Business English Pod / A2 / Page 13

BEP 88 – Telephoning: Booking a Travel Ticket

A2, Business English, Customer Service, Intermediate English, Telephone English, Travel /

Booking tickets on the phone is a basic part of business travel. In this intermediate Business English Podcast, we will practice useful phrases and language for making travel arrangements on the telephone.

Viva is an Italian manufacturer of ladies’ apparel, or clothing. Marco and Francesca, Viva employees, are on a business trip. After visiting customers in the UK, they are now heading to Las Vegas in the United States to meet with their American distributor – the company that sells their product there. Marco calls a travel agent to book tickets for them.

Listening Questions

1) When does Marco want to leave and when does he want to return? Will he and Francesca be flying first class, business class or economy?
2) Does Marco ask the travel agent to “hold the fare” or does he pay for it immediately?
3) Does Marco need to pick up his and Francesca’s tickets at the travel agent’s office?

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BEP 72 – Telephoning: Voicemail Messages

A2, Business English, ESL Podcast, Intermediate English, Telephone English /

When you call someone but they aren’t there, often their voicemail “picks up” or answers the phone. Then you have to leave a message. Anyone who uses the phone in their job has to deal with voicemail.

Have you ever started to leave a message on someone’s voicemail, then when you heard the “beep” sound, you didn’t know what to say? When you’re speaking a foreign language, talking without preparation can be challenging, especially when you cannot see or hear the person you’re talking to. But with a little practice, you’ll be a voicemail pro.

That’s what we’ll be studying in this Business English lesson – standard phrases and language for voicemail messages, so that next time you here that “beep” you’ll know exactly what to say.

First we’ll hear a bad example. Justin Thomas works for a shipping broker called Trivesco. Brokers are “middlemen” – in this case Justin is a “newbuildings” broker, which means he helps people buy and sell new ships. Justin is calling Sylvie Peterson, a manager at the shipbuilding company Schmidt and Larsen. In the second example we hear Justin’s colleague, Mark Rand, leave a more professional message.

Listening Questions (Good Message)

1) What is Mark Rand hoping to talk to Sylvie about?
2) When will he be available to take Sylvie’s call?
3) How does Mark put a positive finish on the message?

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BEP 67 – Socializing with Colleagues at Work

A2, Business English, ESL Podcast, Intermediate English, Socializing, Travel /

This is the fourth in a series of intermediate business ESL podcasts that focus on business travel. In this series we’re following a group of trainees who work for the telecommunications company Ambient as they visit their head office in Michigan in the U.S.

How do you make friendly chat with your colleagues? What kinds of topics can you talk about? We’ll be looking at some answers. In particular, we’ll cover informal greetings and how to chat about movies. As almost everyone loves to go to the cinema, movies are usually a good topic for small talk.

As our listening begins, it’s Monday morning. Honesto, a trainee from the Philippines, says hello to his American colleague Brenda as she comes in to the office.

Listening Questions

1) What does Brenda mean when she says “veg out”?
2) What are critics and what did they think about Rush Hour 3?
3) How does Brenda like her coffee?

PDF Transcript

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BEP 56 – Business Travel 2: Customs and Immigration

A2, Business English, ESL Podcast, Intermediate English, Travel /

Continuing our series on ESL for business travel, we rejoin Alan and Honesto on their business trip to the USA. In BEP 55 – Airport Departures and Take Off, Alan, the main character in our story, and Honesto, his colleague, have left Hong Kong for San Francisco. There they will go through immigration, collect their bags, and change planes to Michigan, which is where their company, Ambient, is headquartered.

Immigration is the process you follow to enter a foreign country. So in today’s ESL lesson, you’ll learn helpful travel vocabulary and phrases you can use when you enter the U.S. or other countries.

Listening Questions

1) What is an I-94 form?
2) How much money can you bring into the U.S.?
3) Where does Alan want to go sightseeing?
4) What does Alan mean by “just pulling your leg?”

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BEP 55 – Business Travel: Airport Departure and Take Off

A2, Business English, ESL Podcast, Intermediate English, Travel /

This Business English Podcast lesson is the first in a series of shows that will follow an employee of a manufacturing company on a training trip to the U.S. Over the series, we’ll practice many situations that will be useful for you on your business trips overseas, including going through immigration, renting a car, checking into a hotel, using wireless internet and so on.

The main character in our story is Alan Chen. He works for a major multinational electronics manufacturer, Ambient, which is headquartered in Michigan in the USA. Having recently received a promotion, Alan is going to America to learn 6 Sigma, which is a system for improving quality.

Today’s episode starts at the beginning of the business trip with “boarding the airplane.”

Listening Questions

1) What row are Alan and Honesto sitting in?
2) What should passengers turn off before the plane takes off?
3) What does Alan mean by “murder a scotch.”

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Download: Podcast MP3