University of 20 August 1955 Skikda

Faculty of Economics, Commerce and Management sciences

Section: Master 1 Finance (2nd term)
English Module
Teacher: S. Garri

Courses plan:
Unit 2: Finance and the Economy
(Part 1 & part 2: see the previous lessons)
Part 3: The stock market
1: Financial centers
2: Reading (text analysis)
3: language review (opposites)

Unit 3: Information Technology (IT)

1: Introducing the facts + Vocabulary
2: IT revolution (reading)
3: Vocabulary focus (word combination)
4: Language review (present perfect & past simple)

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 Business Topics Stock Exchange

The Stock Market1: Financial centers

A Financial centers
Financial centers are places where there are many banks and other financial institutions. London
as a financial center is called the City or the Square Mile, and New York is Wall Street.
Fi nanci al cent ers b r i ng t oget her i n vest ors and t he busi nesse s t hat need t hei r
i nves t m ent . A specu l at or i s an i nvest or who w ant s t o m ake a qui ck profi t ,
rat her t han i nv est over a l onge r peri od of t i m e.
Brokers, dealers and traders buy and sell for investors and in some cases, for themselves or the
organizations they work for.

B Stock markets
Heather Macdonald of Advanced Components:
We needed more capital to expand, so we decided to float the company (sell shares for the
first time) in a flotation. Our shares were issued, and listed (BrE and AmE) or quoted (BrE
only) for the first time on the stock market. Because we are a UK-based company, we are
listed on the London stock exchange.
Stock markets in other countries are also called bourses. Maybe when our company is really
big, we'll issue more shares on one of the European bourses!'
Note: You can write stock market or stockmarket; one or two words.
C Other financial markets
Other financial products include:
• Commercial paper: short-term lending to businesses.
• Bonds: longer-term lending to businesses and the government.
• Currencies (foreign exchange): buying and selling the money
of particular countries. BrE: shares / stocks (countable) and
• Commodities: metals and farm products. shares AmE: stock (uncountable)

These are traded directly between dealers by phone and computer. Commodities are also
traded in a commodities exchange. Shares, bonds and commercial paper are securities, and
the financial institutions that deal in them are securities houses.

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 Practice work

1. Correct the Eight mistakes in italics, using expressions from A opposite.

Now that a lot of buying and selling can be done over computer networks, (1) breakers and
(2) tradesmen do not need to be in one place, and (3) speculists can make money dealing from a
computer in their living room.
In New York, the area around (4) the South Bronx is traditionally home to many financial
institutions, such as the New York Stock Exchange .But many of them have now moved some or
all of their offices outside this expensive area.
London is one of Europe’s most important financial (5) institutes are not actually based in the
traditional area of the (7) Citadel or (8) Mile Square. As in New York, they are moving to areas
where property is cheaper.
So, will financial centers continue to be as important in the future as they are now?

2. Look at B opposite and say if these statements are true or false.

1 'Stocks' is another name for shares.
2 'Stock market' means the same as 'stock exchange'.
3 Bourses are only found in France.
4 An American would normally talk about shares `quoted' on the New York Stock
Exchange.
5 Shares in Company X are being sold for the first time. This is a flotation.

Keys:

1. 1 brokers 5 centers
2 traders 6 institutions
3 speculators 7 city
4 Wall Street 8 Square Mile

2. 1 true 4 false
2 true 5 true
3 false

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 Business topics Stock exchange

The Stock Market 2

FOCUS (Reading)

“Stock” is the amount of capital that a company possesses in terms of the value of the shares that
are held by shareholders. The total amount is called the company’s equity. (Note that shares are
called stocks in the US)In the United Kingdom, stock is also the name given to “shares” issued by
the government when it wants to raise money, hence the use of the expressions “stocks and
shares” when referring to the activities of London Stock Exchange.
A Stock Exchange is an organized market where financial securities (i.e. different types of shares,
as well as government stocks) are traded. These may be ordinary shares ( with variable rates of
interest and carrying voting rights ,preference shares ( usually with no voting rights , but which
receive their dividends before all other shares and which are repaid first if the company is
liquidated) , or debentures (which are really loans to companies carrying a fixed rate of
interest).This buying and selling allows governments to raise capital and enables individuals or
companies to invest their money with the hope of making a profit. profits are made from the interest
on the shares, from dividends paid out to shareholders, and by selling shares when their face value
has risen.

