BUSINESS ENGLISH INTERNET-BASED SUPPLEMENT
by Agnieszka Penar
Maria Curie-Skłodowska University,
Lublin, Poland
agapenar(at)gmail(dot)com

LESSON ONE. RISK AND REWARD - The Stock Exchange

I. Introduction

1. What is stock exchange? What are the basic rules of how the stock market functions?

2. Are you interested in investing in the stock market? Do you check regularly stock exchange quotations?

3. Match the words to the definitions.

1. a situation on the stock market when people are buying shares in anticipation of the increase in the value and making profit by reselling it
2. a collection of shares owned by a person or company
3. a part of the profits of the company for a particular period of time paid to shareholders for every share they own
4. a private investor who puts money into new business activities
5. a person who buys and sells shares or goods for other people or companies
6. a situation on the stock market when people are selling shares in anticipation of the decrease in the value and making a profit by buying again
7. the owner of the shares
8. any of the equal parts into which the capital stock of a company is divided
9. a certificate of debt issued in order to raise funds
10. any comprehensive measure of market trends, intended for investors who are concerned with general stock market price movements
11. investment made in companies which are deemed to be responsible corporate citizens
12. the price at the end of the day's trading on a commodity market or stock exchange

II. Internet work

1. Go to http://youtube.com/watch?v=H5OmlKqgrKU. Listen and fill the gaps.

Welcome back to NTD Asia Brief. In the market report:

Oil remained the big story on Friday, as Asia stocks dropped on Friday due to another ......... in crude prices. Crude oil surged to a new peak above $124 a barrel as funds continued to pour into the market. The increase continues to affect Chinese oil refiner Sinopec, which fell around ......... in both Hong Kong and Shanghai markets.

Japan's Nikkei dropped 2 percent, posting its first weekly decline in eight weeks. The ......... was dragged down by Toyota after the world's biggest automaker forecast a larger-than-expected profit ......... . Other exporters, such as Honda and Sony, also fell sharply on a strong yen.

Australian shares bucked the downtrend, due to strong commodity prices and a strong financial sector. The world's top gold miner, BHP Billiton rose more than 3 percent.

And finally, National Australia Bank, the nation's top ........., reported an 8 percent rise in first-half profit, sending its shares up.

- After that, ask students to find all phrases expressing the trends in price changes.

2. Ask students what they remember about reading the share prices data to revise the vocabulary (last, change, high, low, volume, yield, P/E).

3. Divide the class into 4 groups. Assign each group a differentstock exchange:

Australian Securities Exchange - http://www.asx.com.au

New York Stock Exchange - http://www.nyse.com

Warsaw Stock Exchange - http://www.gpw.pl/

London Stock Exchange - http://www.londonstockexchange.com/en-gb/

Ask students to browse through the website and present to other groups what information can be found there.

4. Pairwork:

Now make students work in pairs. Each pair is responsible for doing a research on the company assigned to them. Students have to check on which stock exchange is listed their company, find the data and fill the chart with necessary information.

AUSTRALIAN SECURITIES EXCHANGE - http://www.asx.com.au

Mineral Sands Limited, Sunshine Gas Limited, Campbell Brothers Limited

NEW YORK STOCK EXCHANGE - http://www.nyse.com

UnitedHealth Group Inc., Bank of America Corporation, Ford Motor Company, Exxon Mobil Corporation

Homework

Go to http://simulator.investopedia.com to create an account and log in. Get your $100,000 in virtual cash here and start trading stocks. Read the rules, analyze companies that are listed there and start investing. After 2 weeks you will present results.

LESSON TWO. PERSUASION - Advertising

I. Introduction

1. What is advertising? How important is it nowadays? Do people really need it?

2. What are your favourite commercials? Why do you like them? What makes good advertising? What are the purposes of those commercials?In whose interest do they act?

II. Internet work

1. Look at the most commonly used advertising techniques and try to describe what each of them may introduce into commercials. When in doubt go to the glossary. Do you know any commercials that use such techniques?

2. WebQuest

Students go to http://zunal.com/webquest.php?user=13492 and search for information included in the WebQuest.

Homework

What techniques do the commercials below introduce? Why were these commercials banned in certain countries and are considered highly controversial?

http://youtube.com/watch?v=arfNofxBtfY

http://youtube.com/watch?v=4_iEII6EfIs

http://youtube.com/watch?v=KRcv9u9x3z8

http://youtube.com/watch?v=l38blGqVeHc&feature=related

LESSON THREE. GLOBALISATION - Franchising

I. Introduction

1. What is franchising?

Do you know any franchising operations in Poland?

What are the advantages and disadvantages of franchising?

2. Translate

II. Internet work

1. Group work

Students are divided into groups. Each group has a different research to do:

Group I Advantages and disadvantages of franchising for franchisee and franchisor

Group II Fees in franchising

Group III Legal aspects of franchising

After preparing all the necessary information each group makes a presentation.

2. Go to http://youtube.com/watch?v=Zo3Sd1ArMJQ and answer the questions:

1. Where and when was the first Pizza Inn opened?
2. What percentage of all restaurants the pizzerias represent?
3. How the Pizza Inn franchisees are being kept up to date?
4. What are the 2 store concepts the Pizza Inn franchise can choose from?
5. Where are the Del-Co restaurants located?
6. What do you need to start your own Pizza Inn?
7. Do new managers have to attend any training program prior to opening a new restaurant?
8. Who can work with you on day to day operations?
9. What are point of sale materials?
10. Where are the majority of Pizza Inn restaurants located?

After providing answers to all the questions, the students discuss in pairs why it would/would not be a good idea to become a Pizza Inn franchisee. One person is pro the other is against.

3. Go to http://www.playitontheweb.com/games/McDonald's-Franchise-game.htm and play a game. Try running McDonald's franchise enterprise. You are responsible for every section of the company.

Homework

Students will look for franchise opportunities as if they are to establish their own business in previously defined conditions (place, funds).

The Internet's largest franchise opportunity directory will help them - http://www.franchisegenius.com.

They have to search and evaluate franchise opportunities. Using the selection and criteria tools they can compare all the opportunities by price, location, specialty etc. After the research they will choose 3 the most (according to them) lucrative franchise opportunities and prepare a report from the research containing reasons and data which support their decision.