Week 2 Lesson 1B.

Welcome Message

Dear students,
This week we are working on the topic Super Commuters. We have covered
work collocations, work vocabulary and subject questions in class.
Go to each category and do the activities in each of them. Remember to use
the dictionaries in case you get lost.
Once you finish the tasks in the different categories, you may visit More for
additional activities.
See you next week.

Task 1: Listening

San Francisco:

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=lm62ggNjqFw&index=2&list=PLAC60B1
1C4755511E

About the first question in the interview:

1. What does the first guy like about working in San Francisco?

_____________________________________________________

2. What did Chris say about San Francisco City?

_____________________________________________________

3. According to Monicas answer, name two things she said.

_____________________________________________________

About the second question in the interview:

4. How long does it take to the second man to get to his job?

_____________________________________________________

5. How does the fourth girl get to his job?

_____________________________________________________

About the third question in the interview:

6. How many people gave an affirmative answer? Write the correct number.

_____________________________________________________

Chicago:

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=IR9-jQYRf-
k&index=4&list=PLAC60B11C4755511E
Task 3: Four people who failed miserably at their jobs:

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=-1Dq_2SNtGQ

According to your opinion: Which person do you think failed the most and
why?

_____________________________________________________

Task 4: Top 10 tips to commuting by bike.

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=deuWgGzNCK8

What are the three most important tips, in your opinion? Explain.

TASK 1: READING

Read the following article.

http://www.scmp.com/news/china/article/1692839/beijingers-lead-chinas-
pack-longest-daily-commute

Beijing workers have longest daily commute in China at 52 minutes each

way. Average daily journey of 19.2 km is country's farthest and takes
travellers 52 minutes - even longer than congested global centres such as
New York.

The average journey to work for Beijing commuters last year was 19.2 km
in Beijing - the longest in the country according to a survey by a mainland
internet company, the China News Service reported.

Their trips could also be painfully slow, too.

The average time that Beijing residents spent travelling to work was 52
minutes - longer than people in some of the world's most congested cities,
such as New York, where the average commuting time, according to a 2013
survey, was 48 minutes.

The data on Chinese travellers was collected after probably the biggest
survey on mainland citizens' commuting habits ever carried out.

More than three million people from more than 300 cities took part in the
project launched by Baidu, the country's largest internet search company,
the CNS report said.

The method was simple.

Commuting smartphone users marked the location of their home and

workplace in Baidu's map service app, and the commuting distance and
time was automatically calculated and uploaded to a cloud server.

Shanghai commuters were not far behind those in Beijing. Residents in

China's financial centre spent just one minute less on the road than those in
the capital, with their one-way journey averaging 18.82 km.

A deeper look at the data revealed some important reasons behind the
phenomenon.

In Beijing, the long journey to work was caused mainly by the large number
of workers living in Tongzhou and Changping, more than 50 km from the
city centre.

In Shanghai, many people are forced to live in nearby provinces because

they cannot afford to buy or rent flats in downtown areas.

Each day there is a massive flow of traffic into Shanghai from nearby cities
such as Suzhou, Hangzhou and Zhoushan.

The situation is better in smaller cities. The national average commuting

distance was 9.18km with an average travelling time of 28 minutes, which
was shorter than developed countries such as the United States.

One commuter, Li Xiang, who works for a finance company in Beijing's

central business district, said he was a bit surprised by the findings of the
new study.
"Beijing has always been on top, and I see no hope of change in the near
future", he said.

Other surveys in the past few years have offered similar results.

A study by the Chinese Academy of Sciences in 2010, for instance, also

estimated the time travelling to work in Beijing at 52 minutes.

Li lives in Tongzhou with his family and drives to work most of the time.
Public transport, such as the subway and buses, were "terribly" congested
during the morning rush hour, he said.

"I'd rather spend time and fuel to avoid the torture," he said.

Mainland social media has been full of people complaining about the
difficulty of getting to work in China's big cities.

Are the sentences True or False?

