Each lexical set comes with some suggested questions to practice the vocabulary and some articles and podcasts for homework for a conversation activity the following lesson.

Money crimes

To bribe/ bribery – to give money for an illegal ‘favour.’

‘The criminal bribed the politician for the contract.’

To embezzle/ embezzlement – to steal funds belonging to one’s employer.

‘The CEO went to jail for embezzling the company’s pension fund.’

To be fraudulent – the adjective for ‘fraud.’

To defraud someone/ to commit fraud – illegally obtain money from someone by deception.

‘The fraudster defrauded thousands of people with her fake business.’

Fraudster – a person who commits fraud.

To forge something/ to counterfeit something – to make a fake copy of something in order to pass it off as real.

Forgery/ counterfeiting – the crime.

‘Since the invention of money, counterfeiting has always been a problem.’

Forger/ counterfeiters – the people who create fake money or objects.

To launder money/ money laundering – a way to ‘clean’ money made from illegal activities.

‘After a criminal obtains the money, they must launder it before it becomes usable.’

A Ponzi scheme/ a pyramid scheme – a form of fraud in which the first investors believe that they will make money from later investors.

‘Online clothing retailer LuLaRoe is yet another example of a Ponzi scheme.’

To ransom/ a ransom – a sum of money demanded or paid for the release of a captive.

‘The hackers stole the file and then demanded a ransom.’

White-collar crime – non-violent crimes that take place in companies involving money such as embezzlement and fraud.

‘The criminals who commit white-collar crime are often already wealthy people.’

Speaking practice

1. Ask your student to rate the above crimes in order of the most serious for society.
2. Ask your student to tell you about a famous criminal case involving a non-violent crime such as embezzlement, fraud, forgery or money laundering.

Criminal actions and the victims of money crime

To fall for something – to believe that something, that is a trick or a lie, is true.

‘If someone calls saying they’re from my bank, I always put down the phone and call my bank back. I don’t want to fall for a scam.’

To rig/ to be rigged – to manage or conduct something fraudulently in order to gain an advantage.

‘The president won again because the election was rigged!’

To rip off/ to be ripped off – to be pay too much money for something.

To scam someone/ a scam – a dishonest scheme; a fraud.

‘The criminals set up a website to scam people out of their money.’

Scammer – a person who scams.

‘My neighbour was ripped off by the car salesman. He paid a lot of money for a faulty car.’

To trick someone – to deceive someone intentionally.

‘The fraudster tricked the pensioner.’

To trick someone out of something – to deceive someone in order to obtain something from them.

‘The scammer tricked the woman out of 10 euros.’

Speaking practice: Conversation questions

1. Can you tell me an example on a pyramid scheme that you have heard about lately?
2. Have you, or anyone you know, fallen for a scam?
3. Can you give me an example of someone who rigged a system in order to gain an advantage? (For example, the 2019 news story of wealthy parents in the US rigging the university entrance process in order to get their kids into elite colleges).
4. What was the last thing that you bought, or subscribed to, which you now think was a rip off?

Justice

To be/get caught – when the police or someone else catch a criminal.

‘The criminal was caught by the police.’

To be caught red-handed – to be caught while committing the crime.

‘I caught my daughter red-handed, stealing a biscuit from the kitchen.’

To get away with a crime – to do a crime with impunity because the criminal is not caught or they are found innocent in court when they are guilty.

‘Nowadays, due to all the security cameras, it is difficult to get away with bank robbery.’

To go down for a crime – to be found guilty and sentenced for a crime.

‘The businessman went down for 20 years for embezzling company funds.’

To prosecute someone – conduct legal proceedings against a person or organization.

‘The company was prosecuted for defrauding its customers.’

To sue someone/ to take someone to court – to institute legal proceedings against a person or institution, typically for compensation.

‘The employees sued the company for wrongful dismissal.’

Speaking practice

1. When you were a child, were your parents strict or did you use to get away with stuff?
2. Tell me all the steps you need to take if you want to take someone or a company to court.
3. Tell me about a famous case of a non-violent crime such as fraud, money laundering or forgery. What was the outcome? Did they go down for the crime?
4. Have you ever been caught red-handed?

Hacking

To bypass – to go past or to go around.

‘The hacker bypassed the authentication system by finding a backdoor.’

To crack a password – to discover a password by trying lots of variations.

‘Make sure that your password is difficult to crack. Don’t use the name of your child!’

To do something by trial and error – the process of experimenting with various methods of doing something until one finds the most successful.

To go through the backdoor – to enter a protected system by bypassing the password system.

‘Companies build “backdoors” into their systems so that developers can bypass authentication and get to the program directly.’

To hack into a computer system/ to be hacked into/ a hack – to break into a computer system.

Hacker – a person who engages in hacking.

‘The hacker found the right password by trial and error.’

Ethical hacker – a person who hacks into a computer network in order to test or evaluate its security, rather than with malicious or criminal intent.

A hacktivist – someone who uses their hacking skills for political purposes.

Speaking practice: Conversation questions

1. Do you or your company worry about hackers? What precautions do you take against it?
2. Have you ever cracked a password? Do you think people take enough care with their passwords?
3. Give me an example when you learned something through trail and error.

Homework

There are loads of interesting cases of white-collar crime out there for your student to research and tell you about the following lesson. These include:

• The Enron scandal.
• College admissions fraud.
• The Volkswagen emissions scandal.

For listening comprehension, try ‘BBC 6 Minute English: Are you at risk from online fraud?’

Nevertheless, there are techniques that tutors can teach to turn an average business presentation into a great one. Check out our recommendations and vocabulary set below.

How to structure an engaging presentation

There’s no magic formula for creating a great presentation, but you can find a lot of inspiration from TED Talks.

The average TED Talk takes months to prepare. They engage the audience because they a structured around three principles.  

1. Focus on one major idea
2. Give people a reason to care
3. Build your idea with familiar concepts

To dive deeper into this subject, check out this article How to Create Your TED Talk: An 8-Step Process.

Students can build upon these ideas to create attention-grabbing presentations in English.

What about question time?

Traditionally, speakers end a presentation by taking questions. However, nowadays it is recommended to answer a few questions as they arise during the presentation. This is because sometimes Q&As do not go well; questions are outside the scope of the presentation and the end of the speech can become dominated by someone other than the speaker.

For further reading, check out Different Ways to End a Presentation or Speech and Stop Ending Your Speeches With ‘Any Questions’ and End with this Instead.  

The traditional way to start a presentation

‘Good morning everyone, my name is XXX and I am a XXX for my company XXX.

