商务中级英语沙龙话题与准备清单

Business Intermediate Salon Preparation Sheet

Salon List:

1.

2.

3.

4.

5.

6.

7.

8.

9.

10.

11.

12.

13.

14.

15.

16.

17.

18.

19.

20.

21.

22.

23.

24.

25.

26.

27.

28.

29.

30.

31.

32.

33.

34.

35.

Complaints.

A Dying Company.

Key Introductions.

Telephone Tactics

Logos, Slogans, Brands and Mission Statements.

Value and Worth.

The World of Work.

Business Design.

Interviews and Resumes.

Traveling for Business.

Describing Trends

Preparing for Meetings.

Business Ethics

Business Idioms.

The Horrible Truth about Business.

The Business Meal.

Writing English

Asking the Right Questions.

Leadership.

Business Phrasal Verbs.

Describing Work.

Managing a Project.

Describing Systems.

Intentions

Customer Service.

Work-Life Balance

Business Meeting Activity: The Training Budget.

Business Meeting Activity: The Head Office.

Business Meeting Activity: The Chocolate Factory.

A Place of Work

Business Meeting Activity: Quality and Personnel.

A New Idea

Achievements

Business Meeting Activity: Changing Names.

Projects.

Salon1:

Review this vocabulary:

Assurance, Insurance, Reassurance, Sympathy,

Empathy, Insistent, Persistent, Aggressive,

Procedure

What is reassurance?

When is it necessary to reassure people?

Think about complaints.

When did you last time you have to complain about something?

What are common complaints that people make?

Should I be persistent when I complain?

Should you use threatening language when you complain?

Should companies have a complaints procedure?

What action do people usually take when people complain against them?

How do you organize a complaint?

What do I need to have if I want to make a complaint?

Salon 2:

A Dying company

This lesson is about the problems that can affect a manufacturing company.

Please read the following passage before the class.

Hi! My name is Zhu Cun. Seven years ago I inherited a small shoe company from my father, it’s

based in Wuxi, Jiangsu Province.

Un

fortunately I know nothing about business at all so I’ve contacted you to help me with my current

problems. I was given your name by a friend who said you had a great deal of experience in this field.

The problem is this:

The company is losing money! Everything was great under my father. We had markets in both Japan

and the US as well as a strong Eastern Chinese market.

We made low price sports shoes for big supermarket chains and some higher quality sports shoes for

some major retailers.

But now we’re in

the red! We’ve been losing money for the last three years as orders have decreased.

We owe money to all our suppliers and to the bank as we took out a large loan four years ago to pay

for new equipment. Every month our outgoings are larger than our incoming revenue.

I’m not sure about the reasons for our loss of orders. I know about the changes in Japan’s economy

since the early 1990s and I know that America has changed a lot in the last few years.

Our suppliers have increased the cost of materials and this has caused problems.

We released a new kind of ‘retro’ design shoe last year. I’m not sure about this product but the

research and design department seem happy enough with it, we were unsure about how to price this

shoe and I must confess we guessed a little!

Check the vocabulary

retailers / retro / loan / outgoings / inherit / in the red / recession / retro

Thin about these questions?

What form might the sales chain between the company and the customer have?

In what do company’s lose money?

What could cause a really dramatic loss of sales in a company?

What products suffer during a recession?

What products don’t usually suffer during a recession?

What are Idioms?

Salon 3:

This lesson will help you prepare an ‘English Personality’ that you can use to

introduce yourself.

Please think of seven words or phrases that describe you before you come to the lesson

.

Salon 4:

Summary

: The class is designed to expand on Business Intermediate Private Class 10 and allow

students to exercise their skills in telephone English. The steps involved and extensive role-playing

are the focal points of the lesson.

Review this vocabulary

:

Do you use the phone in English?

What kind of problems do you/have you encountered when using the phone?

What are the steps involved in making a phone call?

What is an answering machine?

How do you leave a message?

How does appropriate vocabulary change between a formal and an informal phone call?

Salon 5:

Think about logos for companies that you see everyday

.

Think about how companies create a brand image.

Does your company have a mission statement?

Find the mission statement of a famous company on the Internet.

What is a slogan?

Salon 6:

This lesson considers the questions of Value and Worth in business and the vocabulary needed to

express these ideas.

What is a guarantee?

What is advice?

What is the best advice you were ever given?

What is the worst advice you were ever given?

What is the value of having the following?

?

An MBA.

?

Having Relatives in the same kind of business as you.

?

A steady job.

?

A supportive wife or husband.

?

A welcoming smile.

?

Twenty years of experience in the same industry.

Salon 7:

Think about the following questions before the class:

?

?

?

?

