Katarzyna Sawicz English Teacher
  • HOME
    • courses
    • contact
    • privacy
  • BLOG

How are owners of big business empires called

10/29/2018

0 Comments

 
Picture

Magnates, Moguls, Tycoons

These are the names commonly used, especially by journalists, to refer to people in charge of big business empires. These words often combine as follows:

media
press                          MAGNATE
shipping 
oil


movie
media                        MOGUL
shipping 


property
software               TYCOON



Among famous magnates you will find for example:  Henry Ford, Martha Stewart, George Soros, Andrew Carnegie, and many more.

Among richest movie moguls you will find for example: George Lucas, Steven Spielberg, Thomas Tull, James Cameron, and others.

And of course, most famous tech tycoons are Bill Gates, Mark Zuckerberg, Jeff Bezos, and others.


0 Comments

It's autumn, go to bed ...

10/22/2018

0 Comments

 
Picture
Sorrow can be alleviated by good sleep, a bath and a glass of wine.
~ Thomas Aquinas

Sleep

We all know this feeling of being tired in the morning right now in autumn. We want to sleep! We don't want to go to work or school. All we want is to stay in bed a bit longer. Not everyone can afford to sleep long enough, yet sleep is very important for our health and if you are deprived of it, you may suffer both physically and mentally. 
​

How to talk about sleep

to crash out 
to go to bed (informal)
I'm tired, I'm going to crash out.

to doze off
to fall asleep for a short time, without an intention
The lecture was so boring that I dozed off.

to hit the sack
to go to bed (informal)
I need to get up very early tomorrow. I'm going to hit the sack.

to nod off
to fall asleep, often in a sitting position
While watching a match I nodded off and didn't see the final.

to oversleep
to wake up later than intended, usually as the result you are late for something
Your boss will fire you if you oversleep again.
​
to lie in / to have a lie-in
to intentionally stay in bed and get up at a later time than normal
I'm so tired today that I think I will have a lie-in. It's Sunday, after all.

to sleep over
to sleep the night at another person's house
Mum, can I sleep over at Mary's tonight?

to be sound asleep
to be sleeping deeply
Be quiet! The kids are fast asleep.

to toss and turn all night
to sleep badly moving and changing position in bed
I spent the whole night tossing and turning - I couldn't stop thinking about today's exam.

to be wide awake
to be completely awake
It's two o'clock in the morning and I'm wide awake as I am still working on my presentation.

not to get a wink of sleep
not to sleep at all (especially all night)
My husband was snoring so badly that I couldn't get a wink of sleep last night.



Problems with sleep

Many people suffer from different problems connected with sleep. Here are some of the most common ones:

Insomnia
If you have insomnia you feel as if you don't get enough sleep at night, or you may have trouble falling asleep.

Snoring
The noise that is produced while breathing.

Narcolepsy
It is a disorder that causes excessive daytime sleepiness.

Sleepwalking
Sleepwalkers can do many activities which may be dangerous, for example leaving the house while they are asleep.

If you are sleep deprived, it may have negative impact on you private and professional life. Watch Arianna Huffington and discover the power of sleep: How to succeed? Get more sleep.
​


0 Comments

BEC Vantage - Speaking Part 1

10/3/2018

2 Comments

 
Picture

BEC EXAM VANTAGE - SPEAKING PART 1

BEC exams are accepted by many employers worldwide as a proof of your competence in English and readiness to work successfully in international business.
To find out about the structure of the exam you can visit Cambridge English: Business Vantage. 

The productive skills such as writing and speaking, which you have to demonstrate during the exam, seem to be most problematic, while listening and reading don't appear to cause so much trouble. 

Below you will find a collection of questions which you might come across in Part 1 - which is a conversation between you and the examiner, and my proposal how to answer one of them.


How to approach Speaking Part 1:
  • In this part you are asked about yourself and business topics
  • In the exam, listen carefully to the questions. If you don't understand the question, ask the examiner to repeat it. Speak to both the examiner and the other candidate. Listen to what the other candidate says.
  • Give more than just basic answers, support them with examples to show what you mean.
  • If you don't know the answer, because you lack knowledge of specific areas of business, say so, and try to speculate on the topic.
  • In this part you have to speak for about 3 minutes.

Questions you may be asked in BEC Vantage Speaking Part 1:

1. What types of business are most sucessful in your home own?
2. Which aspects of business interest you most?
3. What training would you most like to have in the future?
4. Do you think companies should provide training for all staff?
5. Is it better to attend a full-time or part-time training course?
6. What kinds of work are most popular in your home town?
7. Which aspect of your work/studies do you enjoy most?
8. What are you planning to do next in your career?
9. Do you use computers much in your work/studies?
10. What changes in business do you expecct will happen in the future?
11. What kind of job would you most like to have?
12. What are the main products made in your home town?
13. How important do you think suitable packaging is for products?
14. What attract you to buy particular products?
15. What types of business in general do you think will be most successful in the future?

Below you will find my answer to:

5. Is it better to attend a full-time or part-time training course?

I am of the opinion that providing your employees with training is one of the core responsibilities of an employer, who first should identify needs for it and then try to make a plan of training and realise it. Whether it is better to attend a full-time or part-time training course very much depends on a few factors like the length of training, its frequency, intensity and so on. Based on these, an employer should decide whether his/her employee will be able to attend a training course without his performance being affected. It also crucial to consider the effectiveness of a full-time intensive course, as participants who for example take part in 8-hour training every day for a week  are simply overloaded. To sum up, what I think is that  attending a full-time or part-time training course must be decided upon taking into account things such as: the availability of course and attendants, their needs, intensity of the course and employer's budget. ​

Did you find this article helpful? If yes, why not dropping a comment below, or maybe you will try to answer one of the questions above?