I am here to talk to you today about xxx and why it is important for xxx.’

Other ways to start a presentation

To share an anecdote – a short story about why the issue you’re going to speak about is important for you and the audience.

To share a quote – a thoughtful quote from a significant person related to the topic of the presentation.

Linking words

Structuring

Firstly, secondly, thirdly, lastly, finally.

One more point

Also

As well as + noun

‘We tested the new antibiotic on chickens as well as sheep.’

And that’s not all – a big extra point.

‘The findings won him tenure at the university. And that’s not all; years later they won him the Nobel Prize.’

Not to mention – a big extra point.

‘Climate change is affecting the country, we’re having more extreme weather like heavy rains and gales – not to mention all the floods.’

In addition, additionally

Furthermore – a new point.

Contradiction words

However – formal way to say ‘but.’

‘We wanted to test the idea; however, we didn’t have the budget.’

Nevertheless – a synonym of ‘however’.

‘We don’t usually do this for clients, nevertheless, we will try.’

Although/ even though – expresses something that is the opposite of what you expect.

‘Although Albert Einstein was a genius, he spent the early part of his life as an administrator in a patient office.’

Even if + conditional – a contradiction in a hypothetical argument.

‘Even if we had the resources, we wouldn’t be able to complete the project on time.’

Despite + gerund – a contradiction.

‘Despite training for weeks, he wasn’t getting any fitter.’

Despite the fact + noun / another tense.

‘Despite the fact he studied, he didn’t pass the exam.’

Consequence words

So – general consequence of something happening.

‘The financial crisis affected the company badly, so we had to cut costs.’

So that – a person or organisation does something to cause an outcome.

‘We scaled back our activities so that we could focus on our core business.’

Consequently

Which means that…

‘Our company did an IPO last year which means that we have more money to invest this year.’

Synonyms of ‘because.’

Due to + noun

‘The company’s public image was damaged due to the scandal.’

Due to the fact + verb

‘The company’s public image was damaged due to the fact there was a scandal.’

Thanks to + noun (only for positive results).

‘Thanks to new funding, the school was able to build a new gym.’

Since / as + verb

‘Since we don’t have much time, I’ll keep the presentation short.’

Therefore + verb

‘We’re moving offices next month; therefore, we’ll have to put this project on hold until next year.’

Giving examples

Especially, particularly, specifically.

To give an example.

For instance.

‘There are many difficult mountains to climb in Europe, for instance, Monte Bianco’

Such as + list.

‘He has written articles about many industries in his career such as finance, IT, medicine and manufacturing.’

Making comparisons

In comparison

To compare

Whereas – a combination of ‘while’ and ‘in comparison.’

‘Our company has made investments over the last few years, whereas our competitors have focused on cost-cutting.’

Conversely.

‘Younger people are moving to cities. Conversely, older people prefer to live in the country.’

Ways of thinking

To be common-sense – to be what you expect or to be rational or reasonable.

To be counter-intuitive – to be the opposite of what you expect.

To go against the grain – to do something against the common way of thinking, living or working.

To be a trend-setter – to be the first person to do something which others follow.

To be human nature – to be the way people commonly behave.

Ways to answer questions

To take some questions

‘OK, I’ll take some questions now.’

To fire away

‘OK, I’m ready for questions so fire away.’

Ways to end a presentation

In conclusion/ to conclude

In summary/ to summarise

To wrap up – when you want to end a presentation quickly.

‘OK, so to wrap up, the main points to take away are…’

The key takeaways…

‘The key takeaways of this talk is…’

To leave you with a thought…

‘Let me leave you with this thought….’

A call to action

‘So, this is my call to action: next time you answer a call…’

The rule of three

The rule of three is a powerful way to end a presentation. The speaker ends with three punchy words or phrases. For example:

‘So, to conclude this presentation about smart working; use communication tools effectively, collaborate more and judge performance on output not time spent online. Thanks, and have a great day.’

Famous examples of the rule of three:

• ‘This is not the end. It is not even the beginning of the end. But it is, perhaps, the end of the beginning’ – Winston Churchill
• ‘Blood, sweat and tears’ – General Patton
• ‘I came, I saw, I conquered’ – Julius Caesar

Homework: TED’s Secret to Great Public Speaking

Have a student who’s nervous about the presentation? Quell their anxiety with this short TED talk about how to create an engaging presentation.

Each vocabulary topic includes a few simple role plays to help your student practice the targeted vocabulary.

Ways to advise people

To advise (verb)

‘I advise you to accept the position.’

Advice (uncountable noun)

To give some advice.

‘Let me give you some/ a piece/a bit of advice.’

 To take advice – to ask someone to take note of your advice.

‘Take my advice; go travelling when you are young.’

 If I were you + would + infinitive – to put yourself in the position of someone else.

‘If I were you, I would take up their offer to work abroad.’

To warn – to alert.

‘The boss warned the employee that if he continued to behave like this there would be consequences.’

To give/issue a warning

‘The government issued a weather warning: expect heavy rain and possible floods.’

When you don’t want advice

To be nosy – to intrude into other people’s lives (informal).

‘To stop being nosy. I’ll sort this problem out myself.’

To be none of someone’s business – an informal and argumentative phrase to say, ‘don’t intrude.’

‘Her decision is none of your business.’

To get involved in someone’s business – to say you want or don’t want to involve yourself in someone else’s issues.

‘I don’t want to get involved in this problem.’

Speaking practice: Advice role plays

Here the tutor plays the part of the person who needs and advice and the student is the advisor.

1. The careers councillor: The tutor is a university graduate and the student is a  careers councillor. The councillor must help the graduate find a suitable career by asking questions revealing questions.  
2. To change jobs or not? The tutor is a colleague who is thinking about switching jobs. The student must advise them about whether this is a good idea or not based on their experience.
3. Advising a client about a product: The tutor is a client/customer. The student must advise the client on their company’s products or services to help them find the right one for their needs.

Criticising

To criticise (verb) – to pass judgement on someone or something.

To give constructive criticism – to critique something in a positive way.

‘At work, it’s important to give constructive criticism and not negative criticism to avoid demotivating people.

To critique – to assess something critically, often for pieces of artwork.

‘My colleagues have to critique my work next week. I feel nervous.’

A critic – a person who critiques work.

To give/ receive feedback – to give and receive an evaluation of someone’s work.

To review / a review – to evaluate something or someone; often a film, book, restaurant product or service.

‘That restaurant has great reviews. Let’s eat there.’

