms of the past simple. Practising past
simple 'wh-' questions. Practising the present simple and past simple.
Practising words and expressions used on the phone. Listening to three very short
phone calls. Listening to someone leaving a recorded message. Listening for mood
and tone of voice in telephone messages.
4 Keeping track
This syllabus item provides practice of the kind of language we use to take part
in meetings and talk about business performance. It also provides practice of
phrasal verbs and comparatives and superlatives.
Syllabus components Syllabus component description
Grammar Focus
Topic Focus
4
Listening to colleagues discussing a venue they would like to book for their
company's annual conference. Practising words used to talk about conferences.
Practising responding to things people commonly say in social situations. Listening to
eight extracts from conversations at a conference. Listening to three people speaking
about their businesses.
Practising the present continuous. Practising the use of the present simple and the
present continuous. Practising the present continuous with future meaning. Practising
the spelling rules for the present continuous. Practising the spelling rules for the
present simple. Completing sentences using the present simple or the present
continuous.
3 Making calls
Grammar Focus
3
Listening to two English teachers talking about learning English in the future.
Listening to Beth talking about her trip to Indonesia. Listening to different people
talking about using English when travelling on business.
Practising common phrasal verbs. Matching verbs and prepositions to form phrasal
verbs. Practising comparatives and superlatives.
Listening to a meeting about introducing flexi-time at work. Listening to two people
talking about meeting room arrangements. Listening to a meeting between three
people. Practising business phrasal verbs.
5 What women want
This syllabus item provides practice of the kind of language we use to talk
about marketing products to women as consumers and the role of women in
business.
Syllabus components Syllabus component description
Grammar Focus
Topic Focus
Reading a text about two women who started their own business. Completing a text
about marketing strategies. Finding out more about the subject of office politics by
looking at external websites. Reading a text about women entrepreneurs and
choosing the correct quantifiers to complete sentences about the text. Listening to
two interviews about people's working lives.
Page 1 of 4
5
6 Business travel
This syllabus item provides practice of the kind of language we use when we
travel on business and when we receive business visitors to our company. It
also provides practice of polite question forms.
Syllabus components Syllabus component description
Grammar Focus
Topic Focus
6
7 Handling calls
This syllabus item provides practice of the kind of language we use to make or
receive phone calls and to talk about tasks we do at work. It also provides
practice of the use of 'will'.
Syllabus components Syllabus component description
Topic Focus
Grammar Focus
7
Practising making offers and requests. Identifying polite and impolite intonation in
requests. Distinguishing between formal and informal requests.
Practising words and phrases used when receiving visitors, arriving as a visitor and
travelling on business. Listening to two telephone conversations with a business
visitor. Listening to an aircraft announcement. Listening to three conversations about
booking flights. Listening to a conversation between a hotel receptionist and a new
guest. Practising giving directions.
Practising common collocations used to talk about work and business. Listening to a
telephone conversation between the booking department of a museum and a
company representative. Listening to a telephone conversation between two
advertising people trying to organize a business appointment. Listening to a
telephone conversation about some business guests.
Practising the future with 'will' and 'won't'.
8 Making decisions
This syllabus item provides practice of the kind of language we use to talk
about businesses, money and markets and to take part in meetings and give
opinions. It also provides practice of conditionals.
Syllabus components Syllabus component description
Teacher's Notes
Grammar Focus
Topic Focus
8
Understanding the meaning of conditional sentences. Practising zero, first, second
and third conditional sentences. Practising conditional sentences with 'if' and 'unless'.
Practising the connectors 'in case', 'unless', 'if', 'as long as' and 'when'. Practising the
connectors 'unless', 'as long as', 'in case' and 'although'.
Listening to business news. Listening to a business world report and deciding
whether each topic is up, down or stable. Practising words associated with statistics.
Listening to part of a meeting in which eight different people are asked for their
opinions about a proposal. Listening to part of a meeting about the training needs of
a company.
9 New world order
This syllabus item provides practice of the kind of language we use to talk
about the global economy.
Syllabus components Syllabus component description
Grammar Focus
Topic Focus
9
10 Small talk
This syllabus item provides practice of the kind of language we use to talk
about experiences and make successful small talk. It also provides practice of
the past simple, the present perfect and adjectives.
Syllabus components Syllabus component description
Topic Focus
Grammar Focus
10
Reading short texts about globalization-related issues. Listening to part of a
presentation about mobile phone and Internet users. Reading an article about family
businesses in Spain. Reading an article about small and medium-size companies in
the UK. Practising expressions commonly used to express your views and agree or
disagree with someone else's views by reading two people's views on globalization.
Listening to two business people make small talk when they first meet. Listening to a
conversation with a business visitor. Listening to people discussing social events
after a meeting. Practising conversations at a party.
Practising present perfect questions. Practising the present perfect simple with 'ever'
and 'never'. Practising the past simple and the present perfect.
11 Email
This syllabus item provides practice of the kind of language we use to write
business emails and talk about email and information technology. It also
provides practice of 'will', 'going to' and the present continuous for the future.
Syllabus components Syllabus component description
Grammar Focus
Topic Focus
Practising 'will' and 'going to'. Practising the use of future forms 'will' and present
continuous. Practising the use of different future forms.
