Job interviews

Watch the video just for fun. There are some useful phrases in it, though.

I have been looking over your resume (AmE for CV) and I have to say I am very impressed.

I think to be honest you are overqualified to be an accountant.

I don't feel like you're then the correct person for this position.

That's okay I quit.

Even if you did work here, I wouldn't even give you the opportunity to quit because I would fire you.

You offered me the job but I never accepted it.

I've already worked for you.  It's very tedious and now you want me back. I think it's a regressive career move.

What can we do to get you to come work for us?  

A rise (BrE) /raise (AmE)?

I've already been an accountant here I feel like I've outgrown the position.

I want something higher.

I regret that I have to fire you.

We do have a new position opening up as head of personnel. Do you have any experience?

WORK

Click here to see old posts about work. Start with this one (difference between job, work and career).

SHOPPING

1. Click here to see how to answer some questions about this topic and some good vocabulary you can use. Then you can watch the video where they answer some of these questions and others.


Look at old posts about the same topic. There are many other activities!

Writing a cover letter or email / application letter or email

                                                                 Click here to see an old post.

     Another post with an example here.

Modal verbs

Click here to learn about modal verbs to express permission, obligation, prohibition, necessity. Do the exercises at the bottom of the page.

WORK

Click here and learn the difference between WORK, JOB and CAREER (there's an exercise at the bottom of the page).


Click here to see a lesson on how to talk about your job in English.


Click here to see an old post with very useful vocabulary to speak about work.

Key Differences Between Job and Work

The following points are noteworthy so far as the difference between job and work is concerned

1. Activity, performed by an individual for consideration, is called a job. Any activity that involves physical or mental strain, so as to accomplish a goal, is called work.
2. In the English Language, the word job is a countable noun, that means you can count the number of jobs, but at the same time, the term work is an uncountable noun.
3. The job is much more specific than work as it represents a regular and official activity whereas work means general efforts made to achieve a result.
4. A job is performed for a monetary compensation called salary or wages. On the contrary, work may or may not involve monetary compensation.
5. A job describes your designation in the company, while a work includes all the activities done by you.

Online shopping- Reading activity

Click here to do a reading activity about this topic (the key is included).

Conditional sentences

Click here to see the grammar and do some activities. Maybe you have problems with some links, but others work perfectly right. Do the ones related to the first and second conditionals.



Click here to see an old post about the same topic.

Online shopping

Click here to listen to a podcast about shopping online.

Here you have some old posts about the same topic. 

Useful vocabulary:

• A good deal: if something is a good deal, you pay a low price. You can say that a store has some great deals, for example
• A bargain: the same as above
• 20% off : the price is now 20% less than the original price
• Overpriced: if sth is overpriced, it costs much more than you think it should
• To order: when you order something that you are going to pay for, you ask for it to be brought to you, sent to you, or obtained for you. “to order things online”
• Order number
• To place an order
• If you have a discount on the retail price, you pay less price than the price normally charged
• Goods: things made to be sold
• To be scheduled for delivery (tomorrow)
• Online form
• A secure payment page
• To enter your card details
• Get a refund
• You can pay “Cash on Delivery”
• To exchange a product
• To track your package
• Shipping rates

Ready to test your knowledge?  Fill in the blanks with some of the words above.

LISTENING ACTIVITY

Watch the video and fill in the gaps. You can check your answers by activating the subtitles.

SINGLES’ DAY 
________________, cheap and some say addictive, online ________________________ are going through the roof in China. An electric tooth flosser caught Lu Ching’s eye, ______________ 20%. He rarely visits a ________________these days. Laptop, fitness equipment, cameras, all bought with a few __________________ and many other items he admits he doesn't even need. Sometimes I do ____________________ online, especially when they are on sale. A lot of times I buy them without thinking too much and never touch them again after I open the packages; even if I don't like them, I don't _______________ them because I'm lazy. Singles’ day started in the 1990s as a response to Valentine's Day, but it has gone far beyond people's relationship status. Online giant Alibaba managed to turn what's now called Double 11 into a shopping spectacle that captivates most of China. Exactly at midnight on November 11 __________________ appear online and the _______________ ____________ begins. Twenty years ago, America was China's role model but now when we talk about online business China is doing better than the U.S. in many ways. 2016 nearly 18 billion US dollars were spent in just 24 hours. As a publicity stunt ecommerce companies are using drones to ______________ _______________ to some of China’s islands. Transport companies are working _______________ to ________________ millions of packages. More than 650 million ___________________ were ___________________last year and this year's __________________ are most likely to be even higher despite a slowing economy but it is an environmental _______________ to the online shopping festival according to Greenpeace. Research shows that in 2016, Double 11 produced 258 thousand tons of CO2 because of transportation and waste _____________________that's the equivalent of two and a half million trees When we shop online the _________________ tend to ________________- They always wrap more layers around the original packaging usually plastic bags. This uses more resources and creates more waste. A problem Lu Ching has yet to become aware of. For him, online shopping has become like his mobile phone there's no life without it anymore and to prove that ___________________shopping does not increase laziness he demonstrates the home gym he bought online.