A reviewer – a person who reviews something.

Self-criticism

To be a perfectionist – someone who always wants things to be perfect.

To be self-critical (adjective) – someone who often criticises themselves.

‘My friend is too self-critical. His work is great but he is a perfectionist.’

To be hard on yourself – someone who is very critical of themselves.

‘Don’t be hard on yourself, no one foresaw that problem.’

Receiving criticism

To have thick skin – to not be affected by negative criticism.

To have thin skin – to be very affected by negative criticism.

‘As an actor, I have to deal with rejection all the time. But it’s OK as I have thick skin. My friend, however, had to quit because he has very thin skin and the criticism was beginning to affect his mental health.’

To take something to heart – to let negative criticism affect you.

‘Don’t take the review to heart. Reviews are subjective and I think that you wrote a great book.’

Extreme criticism

To feel guilty – to feel bad about something.

‘I feel guilty about not telling my boss about the problem.’

To blame someone – to put the guilt on someone.

‘They blamed the train service for being late to the meeting but I know that it was actually because they were in a bar.’

To troll someone – to criticise someone in an unfair and offensive way.

To be a troll – a person who criticises people in an unfair and offensive way.

‘There are thousands of trolls on social media. How do we deal with them?’

Speaking practice: Criticism role plays

The student must critique the tutor in these different situations.

End of year review: The tutor is an employee and the student the manager. The manager must give feedback on the employee’s efforts this year.

• Strong points: When the employee produces work it is normally good.
• Weak points: The employee is not very productive or organised.

The book review: The tutor is a friend who has written their first novel. The student must give their feedback without destroying their friend’s confidence.

• Strong points: The idea is quite original.
• Weak points: The plot isn’t very coherent; the ending makes no sense

A typical work situation: Ask your student to tell you about a situation where they had to be critical. Let them practice that situation with you and give them feedback on how to make it better.

Homework: TED TALK: How to Use Others’ Feedback to Learn and Grow

Harvard Law School lecturer and author Sheila Heen argues that instead of changing the way people give feedback, we should focus on getting better at receiving it.

Apologies and fixing problems

To apologise/ to make an apology

To misunderstand/ a misunderstanding – a confusion or mistake.

‘We’re sorry about the misunderstanding with your bill.’

To reimburse/ to refund – to give back money which was paid.

To exchange – to change one thing for another.

‘I am sorry that the jacket is damaged, we can reimburse you the money or you can exchange it for another.’

Useful phrases

I am sorry to hear that…

Please, accept our apologies for…

We will sort this out immediately

Can you give me some more details about what happened?

It happened by accident…

This was an unforeseen issue…

Speaking practice: Apology role plays

The student must apologise to the tutor in these different situations.

The bad dog: The student’s dog has broken into the tutor’s garden and made a terrible mess. This is the third time it has happened.

The client disaster: The student’s company has disappointed a client or customer with a bad product or service. Allow the student to practice the situation and give them feedback about how to make it better.

Complaining

To complain – to protest about something you feel is unfair.

Complainer – a person who complains.

To escalate a complaint – to take your complaint to someone higher up the management hierarchy.

To make a complaint – to tell someone responsible about your complaint.  

To lodge a complaint in a system – to input your complaint in a computer system and wait for it to be dealt with another day.

To mislead/ to be misleading – when someone or something gives confusing or false information, to give you the wrong impression.

‘This set menu is misleading. It says it’s a three-course meal for 12 euros, but then you give me the bill and I discover that bread is extra.’

Homework

Try this podcast ‘Are you good at complaining?’ from 6 Minute English, BBC to explore complaint language.

Socialising is a large part of doing business and so, to help your students feel more like themselves in social situations, we have compiled a list of phrases to tell stories, share a joke, as well as describe amusing situations and people.

Practice the target language by asking your student to give you example sentences, recount stories and perhaps even tell you a joke or two.

Social situations

To break the ice – to form new relationships in a social situation.

Small talk – conversational chatting about nothing in particular.

‘What do you do to break the ice at parties?’ ‘Well small talk about the weather usually works for me.’

When you haven’t seen someone in a while

For/in ages – for a long time

‘I haven’t seen you for ages. How are you?’

Long time, no see.

‘How are you Maria? Long time, no see.’

Common conversational sayings

Intermediate

To cost an arm and a leg – to be very expensive.

‘A pint of beer in central London costs an arm and a leg.’

To go crazy, mad, nuts – to ‘become’ temporarily crazy for something.

‘People are going crazy for avocado toast nowadays.’

To ring a bell – to say that something sounds familiar.

‘No, I have never met Steve Norris, but his name rings a bell.’

Advanced

To be on the ball – to be ready to take action.

‘Getting Adele concert tickets is a nightmare. You have to be really on the ball because they sell out within hours.’

To be a craze – to be the latest fashionable thing.

‘There was a craze for Pokémon cards among kids in the early 2000s.’

To hit the nail on the head – to be exactly right about something.

‘You’ve hit the nail on the head exactly. People don’t own cars anymore in cities because there is no parking.’

Out of the blue – suddenly.

‘And then out of the blue, I got offered a job in Portugal!’

Telling stories

To be a long story – the story is too long and don’t want to talk about it.

‘What happened to you this morning and why are you soaking wet?’ ‘It’s a long story.’

To cut a long story short – in summary.

‘To cut a long story short, I got a parking ticket.’

To end up + gerund/noun– the unexpected ending to a story.

‘We wanted to see a film but the cinema was closed and so we ended up going to the pub.’

To turn out + infinitive – the twist in your story.

‘She thought he was a great guy, but he turned out to be a criminal.’

Ways to describe good times

To have a good laugh/ a ball/ a blast/ a whale of a time – to have a good time.

‘We had a good laugh last night at the football match.’

To jump for joy – when you have received good news.

‘She got her exam results and jumped for joy.’

Ways to describe bad times

To be awful – to be very bad.

‘I had an awful day last Friday.’

To be fed up/ to be sick and tired of something – your negative feelings about something.

‘I am sick and tired of this task. When will it end?’

To be a nightmare – to have a terrible time.

‘Our car broke down in the middle of the night on top of a mountain. It was a nightmare.’

To be rubbish – your opinion on something.

‘The party was rubbish.’

Advanced

To be a hassle – to be very inconvenient.

‘I had to take the hire car back to the depo this morning. It was such a hassle.’

To go down well/badly – something has been received well or badly.

‘My boss did his speech and it went down very well with the shareholders. Mine, however, went down badly.’

To be a pain in the neck – to describe a task which is very annoying.

‘We spent two hours sorting out a problem with our internet connection. What a pain in the neck!’

Fun ways to describe people

To be a chatterbox – someone who likes talking.

To be a good laugh – someone who is fun to be with.

To be a party animal – someone who loves to party.

To have your feet on the ground – to be realistic.

To have your head in the clouds – to be a dreamer.

Speaking practice

Ask your student to tell you about a day, situation or holiday that either went really well or really badly.

Talking about luck and probability

Intermediate

Break a leg! – in the mouth of the wolf!

‘I have a big presentation tonight, I’m a bit nervous.’ ‘You’ll be fine. Break a leg.’

Fingers crossed – when you try to influence chance by crossing your fingers.

‘Hopefully, he’ll get the job. Fingers crossed.’

A stroke of luck – a hit of luck.

‘We got to the airport late but the plane was delayed. What a stroke of luck!’

Touch wood – when you try to ‘make’ something true by touching something for luck.

‘She’ll pass her driving test. Touch wood!’

Advanced

To dream on – keep dreaming because it won’t happen.

‘Perhaps one day I’ll win the lottery.’ ‘Dream on!’

No chance – no possibility

‘There’s no chance that we’ll finish the project tonight.’

A spell (or ‘run’) of good or bad luck – to pass through a lucky or unlucky time.

‘I’m having a spell of good luck at the moment. I found a new house and I got promoted within two months.’

When pigs fly/ when hell freezes over – there is no possibility that something will happen.

‘Maybe one day the Green Party will win the election.’ ‘Hmm, when pigs fly!’

Speaking practice

Get your student to tell you about a time when they had an incredible stroke of luck.

Are they superstitious? What do they do to influence luck?

Telling jokes

Intermediate

To have a good sense of humour – to find jokes funny.

To laugh with someone – positive (you are sharing the joke with them)

To laugh at someone/to make fun of someone – negative (they are the object of the joke).

‘They made fun of the way he dressed.’

To be kidding/ to pull someone’s leg – to joke with someone.

‘We have to work this weekend.’ ‘Seriously!’ ‘No, I’m pulling your leg.’

Advanced

A pun – a play on words.

‘Why did the skeleton not go to the party?’ Because he had no body to go with.’

To joke around – to pass the time with friends having a laugh.

‘My son was joking around with his friends and didn’t get any studying done.’

The punchline – the final line of the joke when you hope your audience will laugh.

‘If you’re going to tell a long joke in a speech, it better have a good punchline!’

When you don’t want to joke

Don’t be silly.

To be not in the mood

‘Don’t be silly. I am not in the mood for jokes today.’

Speaking practice

Ask your student to research two or three jokes for homework and get them to tell them to you next lesson.

Ask your student to invent two puns for next class. Here is some inspiration.

Bargaining

Intermediate

To bargain/to haggle – to trade or negotiate.

Bargaining power –relative power of parties in a situation to exert influence over each other.

‘Large supermarkets have a lot of bargaining power over food producers.’

To negotiate

A negotiator – the person who negotiates.

Negotiation tactics/ strategy – the negotiation approach.

‘Their tactics were to hold out until the last minute to force the agreement.’

A list of demands – a list of requirements.

‘She had a long list of demands during the divorce settlement.’

Advanced

To back down over something/ To concede something – to yield a point in a negotiation.

‘They backed down over the clause in the contract.’

To give/have some leeway – a margin.

‘The vendor has given us some leeway with the price.’

To hold out for a better offer – to wait for something better.

‘They are holding out for a better price.’

To settle on something – to agree to a lower offer.

‘He wanted $10 million for the company. In the end he settled on $7 million.’

To walk away from a negotiation – to abandon a negotiation.

‘At some point you have to walk away from a negotiation if you can’t come to an agreement.’

Phrases

To be on the table – the things that are being negotiated.

To be off the table – the things that you have agreed will not be included in the negotiation.

‘The foreign subsidiaries are off the table but the domestic infrastructure is still on the table.’

Making promises

To give someone your word – to promise.

‘We give you our word that this negotiation will finish within six weeks.’

To go back on your word/ to back track on a promise – to undo a promise.

‘They promised to sell the building to us but they went back on their word.’

To keep your word – to keep your promise.

‘They kept their word and signed the contract that afternoon.’

Deals

Intermediate

The bottom-line – the lowest price a person is willing to accept.

‘I’ll accept a 5% pay rise, but that is my bottom-line.’

A deal-breaker – the one thing that must be included or you won’t reach an agreement.

‘We must get a long lease on the building or it’s a deal-breaker.’

The outcome – the result or conclusion.

‘In the end, everyone was satisfied with the outcome of the negotiation.’

A win-win – both sides win.

‘Everyone got what they wanted. It was a win-win.’

Advanced

A breakthrough in negotiations – a big step forward in negotiations.

‘After a long negotiation, there was finally a breakthrough when the vendor lowered the price.’

A deadlock – when both sides won’t move on a point and so the negotiations must stop.

‘The negotiation reached a deadlock when neither side wanted to backdown.’

A setback in negotiations – negotiations take a step back due to a problem.

‘The negotiations had a setback when the CEO refused to resign.’

A trade-off – a compromise.

‘Choosing the best mortgage for you is a trade-off between the interest rates offered and the size of the deposit each company requires to take out the loan.’

Changing your mind

To change your mind (not, ‘to change your opinion.’)

To have a change-of-heart.

‘The vendor was unwilling to sell the second factory but then he had a change-of-heart.’

Contracts

To be locked into a contract – you can’t change the contract for a certain period of time.

‘The phone company has locked me into this contract for 18 months.’

To draw up a contract/ agreement – to make a contract.

Irregular verb: Draw, drew, drawn.

‘We have drawn up the agreement. All that’s left is to sign it.’

To add/ remove a clause in an agreement.

Investigations

To do due diligence – to go through all the history and paperwork on an item before you buy it.

‘A solicitor’s job is to do due diligence on the legal history of a building before their client’s buy it.’

Evaluations

To evaluate – to assess the value or quality of something.

‘We have evaluated your offer and my client’s have decided to accept.’

To value – to assess the monitory worth of something.

To be worth – the adjective of ‘to value.’

‘We valued the property and it is worth $300,000.’

Speaking practice: role plays

Practice the target vocabulary with a few of these role plays.

Role play one: The tutor is the boss and the student, the employee. The student wants to negotiate an 8% raise as they have taken on more responsibility this year. The boss wants to keep it down to 3% but they don’t want to lose the employee and so they are open to negotiation. Other things on the table include, holiday days and the possibility to work from home some days of the week.

