Week 4: Presenting Your Company

You're going to do a presentation about the company you work for. Make sure to include the following:

A. Greeting
-Name
-Position

B. Topic
-Subject/purpose of talk

C. Plan of Talk
-Section/parts of talk

D. Facts and Figures
-Company products or services
-Important figures: number of employees, profits, etc. (whatever you consider important).
-Your main competitors

E. Your duties
-What do you do?

F.  Future Developments
-Your plans for next year

Example:
Hello everyone. My name is Jorge Palacios. I'm the general manager of Smart. I'd like to talk to you about our company. I divided my presentation into three parts. Firstly, I'm going to give you some facts and figures of our company. Secondly, I'll talk about my duties. And finally, I'll share with you our plans for next year.

Smart is a supermarket retailer with 47 stores in 3 states in Northern Mexico: Chihuahua, Nuevo Leon, and Coahuila. The headquarters of our company are located in Ciudad Juarez, Chihuahua. Our main product is food, but we also sell household goods. We have 2,600 employees working in our company. In 2013, our profits reached 120 million dollars. Our main competitors are Walmart, Soriana, and Bodega Aurrera.

As a general manager, I'm in charge of allocating resources to improve the efficiency of the company. I also develop strategic plans for new business opportunities.  As well, I supervise the marketing department and the supply chain.

Our goal for next year is to open 8 new stores in Nuevo Leon to consolidate our presences in that state. At the same time, we wish to improve our social responsibility programs to contribute more to the well-being of our communities.

Thank you for your time!

Submit your presentation on Quiz 6

Useful Language:

Greeting:
Good morning/afternoon. I'm...
Hello, everyone. Nice to see you again.
Hi. I'm... Good to see you again.

Topic:
My subject today is our new product launch
I'd like to talk to you about Columbia Lighting
I'm going to talk about our manufacturing process
The subject of my presentation is the Human Resources department

Plan of the Talk:
There are three parts to my presentation
My presentation is in three sections.
I divided my presentation into three parts.
Firstly,...
Secondly,...
Finally,...



 

Week 3: Present Perfect vs Simple Past

A. We use the simple past with actions that happened and ended in the past. The time is specific or understood from context

-I ate sushi last night
-We saw a movie yesterday
-I practiced karate when I was a child

B. We use the present perfect  for actions that happened before the present, sometime in the past, but we don't say when specifically

-My mother has visited Mazatlan before
-I haven't been to Tokyo
-She has met Tom Cruise once

When did the action happen? We don't know. We use the present perfect to describe life events.

C. We also use the present perfect for actions that started in the past and continue in the present (unfinished actions)

-I have worked in Hubbell for 5 years
-We have studied English since 2012
-I have worked hard this year

Here we emphasize time progress. Actions that have occurred for a period of time. Notice the difference:

- I married my wife in 2010 (Simple past: action that happened in the past)
- I have been married since 2010 (Present perfect: action that started in the past and continues today)

Watch these videos:

And take Quiz 5:

Week 2: Tense Review (Part 2)

Past Tense Review

Take Quiz 2 to review the verb be, regular and irregular verbs:

Take Quiz 3 to review the negative form:

Listen to what I did on my last birthday. Now do the same for you:

I had a great time on Saturday night. It was my birthday and I wore my new jeans. I walked to my friend Alex’s house and then we drove to Barrigas

We met our friends Erwin and Juan at the restaurant. We had dinner there and we talked about work because Juan has a new job. We also talked about the World Cup and  about the surprising game between Germany and Brazil. We really liked the food so we stayed in the restaurant for two hours! We left the restaurant at about 10.00 o’clock and went to a bar

At the bar the drinks were expensive, but we met some nice girls. We left the bar very late – about 1.30 in the morning. Juan was the designated driver, so he took us home.  

It was a fun birthday. I received a few presents and, best of all, the phone number of one of the girls!

Record yourself on Quiz 4:

How to Record Yourself for the Audio Quiz?

There are different options to record your voice for the audio quiz:

-Option 1: Gmail. If you have a gmail account, sing into chat. Using chat, call this number in the US, and leave your message (the quiz) in the school's voice mail: 857-284-8440. Gmail allows you to call any number in the US for free!

-Option 2: Skype. If you don't have skype, you can download it here: http://www.skype.com/en/download-skype/skype-for-computer/

Sign in using the school's account. Skype name: justspeakschool. Password: justspeak1 

Under contacts, click "School's Voice Mail," call the saved phone, and leave your message

-Option 3: Dial Directly from a Phone. From a phone in Mexico dial 001-857-284-8440. Keep in mind that this option isn't free.

-Option 4: Use Software such as "Sound Recorder" or "Voice Recorder" Use the "Sound Recorder" program in your PC, or the "Voice Recorder" app in your smart phone. Record your message, save the file, and email it to me.

Week 1: Present, Past and Future Tense Review

Present, Past and Future Tense Review
Take Quiz 1: 

If you want to review the tenses, you can watch these videos:

Simple Present: 

Simple Past:

Future: