Podcast Archive

This aa podcast covers common phrases people use when they are making presentations, especially one with a visual aid – a chart, PowerPoint slides or handouts. In this podcast, you will listen to Jennifer give a presentation and answer questions from her boss. She uses language to talk about the graphs she is presenting, language to direct people’s attention to what she’s talking about and terms to describe the graph itself.

LINK TO DOWNLOAD THIS LESSON (right-click, save as) :
epod_biz146_C25.mp3(6.03mb)

Difficulty Level: Advanced | Popularity: 61 | Rating: 0
TOPICS: presentations, meetings | FUNCTIONS: presenting, answering, questions, describing, trends
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In this podcast Scott and Jessica discuss “downtoning” or speaking diplomatically. Often there are things we want to and have to say but know that it might offend someone. If you are able to tone down your language and speak diplomatically, you’ll be able to express your ideas in a way that someone else will accept.

LINK TO DOWNLOAD THIS LESSON (right-click, save as) :
epod_biz144_C24.mp3(5.10mb)

Difficulty Level: Advanced | Popularity: 38 | Rating: 10
TOPICS: meetings, negotiating, schedules | FUNCTIONS: persuading, being diplomatic, giving feedback
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In today’s lesson we are going to look at the skill of paraphrasing stories, using old stories that have moral lessons in them to help. Paraphrasing involves restating someone else’s ideas in your own words and is a useful tool for improving your fluency.

LINK TO DOWNLOAD THIS LESSON (right-click, save as) :
epod_biz138_C23.mp3(10.6mb)

Difficulty Level: Advanced | Popularity: 36 | Rating: 0
TOPICS: Culture | FUNCTIONS: defining|clarifying, summary|generalising
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Today’s podcast lesson is about crime and punishment. There is a lot of legal language that is useful to know if you ever want to talk about a court case. There are often controversial court cases that become popular topics of conversation and many American TV shows involve police and/or lawyers, so we will look at some of the vocabulary that is used in the legal system.

LINK TO DOWNLOAD THIS LESSON (right-click, save as) :
epod_biz134_C22.mp3(12.0mb)

Difficulty Level: Advanced | Popularity: 40 | Rating: 0
TOPICS: law|crime | FUNCTIONS: describing, events
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Today’s lesson is about car accidents. Anything can happen on the road. There are a variety of ways to describe an accident in English. Hopefully if you are traveling or living abroad you won’t be in this situation, but it helps to know how just in case.

LINK TO DOWNLOAD THIS LESSON (right-click, save as) :
epod_biz130_C21.mp3(13.2mb)

Difficulty Level: Advanced | Popularity: 52 | Rating: 8
TOPICS: Transportation | FUNCTIONS: describing, events
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In today’s Business English podcast, we are looking at the insurance industry, and in particular making a claim on your insurance policy. In the mp3, we will listen to a conversation that takes place between the insurance company representative and a customer who wants to make a claim on their household insurance for water-damage.

LINK TO DOWNLOAD THIS LESSON (right-click, save as) :
epod_biz112_C20.mp3(9.82mb)

Difficulty Level: Advanced | Popularity: 106 | Rating: 9.5
TOPICS: insurance, customer service | FUNCTIONS: describing products|services
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Today we will continue looking at insurance – in particular, comparing the benefits of different policies. In today’s Business English podcast, we will listen as David explains about the different benefits of each policy to Daniel. In the mp3, we can hear some of the phrases David uses to explain about the pros and cons of each policy.

LINK TO DOWNLOAD THIS LESSON (right-click, save as) :
epod_biz105_C19.mp3(11.24mb)

Difficulty Level: Advanced | Popularity: 86 | Rating: 5.5
TOPICS: insurance | FUNCTIONS: describing products|services
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In today’s Business English podcast we are going to look at computers. PCs and laptops are part of our lives today, but many of us aren’t really sure what is meant by GHz, MB, GB, FSB, so in the lesson, we are going to listen as Christy explains what some of these terms actually mean, how to pronounce them, and how they affect the performance of David’s new computer!

LINK TO DOWNLOAD THIS LESSON (right-click, save as) :
epod_biz100_C18.mp3(9.87mb)

Difficulty Level: Advanced | Popularity: 82 | Rating: 8.5
TOPICS: tech | FUNCTIONS: describing products|services, clarifying|defining, comparing
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In today’s Business English podcast we are going to look at the Just-in-Time process. The Just-in-time (JIT) way of working, which is also known as a lean production system, is a philosophy that tries to make any manufacturing process more cost-effective by eliminating waste. In the mp3, we are going to listen as Christy introduces the concept, and explains a little more about it.

LINK TO DOWNLOAD THIS LESSON (right-click, save as) :
epod_biz97_C17.mp3(8.62mb)

Difficulty Level: Advanced | Popularity: 87 | Rating: 9.5
TOPICS: manufacturing | FUNCTIONS: clarifying|defining
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In today’s Business English podcast we are going to look at CVs and resumés. When you apply for a job, you will need to send a potential employer your CV or your resumé. But what is the difference between a CV and a resumé? What makes a good CV or resumé? In the lesson, we are going to listen as Christy answers these questions.

LINK TO DOWNLOAD THIS LESSON (right-click, save as) :
epod_biz93_C16.mp3(12.90mb)

Difficulty Level: Advanced | Popularity: 87 | Rating: 9
TOPICS: hr, recruitment | FUNCTIONS: clarifying|defining, comparing
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