Role play two: The tutor is the owner of a historical block of flats in Rome. The student is the representative of an investment firm which wishes to buy the flats. Totally reformed, the block would be worth 1.5 million euros. However, the flats are currently in a very bad state and the owner is keen to sell. However, the price depends on how fast the representative can close the deal and how they intend to reform them.

Role play three: The tutor is the boss and the student is the employee representative of their department. The employee works in the customer relations department which involves taking calls and answering emails from customers. Sometimes they have to meet customers face-to-face and sometimes speak with other departments in meetings. The employee and colleagues would really like to work from home most of the week. The student should state their case and try to negotiate for at least some home-working time. Points could include:

• The economics of working from home.
• Possible efficiencies.
• Technologies enabling homeworking.

Bosses concerns:

• Won’t be able to keep track of employees
• Might not be such an effective team.
• How do they maintain effective contact with other departments?

Final thoughts and homework

‘Know your worth and then ask for it,’ is an eight minute TED talk about how to negotiate a better salary. The takeaway line from the talk is, “No one will ever pay you what you’re worth,they’ll only pay you what they think you are worth. And you control their thinking. ”

At the end there is also a worksheet you can give your student for homework covering common writing mistakes to test their knowledge in their own time.

Writing emails

Greetings

Dear + first name / Dear Mr, Ms, Mrs, Miss + surname.

Hi + name (informal)

To whom it may concern

Introducing your subject

I hope this email finds you well. (Then introduce subject.)

Or, get to the subject immediately (many people prefer this option).

I am writing to + subject.

I am contacting you + subject.

Regarding, concerning + subject (this is formal language and usually used after the phrase ‘I am writing.’)

‘I am writing to you regarding the maintenance contract we have with your firm.’

Further to – to tell the recipient you are writing about a previous email, phone call or conversation.

‘Further to our last call, we have confirmed that the project will start on the 8th.’

First and foremost – to introduce your first topic on an email.

‘First and foremost, we would like to congratulate you on your promotion…’

Responding to an email

Thank you for your email/ thank you for contacting us.

Plus:

• Your action: (e.g. ‘We are looking into your case now…’)  
• To answer your question…
• In response, we would like to/we can offer you…

‘Thank you for your email. To answer your question, we can give you a refund on your purchase as long as you still have the receipt.’

Attachments

Please find attached + document.

‘Please find attached the document you requested.’

Scheduling

I am writing to schedule a day for the meeting.

I am writing to ask when you would be available to meet.

At your convenience – when it suits the reader.

‘We are available to meet at your convenience.’

Cancelling

To reschedule

Due to unforeseen circumstances – something has interrupted a plan.

‘Due to unforeseen circumstances we have had to cancel the meeting.’

In light of – a formal phrase to say ‘because of.’

‘In light of staff illness, we will be unable to attend the presentation on Monday.’

Follow up emails after a conference call or meeting

It was a pleasure to meet you.

To follow up.

Do not to hesitate + infinitive.

To drop us a line – an informal way of saying ‘please write to us.’

To follow up on our meeting, please find attached detailed plans of our proposal. If you have any questions, please don’t hesitate to drop us a line.’

Proposals

To quote / to give a quote – the amount of money a job will cost a client.

‘The quote for this work is 7,000 euros. That includes tax.’

To propose / a proposal – the company’s proposed solution to a client’s problem.

‘I have discussed the issue with my colleagues and we propose to build a new software for your company which would…’

A scope of work – all the jobs in the proposal broken down into bullet points.

‘Please find attached the scope of work for this proposed project. You’ll find our quote for the work on the final page.’

Apologising and giving assurances

To be sorry.

Please be assured.

We can assure you.

To look into an issue or matter – to investigate.

‘Thank you for contacting us. We are sorry that you have had a bad experience with our airline. We are looking into the matter now. Please be assured that positive customer experience is our highest priority and we take this matter very seriously.’

Giving bad news

Regretfully, unfortunately…

‘Thank you for your email. Regretfully, there are no positions available at this time.’

To have considered…

‘Thank you for your interest in our company. We have considered your offer carefully, however…’

Politely saying ‘no’

To decline – a formal, polite way to say ‘no’ to invitations, proposals and offers.

‘Thank you for your quote for the work. Unfortunately we have to decline your offer.’

‘Un’ words are also a good way to say ‘no’ without using the word. These include:

To be unavailable.

‘Thank you for your email. Unfortunately, our CEO is unavailable for an interview in the foreseeable future. We thank you for our interest in our company.’

To be unable.

‘Thank you for your email. Unfortunately, we are unable to comply with your request at this time due to…’

To be unfeasible/ not feasible.

‘Thank you for contacting us. Please be assured that we are working to resolve your issue. However, it is not feasible to complete the work by the deadline you have proposed…’

To be unavoidable.

‘The delay was unavoidable due to…‘

Abbreviations

BTW – by the way.

ASAP – as soon as possible.

ATT – attention.

FYI – for your information.

TBD – to be decided.

RSVP – “répondez s’il vous plaît”

Finishing an email.

To be in touch (shortly).

‘We’ll be in touch shortly to resolve this matter.’

To hope + infinitive.

‘We hope to hear back from you soon.’

To look forward to + gerund/noun.

‘We look forward to meeting you next week.’ ‘We look forward to hearing from you.’

Endings

Best wishes, Best regards, Best, Kind regards.

Note: Some students sign off with ‘regards.’ This is normally perceived as cold and should be avoided.

‘Yours sincerely’ is more for formal letters and not emails (but this depends on the context).

Punctuation

Commas

Commas should go after*:

Dear/ Hi + name of person,

The parting line (e.g. ‘We look forward to hearing from you’,)

The final goodbye (e.g. ‘Best regards’,).

Capitalisation

The word on the next line after the greeting and parting comma is always capitalised.

For example:

Dear John,

Concerning your last email…

We’ll be in touch,

Best regards,

Tim

NOTE: *This is important to teach as not all European countries have this system.

Homework

Ask your student to write a 150 word email on one of the following subjects.

1. A complaint letter to an airline.
2. An apology letter referencing a typical client problem at work.
3. A follow up email after a meeting.
4. A covering letter for a job interview.
5. A letter where the student must politely say ‘no.’

Ask your student to attach the letter in the messages function using the clip icon. Next lesson go through the email together making corrections and suggestions.

For more email ideas, check out this amazing resource from MacMillan.