Government stocks (also known as government loans, and called Treasury Bonds in the US) are
often termed gilt-edged securities because an investor cannot obtain a higher guarantee than that
offered by the government. They may be safe but they offer a fixed rate of interest, and speculators
out for a quick profit prefer to play the equity market. The next safest shares are ones calls “blue
chips”: shares in highly profitable (and usually long-established) “blue chip” companies. An
investor can expect a steady return on his or her initial investment.

Share prices rise and fall in relation to several factors, the most important being the company’s
results: if it makes a profit, the share value rises because more people want to buy shares in the
company and demand exceeds supply. If the company makes a loss, the reverse takes place and the
share value falls. Other important factors are the political situation of the country, the overall
economic climate, fluctuations in the bank rate, and the position of the national currency on the
international currency market.

The Stock Exchange functions like an auction where buyers bid for shares. The general public is
not allowed to trade directly on the stock exchange floor. This is carried out by stockbrokers who
act for their clients. Trading is strictly controlled by the Securities and Investments Board and the
Stock Exchange Council in the UK, and the Securities and Exchange Commission in the US.

There is a great deal of jargon used in the stock exchange, both to describe the market situation
and the orders that brokers receive from clients. Perhaps the two most important terms to remember
are “a bullish market” (when prices are rising) and “a bearish market” (when prices are falling)

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 WORDBANK

Auction : vente à l’enchère interest : intérêts

Bank rate : faux official de l’escompte investor : investim2sser
Capital : capital, capitaux ordinary share : action ordinaire
Debenture : obligation preference share : action privilégiée
Dividend : dividende securities : titres, actions, valeurs
Economic climate : climat économique share : action
Equity : fonds, actions ordinaires share index : indice boursier
Face value : valeur nominale shareholder : actionnaire
Futures market : marché à terme speculator : spéculateur
Government bonds/ stocks :bons du Trésor stock exchange : bourse
Stockbroker: agent de change to bid: faire une offre
Stock market: marché financier to issue shares : émettre des actions
Treasury Bond: bon du Trésor to liquidate: liquider
Voting rights: droits de vote to make a loss: subir des pertes
Bearish: en baisse to make a profit: faire des bénéfices
Bullish: en hausse to play the market : jouer en bourse
Gilt-edged de père de famille to quote : quoter
Current market : marché des devises to float a loan : emettre un emorunt

Useful hints

Stock markets have bulls and bears ù8and stags and a wide
vocabulary to indicate rises, falls and periods of stagnation in
share prices, often used in financial headlines. Here are a
few:
A quiet day Crash
To fluctuate Decline
To level of Drop
Advance To remain steady
To read a peak Downturn
To recover The market is looking down

Questions:
1. What is / are:
a) stock b) shares c) stocks d) equity
e) ordinary shares f) preference shares

2. What factors make share prices rise and fall?

3. What is the difference between a bull market and a bear market?
4. What is the preference between a (stock / share) and a debenture?

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Answers:
1. a) Stock: is the amount of capital that a company possesses in terms of the value of the shares
that are held by its shareholders.
b) Shares: parts into which the ownership of a company is divided. Share in a company can be
bought and sold.
c) Stocks: the name of shares in the USA.
d) Equity: the value of the shares issued by a company.
e) Ordinary shares: they are shares with variable rates of interest and carrying voting rights.
f) Preference shares: are shares with no voting rights and receive their dividends before all
other shares, and which are repaid first when the company is liquidated

2. The factors that make share’s price rise and fall:

• Company’s results ( makes profits or makes loss)

• Political situation of the company
• The overall economic climate
• Fluctuation of the national bank rate.
• The position of the national currency on the international money market.

3. The difference between a “bullish market” and a “bearish market”:

A Bull market A Bear market

A bull / bullish market means A bear / bearish market means that

That the price of shares is rising the price of share is falling

4. The difference between (stock / share) and debenture:

Stock / share Debenture

- a part of a company’s capital - a debt / a loan on the company

- the shareholder is a partial owner
according to his money
- The share dividends are not fixed
and they depend on the company’s
results
- The shareholder/ stockholder can
repaid his money by selling the
shares or when the company is
liquidated with the risk of getting a
loss
- a debtor to the company according to
the amount of his debenture
- the debenture’s return is fixed and
does not be affected by the case of loss
- The owner of debenture can repaid his
money in the fixed dates without any
loss

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Language review:

Opposites
Look at these pairs of opposites.
Increase decrease move stay
Go up go down build demolish
Rise fall join leave
Expand reduce change remain the same

E.g.: prices increased prices decreased

Prices went up prices went down
Prices rose prices fell
But be careful! Not all of these words can have an object:
The shop increased its prices the shop decreased its prices
Not The shop went up its prices Not The shop went down its prices
Not The rose its prices Not The shop fell its prices

Practice work

Complete these sentences using the verbs above in the correct form
1. The European central bank has decided not to ...... the interest rate as it is high enough .the rate is
going to.......
2. We believe that Marisa Cassoni is going to ...... consignia as Chief Executive . She will start her
new job in May.
3. It was good news for BP and Shell yesterday , as their share prices.......
4. But telecommunications didn’t do so well , and the price of Vodafone shares ........ To below
100p
5. Stelios........ easy Jet in 2002 because he wanted to start a new company
6. Volkswagen needs to........ costs to make more profit
7. The government says we need to ....... 100,000 new houses in the next five years

Keys
1. change, remain the same
2. join
3.went up / rose / increased
4.moved / decreased
5.left
6.reduce
7.build

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 Business Topics Information Technology (IT)

Information technology 1: Introducing the Facts

A Broadband Internet
One of the key issues in information technology (IT)is, of course, the future of the internet
The Internet may not have ‘changed everything’ in the economy, as some predicted a few years ago,
but it is still growing fast. On landlines –fixed telephone lines- high –speed broadband access is
making it faster and easier to use the Internet and to do download files with text, pictures, video,
etc.
Faster connections also allow better use of some applications such as video-conferencing, where
people in two or more locations can see and talk to each other.

Note: Broadband is also known as

DSL ( direct subscriber link)

▪ The major activity of an office, can be divided into four (4) categories:
• Receiving and creating ( collecting of data)
• Processing, i.e.: manipulating data in order to process information
• Storing and retrieving.
• Disseminating ( transmission of data)

B The tools
- Telex: oldest form of electronic message
- Electronic mail: users dial into a central computer system, give their identification and pass-
word, after they can access messages.
- Voice messaging: computer-based system for recording and transmitting voice messages
- Fax (facsimile) machine: documents are transmitted by land line and arrive on receiving machine
for the price of a phone call (word ‘fax’ used as a verb and a noun)
- Wordù8 processors: used to capture and process a text. Word processor greatly improves
efficiency in editing and printing documents and they perform the repetitive and tedious (=.boring)
tasks of secretarial work
- Personal computers: function with a wide range of software to perform processing and storage
functions. Most software package include a spreadsheet, statistical analysis, financial functions,
graphics, electronic filing.

C Mobile Internet

The next step is accessing the Internet via mobile devices such as mobile phones and PDAs
( personal digital assistants, also referred to as handhelds)
High-speed access is already available on wireless LAN( local area network)system , also known
as Wi-Fi.
High speeds are promised for 3G (third generation system, 4G (fourth generation system) ,.....
offered by mobile phone companies, who paid very high prices for the licenses to operate them.

