Bonds have been a hot topic in the news recently. But what exactly are bonds and how do they work?
In this financial English lesson, we’ll explain some of the main ideas and vocabulary, starting with key terms such as yields, coupons, and maturity. Then we’ll get into different types of bonds. And finally we’ll look at how governments use bonds to finance their borrowing needs.
The value of ‘likes’ and ‘tags’ grew exponentially when Facebook filed its S-1 papers last month. Facebook will launch an Initial Public Offering (IPO) in May, paving the way for 27-year old founder Mark Zuckerberg, his staff, and even a graffiti artist to become exceptionally wealthy.
This month’s Business English News lesson features lots of great vocabulary for talking about company valuations, growth and social networks. Use the links below to access the free transcript and quizzes for this lesson.
Review key language and techniques from our recent series on language for job interviews (BEP 204 and BEP 205).
This challenge has 10 questions. For each correct answer you receive 10 points. For each wrong answer you loose 5 points. Your total score at the end of the quiz is the amount of time you have to play the hoops game and get as many balls as possible into the net (eg. 55 points quiz score = 55 seconds of game time).
Course Builder is an online app for building custom courses from Business English Pod lessons. Use the advanced search features to find lessons, drag them into your preferred order, and save to your courses dashboard.
Here’s a step-by step guide to building your first course with Course Builder. You can also watch a short video explaining how to use Course Builder here: Course Builder Guide Video
How to Make your First Course
1. Go to the Course Builder homepage. If not logged in already, you will be prompted to login with your existing BEP membership username and password.
3. Give your course a name and enter your objectives.
4. Set the course visibility to either Private (default) or Public. The default setting is ‘private’, which means that only you and the site administrator can view your course. If you set your course to ‘public’, your course will be published to the course list on the BEP website.
5. Click the “Create Course” button to save your course details and go to the lesson search page.
6. Enter a search term (eg. ‘describing trends’) and select specific categories you want to search (eg. ‘Presentations’, ‘Sales’, etc.). To search all BEP lessons, leave the categories unselected (or click the reset search form button). To list all the lessons in a category, leave the search terms box empty. Once you’ve entered your search terms, click the ‘Search for Lessons’ button.
7. A list of lessons matching your search criteria is now available below the search box. Click the green “+” button to select lessons to add to your course. Your selected lessons will start to appear in the ‘Edit Lessons’ section on the right of the page.
8. Click ‘Save Lessons’ to save your selections. You can repeat steps 6 and 7 until you have found all the lesson you want to add to your course. In the “Edit Lessons’ section, drag the selected lessons to your desired order and click the “Save Lessons” button.
9. Click the ‘Save Course’ button.
10. Click ‘View Course’ button to view your saved course and update your progress. A lick to the BEP page for each lesson you selected is listed on you course page. Your saved courses are also listed on the Course Builder homepage.
This is the second of a two-part Business English Pod lesson on job interviews for when you’re changing jobs or switching careers.
You can’t do the same thing for your entire life. That’s why you’ve chosen to make a change, to take your skills and experience and apply them to something new. But this comes with a challenge. How can you convince an interviewer that you’ve got what it takes to make the switch?
This is especially true for those of us who are more “mature.” There’s an old saying: “you can’t teach an old dog new tricks.” Well, your task in the interview is to show why this saying is wrong. And you need to demonstrate why an “old dog” brings a lot more to the table than a younger dog.
In today’s lesson, we’ll rejoin Patrick, an accountant who’s interviewing for a position with an advisory firm. Frank and Nina are conducting the interview. We’ll hear Patrick demonstrate some key interview skills; he’s going to answer hypothetical questions, highlight transferable skills, and demonstrate research. He’s also going to make polite suggestions and ask good questions.
Listening Questions
1. Why does Patrick talk about his work developing junior accountants?
2. What is Patrick’s suggestion about training and development?
3. What does Patrick want to know about the position?
This is the first of a two-part Business English Pod lesson on English job interviews for when you’re changing jobs or making a career shift.
You’ve racked up a lot of work experience and you’re proud of your special accomplishments. And you know enough to have clear opinions about how things should be done. But it’s time for a bit of a change. Maybe you’re switching careers altogether, or maybe you’re just looking to change roles. Regardless, you’re going to have to explain your accomplishments and express your opinions carefully in order to a make a good impression.
