Freestyle English - d1bnvx5vhcnf8w.cloudfront.net

Certified by Finland Education agency standard

Title

Globish English Course copyright © 2018

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Table of Content

Topic Page

Keep your Pulse on Industry News 3

Discuss Popular Culture 5

Bring up Current Events 7

Learn More about Places 9

Negotiations 11

Business Presentations 13

Making a Good First Impression 15

Business and Office Meetings 17

Work-Life Integration 19

Mental Health 21

Self-awareness 23

Cross-cultural Communication 25

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Keep your Pulse on Industry News

1. Can you talk about your company and your job briefly?

2. What is happening in your industry?

3. What comes to mind when you think of the word ‘news’?

1. How do you keep up to date with your industry or department

news?

2. Which department should be responsible for announcing

company news?

3. How often should we check company’s updates or news?

4. How do Thai companies announce their news nowadays?

5. Is it important to keep our fingers on the pulse of industry news?

6. How is industry news related to company news?

7. Who is more reliable as a source of your department news: your

team colleague or other department’s manager? Why?

8. Would you prefer to get company news face-to-face, online, or

through an announcement letter? Why?

Let’s Free Talk

Let’s Warm-up

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Challenges

Challenge 1Discuss with the coach what qualities or characteristics are important

for those who are responsible for updating the industry or company

news.

Challenge 2You are an experienced employee who always tracks the company news

on both the bulletin board and the company website. A group of new

employees does not know where to get news; moreover, some of them

ignore it because they are working in a low-level position. What and how

would you tell them?

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Discuss Popular Culture

1. What’s your favorite type of entertainment?

2. What does ‘popular culture’ mean?

3. What is today's popular culture?

1. Is popular culture important? Why or why not?

2. Should we discuss popular culture in the workplace?

3. How does popular culture affect people’s lives?

4. Cab discussing popular culture lead to an argument? Why or why

not?

5. What are some examples of workplace cultured? Are they also

considered popular culture?

6. Should we mention popular culture during small talk?

7. Has gender roles changed over time in popular culture?

Let’s Free Talk

Let’s Warm-up

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Useful Phrases

When talking about your interests:

● I’m quite interested in…

When asking about others’ favorites or interests:

● How about you?

● What do you think about…?

● Are you interested in…?

● Do you like…?

When asking for reasons:

● Could you tell me more about…?

● Why would you like it?

When you share a common ground with other speakers:

● What a coincidence!

Challenges

Challenge 1You have never met the coach before. How would you introduce

yourself and talk to them? Try to keep the conversation going by

bringing up topics related to popular culture.

Challenge 2Discuss with the coach how you would change the phrases used in

Challenge 1, if you were to discuss popular culture with your close

colleague.

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Bring up Current Events

1. What is the current issue in Thailand?

2. How do you keep up with current events?

1. Whom do you like to talk to about current events?

2. What types of current news do you frequently talk about?

3. Is it important to keep up with current events?

4. How can you stay informed without television or social media?

5. What should we be careful of when talking about current events?

6. Why is bringing up current events a great way to initiate

conversations?

7. What are some advantages and disadvantages of bringing up

current events in the workplace?

Let’s Free Talk

Let’s Warm-up

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Useful Phrases

Starting the conversation:

● Did you hear about …?

● Did you watch the news last night?

● Have you been following …?

● I heard/saw/read that …

Responding to news:

● I haven’t been keeping track of the news.

● I did hear something about that.

● It’s hard to believe.

● It makes me angry, to be honest.

Challenges

Challenge 1Talk to the coach about events or issues happening in Thailand that

you’re interested in. Are they current?

Challenge 2Discuss with the coach the strategies of using current events as

conversation starters.

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Learn More about Places

1. What is the first thing you do after work?

2. Have you ever hung out with your colleagues?

1. What are interesting places and activities around your workplace?

2. What do you often do with coworkers outside of work?

3. How do you keep in touch with coworkers after work?

4. How important is hanging out with your colleagues?

5. Do you prefer going out with coworkers in small groups or large

groups? Why?