(Activities taken from Cristina Cabal's wonderful blog. Thank you very much!)

Shopping

Click here to do a listening activity about shopping.

Mediación Escrita

Remember you have 20 minutes to do this, without using the dictionary. Watch the video only once (you can take notes). Try to explain the main ideas using your own words! It's not literal translation.
Give it to me in class next week (Wednesday or Thursday).

MEDIACIÓN ESCRITA

Un amigo inglés lleva viviendo unos meses en España. Ha conseguido un trabajo, pero con su sueldo
no llega a fin de mes y en varias ocasiones te ha pedido ayuda. Has encontrado este vídeo con ideas
interesantes para ahorrar dinero. Como tu amigo todavía no tiene el nivel de español suficiente para
entenderlo, hazle un resumen con las ideas principales y mándaselo por correo electrónico.
(100-120 palabras)

(Conchi Gillén's activity. Thanks a lot!)

Life events

Click here to learn how to speak about life events. There's a video and a listening at the bottom of the page.

Living without money

Watch the video and answer the questions. Check your answers in "comments".

1. When did Daniel give up money?

2. Finish the sentence; “Money is an _____________.”

3. How much money did he leave in the phone booth?

4. What did his friend think of his decision?

5. How did 2008 change the narrator’s perspective?

6. What did Daniel choose to live in?

7. Name his food sources:

8. My philosophy is to use only what is freely ___________ and discarded and what is already ____________ and already ___________.

9. What does he will think will happen to money in the future?

10. We can cultivate freely giving and freely receiving, ______________ _______________ what station of life we’re in, that’s our true ______________ and it ___________ in everybody.

Would winning the lottery make you happier?

Choose the correct answer. Check them clicking on "comments".

                  1. Based on a study of lottery winners, it was found that winning the lottery:

a.       Has little or no effect on long term happiness

b.      Can make you less happy than you were before winning it

c.       Has little effect on the intensity of anger, stress, and sorrow in your life

d.      A and b only

e.      All of the above are good answers

2. The hedonic treadmill:

a.       Discusses our ability to keep working despite wanting to quit

b.      Our continual attempt to make more and more money

c.       Describes our tendency to adapt to a new situation and maintain a stable emotional equilibrium

d.      Makes us less emotionally sensitive to any kind of change

e.      Both c and d

3. Winning the lottery sometimes may not be a wonderful event. What can happen?

a.       It may be difficult to manage large sums of money

b.      A person may spend or lose it all too quickly

c.       It may be socially isolating

d.      It may make you not such a nice person

e.      All of the above

4. The more you spend money on ___________ the happier you will be.

a.       Expensive cars

b.      Food

c.       Experiences

d.      Your home

5. You have received a large sum of money, the best way to ensure your happiness is to:

a.       Immediately spend it on something for yourself

b.      Spend it buying something for someone else

c.       Put it in the bank

d.      All of the above

From: https://ed.ted.com/lessons/would-winning-the-lottery-make-you-happier-raj-raghunathan

What would you do if you won the lottery?

Life-changing experiences

Write a post about a life-changing experience (100-120 words). Try to use "used to", "would", "get/be used to", "no longer" or "any more" and a "result phrase".
I'll put a tick next to it when I correct it.
You can upload it until 28th February.

used to / be used to / get used to

Read the grammar and do an exercise here.

Exercise one

Exercise two

Used to / Would

Click here to read the grammar explanation and do an exercise.

Click here to do another exercise.

Click here to see old posts about the same topic.

The lottery

Click here to listen to a podcast about the lottery and answer the questions. Check your answers in "comments".

1. How much money did Richard's money win?
2. When did the Euromillions start and where can we find this lottery?
3. What has been the biggest win ever? Who won it? When?
4. How much does the average household in the UK spend on lottery?
5. What is the problem with that?
6. How much money goes to good causes? Why isn't this always good?
7. Why do so many people buy lottery tickets?
8. What encourages people to buy more tickets?
9. Why do the lottery people advise winners to go public?
10. What's Richard's mother going to spend her winnings on?

Click here to listen to another podcast about the lottery (the winners) and answer the questions. Check your answers in "comments". 

1. How much money is spent on lottery tickets in the UK every week?
2. What is easier to find in the newspapers according to Jackie? Why?
3. What do we know about Michaell Carroll before winning the lottery?
4. When did he win the lottey and how much did he win?
5. Name some of the things he bought with the money.
6. When was all his money gone?
7. What did Elaine Thompson do before winning the lottery?
8. How much did she win?
9. What did she do with the money?
10. What does Elaine say about being happy?
11. What did Julie Jeffrey and her husband do before winning the lottery?
12. How much did they win?
13. What did both women do with the money? What does Jackie think about it?
14. What does Julie say about the newspapers?

Money vocabulary