Communication at work

UNIT 10

Put a cross next to things you disagree with. Put an exclamation mark next to things yon think are strange. Then compare your opinions with a partner.

Now look through the reading text again. Tick the things you agree with.

Form questions of different types to the reading text

Work in pairs. Read the text below about Steve, a male temp. Your partner will read about Michael, another male temp. Then talk to your partner, and find similarities and differences between Steve and Michael's experiences.

"I served in the army. Now I serve coffee".

Steve White was a soldier for seven years before he decided to find a job in the city so that he could be near his girlfriend. Steve, 38, used to teach mountain survival skills for the army, but now goes to the office every day.

After leaving the army, Steve did a short course to improve his word-processing skills, and then went to several employment agencies to try and find work. "It was incredible," says Steve. "I found temp work almost immediately. And I haven’t been out of work since then. That's almost a year now. The pay is getting better as well. Soon I’ll be earning the same as when I was in the army." Steve says he misses talking about sport and football with other men, but that he enjoys chatting with the women in the offices where he works.

"Male medical student works in a hospital... as a temp."

Michael is a 21-year-old medical student. During his holidays he does secretarial work in the hospital where he studies. His main responsibilities include typing reports and doing the filing. The wages are quite low, but they help Michael to pay for his food and rent. Michael says, "I type reports all the time for my studies, so it wasn't difficult to get secretarial work in the hospital. It's quite interesting really. I enjoy the work, the people in the office are friendly, and working here helps me to understand hospital life better." What kind of relationship does he have with his bosses? "The women are OK, but the men seem a bit embarrassed. They don't like to actually ask me to do things for them - they just leave memos on the desk."

Read the following words:

perhaps, century, communication, focus, through, adapt, basis, shorthand, efficient, widespread, message, meanwhile, although, application, micro­chip, exist, particularly, reduce, mobile, employee, totally, compensation.

Read and translate the following words and word combinations:

workplace, office, communication, adapt to the changes, in order to get a job, typewriter, on the basis of, direct calls, take a message, computer language, keyboard command, user-friendly, word-processing skills, an increasing number, work from home, video-conferencing, time differences, work outside normal hours, stress related illness, be caused by overwork.

Classify the following words according to the category of speech:

important, communication, technology, handwriting, efficiently, particularly, length, normal, totally, worker, illness, better, really, nature, compensation.

Recast the following words, using nouns instead of verbs:

develop, communicate, adapt, employ, introduce, type, direct, apply, invent, know, exist, choose, reduce, differ, relate.

Дата добавления: 2014-12-27