Level : 4th Year

Lesson4 : Competition 

Module : CCCA4
Instructor(s) : Up Anglais
Learning Objectives:
By the end of the lesson, students will be able to:
● Develop vocabulary and idiomatic expressions related to competition
● Take notes, and interpret information from a listening track
● Recognize and distinguish between formal and informal style in email writing

VOCABULARY
1. Match the words below to their definitions.

1. a consumer c a. a company producing and selling products in several different countries

2. Supply h b. a person or a group that competes with others for the same thing
3. a rival b c. a person who buys goods or services for themselves
4. Overtake g d. complete control of something by an organization or person
5. a multinational a e. to be as good as somebody or something else
6. Regain f f. to get something back that you lost
7. a monopoly d g. to go past something by being better
8. Match e h. to provide something that people want or need, often in large quantities

2. Put the words from exercise 1 in the correct form in order to complete the sentences
below.

a. If customers are not……match……with a certain product, they will go elsewhere.

b. Having a…rival……in business is not always a bad thing. It forces you to improve things.
c. ……consumer……..have a lot of choice these days. That's why businesses have to give them
added value.
d. We need to…Regain….the customers that we lost to a company that was offering big
discounts.
e. If you are a…multinational ….company, you have access to many more customers.
f. We will soon have a……monopoly……………… in the market. No one is able to challenge
us.
g. They were able to……supply….. their competition this year. Both businesses reported
similar sales.
h.   This year, we have……overtake…… our competitors. We are now the market leader.
 LISTENING: Great business rivalries: McDonald's vs. Burger King

PART 1: Listen to the descriptions of McDonald's and Burger King. Fill in the missing
information in the tables.

Company 1.McDonald’s
Headquarters Oak Brook, Illinois
Founder(s) Richard and Maurice
Year Founded 2. ………1940………………………………
Employees (2015) 420,000
Number of locations 3. ………119………………………….
(2016)
Turnover (2015) US $ 25 billion

Company Burger King (formerly Insta-Burger King)

Headquarters 4. …………………Miami, Florida.…….

Founder(s) David Edgerton and James McLamore
Year Founded 1954
Employees (2015) 5. …………34,248…………………
Number of locations 15,243
(2016)
Turnover (2015) 6. US $ ………was 4.05 billion US……………..
 

PART 2: Now, listen to the information about their business rivalry, and then answer the
questions.

1. For how long have McDonald's and Burger King been rivals?
 2. Why did Burger King sell a bigger burger than McDonald's?

3. Why did the `burger wars' start?

4. Which other fast food chain has been involved in the `burger wars'?

5. Why did the `burger wars' make a comeback?

6. What was the joint McDonald's/Burger King burger going to be called?

Email Writing - Formal vs. Informal

1. Complete the table with phrases from the emails below.
Email 1
SUBJECT: New office
Hi John,
How are things? Hope you're settling in your new office.
Just to let you know that the laptop we ordered for you is on its way. I'm going to be away for a few
days, so get in touch with Mike if you need anything else.
Btw, I had a look at your ideas for the new project and they seem pretty interesting. We'll talk about
them when I get back.
See you on Monday.
Rgds,
Phillip

Email 2
SUBJECT: Loan application
Dear Mr. Johnson,
Following our phone conversation on Monday, I am delighted to inform you that your application for
a business loan has been approved. Please find attached the credit agreement.
Would you please visit our bank tomorrow so that we can sign the paperwork? I would like to remind
you to bring with you all relevant company documents.
Kind Regards,
Duncan Smith
Accounts manager
Reale Bank

FORMAL (Common phrases) INFORMAL (Common phrases)

I am writing to inform you that ...
Good news:
I've attached ... /I'm attaching .../Here is the ...
Don't forget to ...
Can you ...?
I look forward to seeing you on ...
Dear John
How are you?
Just to follow up from our chat on ...,
Full forms Abbreviations
Kind regards
By the way
Verbs/phrases Verbs/phrases
... is arriving
require
rather interesting
discuss
return
drop by

2. Rewrite the following sentences taken from emails in a more formal style. Introduce changes if
needed.

Hello everyone. I must have an update on all your projects for a departmental report ASAP. Thanks.

……………………………………………………………………………………………………………………………………………………………………………
…………………………………………………………………………………………………………………………………………………..…………
Hi. John wants a mee ng on Tuesday morning at 10. Plan on being there. This mee ng is very important.

……………………………………………………………………………………………………………………………………………………………………………
……………………………………………………………………………………………………………………………………………………..…………

3. Look at the situation below and write a formal email in response.

You have learnt about a Staff Development Day on May 14th. You would like to a end but you do not
have any details about the event [e.g. focus, ac vi es, par cipa on, loca on…]. You also have a
mee ng scheduled for that morning.
Write to Mr. Pat Fischer, the Human Resources manager, asking for more informa on, and if you need
to a end the whole day.
Remember to include a subject line.

To…
Cc…
Subject:
……………………………

…………………………………………………………………………………………………………….…………………………………………….………….

………………………………………………………………………………………………………………………………………………………………………

………………………………………………………………………………………………………………………………………………………………………

………………….…………………………………………….……………………………………………………………………………………………………

…………….

………………………………………………………………………………………………………………………………………………………………………

…………………………………………………………………………………………………………….…………………………………………………………

……..

……………………………….………………………………………………………………………………………………………………………………………

………………………………………………………………………………………………………………………………………………………………………

………………………………………………………………………………………………………………………………………………………………………

…………….…………………………………………….…………………………………………………………………………………………………………

…………….

………………………………………………………………………………………………………………………………………………………………………

…………………………………………………………………………………………………………….…………………………………………………………

……..

…………………………………………………………………………………………………………………………………………………………….…………

………………………………….……………………………………………………………………………………………………………………………………

….

………………………………………………………………………………………………………………………………………………………………………

…………………………………………………………………………………………………………….…………………………………………………………

……..

………………………………………………………………………………………………………………………………………………………………………

………………………………………………………………………………………………………………………………………………………………………

………………………………………………………………………………………………………………………………………………………………………

……………