Describe Experiences and Events

Sources

Business 1:1 advanced

23: how to tell a story

STARTER ————————————————————

1. 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

2. Can you remember your first day in your current job? What was it like? Did anything unusual happen?

LISTENING ————————————————————

1. 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 book’s 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.

2. Which situation do you think was the most embarrassing and why?

3. 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.

4. Match the expressions used by the storytellers to their functions:

SPEAKING ————————————————————

1️⃣

The past simple describes completed actions in the past and past states: - We had to make twenty people redundant last year. - Our previous factory was really old-fashioned.

2️⃣

When telling a story we use the past simple to show a sequence of events which happened one after the other: - I took a deep breath, smiled at the audience, and started to speak.

3️⃣

The past continuous describes actions in progress at a particular time in the past: - In the early 90s I was studying economics at university.

4️⃣

We use the past continuous with when, while, and as together with the present simple to show that one event happened while another was in progress: - My boss walked in as I was talking about him to my colleague. - While our company was expanding we took on several new employees.

5️⃣

The past perfect shows that an action took place before something else in the past: - When we arrived, the meeting had already started.

6️⃣

The past perfect continuous describes actions in progress before another event in the past: - Security was improved because a member of staff had been stealing company products.

1. 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 💡 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 ————————————————————

1. 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 💡

Business 1:1 pre-intermediate

10: how to talk about a past project

40: how to use the past