Describe your job (or the kind of job you would like to have)

Where can you find job advertisements?

How do people in China go about applying for a job?

Can you remember the job interviews you’ve had and the questions you were asked? (or what sort

of questions you think you will be asked)

Salon 8:

Summary

: This lesson allows the students to design and present their ideas for a new business. In

small groups, the students select a line of business and prepare a model for their company.

Review this vocabulary

:

theme, funds, gimmick, decor

Have you ever thought about opening your own business? What kind?

What steps are required in drawing up a plan for a new business?

Salon 9:

Summary

: This lesson is designed to introduce students to the format and importance of

resumes/CV’s. The second half of the lesson works on specific res

ponses to common questions at a

job interview.

Review this vocabulary

:

resume, CV, dilemma, ethical

Do you have a resume in English?

Do you know how to go about writing a resume?

Have you ever had a job interview in English?

What aspects of the interview were the most difficult?

What kind of questions did you find the most difficult?

Salon 10:

Summary

: This class is designed for students to examine both Asian and western cultural concepts,

particularly in regards to business.

Review this vocabulary:

ritual, intermediary, etiquette, perception

What things should you think about before traveling for business?

What differences can you think of between the way foreigners and Chinese do business?

What does “in context” mean?

Salon 11:

Practise saying the following numbers:

14 40 17 70 2,500 2,560 2,516 25,600 25,660

200,000 225,800 340,000 3,400,000 3.8 3.88

When describing trends, the following verbs can be used: go up; stay the same; fall.

Can you think of 2 different ways to say each of these verbs?

Go up

–

Stay the same

–

Fall

–

Salon 12:

Answer the following questions before class:

?

?

?

?

?

What are the main reasons for holding a meeting?

What is the role of the chairperson?

Why are so many meetings unsuccessful?

What sort of meetings do you have in your job?

Describe a meeting that you have attended recently. How effective was it and why?

Salon 13:

Summary

: This lesson allows students to analyze ethical problems which could arise in the

workplace and in the marketplace. Students are asked to explore the situation and make ethical

considerations based on their own perspective of right and wrong.

Review this vocabulary

:

ethical, moral, dilemma, copy write, intellectual property right, invoice

How important are ethics to you when making decisions?

Do you buy fake/copied products? Do you feel guilty?

What is more important to you, success or happiness in your career?

Which is more important to you, your career or your sense of right and wrong?

Salon 14:

Summary

: This lesson introduces students to the extensive amount of idioms used in business

situations.

Review this vocabulary

:

idiom

What is an idiom? What is its purpose?

How many idioms do you know in English?

Salon 15:

Summary

: This lesson introduces the student to the basics of marketing. Consumer manipulation

through advertising is covered as well as basic market research and presentation skills.

Review this vocabulary

:

marketing, briefcase, connotations, image, intermediary

Think about the goals/techniques of advertising?

What is the purpose of market research? How is it done?

What kinds of information would you need to know from potential consumers before finalizing the

design for a new product?

What is an intermediary in Chinese business and what is their function?

Salon 16:

Summary

: This lesson is a comprehensive study of the Chinese business meal as introduced to a

foreigner on their first trip to China. The students are responsible for introducing their culture to the

teacher in regards to etiquette at the restaurant dinner table.

Review this Vocabulary:

garments, textile

Think about every aspect of China’s food culture.

Think about all aspects of a restaurant meal in China.

Think about cultural differences between East and West in regards to food/dining.

Salon 17

:

What’s the difference between the first and second words in each pair below?

g

et/obtain; job/occupation; I want/ I’d like; ask/enquire; thanks/thank you.

Try making a sentence using each word.

Salon 18:

Summary:

The c

lass covers a wide variety of topics all related to a students’ ability to ask questions

in English.

Review this vocabulary:

public listing, copyright protection, vending machine, resume

How well do you ask questions in English?

If you are given an answer, can you make up the question?

Can you make small talk?

Are you good at public speaking?

How well can you explain Chinese idioms in English?

Salon 19:

Summary:

The lesson gets students to analyze the qualities of a good leader by examining both

teachers and managers. The main exercise is a debate and also includes a section on lateral thinking.

Review this vocabulary

:

debate, individualist, collectivist, commitment, sympathetic, bitter, hammer, nail, cactus, neon light,

hawk, sparrow, snail, village, mineral water, whisky

Who was your best teacher and what made them so good?

What qualities do you think make a good leader?

Is your boss a good leader?

Salon 20:

Salon 21:

When you were a child, what did you want to be when you grew up?

There are many words we can use to describe our jobs, for example: stressful, rewarding, well-paid etc.

Write down 5 more words to describe a job:

1.

2.

3.

4.