1. On average, people in Beijing take about 52 minutes to get to work. T/F

2. People in New York take more time than the people in Beijing. T/F

3. Data was collected on Baidu, an internet driving app. T/F

4. People had to manually upload the information about their journeys. T/F

5. Shanghai commuters have a much better situation than those in Beijing.

T/F

6. There are a lot of people living in Beijing who work in Hangzhou and
Zhoushan. T/F

7. Li Xiang thinks travelling by bus is amazing. T/F

8. People often complains on the internet. T/F

TASK 2

http://www.morganmckinley.ie/article/how-get-job-multinational-
company-accountants-perspective

Read the following interview.

Ciara Cumiskey is a qualified accountant working in Cork and we asked her

what it takes to get a job and work for one of the largest companies in the
world: Apple.

Q: What is your profession?

A: I am a logistics analyst on the supply chain team in operation finance in

Apple, Cork.
Q: What did you do before you worked at Apple?

A: I worked as an accountant in a small (nine people) practice in the city

centre. I only qualified in August 2011 so I was gaining some post
qualification experience.

Q: What did you find challenging when applying for a new job?

A: The lack of experience. I am a practice trained accountant and I wanted

to move into industry. For the multinationals they are looking for
accountants that trained in another multinational or the Big 4.

Its tough to get interviews when you don't have the experience. The
interviews themselves are also tough as I was relying solely on my soft
skills, personality and ability to sell myself as I didn't have the experience
they were looking for.

Q: What do you like about your job?

A: Its challenging and completely different to any role I have ever done.
Its tough going but I was ready for a big change. Also its Applewho
wouldn't want to help "change the world".

Q: What transferable skills do you need to have to be successful in a

multinational?

A: Communication skills are essential. To be able to express yourself

professionally and personally is vital. To be able to connect to your co-
workers is also important and appeared to be one of the key requirements
for the companies I interviewed with.

Q: How long did it take to get the job?

A: From first walking into the recruitment agents and hearing of the job to
actual offer, it was about 8 - 9 weeks.

Q: What advice would you give someone who is trying to move into
a multinational?

A:

1. Get yourself a good recruitment consultant. I would not have got

the interview in Apple without my recruiter.

2. Be yourself. Your interviewers will know from your personality if you will
fit in or not. Its important that an organization is the correct fit for you.

3. Do not restrict yourself. Looking for only a permanent job. They are
hard to find and will take you longer to obtain. A contract can lead to a
permanent job.
4. Sell yourself in the interview. You only have one shot and you need to
be better than the rest. Do practice interviews with friends. For eight weeks
I didn't stop thinking about possible questions that my interviewers would
ask and what my response would be. If you want it then you have to work
for it.

Answer the following question.

1. What multinational company would you like to work at? Why?

__________________________________________________________

TASK 3

http://www.best-job-interview.com/receptionist-cover-letter.html

Read the following receptionist letter.

Phil Reyes
123 Happy Road

Mrs Mary Stevens

Hiring Manager
ABC Company
15 South Parkway
Long Island, NY 11551

Dear Mrs Stevens

1Your job posting for a receptionist caught my attention straight away as

my skills and experience are a close match to your requirements for this
position. I would appreciate careful consideration of my credentials as
outlined below and within the enclosed resume.

2Ihave three years work experience as a receptionist in a large organization

responsible for handling all calls and visitors in addition to providing
extensive organizational and administrative support.

3I am a self-directed and independent worker who has taken the initiative to

learn as much as possible about the company I work for in order to become
a valuable information resource.

4Among my particular strengths are my organizational and planning skills. I

have developed a number of processes to manage my many work tasks and
make sure I meet the demands of a fast-paced work environment. I utilize
technology to assist me wherever possible and have a good working
knowledge of a number of computer applications including MS Office.
5My strong communication skills and an outgoing, energetic personality
ensure first-rate customer service to both clients and colleagues. I
thoroughly enjoy dealing with a wide variety of people and take pride in
being a receptionist.

6ABC Company enjoys an excellent reputation and I am confident that I

would be an asset to your company. I would appreciate the opportunity to
discuss my abilities in more depth and am available for an interview at your
earliest convenience.