Hardware

Battery – the battery which charges your computer.

Desktop computer – the large computer which is not portable.

The desktop – the page where you access your files on your computer.

Charger – to charge a mobile or tablet.

Headphones – to listen to audio.

Headset – headphones and a microphone.

Laptop –a portable computer.

Mouse – for navigating.

Keyboard – for typing.

Plug – object to connect the device to an electricity supply.

To plug in/ to unplug – verbs to connect a device to the electricity supply.

Screen – to view the information.

Software

To back up a file/ to make a backup – to make a copy of a file.

To delete – to erase something from a computer system.

To upload/ to download a file – to move files to and from the internet onto your computer.

To recover files – to recover a file which was lost on a computer system.

To start up a computer/ to shut down a computer – to turn a computer on and off.

Search engine – Google, Yahoo etc.

To search for information

Search bar – place where you type what you’re searching for.

To save files – to ‘archive’ a file.

To set up your email – to configure your email or other system.

‘Your first task when you start a new job is to set up your company email.’

To set up your out-of-office message – the message for when you are not able to answer emails.

Common problems

To crack your screen – to cause a breakage in glass. It is still intact but there are lines in the material where it has broken.

‘I dropped my phone down the stairs and now the screen is cracked.’

To charge a battery/ to recharge a battery.

To scratch your screen/cover – to leave a mark in your screen that looks like a line.

‘I dropped my mobile and scratched the cover.’

To spill liquid – to accidentally cause liquid to leave its container.

Irregular verb: Spill, spilt, spilt.

‘My friend spilt coffee on his keyboard and killed his computer.’

To sync – to synchronise.

‘I can’t sync my mobile to my computer.’

To troubleshoot a problem – to try to find the problem and fix it.

‘Microsoft asks you to troubleshoot your system errors by following their instructions.’

Speaking practice

Get your student to tell you how they would solve these common tech problems.

• Your mobile has a cracked screen
• Your laptop is not charging properly
• You have accidentally downloaded malware onto your computer.
• Popup ads keep appearing on the desktop
• Computer keeps shutting down for no reason
• You keep getting kicked off the WIFI.
• You start up your computer to find the Blue Screen of Death (BSOD) appears instead of your desktop.

Final thoughts

What technology vocabulary have we missed? Add them to the comments section below. Happy teaching!

It’s not an easy subject, so teach just a few words at a time and always practice the target language by asking your student to give you plenty of examples.

This vocabulary set includes questions to practice different vocabulary sets, however, you should also invent your own, based on your students’ interests.

Economy

Managing an economy

Intermediate

A budget – the provision for an agreed amount of money.

‘Each year the government proposes a budget for different departments.’

Currency – the money of a country.

Deficit – more money spent than received.

‘The government has a large deficit. It spends more money than it receives in taxes.

GDP (gross domestic product) – the total value of goods and services produced by a country in a year.

Interest rates – the amount a bank or other financial organisation charges on borrowed money.

Advanced

Fiscal policy or fascial year – financial policy, particularly related to taxes.

Inflation – an increase in prices. Deflation – a decrease in prices.

Macroeconomics – the study of economics at a national level.

Microeconomics – the study of the economic problems of businesses and people and the way particular parts of an economy behave.

Supply and demand – the amount people want a product compared to the amount of product there is.

‘In the UK there is more demand for houses than supply.’

Quantitative easing – the introduction of new money into the money supply by a central bank.

‘During the financial crisis the European union used quantitate easing to stimulate the economy.’

The financial crisis

Intermediate

Austerity – government cuts to public services to reduce public debt.

‘Austerity is a bi-product of the 2008 financial crisis.’

To go bankrupt – when a country or business collapses due to a lack of money.

Recession, a downturn – when the economy contracts for two quarters or more.

‘The country is experiencing a downturn in manufacturing.’

Advanced

To bailout, to receive a bailout – an act of giving financial assistance to a failing business or economy to save it from collapse.

‘Greece received a bailout from the International Monitory Fund in 2010, 2012 and 2015.’

Boom and bust economics – a situation in which a period of great prosperity or rapid economic growth is abruptly followed by one of economic decline.

‘Arguably, irresponsible lending of the early 2000s led to boom and bust by the end of the decade.’

Stagnation – lack of activity, growth or development.

‘In the early part of the decade, many countries in Europe suffered from stagnation.’

Employment

To be unemployed/ employed – a person’s state of employment.

Employment/unemployment – the noun for ‘to employ’, ‘to unemployed.’

To be on the dole – to be unemployed and receiving money from the government.

To get/receive unemployment benefit –to receive ‘helps’ or money from the government because you don’t have a job.

To lay off staff/ to make someone redundant – to lose your job because your company is getting smaller or closing.

‘The car factory laid off 500 workers when it lost the contract.’

Speaking activity

• What happened in your region during the financial crisis and in the years after?
• What policies did the government implement to simulate the economy?
• If you were minister of trade, what policies would you put forward to strengthen the economy?
• What are the main problems facing your local economy right now and what could be done to help solve them?

Politics

A bill – a proposed law to be discussed in parliament where it will be amended, passed or thrown out.

‘The MP (member of parliament) presented the bill to parliament.’

Democracy – a form of government where elections are held and people vote for the candidate of their choice to represent them.

Dictatorship – a form of government in which a single individual, who has often seized power by force, exercises political authority using arbitrary and oppressive methods.

To lobby, lobbyist –to seek influence on an issue.

‘The petroleum company lobbied the government when it tried to introduce a new fossil fuel tax.’

Parliament/ senate/ congress – places where bills and new laws are debated.

Political party

Left-wing/ Socialists

Right-wing/ Conservatives

Liberals

Prime minister/ President – person in charge of the country.

Politician – a person who has been elected and works professionally in politics.

Politics – the ideas and activities associated with governing a country or region.  

Policy – the laws and ideas of a government.

‘The politician advocated a new policy to ban fox-hunting.’

Trade unions – syndicates to represent workers.

‘In London, the Underground trade union is very strong and often holds strikes.’

Elections

Intermediate

A candidate – the person who seeks election.

To elect, election – the process of voting.

The electorate – the people who take part in elections to elect politicians.

To get a majority – when a political party win an election by getting the majority of votes.

‘The electorate gave the Liberal party the majority.’

The opposition – the political party or parties opposing the government.

‘The opposition party argued with the incumbent party over their housing policy.’  

To run for president/ prime minister – to try to get elected for president.

‘Four candidates are running for president this year.’

To vote for someone.

