Sources
Business 1:1 advanced
23: how to tell a story
STARTER ββββββββββββββββββββ
- Put the lines in the correct order to make an anecdote. The first line is done for you.
a. ___ whose name I didn't catch
b. ___ because I thought he was an assistant.
c. ___ It was about a month later
d. 1 On my first day at work
e. ___ including a guy doing some photocopying.
f. ___ the 'photocopying guy' kept saying hello.
g. ___ Afterwards, whenever I saw him
h. ___ I was introduced to lots of people.
i. ___ when I realized he was the CEO!
j. ___ I didn't pay too much attention at the time
- Can you remember your first day in your current job? What was it like? Did anything unusual happen?
LISTENING ββββββββββββββββββββ
- Listen to three colleagues talking about their first day at work and decide whether the following sentences are true (T) or false (F). [track 23.1 on the bookβs CD]
1. ___ Roberto's story took place when he was a student.
2. ___ Roberto deliberately threw a drink over the
owner's son...
3. ___ The owner's son was very angry.
4. ___ Linda quickly found a job in the legal industry.
5. ___ She had to take some files into court.
6. ___ The shredder caught fire.
- Which situation do you think was the most embarrassing and why?
- The listeners to the anecdotes used some expressions to show interest. Which two of the following didn't they say? Listen again to check your answers.
- How come?
- That's great!
- No wonder!
- Go on!
- Shame!
- You must be joking!
- What a nightmare!
- How embarrassing!
- What happened next?
- Match the expressions used by the storytellers to their functions:
a. I'll never forget...
b. To cut a long story short...
c. I didn't do it on purpose.
d. It wasn't my fault.
e. Needless to say...
f. That wasn't the worst of it.
g. Little did I know...
h. To top it all...
___ showing that something was an accident
___ introducing an anecdote
___ introducing the final (and worst) event
___ introducing an obvious statement
___ blaming someone else
___ introducing something new and surprising
___ introducing a summary
___ introducing something even worse
SPEAKING ββββββββββββββββββββ
- Use the prompts below to tell your teacher a story. Try to use language from the listening section and the the tip above.
- job interview
- prepare by leaming about company/ buying a new shirt
- take wrong bus
- take another bus
- arrive late
- interviewer friendly
- interviewer seems to like shirt because looks at it often
- interview goes well
- go home after interview
- see a large coffee stain on front of shirt
- TIP π‘ When telling stories we can use the present simple and present continuous tenses in order to make the story more lively and dramatic: - So, I'm sitting at my desk, writing an email, when suddenly I hear this huge bang and all the lights go out!
SPEAKING ββββββββββββββββββββ
- Write an email to a friend telling them about the day you had at work yesterday. Try to use language from the Listening section and the Tips.
- TIP π‘
Business 1:1 pre-intermediate
10: how to talk about a past project
40: how to use the past