Please contact me via phone or email to arrange a convenient time for us to

meet.

Thank you for your time and consideration and I look forward to speaking
with you soon.

Sincerely,

Phil Reyes

Answer the following questions.

1. In your opinion, what is Phils best quality for this position? Why?
____________________________________________________________
2. In the fourth paragraph Phil writes: I utilize technology to assist me
wherever possible. Can you think of any situations when a receptionist
needs to use technology?
____________________________________________________________

WRITING TASK

Write a paragraph of 100 words about a job you would like to have abroad
and use the vocabulary seen in class. Choose the country and occupation
you like the most from the list below:

PLACES OCCUPATIONS
India Lawyer
Canada Dancer
Japan Engineer
France Teacher
Brazil Musician

SPEAKING TASK

Go to the Writing category and follow the instructions. Once you have your
paragraph written, record yourself following these steps:

Read your profile aloud.

Practice word stress.
Practice your pronunciation.
 When you feel confident enough, record your video.
The video has to be in MP4 format.

Grammar review

TASK 1: Multiple choice: Subject or object questions. Choose the right

question for the following sentences.

1. I bought a newspaper this morning.

What bought you this morning?

What did you buy this morning?

What you did buy this morning?

2. Something odd happened during the storm last night.

What happened during the storm last night?

What did happen during the storm last night?

3. One of the students didn't do the final exam.

Who didn't the final exam do?

Who didn't do the final exam?

4. I wrote a romantic letter to one of the teachers.

Who did you write a romantic letter to?

Who wrote you a romantic letter?

5. Something disturbed me when I was working.

What did you disturb when you were working?

What disturbed you when you were working?

What did disturb you when you were working?

6. I dreamt about a strange animal last night.

What did you dream about last night?

What dreamed about you last night?

7. Somebody rang me at 3am last week!

Who did you ring at 3am last week?

Who you rang at 3am last week?

 Who rang you at 3am last week?

8. Someone gave me a watch for my birthday.

Who gave you a watch for your birthday?

Who did give you a watch for your birthday?

TASK 2

Write the subject or object question of the following sentences.

1. The student is from Colombia (object question).

___________________________________________

2. The student is from Colombia (subject question).

___________________________________________

3. David has lost his wallet (object question).

___________________________________________

4. David has lost his wallet (subject question).

___________________________________________

5. Rob bought new shoes (object question).

___________________________________________

6. The teenagers enjoyed the party (subject question).

___________________________________________

TASK 3: Work Vocabulary: Fill in the gaps with the right preposition.

Jenna once worked __________ children when she was young. Her sister,
Lucca, worked __________ a charity and she got the job for her sister.
Their father is now working _________ an office _________ a receptionist.
His wife, Monica, works _________ a restaurant. She likes her job but she
doesnt like working _________ teenagers. Monica is studying because she
wants to work _________ an editor and work __________ a newspaper in
the future.

TASK 4: Open questions and subject questions. Create questions about the
words in Bold.

1. Dani drank some coffee.

_____________________________________________?
2. Cecilia draws trees for fun.

_____________________________________________?

3. I paid $13.45 for this shirt.

_____________________________________________?

4. My family heard some rumors of me.

_____________________________________________?

5. Phillip always forgets to bring money.

_____________________________________________?

6. Michelle goes to Zumba once a week.

_____________________________________________?

7. She sleeps on the sofa.

_____________________________________________?

8. Lisette hates me because Im a stupid person.

_____________________________________________?

More Task 1: Watch this interesting video about tattoos and piercings in
the workplace.

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=bYLffDoMa3E&index=5&list=PLAC60B1
1C4755511E

What do you think about people having tattoos or piercings at work?

If you were the boss of an important company, would you hire
someone with an uncommon appearance? Give the reason why.

Task 2: Watch this video about the 10 jobs everybody would like to have.

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=oM37CSsrUB8

Add one extra job and give the reason why.

Which one would you choose?
Reorder the list according to your own preferences.