Class 1

JOB DESCRIPTION AND TRAINING

Is necesary that people have the ability to intriducer themselves, comunicate important information about them and their job; for this reason, the first class is focus on develop core skills about self presentation and some vocabulary and collocations we can use to express ina polite way.

In addition, is importan to say that one part the speaking section of BULATS test is directly an interview about your job, the place you live in and so on.

"As you know, it is very important to be prepared to talk about yourself and to introduce yourself to a group of people. In addition to that, the Bulats exam holds a section about an “interview” in part 1. In the speaking test, you will be given marks for:

Accurate grammar and vocabulary

Range of language (how much grammar and vocabulary you know)

Discourse management ( how fluent and organized you are)

Pronunciation

Interactive communication"

The instructions for the first activity were the following:

: You will hold a discussion in small groups. Before joining a team, prepare an introduction about yourself in which you include:  

1. – Your name and your job title

2. - What does your job involve?

3. - What is the most challenging part of it?

4. - How often do you use English at work?

5. - What do you enjoy the most about your job? 

And the presentation was the next:

"My name is Mauricio Torres and I am manufacture manager of Tesla motors. I am mechatronic engineer and here in tesla, I am in charge of supervising all the production lines in building Tesla´s products. I have been working here for almost 5 years and the  most difficult part of my job is to deal with different points of view with co-workers and, some times, the use communication: Tesla is a multicultural company and we use English as preset languaje, but we have to break the "Languaje wall" when dealing with foreign business people. I really enjoy the satisfaction coming after a car or product concludes all its building processes and you can see it leaving the plant ready to be used."

Then, we were suposed to talk about Training courses and these stuff. We made a minute of what we talked about and there is the result:

"Its is important for the companies to invest in training for  the new employees to develop their core skills. The best training is the tailor made because the trainee would be prepared for the specifict job and it would be better for the company success, the trainees starts at the bottom and came up through the ranks.  Some of the most important training courses are: tailor-made, learning goals, training budget.

However, in some specific areas it is necessary to apply courses that improve the skills of the employees and the level of the company. One example would be on the finances area, a training  budget will invest the incomes better and represent an increment on the company's sales.

Is is also important to mention the importance of online courses, because this kind of training allows the trainees to have more flexibility. Companies should take charge of the cost for the training courses, in order to have a better quality of work and employees."

REFLECTION

I am going to be honest. I took a course around one year ago called "Remedial 5" where the goalse and objectives were the same. We had to learn about business communication and achieve experience talking, writing and listening to English but in advance area. In class one I learnt new vocabulary relative to Training couses (like tailor-made courses), what those involve and so on. I am worried about the speaing test specially, because I think I have the right tools, vocabulary and grammar, but is difficult for me to figure out the structure of a small speach in order to be very strigh and clear in my ideas. I think I have these problem even in Spanish. As you can see, is easy to talk about many things around the main topic. I will practice, write the ideas and study hard for the speaking exam.

Class 5

STARTING OUT AND MAKING A PROPOSAL

Now, lets make a proposal, which makes suggestions for possible courses of action to take in the future.

Instructions:

Your company, which produces electrical components, wants to break into a new market in another country, and is looking for a distributor in that country. The managing director has asked you to write a proposal, saying which distributor you recommended. Using the adverts of two potential distributors (page 57) and all your handwritten notes, write your proposal. Use the proposal on page 56 as a model. 

"Proposal for new distributor

Introduction

This proposal was written to provide my opinion about the two options of electrical distributors we have been looking for and help in the decision.

Burford Electrical Distributions
Regardin the fact that this distributor has almost 60 years of experience, I think they are not going to take into account our brand, because as you know, we are starting to develop solid basis. Also, this one has the advantage of a large sales force, which may make our prices higher.

Choice electrics
As they are new in the market compared to the other firm, they have good reputation in electronic and electric field because of the state-of-the-art profucts they sell. Another advantage is the shipping and delivery, because they offer online sales and <same day deliery> free.

