Focused English-Business English

Free Business English Course - Lecture 1

Focused English

FREE COURSE LECTURE 1 1

 Introduction
Welcome to the ‘Free Business English Course’. This course will teach you important
skills that you can use to be successful in today’s global business place. In the course we will
focus on ve different business skills: Opening a Presentation, Arranging a Meeting,
Speaking on the Telephone, The 30-Second Verbal Business Card, and Making Small Talk.
When you log into your course, please print the PDF (US or A4) of the lecture sheet
before starting the lecture. You will use this to do the exercises during the lecture, so it is very
important for you to have a copy that you can write on. There is a page at the end of the
worksheet that you can use to write down vocabulary that you don’t know and then translate
into your own language. There is also a page for notes. Next, watch the lecture and be
prepared to take notes and complete the exercises.
Once you have completed the lecture, review your worksheet and correct any mistakes.
Remember when you’re watching the video to practice speaking like the instructor. Also, try
to keep a notebook with all of your worksheets together so you can go back and review them
in the future. After doing all of these steps you’ll be ready for the next lecture. Good luck and
welcome to Focused English!

Opening A Presentation

In this lecture, you will start learning how to open a presentation. You will learn the
WISE system: Welcome the audience, Introduce yourself, Say what your presentation is about,
and Explain why it is important for your audience.

Remember to write down any words that you don’t know and translate them into your
language at the end of the worksheet. Also take good notes, and practice speaking like the
instructor. Good luck and let’s get started!

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 LANGUAGE FOCUS

The WISE System

Welcome the audience

Good morning/afternoon ladies and gentlemen.
Hello/Hi everyone.
First of all, let me thank you all for coming here today.
I’m delighted so many of you could make it here today.

Introduce yourself
Let me introduce myself. I’m Scott Barlow and I’m the managing director of
Focused English.
For those of you that don't know me, my name's Scott Barlow and I'm the
managing director of Focused English.
As you all probably know, I'm Scott Barlow, the new Logistics Manager.
I'm Scott Barlow and I'm the head of HR here at Focused English.

Say what your topic is

As you can see on the screen, our topic today is…
Today's topic is…
What I'd like to talk about today is…
The subject of my presentation is ...

Explain why it is important for the audience

My presentation is particularly important for those of us that need English for our
career.
Today's topic is of particular interest to those of us that need English for our
career.
My topic is very important for you because we all need English for our career.
By the end of the presentation you will be familiar with how to improve your
English for your career.

Remember to use words like we, us, and our to show common interest with the
audience.

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1. Practice
Put the words in the correct order to make sentences used to open a presentation.
1. see screen on security you as topic can today our need internet the better for the is.
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2. I'm myself from James Wilson introduce let Winsoft me Corporation.
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3. relevant that topic is retraining today's for deal employees must of us with those
particularly.
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4. today I'm so many could presentation come delighted you that my to of.
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5. production for those with department the Jeff Williams don't me is that you know of
name my.
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2. Practice
Complete the sentences with words from the box.

end ~ everyone ~ important ~ presentation ~ know

subject ~ screen ~ delighted ~ coming ~ probably

1. Hi __________, my name is James Wilson with WinSoft Corporation.

2. I’m __________ so many of you took the time to come out today.
3. As you all __________ know, I’m Tracy Carter from Human Resources.
4. Today’s __________ is about the new software system.
5. First of all, let me thank you all for __________ here today.
6. For those of you that don’t __________ me, I’m William Bates from sales and marketing.
7. Todays topic is especially __________ for those of us that travel a lot on company
business.
8. As you can see on the __________, today’s topic is internet security.
9. By the __________ of the presentation, you should be able to write a contract in the new
system.
10. The __________ of my presentation today is the company’s dress code.

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 3. Comprehension Check
What does the phrase ‘company dress code’ mean in number 10?
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4. Practice
Match the sentence halves to make expressions used to open a presentation.

1. For those of you who don't know me,

2. Feel free to
3. This won't take more
4. I'll be passing out
5. This part of the presentation will take
6. I'll start off by giving you
7. There's no need
8. There will be time

A. to take notes as I’ll be giving you handouts.

B. about 10 minutes.
C. I'm Bob Kay from HR.
D. ask questions at any time.
E. for questions at the end of the presentation.
F. an overview of our product range.
G. handouts in a few minutes.
H. than 20 minutes of your time.

Did you know?

It is estimated that 75% of people fear speaking in public. This is one reason many people
have a dif cult time making a presentation.

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 Vocabulary

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 Notes

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