Starting point Working with words | Innovation ER) 1 Why is it important for businesses to be innovative? How can older companies Br starr innovative? onc 2 yi eesti Saar eer nsg the night the article and match sub-headings a~c to paragraphs 1-3. a The secret of sun b Theearly days Pssst cies Cirque du Soleil re rer ed * business eee en ees eens Solelis famous fr its innovative eT eee ol shich amaze audiences up with from the martial ot tion eet:Tip | innovation and invention ‘An innovation is @ new idea ‘or way of ding something. ‘An invention Is design of ‘something nevi 3. What is the main challenge for Cirque du Soleil? What is its solution? What do ‘you think other types of businesses can learn from its approach? . Match the bold highlighted words in the article in 2 to definitions 1-9. {an idea for something new someone's new idea or invention new and imaginative way of doing something ‘a new idea that is based on something that exists to change something completely something which causes change to think of a new idea or plan something which stops you ‘unique or the first example of something, 5 > 12.1 Listen to three conversations. Match conversations 1-8 to topics a-c. 2 inmovative technology new business —_ © changing jobs 6 > 12.1 Listen again and match these adjectives to conversations 1-3. traditional 1 simple revolutionary dynamic _ reliable original up-to-date ___ sophisticated _ 99 For more exercises, go to Practice file 12 on page 128. 7 Work with a partner. Discuss these questions and give reasons for your answers. 1. Which of the adjectives in 6 describe your company or job? 2 How would you describe the technology you use in your job or at home? 8 Read these quotes from people talking about ideas and obstacles in their lives. Work in small groups. Think of different ways to help these three people. Then tell the class. 9 Work with a partner. Think of your discussion in 8 and answer these questions. 1. Did you hear any ideas which were ...2 + innovative + original ‘+ simple + revolutionary + other 2 Which was the best ‘brainchild’ you heard? 3. Who was the most useful catalyst in your group? 4 What obstacles did you meet?it 12 | Innovation Language at work | Superlative forms 1 The article below is from a press release about an awards ceremony. Does your industry give similar types of awards? How important do you think these kinds of events are? THE WORLD INVENTION AWARDS ‘The Britsh Inventors Society is pleased to hast one ofthe most Important annual events ofthe year inthe word of irvertion. Since the award ceremony in 2001, the event recognizes and celebrates ‘the work ofthe best new innovators we've seen each year. A panel of 25 judges vill announce the winners. Platinum and silver awards are. ‘given to thitd and second highest achievers, wit gold awards given to the winners in different categories, including the ‘Young inventor award! 2 Read the press reloase again and answer questions 1-4. 1 Is this the only annual event for iwvention in the world? 2 When was the frst World vention Avard ceremony? 3. Which inventors and innovators are awarded atthe event? 4 Wh receives a platinum or siiver award from the judges? 3 Underline the superlative adjectives in the press release. Which are regular forms? Which one is irregular? 4. Match extracts a-d from the press release to explanations 1-4 of superlative forms in the Language point Use the words in bold to help you. LANGUAGE POINT one of the most important annual events of the year. silver awards are given to third and second highest achievers. + the best new innovators we've seen cach year. d Since the earliest award ceremony in 2001 ... 1. to describe an extreme value (maximum or minimum) ina range —_ 2 topplace something ina position after first place _ 3 to say something is important but not the only important one __ 4. before the present perfect to describe our experience of something __ 9 For more information, go to Grammar reference on page 129, 5 Work with a partner, Sey these sentences in a different way, using a superlative form. 1 There are many important conferences this month. This is one of them, This sone . 2 I'venever seen profits as high as this. These are the 3 The XP50 is our bestselling product, but the new XP55 now sells nearly as wel The XP55 is note our. 4 In the last century, I don’t think any other invention has had as much impact as the microchip. Inthe last century, I think the microchip >) For more exercises, go to Practice file 12 on page 129. s6 Make sentences about your business with these phrases. Tell your partner and explain your answers. is one of our bestselling products /services is the most popular we've ever sold was the year with our highest turnover was our second most-profitable year +». was the company’s least sucessful innovation. 