6. How do you ask your colleagues to hang out?

7. What are the benefits and drawbacks of hanging out with

colleagues?

Let’s Free Talk

Let’s Warm-up

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Useful Phrases

Asking colleagues to hang out:

● Let’s go out for a drink.

● What do you say we go out for some drinks?

Asking for recommendations about places around the workplace:

● Where would you recommend?

● What would you recommend we do?

Recommending places or activities:

● I would recommend…

● I highly recommend…

Challenges

Challenge 1You and the coach are colleagues. You are a new employee, so you ask

the coach about where to eat or where to go for fun.

Challenge 2Now, you ask the coach to hang out at a nearby food and beverage bar

after work, but the coach is busy. Try to persuade the coach.

Tips - To persuade, you can talk more about the place, food, mood,

quality, or location.

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Negotiations

1. What does ‘negotiation’ mean?

2. How good are you at negotiating?

1. Is it rude to negotiate for a lower price? Why or why not?

2. What are some good negotiation tactics?

3. Have you ever negotiated a deal at work or at the market?

4. What did you have to negotiate for? (E.g. house, car, items at a

market, etc.)

5. Who do you think are better at negotiating: men or women? Why?

6. Is negotiating at work harder or easier than at the market?

7. Do you agree that we should listen more than speak during a

negotiation?

Let’s Free Talk

Let’s Warm-up

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Useful Phrases

Negotiating a business deal:

● I am afraid I can’t agree with that.

● I’m afraid we can only go as low as…

● From where we stand, an acceptable price would be…

Bargaining at the market:

● Couldn’t you do any better than that?

● What is the best you can do if I pay in cash?

Accepting a deal:

● This agreement is acceptable to me.

● That sounds reasonable.

● Deal!

Challenges

Challenge 1You are a client and the coach is a merchant. Try to ask for a better price.

Challenge 2Discuss with the coach ‘what makes a successful negotiator?’

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Business Presentations

1. Are you afraid of giving presentations?

2. Can you introduce yourself as if you are in a room full of

audiences?

1. How do you feel about giving presentations?

2. How do you feel about watching presentations?

3. What is the structure of a presentation?

4. What makes a good presentation?

5. What makes a bad presentation?

6. Do you have to give presentations at work? If so, what are they

about?

7. Do gestures and postures affect the effectiveness of a

presentation?

Let’s Free Talk

Let’s Warm-up

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Useful Phrases

Introduction● Thank you for being here today.

● For those of you who don’t know me, my name is…

● Today, I’d like to talk about… / First, I’ll talk about…

● There will be time for questions after… / Feel free to interrupt me

anytime with questions...

Main bodies● In this part, I’d like to…

● Let’s move on to…

● As I mentioned, ...

Conclusion● I’m now nearing the end of my talk.

● To sum up,...

● Thank you for your attention. Are there any questions?

Asking and handling questions● Would you mind if I ask you some questions?

● Thank you for your question.

● Good point, but…

● I’m afraid that I don’t have the answer to your question right now.

But I will get back to you as soon as I find that out.

● Does that mean…? / Could you please clarify…?

Challenges

You are the representative of the marketing team who is going to give a

5 minute presentation about the new smart pen to the clients. The topic

is ‘how good is a smart pen?’

Tips: You can think of any benefits. Be creative!

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Making a Good First Impression

1. What is ‘first impression’?

2. What do you talk about when you meet new people?

1. How do you create a good first impression?

2. Why is it important to make a good first impression?

3. What is the most important part of a first impression?

4. How does body language affect how other people perceive you?

5. What is an elevator pitch?

6. What should you include in your elevator pitch? How long should

it be?

7. Can elevator pitch help you make good first impressions?

Let’s Free Talk

Let’s Warm-up

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Useful Phrases

Elevator pitch

● Name

○ Hi. I’m Lauren Steward.

● Speciality / Industry

○ I am a curriculum designer.

● Experience

○ Over the past four years, I have written more than a

thousand English language lessons for Thai learners.

● Goal/ Passion

○ One of my goals is to utilize my theoretical knowledge about

language learning and teaching, hoping to create a valuable

impact on society.