Listening to someone giving advice on how to deal with lots of email messages.
Practising common compound nouns in a text about email. Practising words and
phrases used in informal business emails. Writing an email and looking at model
answers and comments. Practising words associated with information technology
(IT).
Page 2 of 4
11
12 Presenting
This syllabus item provides practice of the kind of language we use to give
presentations, talk about business performance and describe visuals. It also
provides practice of the past simple, the past continuous and the past perfect.
Syllabus components Syllabus component description
Grammar Focus
Topic Focus
12
Practising the past simple and the past continuous. Practising the past simple, past
continuous and past perfect.
Practising collocations in a text about giving presentations. Listening to the
introduction to a presentation. Practising words and phrases used to describe
information in graphs. Practising words used to talk about statistics. Listening to the
CEO of an American company giving a presentation to shareholders. Listening to a
presentation at an annual general meeting.
13 Entering the
This syllabus item provides practice of the kind of language we use to talk
blogosphere
about new developments in technology.
Syllabus components Syllabus component description
Topic Focus
Listening to five people talking about different technological items. Practising
expressions used to give opinions. Practising collocations in short texts about
advances in technology. Practising words related to technology and clothes.
Grammar Focus
13
14 Being heard
This syllabus item provides practice of the kind of language we use to talk
about meetings and cultural differences. It also provides practice of modal
verbs.
Syllabus components Syllabus component description
Topic Focus
Grammar Focus
14
15 Snail mail
This syllabus item provides practice of the kind of language we use when we
write formal letters. It also provides practice of words for business documents,
prepositions and verbs followed by the infinitive and the '-ing' form.
Syllabus components Syllabus component description
Grammar Focus
Topic Focus
15
Practising prepositions in linking phrases used in formal business contexts. Practising
verbs followed by certain prepositions. Practising verbs followed by an '-ing' form or
an infinitive with 'to'. Practising verbs followed by an '-ing' form or infinitive with a
change in meaning.
Listening to someone giving instructions about what to do with different documents.
Writing a letter about arrangements for a conference and looking at a model answer
and comments. Writing a letter to a supplier complaining about the service provided
and looking at a model answer and comments.
16 Solving problems This syllabus item provides practice of the kind of language we use to talk
about people or companies that have found creative solutions to problems
they faced. It also provides practice of conditional sentences and prefixes that
form negative adjectives.
Syllabus components Syllabus component description
Grammar Focus
Topic Focus
16
Listening to an interview about cultural differences. Practising words and phrases
used to talk about meetings. Reading tips for effective meetings. Listening to two
colleagues discussing the meetings they have to attend.
Practising the use of modal verbs.
Practising the first, second and third conditionals. Practising using prefixes to make
negative adjectives.
Reading a text about virtual businesses. Reading an article about a photography
company. Practising words connected with having new ideas in the business world.
Practising words used to talk about new products. Listening to four people discussing
production plans. Playing a problem-solving game that consists of creating a
successful business on a new planet.
17 Going green
This syllabus item provides practice of the kind of language we use to talk
about social and environmental responsibility.
Syllabus components Syllabus component description
Grammar Focus
Topic Focus
Reading a newspaper article about a survey asking people about social issues.
Listening to a conference call between two managers who are discussing their
company's new factory. Listening to a talk about the environment and the future.
Completing an article about a current global trend - the brain drain.
Page 3 of 4
17
18
19
18 Eating out
This syllabus item provides practice of the language we use to talk with
contacts when eating out in restaurants, to invite visitors out for the evening
and to talk about business meals and experiences at restaurants. It also
practises passive forms.
Syllabus components Syllabus component description
Grammar Focus
Practising different forms of the passive.
Topic Focus
Practising the language used in restaurants when eating out with clients or contacts.
Listening to extracts from a conversation about international food. Listening to
someone inviting a business visitor out for the evening. Listening to part of a radio
programme on business meals. Listening to five people talking about their
experiences in different restaurants.
19
This syllabus item provides practice of the kind of language we use in emails
Telecommunications and voice messages. It also provides practice of reported speech and reporting
verbs.
Syllabus components Syllabus component description
Grammar Focus
Practising reported and direct speech. Practising reporting verbs.
Topic Focus
Practising phrases with 'do' and 'make' that are commonly used in emails. Listening
to someone leaving a recorded message. Listening to people leaving messages on
an answerphone. Listening to someone leaving a message about the arrival of an
important business visitor. Listening to a telephone message about arranging training
sessions.
20 Negotiating
This syllabus item provides practice of the kind of language we use when we
negotiate in different situations.
Syllabus components Syllabus component description
Teacher's Notes
Grammar Focus
Topic Focus
The following resources have been included in this syllabus item for reinforcement
purposes: 'Negotiating with the boss', 'Dealing with disagreements'.
Practising the use of softening techniques to make statements more diplomatic.
Listening to Kathy negotiating with her boss. Listening to Alison asking for a rise.
Listening to a boss complaining politely to an employee about his clothes. Listening
to a conversation about how to deal with disagreements. Listening to a discussion
between a manager and a staff representative. Listening to someone making a
complaint.
Page 4 of 4