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 Vocabulary

Information technology (IT) : informatique To quit :quitter

chip: microprocesseur, puce To set up the printer : installer
component : composant l’imprimante
computer : ordinateur To copy :copier
Data bank/ data base : base de données To stick: coller
desk-top computer : ordinateur de bureau To find errors: trouver des érreurs
laptop computer : ordinateur portable To search again : rechercher
personal computer(PC) : ordinateur personnel To underline : souligner
electronic filing : visualiser To draw table: dessiner tableaux
Electronic mail box: diffusion électronique To connect: connecter
des documents To collect data : saisir des donneés
Files : fichiers, dossiers To cancel: annuler
Floppy disk : disquette To switch on: allumer
hard disk : disque dur To switch off: éteindre
hardware : le matériel To delete : éffacer, supprimer
Software : programme To computerize : informatiser
Keyboard : clavier To input : entrer des données
Network : réseau To output : sortir des données
Processing : exploitation To save : sauvegarder
Printer : imprimante To store : stocker
Office automation ; bureautique : To draw up : élaborer, rédiger
RAM( Random Access Memory) : mémoire vive To edit: éditer
ROM( Read Only Memory) : mémoire morte To enlarge: agrandir
Spreadsheet : tableur To perform: accomplir
Word processor :machine à traitement de texte To reduce: réduire
m2Word processing: traitement de texte To update: mettre à jour
Data processing: traitemen des données To work out: calculer
Work station: poste de travail To print: imprimer
Adding machine: machine à calculer To select: selectionner
Data( NB data is/are): informations To rename: renomer
E-mail : courrier éléctronique To scan : scanner
Fax machine : télécopieur To browse: naviger
LAN(local area network) : réseau local To decode: decoder
WAN( wide area network) : grand réseau
Computer assisted learning (CAL):
Enseignement assisté par ordinateur (EAO)

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 Business technology
Information technology 2:
The IT revolution
Focus (Reading)
Much of everyday work of a company
consists of dealing with information. There
are four main tasks of dealing with
information: collection, storage, processing,
and transmission. These tasks are all carried
out in the office, which is the physical centre
of a company’s business operations. The
office is where information arrives by word of
mouth or by written documents, and where
documents are drawn up, corrected, passed
on, received...
Until the 70’s, information was stored in the
form of written materials – filled away in
Filling cabinets, binders, drawers or card
index systems.The clerical worker was aided
by a certain number of machines, notably the
typewriter and the adding machine, but
employers usually insisted on clerical workers
hal8ving clear handwriting and being good at
having clear handwriting and being good at
mental arithmetic because many documents
were worked out in the head
In the space of twenty years or so, there has
been a revolution in office work and in the
skills demanded of the office worker. After
the electric typewriter came the electronic
typewriter and finally the wordprocessor.
The old adding machine was replaced by the
pocked calculator. But it has not simply been
a matter of updating machines which perform
the same functions as the old ones. The
advent of computerized data processing and
the microchip has meant that we are well on
our way to the paperless office
Information technology (IT)
Huge investment in the development of
information technology (IT) started to pay off
at the 70’s in two related sectors: data
processing and telecommunication.
Computer manufactures have produced ever
faster, more powerful machines. There is a
distinction to be made between the mainframe
computer (which has enormous capacity and
is used as a sort of “mother ship” and the
personal computer (PC) for home or office. It
is also important to distinguish between the
hardware (the machine itself) and the software
(the computer programs) that allow the
machine to undertake its various tasks. PCs
may be desktop or laptop (i.e. portable) and
can be connected to a network to enable data
transfer. Such network may be local (e.g.
within the company) in which case are called
LANs (local area networks) or worldwide
WANs ( wide area network).
The wordprocessor is now the essential tool
of the modern office-worker. It consists of a
keyboard, VDV (visual display unit).not only
you can visualise what you are keying in but
you can edit, delete, draw graphs and create
tables with the spreadsheet function.
Depending on the software program and the
printer you are using.
These technological advances enable office
staff to work faster, more easily and in a
greater comfort at their desktop workstations.
Naturally as with any radical change in
working patterns, the advent of the electronic
office has not been trouble-free. However,
problems of eye-strain, systems break-downs,
bugs, viruses...etc. are gradually being
eliminated.
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 Word bank
(NB: see the table of vocabulary above) Handwriting: écriture manuscrite
Adding machine: machine à calculer Mainframe computer : gros system
Binder : classeur Mental arithmetic : calcul mental
Bug : défaut, virus trouble-free : sans histoires
Calculator : calculatrice typewriter : machine à écrire
Data : informations
Eye-strain : fatigue visuelle
Filing cabinet : classeur (armoire)