Recomended course of action
For this situation, I strongly recommend we choose Choice electrics, because as they are a new brand just like us, we can rainforce the reputation they have with our products and take off in their customer networks."

REFLECTION

The most important fact about building a proposal is you never forget you are providing your opinion and not saying what to do, so, be very careful with those sentenes like "In my opinion" or "I recomend" to sound open-minded and humable. This is what makes the difference between a proposal and a report. The opinion.

Class 6

BUSINESS HOTELS AND SALES CONFERENCES

In this topic, we prepared a presentation about an imaginary hotel we build and we explain all information about it, like number of rooms, layout of rooms, business facilities and location.

Our hotel is called Arechigas Tower and is located in Miami. It has 300 rooms, suites, different services like spa, business canteen and many kinds of international dishes.

REFLECTION

It is hard to keep a presentation without getting nervous. Even if you have good domain of the topic. In my personal case, I was practicing 2 days before the presentation, but at the mean time, I felt really nervous and miss some ideas and words. This is something I have to improve. Anyways, I feel confident about my skills and still thinking this course and the last one help me a lot!

I attach the presentation here:

Class 4

NEGOTIATIONS AND MAKING A DEAL

Now, lets talk about making a deal with a person, organization or a group. Oviously these skills are core ones wherever you work (even when you are not at work). Negotiations need abilities to speak, to lead the deal, to listen to the couterpart and many other kind of skills. For this reason, this section is just for have a good conversation about quotation and information about a trade fair.

Speaking-Instructions: Work in groups and make teams. One of the teams will be “a company”, the others will be the ones in charge of a “trade fair”. You have to negotiate a space for a stand at the fair, ask them questions such as the ones in page 37. You have to ask them for at least 3 special deals like: the kind of space, the price or the promotional activities to support your sales. (10 min.)

Writing- Instructions: After that discussion, write them a short email (50 to 60 words) in which you write down your request. The trade fair staff must reply to your email. 

"Dear Mrs Ruiz.

With reference to your e-mail about booking and stand on our trade fair this September, we are glad of having your company on the main exhibition of sports, and it will be a pleasure to work with you. In order to send you the quotation and finishing the process of reserved with your payment, I am going to need you to send me the space on feet you would like to have. There are three options for booking 5 8 and 10 squared feet.I would be most grateful if you would as soon as possible, so we can give you the best of services. Please feel free to contact me if you have further questions.

Yours sincerely

Adan Villalva, marketing manager on Texworld USA."

As you can see here, I had the consignment of ask for the spot in the trade fair and it was not bad at all.

Negotiations, as I said at the beginning, are important in all topics: politics, science, business, etc. In my case, to write short e-mails is relatively easy, but the most difficult part is going stright to the point (again). Here I learnt the meaning of quotation, which is the aproximate price of a product or service and booking.

Class 3

PROMOTIONAL ACTIVITIES AND BRANDING

For this section, we have to be able to speak, in general. Abilities of communicate via oral and present ideas are very useful in the business world. The use of linking words, linking sentences to contrast, to exemplify, etc are require to sound formal and fluent.

In the first excercise, we build a little speech about promotional activities and the things to be evaluated are clearence and vocabulary in one minute.

•Describe how your company promotes its products or services.

•You should say:

•What promotional activities your company uses

•Who decides which activities to use

•How effective you think these activities are.

•What changes would you like to see in the way your company promotes its products or services?

•Give reasons for your answer

"In Tesla, the marketing area, and specifically sales manager, doesn not invest huge budget in advertising or promotional activities. We trust in our quality and let it promote itself. This is called Word-of-mouth. Personally, I think is a good technique regards to our market and those few customers we have, but what I would like to change is how many people look at Tesla as an incredibly expensive automotive brand. Maybe we can spend more in tv commertials or something"

REFLECTION

Speaking is the most difficult part, as I said previowsly. I rearnt most of the promotional activities in the last course I took, but the most exciting part is how I am growing communication skills and fluency. I learnt words like:

The INVESTOR wants to come to our meeting tomorrow.