‘Tony didn’t know who to vote for in the last election.’

Advanced

Ballot box – the box where you put your vote.

The incumbent – a person currently holding an official position.

A landslide – to win an election with a large majority of votes.

‘Obama won with a landslide in the 2008 US election.’

Turnout – the proportion of the population who go to vote in an election.

‘About 70% of the population turned out to vote last year.’

Speaking activity

• Explain to me your country’s voting system. How does a party get into power?
• If you were prime minister/president, how would you change the system to make sure that politicians kept their promises?
• What is the single most important political event in your country post World War Two? The formation of the republic?
• Why does no one want to talk about politics anymore? Was there ever a time when people believed in politicians?

Society

Fertility rate, birth rate – the number of babies born a year.

Mortality rate – the number of people who die in a year.

Life expectancy – the average amount of years a population is expected to live.

Youth – noun for ‘young’.

To be middle-aged – aged between 50-70.

To be elderly, old – aged 70 and above.

To retire, retirement – when you stop work forever because you are too old.

Homework activity

Find some statistics about how life expectancy, fertility rate and mortality rate has changed in the years between your generation and your grandparents’ generation and explain it to me next session.

Classes

Working-class/ blue-collar workers – to have a trade, factory or low paid job.

Middle-class/ white-collar workers – to have a profession/ be university educated.

Upper-class – to be wealthy, from a family which has been wealthy for many generations.

To be posh – a slag word used in the UK to mean ‘upper-class.’

‘Posh Spice was never actually posh. In fact, she and her husband David Beckham both came from working class backgrounds.’

Housing issues

Intermediate

To be homeless/ Homelessness (noun) – to not have anywhere to live.

Housing bubble – when the price of houses becomes artificially inflated.

‘There was a housing bubble in the US and many other countries in the years before the financial crisis.’

A housing crash – when the price of houses suddenly decreased dramatically.

To be unaffordable – people can’t afford something.

‘Property in London, New York and Hong Kong has become unaffordable.’

Advanced

To get on the housing ladder – to buy your first property.

‘It’s called the housing ladder because you are supposed to buy a bigger house as you get older going ‘up’ the ladder.’

Over-crowding – too many people living together.

To save up for a deposit on a house – the money you need to finance a mortgage.

‘Typically, a deposit for a house is 10% of the value and you pay the rest off with a mortgage.’

Social-housing – to live in government build/funded housing.

Subprime mortgages – a mortgage that is issued to borrowers with a low credit rating.

‘The issuing of subprime mortgages was one of the reasons for the US financial crisis.’

Speaking activity

• What are the housing problems people of your generation or people in your region face?
• Is getting on the housing ladder one of your top priorities? Why/why not?
• Can you tell me about the housing market in your region pre and post financial crisis?
• Is the design of houses changing in your city? Are they getting bigger/smaller or more efficient?
• What will your city look like in 30 years, do you think?

Final thoughts and homework

What if we replaced politicians with randomly selected people? is a 10 minute TED talk which talks about the problems with our current political system and presents the idea of selecting people randomly to represent us in government.

In addition to vocabulary, there are worksheets showing various different graphs. To practice, ask your student to explain to their insights on each graph.

Types of charts

Pie chart

Bar chart

A diagram

Line graph

Scatter graph

Info graphic

Parts of a chart

X and Y axis

Dotted lines – the broken lines often used on graphs.

Speaking task

Ask your student to identify these types of charts and graphs. Ask them also to identify the parts of a graph such as the X and Y axis and any dotted lines.

Speaking about data

Increases

Intermediate

To increase, to grow.

‘We have grown our product range 50% in the last 12 months.’

To experience steady growth – to grow slowly and predictably.

‘The company has experienced steady growth for the last two years.’

To peak, a peak – the highest point in a graph.

‘New sign ups to our gym peaked in January.’

To reach a high point – another way to say ‘the peak.’

‘Sales reached a high point in June.’

To surge, a surge – a sudden, powerful move forward or upward.

‘There has been a surge in new bookings this month.’

Advanced

To rocket – to increase dramatically.

‘Take up of this service has rocketed in the last few months.’

To shoot up –a large increase.

‘Sales have shot up this quarter 33%.’

Decreases

Intermediate

To decrease, to drop, to fall.

‘Complaints have fallen by 20% in the last quarter and so this is good news.’

To experience a decrease/ a drop/a fall in something.

‘We have experienced a 30% drop in customers using our physical bank. People now prefer to go online.’

To decline, a decline – another, sometimes more negative way to say ‘a decrease.’

‘Birth rates have been declining in the western world for 30 years.’

Advanced

To plummet, a plummet – a sharp or dramatic fall.

‘Sales of the car plummeted when the company announced that it did not meet the new CO2 emission requirements.’

The lowest point, the trough, the dip – the lowest point in a graph.

‘The trough represents the lowest point in sales. But that’s understandable – no one wants to buy ski equipment in June!’

Adjectives to describe large and small increases and decreases

Small: Slight, tiny, gradual, steady.

Big: Dramatic, steep, significant, considerable, sudden.

Up and down

To fluctuate – when an amount goes up and down rapidly.

‘We have seen fluctuating temperatures all summer. Sometimes it’s as low as 20 degrees and sometimes as high as 40 degrees.’

No Change

To level off

‘Wage growth has levelled off in the last quarter.’

To stay the same

To remain constant/stable

To stabilise

‘Participles of CO2 in the air have finally stabilised.’

Trends and reading data

An insight -a deep understanding of something.

‘This data gave us a good insight on consumer trends.’

To see an upward trend – an increasing tendency or trend.

To see a downward trend – a decreasing tendency or trend.

‘We are seeing an upward trend among young people to enrol in higher education. In comparison we are seeing downward trend in young people starting.’

A trajectory – the path of a curve in a graph.

‘We predict from this trajectory that the global population will be 9.2 billion by 2050.

Ways to present information

To represent

‘This chart represents…’

To show/ to demonstrate

‘This graph shows…’

To illustrate

‘This data illustrates that….’

To describe

‘This info graphic describes…’

Making comparisons

To compare to, in comparison to

As opposed to

Versus

‘The government has increased its spending on healthcare, as opposed to education, where we can see that it has reduced the budget.’

Speaking task

Using the same worksheet, ask your student to describe the different charts and tell you what they see in the data.

Percentages

Percent – specified amount in or for every hundred.

Percentage point – arithmetic difference of two percentages.

NOTE: There is an important difference between ‘percent’ and ‘percentage point.’

