Episode 02: Job offer

Johnny, Olivia and Fadi all offer jobs to Harry. What should he do?

Do the Preparation task first. Then listen to the audio. Next go to each Task and do the activity. If you need help, you can read the Transcript at any time.

Preparation

Exercise

Transcript

Harry: So how are things going, mate?

Johnny: Good. Things are good. I’m really enjoying my job ... lots of work, but I’ll be rich in three years!

Harry: You work all the time. I don’t know how you manage it. You should take a break some time, come and play football with me!

Johnny: Too busy, mate, too busy. Venture capital – it’s so exciting right now. All the opportunities opening up in China. And I’m here to make the most of it! You should think about changing your job, Harry – get a piece of the action!

Harry: You’re right ... I'm always thinking about changing jobs ... but I only know about computers, nothing else.

Johnny: There are lots of computer experts around. You need to specialise!

Harry: Perhaps you’re right, but I really like my job.

Johnny: Is the money good?

Harry: Not bad ...

Johnny: But not good?

Harry: Well, I could find a job that pays more, but I would enjoy it less...

Johnny: You could come and work for our company!

Harry: Hmmm ... is that an offer?

Johnny: Yes ... I’m serious! Listen, I’ll have a word with the human resources people tomorrow. I know there are some vacancies at the moment in the IT team ... you’d easily get it. Have to go now, see you soon.

Harry: Yeah, yeah. Cheers, mate! See you soon!

Olivia: Hi there! You on your own?

Harry: Yeah, Johnny’s just gone off to work ...

Olivia: As always. Never stops, that boy.

Harry: Talking of which, what are you doing here? Shouldn’t you be in the shop?

Olivia: I’m just taking a break. I’m fed up of standing in that shop selling shoes all day, to tell you the truth.

Harry: They’re very nice shoes, though.

Olivia: All hand made, of course. But, like I say, I don’t want to spend the rest of my life running that shop.

Harry: You could sell your shoes on the web.

Olivia: That’s right! I’ve thought about that already ...

Harry: Have you got anybody to set up a website for you?

Olivia: No … but I did think ... I was wondering ... I don’t suppose ....

Harry: What?

Olivia: ... that you’d be interested?

Harry: Me? Do your website for you?

Olivia: Well, yeah ... I’d like someone I know ... someone I can trust ...

Harry: Well, I guess I could do it, sure ... I’ll have to think ...

Olivia: Hi Fadi! How are you doing? Do you know my friend Harry?

Fadi: No ... nice to meet you!

Harry: Yeah ... you too ... cheers.

Olivia: Fadi works in the restaurant business, don’t you Fadi?

Fadi: Well, sort of, not exactly ... we supply food to lots of restaurants, but ... I tell you ... it’s a nightmare at the moment ...

Olivia: Oh dear. What’s the problem?

Fadi: Well, there’s just too much work really ... can’t keep up. It’s my dad’s business, but he’s getting old now. My uncle works with us too, but he’s not really interested, so it’s all up to me ... I can’t keep track of what’s coming in and going out ...

Harry: Sounds like you need a better stock management system!

Fadi: Yeah! That’s exactly what I was thinking – how did you know that?

Harry: That’s my job, innit? I set up computerised stock management systems, all kinds of business IT solutions ...

Fadi: Wow! That’s brilliant! Listen ... seriously now ... would you be interested in some work?

Harry: Erm ... well ... yeah! That’s three job offers I've had in the last five minutes! What should I do?

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Language level

B1 Intermediate

Topics

jobs and work

science and technology

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Dear Team,
repeating this episode I realise a little difference between the audio and text, in 1:45, specifically it's written:''Harry: Yeah, cheers, see you mate.'', but I hear Harry saying'' Yeah,yeah, cheers mate,see you soon".Am I right?
Thanks for your kindness
nikos

Hello Nikos,

Good to hear from you again.

Yes, you are right. I've changed the on-page transcript to reflect what he actually says.

Thanks for pointing this out to us!

All the best,
Kirk
The LearnEnglish Team

thanks for the exercise, I'm new at learnenglish but i think some of these ones are perfect to me to improve my skills :) ... I have a question about the english learnign process... In order to learn better and faster, is it better to listen first the audio without the transcript? thank you so much

Hello byterz76,

Listening with the transcript is useful for some things but it does not replicate how listening works outside the classroom, and doing the exercises that way makes them more a test of reading than listening. I recommend doing the exercises without reading the script first, then listening and reading at the same time, and then listening and reading aloud with the audio at the end. This last step is very useful for improving your ability to speak at a natural speed and with natural rhythm.

Peter

The LearnEnglish Team

Hello, I really love Harry's accent. What accent does he speak in? Where can I find more about him/his accent? Any actor that speak like him? Thanks for your help

Hello Irul,

I would say that Harry is from the south-east of England. It could be London or one of the surrounding areas, such as Essex.

Peter

The LearnEnglish Team

Exactly some here else, Harry’s accent is perfect and obvious

Hi, I have the following questions to ask. 1.All the opportunities opening up in China: why is not to say ”All the opportunities are opening up in China”? 2. You on your own? Is the sentence the same as “Are you are on your own” 3. you’d easily get it: What does ‘d means in here? 4.Johnny’s just gone off to work: What is the difference between go off to work and go to work？ 5.Talking of which, what are you doing here. What does “talking of which”means? 6. I’m fed up of standing in that shop selling shoes all day: What is the difference between I’m fed up with standing in that shop. 7.I don’t understand “so it’s all up to me”. Thank you for your time.

Hello blueoceanEnglish,

The sentence All the opportunities opening up in China contains a reduced relative clause: All the opportunities (which are) opening up in China. It doesn't actually form a complete sentence, but often natural speech is comprised of such utterances.
Yes, that's right.
In You'd easily get it the 'd is a contraction of would.
The difference is very small. Go off to means the same as leave.
Talking of which is a phrase used to connect what are you about to say to something you have just said that was not the main topic. If you look a little further down the page you'll see Kirk discussed this in his answer to amit_ck.
Fed up of and fed up with mean the same.
So it's all up to me means that the speaker must do it him/herself and cannot count on anyone else's help. In the text, Fadi is saying that his uncle won't help him, so he must do things himself.

Peter

The LearnEnglish Team

Hello I've seen many dialogues in the last years. In this podcast they call their friend mate. This is the fist time I've seen such a expression in a text. It sounds very unnatural to me. Bye

Episode 02: Job offer

Preparation

Transcript

Task 1

Task 2

Task 3

Task 4

Language level

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