Lesson 3

Speaking
1. Homework check (5-10 minutes)
- Let's talk about what you do. Do you work or are you a student?
- What's your job? Why did you choose that kind of work?
- How long have you been doing it?
- Are there things you don't like about it? What are they?

2. More vocabulary about Work (10 minutes)

Exercise 3. Find expressions on the opposite page which mean the opposite of the underlined words or phrases

Exercise 4. Choose the best word or phrase to complete each sentence

Exercise 5. Each sentence in these pairs of sentences contains a mistake. Correct them.

3. Grammar – using relative clause (10-20 sminutes)

4. Practice! (10 minutes)
- What do you do for a living?
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- What are your main responsibilities?
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- What do you like most about your job?
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- Are there things you don't like about it? What are they?
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- Can you have some time off whenever you want?
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- What jobs often involve shiftwork? Would you like to do one?
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5. Sample (Work topic)

- Do you work or study?
Well, I am currently working as a sale executive for one of the most well – known five-star hotel in
Saigon, which offers me great opportunities to enhance my communication skills and negotiation skills.

- What are your responsibilities?

Actually, I am in charge of cooperating with travel agents to promote my hotel properties and
amenities. Beside that, conducting sales calls to acquire new business and coordinating with other
department to maintain guest’s satisfaction are also parts of my duty.

- Do you enjoy your work?

Absolutely Yes. Although I have to work under high pressure, I feel that there is no other job I would
rather do. Moreover, The dynamic working environment in hospitality industry has brought me huge
motivation to move up my career ladder.

- Why did you choose to do that type of work (or, that job)?
Honestly, I didn’t really intend to become a saleperson because I initially thought It was so stressful.
After graduation, I took me ages to be called for an interviewed because most of headhunters was in
search of experienced candidates. Fortunately, I was employed to work in the Sales department of an
international hotel brand and gained a lot of experiences within the field. Unlike any other business,
working within such a fast-paced environment literally triggers my mind to access its full potential,
so it makes me a real trouper.

Writing
1. Overview structure (2 minutes)
- Language:
Overall, Figure A Witness / have An upward / A trend , while / Figure B
/ experience downward whereas
In general,
It is evident that …
It is clear that….
• Example: Overall, all figures witnessed upward trends.
• Tips: If two trends happen at the same time, instead of saying: “Overall, the figure for the coast
witnessed an upward trend, while the figure for the lakes experienced a downward trend”. You can
say: “Overall, the figure for the coast witnessed an upward, while the opposite was true for the
remaining figures.”
- What to include:
• Which figure is going upward or downward?
• Which figure is the biggest or smallest?
• Which figure is greater than others?
2. Vocabulary to describe charts (10 – 15 minutes)
• Verbs to show changes

Trends Verb form Noun form

 Increase (*) rise / increase / go up / climb a rise / an increase / a climb/ a rocket/ a
soar/ a jump/ a leap/ a surge
rocket / soar/ jump/ leap/ skyrocket/ soar/ surge.

Decrease (*) fall / decrease / decline / drop / reduce / go a fall / a decrease / a reduction / a decline/
down a drop / a slide / a collapse / a downfall.

/ plummet / plunge / dip / dive / slum /

Stay flat level off / remain constant / remain unchanged / No change, a flat, a plateau.
remain stable / reach a plateau / stabilize / plateau

Doesn’t Fluctuate A fluctuation

stay flat

The highest Reach a peak of

Reach its highest point of
Peak at

The lowest Hit a low of

Reach its lowest point of
• Adverbs to show

Types of Adverb form Adjective form

change

Rapid dramatically / rapidly / sharply / significantly/ dramatic / rapid / sharp / significant /

change considerably / substantially / noticeably. considerable / substantial / noticeable.

Moderate moderately / gradually / progressively moderate / gradual / progressive

change

Slight slightly / slowly / mildly slight / slow / mild

change

Steady Steadily, continuously, consistently Steady, continuous, consistent

change
• Structure
- There + to be + a noun form + of + in ..
Ex: There was a 15% drop in the ratio of student enrollment at this University
- The figure + verb + adverb
Ex: The expenditure of the office remained constant for the last 6 months but the profit rose by almost 25%
- The figure + wintess/ experience/ witness / undergo/ have + an adjective + a noun form
Ex: The economic inflation of the country witnessed a sharp increase of 20% in 2008
• Practice
3. Type of charts (2 minutes)
- Exercise 1: Are these charts the similar or different?
 - Theory
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• Trend graph
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• Comparative
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4. How to write Graph with a Trend (10 – 15 minutes)
- Structure
• Introduction (1 sentence)
• Overview (1-2 sentence)
• 2 Body paragraphs (70% descriptions + 30% comparisons)
- Paragraphs (Chunking)
• Year
• Similarity
- Transitional phrases
• To connect points of the same value: use time connectors (after, before, next, then, etc.)
• To connect different values
o Values with similar trends
§ Similarly /Likewise, …
o Values with opposite trends
 § By contrast, …
§ In contrast to this, ..
- Comparisons
• Comparative
§ Comparative adjective
§ Negative form (is not the same as; is not as high as; ..)
§ Exceed / surpass / overtake / outstrip
• Superlative
• Equality
• Orders and rankings (rank 1st; rank 2nd; follow by; etc.)
• Multiplications (account for a half/ double, 3 times that of; etc.)

5. A sample
a) Look at the line chart below. Analyze the key features of the chart.
b) Read the body paragraphs of these two answers. Underline descriptions in each answer.
c) Read again. Underline comparisons in each answer.
d) How did answer 1 group information? How did answer 2 group information?
e) Choose the better answer.

Answer 1 Answer 2
The line graph compares four different cafes in New The line graph indicates the revenue of four cafes in
York in terms of monthly earnings in the previous New York over the previous year, namely the tea
year. room, internet express, wi-fi cafe, cafe cool.

Overall, the three cafes, namely Internet Express, Wi-
fi Café, and Café Cool, saw an upward trend in sales
at varying degrees, while The Tea Room’s income,
albeit at the highest level for almost the whole year,
experienced a decrease over the period.
Overall, there is a considerable fluctuation in income
of both cafes over the period shown. However, the tea
room witnessed a downward trend while the other
three experienced the gradual growth in revenue.
Being the café with the highest income, the tea room
reached a peak of approximately 180000 dollars in
In January, the tea room had the highest income with
160000 dollars and the internet express was the second
highest earning at 100000 dollars while the Wi-Fi café
and café cool had the approximately same level at
50000 dollars and 30000 dollars respectively. In
March, the amount of income in the tea room reached
a peak of around 180000 dollars whereas the figures
fluctuated at the beginning of last year.
From September to December, the figure for the tea
room decreased suddenly to 50000 dollars while the
amount of Wi-Fi café increased sharply to 18000
dollars, being the highest figure in December. Besides,
the café cool and internet express both rose
significantly to 120000 dollars and 100000 dollars in
the December respectively.
6. Practice! (15 – 20 minutes)
March. Throughout the following months, it witnessed
progressive decreases before plummeting to finish at
the last place with around 50000 dollars, declining
about 110000 dollars compared to the beginning of the
period.
By contrast, the remaining cafes underwent substantial
rises throughout year. The wi-fi café began at around
50000 dollars, a half less than the Internet Express,
rose gradually until it surpassed the latter café and
reached a high of precisely 100000 dollars in July.
Afterwards, while the Internet Expressed continued to
rise consistently, the wi-fi café fell sharply before
rocketing to nearly 190000 dollars. Unlike other cafes,
the revenue of café cool went through wild
fluctuations then ended at 120000 dollars, 4 times
above its beginning.