Challenges

Introduce yourself using the structure of elevator pitch.

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Business and Office Meetings

1. How often do you have meetings at work?

2. What is often discussed at your meetings?

Discuss the definition of the following words.

● Casual

● Comfortable

● Convenient

● Cozy

● Engaging

● Friendly

● Motivating

● Peaceful

● Pleasant

● Relaxed

● Well-organized

Vocabulary

Let’s Warm-up

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Let’s Free Talk

1. How often do you attend meetings? Are they usually with

colleagues or with people from outside your organisation? Clients?

Suppliers?

2. What role do you have in meetings?

3. Is it important to have meetings? Why or why not?

4. What are some good and bad meeting manners?

5. Some people have too many meetings and no time to get their

work done. What are your thoughts on this?

6. Which do you prefer: physically (face-to-face) or virtual (online)

meetings?

Challenges

Challenge 1Discuss with the coach your ideal office meeting.

Challenge 2You are holding a team meeting, but you came to realize that another

company meeting is being held at the same time. How would you handle

the scheduling conflict?

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Work-Life Integration

1. What is work-life integration?

2. What is work-life balance?


● Coexist

● Distribute

● Harmonious

● Separate

● Synergy

● Thrive

Vocabulary

Let’s Warm-up

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Let’s Free Talk

1. Is work-life integration important? Why or why not?

2. What is poor work-life balance?

3. What can you do to integrate your work life and personal life?

4. What are some of the advantages and disadvantages of work-life

integration?

5. Have you ever tried to integrate your work life and personal life? If

so, how did it go?

6. What is the difference between work-life integration and

work-life balance?

7. What are some tools that could help enhance work-life integration

strategy?

Challenges

Which one do you prefer: work-life integration or work-life balance?

Discuss with the coach.

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Mental Health

1. How do you feel today?

2. What is mental health?


● Anxiety

● Behavioral

● Breakdown

● Cognitive

● Depression

● Disorder

● Nervous

Vocabulary

Let’s Warm-up

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Let’s Free Talk

1. Why is mental health important?

2. What does good mental health look like?

3. In your opinion, what can negatively affect one’s mental health?

4. How do you take care of your mental health?

5. Can mental illness affect your work?

6. Which is more important to you: physical health or mental health?

7. How do you know if someone is mentally ill?

Challenges

Your colleague was diagnosed with a mental illness.

● What should you be careful of when working with them?

● How do you support someone with a mental health problem?

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Self-awareness

1. What comes to mind when you hear the word ‘self-awareness’?

2. Do you think you lack self-awareness?


● Cognizant

● Conscious

● Mindful

● Alert

● Informed

● Knowledgeable

Vocabulary

Let’s Warm-up

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Let’s Free Talk

1. What is the difference between introspection and reflection?

2. Is self-awareness important? Why or why not?

3. How do you develop self-awareness?

4. Is it good to be self-aware at work? Why or why not?

5. Are there any reflection meetings at your company?

6. How can you advance your communication skills through

self-awareness?

7. Is self-awareness a gateway to intelligence?

Challenges

Challenge 1Do you think you are doing well in this free talk class?

Challenge 2How can we reflect on our learning/teaching? Discuss with the coach.

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Cross-cultural Communication

1. Have you ever talked to foreigners?

2. What are the most difficult aspects of learning English?


● Behavior

● Belief

● Competence

● Custom

● Familiarization

● Perceive

Vocabulary

Let’s Warm-up

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Let’s Free Talk

1. What are the barriers in communication?

2. Is cross-cultural communication important? Why or why not?

3. What cross-cultural skills do you think everyone should have?

4. How do you develop cross-cultural skills?

5. How can you improve cross-cultural communication in the

workplace?

6. What should we be careful of when communicating with people

from different cultures?

7. Do you agree that people from different cultures perceive the

world around them differently? Why or why not?

Challenges

Challenge 1What is cross-cultural communication in business? Discuss with the

coach.

Challenge 2Share some facts about common culture and customs in Thai companies

with the coach.

Freestyle English - d1bnvx5vhcnf8w.cloudfront.net

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