Questions:
Answer the following questions
1. Which four main tasks are associated with dealing 4. What is the difference between a laptop
with information in the office a desktop and a mainframe?
2. How has office work changed in the last 20 years, 5. What is the difference between a
think of writing, calculating, filling, etc.? LAN& WAN
What advantages has IT revolution bought?
3. What is the difference between hardware and software?

Answers:
1. The four main tasks that are associated with dealing with information in the office are
- Collection - storage - processing - transmission
2. How has office work changed in the last 20 years?
There is no doubt that advantages of technology over the last 20 years have a huge impact on how
businesses are run.
The internet, in particular has changed the way modern office work, allowing for a much more efficiently
run environment and a greater level of flexibility.
In the past, information was written by hand or by using simple machines. Clerical workers (office
workers) were suffering because many employers usually insisted on them having clear handwriting, and
a lot of calculations were worked out in the head, and this was causing a lot of mistakes and problems. T
Information was stored in very traditional ways such as; filing cabinets, binders, drawers, etc.
However, in the space of twenty years, there has been a real revolution in office work. The old simple
machines like typewriters and adding machines were replaced electronic ones. Moreover, the advent of
computerized data processing and the microchip has meant that we are well on our way to the paperless
office.
3. Hardware Vs software
• Hardware is the computer equipment and materials
• Software is the computer’s programs (codes+ instructions)
4. The difference between desktop, laptop, and mainframe computers:
• Desktops and laptops are personal computers (PC)
• Mainframe is a connected to other computers with a network, and it’s used as a sort of mothership
5. LANs Vs WANs
LANs are computers that are connected to WANs are computers connected to a worldwide
A local network to enable data transfer network to enable data transfer
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Vocabulary Exercise

Match the verb on the left with its preposition in the middle and its translation on the right.
Deal Up Etre payant Pay off
Carry On Calculer Work out
Draw OFF Etre bon à be good at
Pass Away Transmettre Pass on
File With Saisir (informatique) Key on
Be good In Rédiger Draw up
Work Out Accomplir Carry out
Pay Out Classer File away
Key At Traiter Deal with

Language review

Present perfect & past simple

Use the present perfect (have + past participle)
To talk about past events when there is no past
L2Time reference
Centrilia has sold its banking division
One million people have bought the new XZ
We haven’t met the new director
Has Tom joined Modus?
Yes he has / No he hasn’t
Use the past simple when there is a past time
reference or when we know that something
happened at a particular time in the past:
Centrilia sold its banking division a month ago
Sahara.com didn’t sell enough CDs last year
Did Tom join Modus in February?
Yes, he did
No, he didn’t

Practice work

1. Look at the following text. Choose the past simple or the present perfect for the words in brackets.

Despite difficult trading conditions, the company (1)......... (Perform) well in the last quarter, exceeding
targets set by the new Chief Executive who (2)............ (Take over) in January. The company which
(3)........ (Lost) its market share to its main rival a year ago (4).......... (Recover) its former position
according to the latest report. Profits (5)......... (Rise) steadily since the company (6).......... (Buy) the
loss-making software division last spring.

Keys:

1) performed 4) has recovered

2) took over 5) have risen
3) lost 6) bought

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