Good advertising is key for TAKING OFF your business

Making a NEAT BUSINESS PLAN is good way to keep record of sales.

I am going to keep practicing speaking with some activities.

Here I attach the link to the audio:

https://drive.google.com/file/d/0B-kpFXgaq0NOZG5WYlA5Z0NzSW8/view?usp=sharing

Class 2

WRITING LETTERS OF ENQUIRY AND APPLICATIONS

In the business world, you have to show you have the potential to acquire what you need in terms of job, facilities and stuff inside a corporation. For this reason, this class is focus on how to develop the abilities of writing letters of enquiry and applications to any company or directive post. 

The instructions for this activity are the following:

In teams, go to page 18 and discuss the question:

What makes a company or organization a great place to work? Come up with a conclusion in at least 2 paragraphs and post in in the Bb.

NOTE: "Bb" is not acronym for BumbleBee, rather for BlackBoard.

The result for the activity is the next:

"The first think that a great company is the one where you can develop more skills than those you already have. Also it has to present a flexible schedule and good benefits (Healthcare, vacations, etc). We think hat relationships in work are very important, so we like to work in places that encourage the team work. A good company provides you with a wage that alouds you to have a good quality of life.

We also conclude that great companies must worry about happyness of their employees by providing a good layout of the facilities and a good co-workers atmosphere. They must have a good canteen with a lot of food and free for the employees."

Then, we study about something that is very unusual here in México, but in other countries is very common and necesary: The letters of enquiry. Those are like the first contact with the company and are very useful to ask for any information you need to acquire. In this case, the following activity consist in write a letter of enquiry for any company.

Look online for a company that you would like to work for. Then, write them a letter to enquire about opportunities to work for their company.

"Dear Sir or Madam.

I am writing this letter because I have heard a lot about Texas Instruments and is a pleasure for me to let you know how interested I am in being part of your crew. I am from México, graduated from Tecnológico de Monterrey. I work for The Coca-Cola Company in Connecticut since 2015, but I am planning to move to California next month, so I was wondering if you could send me some information about post vacancy, facilities you have near Reddit and how I should apply to those posts.

Thank you in advance.

Your's faithfully.

Torres M."

So, I have to imagine that Texas Instruments just had repplied to my letter and now I am suposed to apply to a vacancy:

Once you have received your answers to the questions you want to know from a company, now it´s time to apply for that job position. Write a letter of application for the next job you would like to do.

"Dear Sir or Madam.

I am writing in application for the post of production manager of your motherboard's line, as you told me in the last mail. 

I am a 32-year-old graduated mechatronic engineer from Tecnológico de Monterrey and I have experience in manufacture area of Pepsico, The coca-cola Company, Arduino co., Bimbo and Unilever. 

I had attend many training courses and conferences focused on business skills, customer care, co-working and marketing, but I am specialized in production lines. 

As I said, I am planning to move to California, where your headquarters are grounded. Texas instruments is one of the biggest technology distributor and is top-20 of motherboard sales of 2016. for this reason, it seems like a big oportunity to join your staff and help grow up in projects, quality and services.

Your's Faithfully

Torres M."

REFLECTION

Now, this part of the test is going to be difficult because of the number of words I have to cover. The things I learnt in this section are those related with the enquiry letters, because in México we are not used to write this kind of things: We just apply. I learnt some grammar and collocations like "I am looking forwar to hearing from you" that, as we know now, we can not change its structure. I think my strategy here is going tu be putting enough information about me and how glad and excited I am by applying for the post. Is kind of saying what people wants to hear. And finally, about indirect questions. I had the tools to formulate them. I found easy making indirect questions in letters: I am concern that many times, indirect questions have more chance of getting more polite answers.