Category Archives: ESL Podcast

BEP 116 ADV (Study Notes) – Presentations: Analyzing Trends

In this Business English Pod episode, we’ll be completing our discussion of charts and graphs by studying language for making predictions and for supporting your predictions with analysis. We’ll also look at a couple of advanced ways to rhetorically emphasize a point. Rhetorical means using words effectively to get your message across.

Today’s listening continues Pat’s presentation of the market trends for Ambient and its competitors. This time Pat is coming to the “real story” – the main point – of his presentation. As you listen, see if you can catch what it is.
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BEP 115 ADV (Study Notes) – Presentations: Describing Trends

In this episode from our e-Book on the language of presenting in English (free for Premium Members), we’ll look at how to describe the trends show by a chart or graph.

A trend is the general direction or tendency of a metric or measurement – upward, downward, flat, fluctuating, peaking, bottoming out, and so on. So, you’ll be learning how to use these and many more terms for describing your charts and graphs in fluent, vivid sentences so that you can present your data with maximum impact.

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BEP 114 ADV (Study Notes) – HR Review: Comparing Candidates

As part of our series on job interviews, in this Business English Pod episode we’ll be taking a closer look at the process from the HR perspective. Specifically, we’ll be studying the language of reaching a decision about whom to hire.

A Brazilian business unit of fast moving consumer goods company Fun Beverages has recently interviewed several people for an HR manager position. Now the regional HR director, Ted, and the business unit general manager, George, are meeting to discuss the short-listed, or final, candidates.
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BEP 113 ADV (Study Notes) – Second Round Job Interviews

Continuing our series on job interviews, this podcast focuses on what happens when you made a good impression in the first round and get asked back for a second interview.

We’ll study how to demonstrate that we are a good match with an organization. In addition, we’ll review some other useful second round interview skills, such as summarizing the previous discussion and referring to something you forgot to mention earlier.

We’ll listen to Sherry’s second interview with a big international accounting firm, Grimshaw and Keene (commonly referred to as GK.) The interviewer is George Tan, an Asia-Pacific key account manager.
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BEP 112 ADV (Study Notes) – Negotiations: Getting Started

In this Business English Podcast episode, we’ll study how to open a traditional commercial negotiation between buyer and seller. We’ll focus on creating goodwill, starting off, setting ground rules, suggesting an agenda and exploring possibilities.

We’ll be listening to a telephone conversation between Tony, a supplier of building materials, and Paul, a purchasing manager for a large construction company in Canada. Paul is buying materials for a harbor project. A harbor is a protected area of water where boats dock, or park. For this project, Paul needs to buy anchor bolts. These bolts are the thick steel screws that are embedded or buried in concrete to support or anchor structural steel columns. Structural columns refer to the steel frameworks that hold buildings up.
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