In an interview, it’s not just about what you say, it’s about how you say it. You will be asked some difficult questions, and you may only have one shot at it. The stakes are high, and the competition may be great. You need to sell yourself and demonstrate why you are the right choice for the position.
In this lesson, we’ll hear Nina and Frank interviewing Patrick. Patrick is a seasoned accountant looking for a career shift. He’s applying for a job with one of the major accounting advisory firms. Patrick is going to highlight his unique experience, politely criticize his former employer, admit challenges, and talk about past conflict. These are all tough things to do well, but Patrick handles them wisely.
Listening Questions
1. Why is Patrick talking about changes to a company’s internal controls?
2. How does Patrick describe financial meetings with executives?
3. How does Patrick say he dealt with the executives?
Welcome back to Business English Pod for today’s lesson on doing business at a trade show.
If you can connect with the right people at a large event like a trade show, you can get a lot of great sales leads and maybe even close some deals. Making these connections is all about your attitude and the way you communicate.
But trade shows come with challenges. One of these difficulties is focusing your time on those good prospects. This means that you need to be able to identify a bad prospect and to make your conversation with him brief. Doing this requires a combination of common sense, a focus on business, and some tact.
Today we will learn how to disengage from a bad prospect. But first, we’ll hear how to engage in small talk, show interest, and get people to talk as these are all essential steps in determining if a prospect is worth pursuing.
We’ll rejoin Kevin, who works for a packaging company called D-Pack. He is talking with Mick, who represents ElectroHome Cleaning. Kevin is going to both begin and end a conversation with Mick, who turns out to be not such a great prospect.
Listening Questions
1. Why does Kevin ask Mick about ‘product demos’?
2. What does Mick say about cleaning products?
3. How does Kevin bring the conversation to a close?
Welcome back to Business English Pod. My name’s Atalie, and I’ll be your host for today’s lesson on working at a trade show.
Trade shows can be fantastic opportunities to meet good prospects, network with others in the biz, and even close sales. But there are definite dos and don’ts about working the trade show circuit.
At a trade show, there are a lot of people. That means a lot of potential customers and leads, but it can also be easy to waste time on bad prospects. So you have to be outgoing to draw people in, but you also have to figure out quickly who is really worth talking to. And to engage good prospects and get rid of bad ones, you need excellent communication skills.
In this lesson, we’ll look at how to be approachable, connect with customers, and make a quick pitch. We’ll also learn how to pass a prospect off to another team member and how to set up an appointment.
We are going to hear Kevin and Jenny, who work for a Chinese packaging company called D-Pack. They’re working a booth at a large trade show. They are dealing with Andrew, who works for a manufacturing company. Andrew has come by D-Pack’s booth, and Kevin and Jenny have to work their magic.
Listening Questions
1. What does Andrew’s company want to do?
2. Why does Kevin talk about their big US clients?
3. What are Jenny and Andrew going to do at 10:00 the next day?
The battle for smartphone supremacy has reached new heights in recent months, with industry heavyweights Apple and Google leading the charge over long-time mobile powerhouses like Research in Motion and Windows.
Get the low-down on the brief, but constantly developing, history of the smartphone market in this month’s Business English News lesson. We feature lots of great vocabulary for talking about mobile communication, sales and technology. Use the links below to access the free transcript and quizzes for this lesson.
What’s the difference between a good meeting and a bad meeting? An effective business english meeting and one in which people talk but nothing really gets done? In many cases, the difference is in the person running the meeting. Whether he or she is the regular chairperson or a facilitator brought in from the outside, that person needs to make sure the meeting meets its objectives.
So how can you do that? How can you make meetings work? That’s what we’re looking at in this series. And the skills and techniques we’re demonstrating are useful not just for meetings. They can also be applied to all types of group discussions.
Today, we’re going to learn how to encourage quiet people, push for clarity, avoid committing to a position, conduct satisfaction checks, and praise good work. We’ll rejoin Tony, Annette, and Jake as they discuss solutions to a problem in their company. The meeting is being run by Liz, who has been brought in from another department to make sure the meeting is effective.
Listening Questions
1. What does Jake think is one of the basic problems?
2. Why doesn’t Liz want to give her opinion?
3. What are they going to talk about next?