7 Work with a partner. Using the words in the table below, take turns to ask and answer questions. You will need to use the superlative form of the adjectives. Example: A What's the worst decision you've coer made? B Lewing my first company, A So whats the second worst decision you've coer made? B Joining this one! bad country /place met? good film ‘made? whate/whe'sh decision had? {eecond/thina) iS person you'veever seen? ‘beautiful hotel stayed at? friendly idea visited? exciting experience heard? Practically speaking | How to praise and thank people 1. How important ist to tell someone they’re doing a good job and to thank them for their hard work? How often should we praise and thank them? 2 » 12.2 Listen to three people praising and thanking other people. Match each conversation 1-3 to situations ac. a At the end of along project b A leaving event for a member of staf _ © Amanager working with a new employee —_ 3 > 12.2 Listen again to these expressions from the conversations. Decide if you ‘would normally use them formally (F) or informally (I) 1. You've done an excellent job. _E_ 2 Good job! 3. On behalf of everyone here, like to thank you forall your hard work. —_ 4 Thanks forall your hard work om this, 5 Welldone. 6 7 8 Everyone appreciates you both as. colleague and also asa friend, 'm very impressed by the results. You're doing really well. 9. Your work is always of the highest quality, —_ 10. Keop at it! 4. Write down three jobs you have completed recently. Work with a partner. Take turns to tell each other about what you've done, and then praise and thank your partner. Decide how formal or informal the situation is. Examples A I've just come tothe end of managing a huge project B Wali, om bof of coryone, I'd like to thank you OR B Gond job! Well done:Key expressions Starting ‘Good moming and thanks for ‘coming. i here today to... Let's start My name’s .. and I'm going to tell you about 1'd like to begin by verb + -ing) Previewing, First. Then, we'll. ‘And finally. Feel free to ask questions. I take questions ot the end. ‘Adding emphasis ‘The main reason for this is ‘The best thing about this is. We think it's a gocd idea because Referring to visuals, Let's look at this. As you can see, .. You'll notice that... Closing ‘That's everything | want to say. ‘That brings me to the end of, my presentation. Thanks for listening. ‘re there any (more) questions? Business communication | Presenting new ideas 1. Read this company mission statement. Do you have something similar for your company? Do you think company mission statements are useful? Why/Why not? Bertran RL aims to create innovative end state-o!-the-ert conferencing technology products of the highest value, with the greatest reflabilty and ‘simplicity we can offer. We achieve this with employees who deserve the ‘very best in professional support and development, 2 } 12.3 Ateam of people at Bertran RL are meeting to discuss the company’s ‘mission statement. Listen to the team leader presenting the idea behind the meeting, What are the presenter’s two aims? A To present a new mission statement to the team. B To explain the background to the meeting. € To encourage the team to come up with new ideas. 3 > 12.3 Number the expressions from the team leader's introduction in the correct order 1-8.Then listen again and check. _— First, I'm going to talk L. Good morning, everyone, and thanks for coming, — We have a lot to do, so let's start. _8_ Feel free to ask questions . __ I'd like to begin by explaining ... _— The main reason for this meeting isto... — so finally we'll Then, we'll try to . 4. > 12.4 Listen to the next part of the presentation and look at the slide. What do the coloured words on the slide represent? sophisticated, up-to-date, innovative simple, traditional, reliable 5 > 12.4 Listen again and complete expressions 1-3 for referring to visuals, 1 First ofall, let's this slide, 2 Asyou _ ithas a number of words that describe our company. 3 some words are in blue and some are in red. 6 > 12.5 Listen to the final part of the team leader's presentation. What ‘expressions does the presenter use to signal the end of the presentation? How does the presenter check if everyone has understood? ) For more exercises, go to Practice file 12 on page 128. 7 You are going to give a two-minute presentation about how your customers ‘view your company, service or product. First of al, design a slice with adjectives that you think your customers use, similar to the slide in 4. 8 Work in small groups. Take turns to present your slide. Remember to: roduce your presentati + present the slide and explain the reasons for each adjective + end your presentation and invite questionsa Discussion We are all used to hearing background music while we eat out in restaurants, arrive in hotel mn areas, and walk round shops and supermarkets. For example, the clothes retailer H&M plays trendy music from new artists while we pick out the latest summer fashions, Nespresso coffee shops play lounge music. Generally, supermarkets tend to play slower music in the morning and popular hits later in the day to match their shoppers’ moods ‘Now, following an innovative study commissioned by the online shopping giant eBay, there is growing interest in adding background music to retail websites. In the study, around 1,900 participants were asked to simulate online shopping while listening to different types of sounds. 1. Are you surprised by any ofthe results in the study? 