Business English Study © 2014

Audio-script 1 – Lego Intermediate

Lego Intermediate level. Lego was founded in 1932 when Ole Kirk Christiansen, a carpenter from Billund,
Denmark began by making wood toys. The name Lego comes from the Danish phrase leg godt, which means “play
well”. The Lego Group’s motto is “Only the best is good enough”. The Lego Group sold $1.35 billion worth of
toys in 2003. These include its famous bricks, video games, and Mindstorms, robots. It has four Legoland
amusement parks, in Denmark, England, Germany, and America. However, the Lego Group’s profitability
dropped and in 2004 it was in trouble. Sales fell by 30 percent the company made a loss of $250m. How could
such a successful toymaker lose so much money? Some people blamed the popularity of video games and the
low-cost competitors in China. The management needed to change things and quickly or the company would
collapse.
Audio-script 2 – Lego Intermediate
Listening 2
The management looked at the company structure and decided that the supply chain was out of date. Poor
customer service and limited product availability were having a negative impact on profits. Another problem was
that the company diversified too much. Apart from its famous bricks, the Lego Group was producing video
games, TV programs, clothes, amusement parks and retail stores. Introducing new products every year is
normally a good thing, but at Lego only 20% of its product list generated 80% of its sales. The diversification
complicated the supply chain and Lego needed to focus on the areas that were profitable and drop the loss-
making products. Management reduced operating costs by cutting manufacturing distances and suppliers, selling
70% of their amusement parks and cutting all Lego products that were non-profitable. It worked hard to make its
supply chain more efficient and in 2006 Lego went back into profit. The Lego Group managed to survive because
it could identify the problems and was able to transform itself. Lego’s sales rose by 9% and profits have grown by
over 13% in the first half of 2013. The company now has over 10,000 employees and it is the world’s third largest
manufacturer of play materials. Lego products can be bought in more than 130 countries.

EXERCISE ANSWERS
BUSINESS VOCABULARY – exercise 1
1. Blame – accuse
2. Loss-making – unprofitable
3. Diversify – expand
4. Deserve – justify Help us to improve the quality.
5. Fundamental – core If you notice any mistakes in this module
6. Evaluate – assess please report the error to:
7. Worth – value businessenglishstudy@gmail.com
8. Motto – slogan
9. Collapse – fail
10. Strength – power
Exercise 2
11. The company’s strength is innovation
12. You can’t blame the manager, he was on holiday
13. Lego diversify too much
14. The sales team are good and deserve a bonus
15. Low investment is the fundamental cause of our problems
16. Before making an offer we need to evaluate the company
17. Is the company worth $100 million?
18. Lego’s motto is: ‘“Only the best is good enough”.
19. If we don’t fix the problem the company will collapse.
20. The girls’ toys are loss-making and we need to stop production.
LISTENING 1:
1. Wooden toys
2. Only the best is good enough.
3. $1.35 billion
4. No, it made a loss of $250 million
5. Video games and low-cost competitors in China
GRAMMAR EXERCISE 1:
1. “Can you help me?”
2. “Could I see the document, please?
3. The company couldn’t make a profit last year.
4. The airplane is delayed so they could be very late
5. Could you ask Paul about the sales figures?
6. Will we be able to improve the sales figures next year?
7. When I was young I could work 15 hours a day. Now I can’t.
8. Where do you think we could / can sell more toys? China, Japan, USA?
9. Last year we couldn’t stop the competition copying our products.
10. Lego was able to change its supply chain, and that saved the company.

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 Business English Study © 2014

EXERCISE 2:
11. When you read the report, could you understand it?
12. Can you speak French?
13. Will you be able to work next Monday?
14. Could I open the window? Yes you can.
15. I can’t / won’t be able to finish this report before 6 pm, it’s impossible.
16. Were you able to leave early yesterday?
READING EXERCISE: Correct paragraph positions
1. Ole Kirk Christiansen … company in 1934.
2. In 1949, Lego …the UK in 1947.
3. Lego bricks can be … make other objects.
4. The Lego Group has … pirates and dinosaurs.
5. The company estimates that … person in the world.
6. In addition to … four Lego amusement parks.
7. In 2014, … $70 million in the USA.
FUNCTIONAL VOCABULARY:
1. The room is 12 metres long and 10 metres wide, but the ceiling is low, it is only 2 metres high.
2. The Lego train is 120cm long and 2cm wide / high.
3. How deep / wide is Pacific Ocean?
4. The Amazon River is over 1,000km long.
5. In the summer, when there is no rain, the lake is very shallow.
6. My height 1.83m and my weight is 50 kilos. That is not heavy. It is light.
LISTENING 2:
1. Poor customer service and limited product availability
2. Only 20% of its product list
3. Diversification
4. By cutting manufacturing distances and suppliers, selling 70% of their amusement parks and cutting all Lego products that
were non-profitable.
5. Lego’s sales rose by 9% and profits have grown by over 13% in the first half of 2013

LESSON PLAN – LEGO – Intermediate

Key objectives – to practise aural and oral Business English

INTRODUCTION: Ask the students what they know about Lego.

Teacher (T) – Students (SS) 3 mins

BUSINESS VOCABULARY – Ask the students the lead in questions and go through the exercise about business
modifiers and softeners. (S) – (T) 5 mins

LISTENING 1: Next tell students they are going to hear a spokesman talking about Lego. They need to answer the
questions at the end. Play the listening and ask students the questions. (T) – (SS) 10 mins

PRONUNCIATION: Ask the students to pronounce the words. Drill where necessary. (T) – (SS) 5 mins

GRAMMAR Introduce the target grammar, and do the exercise that follows. Ask students to read the questions and answers
out loud. (S) – (T) 10 mins

READING: Ask the lead in question. Go through the reading and ask students to put the correct answer with each question.
Engage the students in the speaking practice that follows. Encourage them to use the grammar and the functional
vocabulary. (S) – (T) 15 mins

FUNCTIONAL VOCABULARY: Ask lead-in question and do the exercise (T) – (SS) 10 mins

CULTURAL AWARENESS POINT: – read the text and discuss the cultural differences. (SS) – (T) 10 mins

LISTENING 2: Tell students they are going to hear the 2nd part of the listening. Play the listening and students answer the
questions (SS) – (T) 10 mins

ROLE PLAY: Go through the instructions and begin the role-play. Make sure they practice the grammar and vocabulary
learnt in the lesson and to try and use the case study material in their argument. Get the other students to discuss and offer
feedback. (SS) – (SS) 20 mins

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