“A percent point is the unit for the arithmetic difference of two percentages. For example, moving up from 40% to 44% is a 4 percentage point increase, but is a 10 percent increase in what is being measured.”

Source Wikipiedia.

If your student has to talk about data for their work, make sure that they understand the difference.

A proportion – a part, share, or number considered in comparative relation to a whole.

‘The proportion of the population with a university degree has steadily increased since the turn of the century.’

Number + out of + number (not ‘from’).

‘Seven out of 10 people prefer dogs to cats.’

More than/ greater than – >

Less than – <

Numbers

Remember: Large numbers are separated by a comma in English, not a point.

For example: 1,327,564 (not, 1.327.564)

AND: Fractions are written with a decimal point in English, not a comma.

For example: 4.3 and 6.7 (not, 4,3 and 6,7).

Homework and final thoughts

Data journalism is exploding across the internet and makes very interesting topics of conversation. Ask your student to read a data story for homework and explain to you the graphs in the next lesson.

Places to find data journalism stories:

The Guardian Data Blog

The Upshot, from the New York Times

Vox, from the Washington Post

Five Thirty Eight

Worksheets

Finally, here are some excellent worksheets to give for homework to practice this vocabulary, from tutor Gareth J.

IELTS Line Graph Vocabulary

Describing Charts and Graphs

Practice the target language

Don’t forget to always practice the target language. This could be by:

• Asking your student to speak about their work life, using as many of these phrases as possible.
• Asking your student to give you example sentences of each vocabulary term.
• Doing a role play. You can find a good money-related role play in the speaking practice suggestions below.

PDF for your student

Once you’ve practised the majority of this topic with your student, here is a pdf of vocabulary for them to keep.

Bank accounts

Intermediate

Bank statement – the list of transactions from a bank.

‘You can view your bank statements now online.’

To save, savings (noun) – to keep money back for the future.

‘My parents told me to always try to save 20% of my salary each month.’

Income – all the money you receive on monthly or annual basis such as your salary, interest on savings and investments.

Outgoings – all the money that you spend on a monthly or annual basis.

‘Our outgoings are smaller than our income, thank goodness. If it were the reverse, we would be in trouble!’

Advanced

A payslip – a note given to an employee, showing their salary and any taxes deducted.

‘To qualify for a loan you usually have to show at least three months’ worth of payslips.

To pay something back in instalments (UK) installments (US) – small, regular payments to pay back money to a bank or other organisation.

To save up for something – to save for something in particular.

‘My brother is saving up for a new car. He is half way there already.’

Speaking practice

Ask your student to tell you all the steps you need to complete to set up a bank account and take out a loan in their country.

Loans

To be in debt – to have a debt with someone.

‘Unfortunately, most adults nowadays are in debt, one way or another.’

Debt /det/ – the amount of money you owe.

‘Debt is a non-phonetic word. You actually pronounce it “det”’.

To borrow – to ‘take’ money (or something else) from someone or a bank and then pay or give it back.

‘I had to borrow money from the bank to be able to set up my business.’

To lend – to ‘give’ money (or something else) to someone temporarily. You expect to get it back.

Irregular verb: Lend, lent, lent.

‘The bank lent me £10,000 to buy a new car.’

Interest rate – the proportion of a loan that is charged as interest to the borrower.

‘Interest rates have been low since the financial crisis.’

To owe – the amount of debt you have to someone.

‘He owes the bank thousands of dollars in unpaid loans.’

To pay off/ to pay back a loan – to return the money you borrowed.

‘We are slowly paying off the money we owe on our credit cards.’

To take out a loan – to borrow an amount of money from a bank. (‘Loan’ is the noun of ‘to lend).

‘I took out a loan to buy a motorbike.’

To take out a mortgage /morgag/ – to borrow an amount of money from a bank to buy a house. (‘Mortgage’ is the name of the loan to buy a house).

‘My parents took out a mortgage to buy our house. It took them 30 years to pay back the loan.’

Speaking practice

Role play ‘The bank loan’: Ask your students to brainstorm ideas for a business. The student is the entrepreneur who asks for a loan and the tutor is the bank manager who assesses their case by asking money-related questions. Alternatively, you can reverse these roles.

Investments and inheritance

To go public/ to have an IPO (Initial Public Offering) – when the company decides to sell shares of the company to the public.

‘The last big IPO from a Silicon Valley company was Uber.’

To invest, to make an investment – to put your money in an investment scheme to help it grow.

‘Buying shares in that telecoms company was a good investment.’

Stocks and shares – small parts of a company which are bought and sold (not, ‘actions’).

‘The shares decreased in value when the CEO announced that he was leaving.’

Stock exchange – where shares are bought and sold.

‘The USA stock exchange is in New York.’

Shareholder – people who own shares.

‘Companies hold shareholder meetings once a year.’

To inherit, inheritance – to gain money or another asset upon another person’s death.

‘My great-aunt died and left me $40,000. Incredible! I didn’t even think that she liked me.’

Family finances

Intermediate

A bonus – an extra amount of money for performing well at your job.

‘The sales people got a bonus for achieving their sales targets.’

A pay rise (UK), a pay raise (US) – when your salary increases.

‘The workers got a 3% pay raise and so there was a celebration.’

Advanced

Breadwinner – an old expression to refer to the person who earns the most in the family.

‘For most of my life my father has been the breadwinner. But then he lost his job and my mother took over as breadwinner.’

Pocket money – small amounts of money you pay to children.

‘What did you use to spend your pocket money on?’ ‘Sweets and chocolate mostly.’

Wages vs. salary – ‘wages’ are calculated by the hour and a ‘salary’ by the month. Generally, wages are paid to people in blue-collar jobs such as shop assistants and labourers and salaries are paid to people in professional jobs such as teachers and lawyers.

Financial problems

To be able to afford something – to have the money to buy something.

‘We can’t afford to go on holiday this year as we have had a lot of expenses recently.’

To be broke – to not have any money in that moment.

‘I am broke this week. But I am getting paid on Saturday so I can go out then.’

To go broke – to have a personal financial disaster.

‘My uncle went broke when his construction firm collapsed.’

To go bankrupt – when a company fails and has to close.

‘Kodak when bankrupt when people switched from analogue cameras to digital ones.’

Final thoughts

There are lots of interesting TED Talks and podcasts you can give to your student for homework which talk about the psychology of money. We recommend the TED Talk ‘Three psychological tricks to help you save money’; a six-minute video which talks about why we spend more money than we should.

What words have we missed? Add them to the comments section below.