Do you find it difficult to prepare for the exam on your own? I can help you unlock your potential. Contact me to schedule a trial lesson!.


I also encourage you to watch a short video, where you will see how this part of exam looks like:

​
2 Comments

How to say you are poor or in debt

10/3/2018

0 Comments

 
Picture
How to say you are poor or in debt

​When you are poor or in debt:

abject poverty - terrible poverty
Half the people in this country are living in abject poverty.

to live from hand to mouth - to barely manage financially
Many people are so poor that they live from hand to mouth.

can't make ends meet - find it difficult to manage financially
On a salary like his, it's not surprising that he can't make ends meet.

​to be heavily in debt - to owe sb/the institution a lot of money
We are heavily in debt to the bank.

an outstanding debt - a debt that you have not paid
You must pay these outstanding debts immediately.

to be overdrawn - to be in debt to the bank because you have spent more money than you have in your account
Mary is $100 overdrawn at the bank.

to pay off/clear your debts - to pay the money you owe
We'll buy a new care once we have cleared our debts.

to be short of money - to have very little money
I'd love to go, but I'm a bit short of money at the moment.
​
0 Comments

Incoterms decoded

10/3/2018

0 Comments

 
Picture
Companies which export or import goods use standard arrangements called INCOTERMS (International Commercial Terms), established by the International Chamber of Commerce (ICC) that state the responsibilities of the buyer and the seller.

Incoterms can be divided into 4 groups:
E Terms (Departure)
F Terms (Free, Main Carriage Unpaid)
C Terms (Main Carriage Paid)
D Terms (Delivered/Arrival)


EXW / EX WORKS - the buyer collects the goods at the seller's own premises and arranges insurance against loss or damage to the goods in transit

FCA or Free Carrier - the goods are delivered to a named place where the carrier can load them onto a means of transport

FAS - Free Alongside Ship - the seller delivers the goods to the quay next to the ship in the port

FOB - Free On Board - the seller pays for loading the goods onto the ship
​CFR - Cost and Freight (for ocean freight) and CPT - Carriage Paid To (for air freight and land freight) - the buyer is responsible for insurance

CIF - Cost, Insurance and Freight (for ocean freight) and CIP - Carriage and Insurance Paid To  (for air freight and land freight) - the seller arranges and pays for insurance

D Terms - the seller pays all the costs involved in transporting the goods to the country of destination, including insurance.

DAF - Delivered At Frontier - the importer is responsible for preparing the documentation and getting the goods through customs

DES - Delivered Ex Ship - the buyer pays for unloading the goods from the ship

DEQ - Delivered Ex Quay - the seller pays for unloading the goods from the ship to the quay, and for the payment of customs duties and taxes

DDU - Delivered Duty Unpaid - the buyer pays any imort taxes
DDP - Delivered Duty Paid  - the seller pays any import taxes

​​
0 Comments

How to say you don't believe someone

10/3/2018

0 Comments

 
Picture

Liar, liar

There are moments we know someone is not telling truth, or basically they are lying. Obviously, we can simply call them a liar, but you may try some other phrases which could be less straightforward or neutral, or you may decide not to mince words and call a spade a spade. Learn some new phrases below:

Yeah, right.
You're kidding.
You're pulling my  leg.
That's a bit of an exaggeration.
He's stretching the truth.
He's not telling the whole truth.
She's being economical with truth.
His story is fishy.
That's an outright lie.
That's a pack of lies.

​


0 Comments

Business idioms - Killer bees

10/2/2018

0 Comments

 

Business Idioms - Killer bees

Business idioms
Business Idioms - Killer bees

Acquisitions & Takeovers

In order to avoid takeovers, companies may decide to hire firms or individuals that help them devise and implement anti-takeover strategies, which in turn make the target company less attractive or more difficult to acquire, by forcing acquirers to pay more, or by diluting the acquirer's holdings.

Do you want to learn more about Acquisitions in English? Contact me.
0 Comments

    Author

    Katarzyna Sawicz

    Picture
    View my profile on LinkedIn
    Key facts:
    - teacher of English
    - interpreter PL-EN, EN-PL
    - B.A in English Linguistics, M.A in Linguistics, Sworn and Business Translations, Financial Analysis and Reporting
    - over 18 years experience teaching and designing materials
    - experience teaching online to individuals and small groups
    - experience teaching in-company 
    - 3500+ hours of online lessons

    Archives

    August 2020
    April 2020
    March 2020
    February 2020
    January 2020
    December 2019
    November 2019
    August 2019
    July 2019
    May 2019
    April 2019
    November 2018
    October 2018
    September 2018
    August 2018
    July 2018

    Categories

    All
    Business English
    Finance
    Flashcards
    General English
    IELTS

      Contact Form

    Submit

    RSS Feed

Picture

Prime Courses Katarzyna Sawicz
Ul. Bajana 17/16, Wrocław
NIP 8821526397

​


mail: kontakt@primecourses.pl
tel. +48  795422312

  • HOME
    • courses
    • contact
    • privacy
  • BLOG