2 wen you go out, how much do you notice background music o sounds in places 3 Doyou think adding background sounds or music to websites isa good e restaurants idea? If you answer yes’, what types of music would you like to hear? Task or shops? Does it affect how you feel? Io. Music to your online ears Some results were unsurprising. ‘The noise of roadworks and babies caying put shoppers off. Classical music seemed to make shoppers think the quality of the goods on offer was higher: And in one experiment, it was shown that irdsong helped to sell more garden barbecues than products such as kitchen blenders or board games. ‘After stoning to sounds of birdsong, ‘line shoppers were acked Would ‘you buy thi product” ) Yes Maybe wl I | I | Board Wine Blender ‘Trainer Barbecue me ‘1 > 12.6 Listen to six different types of music and match them to the words below. Bollyoood —classicol jazz opera pop rock 2 » 12.6 Workin groups. Listen again and decide what kind of product or service you would associate it with, 3. Workin groups. Discuss each situation below and decide what type of music or sound you would recommend. * An insurance company wants music for customers to listen to on the phone when they are on hold. + Ahotel restaurant specializing in different intemational music throughout the day and night. thes needs background + A motorway service station would like to play background music or sounds. + Your own companies would like to add music or sounds to their websites. 4 Afterwards, present your ideas to the rest ofthe class and compare. gViewpoint 4 | The Falkirk Wheel Focus 1 ©01 Watch five people talking about transport problems in their city. Preview Make notes about their answers in the table. In this vidao lesson, you wit Iook ot alternative forms What kind of transport Do they have a solution? fof vansport and watch a problems does their city have? documentary about an ‘enginoering innovation called epatert the Falkirk Whee! in Scotland Speaker 2 Speaker 3 ‘Speaker 4 ‘Speaker 5 2 Work with a partner. Take turns to ask and answer the two questions in 1. A transport innovation 3. Lookat the picture of a canal. Do you have any canals in your country? What other types of water transportation are used in your country? 4. You are going to watch two videos about transport and innovation. Before you watch, match words and phrases 1-7 from the video to def internal combustion — Industrial Revolution network restore Tock och waterway __ period in history when machines changed the way people lived, worked and travelled } return something to its earlier good cond ‘© when energy is produced by burning fuel (inside an engine) 4 large system connected together which allows movement or communication € ‘ 8 a an area of water that boats can travel along, eg. river or canal Scottish word meaning ‘lake’ two gates on a canal which allow boats to move between different heights of water 5 02 Watch a short video about the history of the canals in the UK. As you ‘watch, number the scenes from the video A-G in the order you first see them 1-7, ‘A Aseries of locks on a canal __ B Tourists on a canal _ € Motorway traffic D Old canals and buildings __ E Ahigh-speed train __ F Asteam train —_ G Shipping containers __C) Mr ada 6 (02 Watch the video again and answer questions 1-6. 1. Why were alot of canals built in Britain in the eighteenth ard nineteenth century? 2 How many kilometres of waterways linked the industrial cities of the UK? 3 What does the narrator describe as one of the greatest innovations of the Industrial Revolution? 4 What was the main obstacle for the engineers when they were building the canals? 5 What other type of transport caused canals to stop being usect? ing the canals again? 7 What other examples can you think of where something from the past reused in the present for a different reason? (e.g. old buildings in your city) Has your business ever taken an old product or service and reused it in a new and different way? The Fal ‘k Wheel 8 ©02 Watch a video about an engineering innovation called the Falkirk Wheel. Choose the correct ending to these sentences. 1 There used to be a series of 11 locks a inthe city of Edinburgh. b inthe city of Glasgow «¢ near the town of Falkirk 2 The Falkirk Wheel is designed to a lift boats up and down the canal 'b tum the boats around in the water «¢_ make water go through the canal 3. The narrator thinks the Falkirk Wheel is a good example of how —_ 2 touuse alternative energy in the future. b to take an old idea and improve it ¢ toattract tourists to a region. Q (02 Watch the video again and make notes about these numbers and years. What do they refer to? eleven are used to bv series of eleven locks onthe coal 1933 SEs 1994 35 metres 1,200 tonnes £17 million 2002 two four A tour of the Falkirk Wheel 10 Work with a partner.Your teacher is going to play the Falkirk Wheel video again with the sound off. As you watch, practise a conversation between a tour guide anda tourist. Student A: You are a tour guide at the Falkirk Wheel. As you watch, explain to the tourist what the wheel is for, how it was built, and how it works, Student B: You area tourist at the Falkirk Wheel. As you watch, ask your tour uicle some questions about what the wheel is for, how it was buill, and how it works, 11 Swap roles and repeat 10. les