A business interview

Listen to the business interview to practise and improve your listening skills.

Do the preparation task first. Then listen to the audio and do the exercises.

Preparation

Transcript

Presenter: Welcome to today's show. We're very happy to have Anna Oliveira as our guest today. Anna is the creator and founder of HomeworX – spelled with an 'x' we should note – an app which helps teenagers with their homework. Thanks for coming in, Anna.

Anna: Thanks for having me.

Presenter: So, tell us about your app. How does it work?

Anna: Well, teenagers and their parents have numerous challenges when it comes to homework these days. In many families both parents work and don't have much available time to help their kids with their homework. And even if they do have time to help, they may not be able to offer support with the content. What I mean is, they may not know, or at least remember, enough in any given subject to support.

Presenter: You mean they might not be able to remember complex maths or might have never studied certain subjects, such as biology or economics, themselves?

Anna: Exactly. So they might want to support their children with their homework, but have neither the time nor the knowledge to do so.

Presenter: I see. So the app helps solve this problem?

Anna: Yes, and more. The next issue is that tutors can be expensive, and there may be long waiting lists for specialist tutors in the town or region you live in. Our HomeworX app brings students and tutors together online. Students can search a database of pre-approved tutors and sign up for live online support. They don't need to be in the same town or city.

Presenter: That sounds really great.

Anna: It is. And this approach also enables us to offer the tutoring services at lower prices because there's no travelling time involved for the tutor to get to the student's home. And tutors who live in remote areas are happy to get access to more students, and be able to work from home, even at lower rates.

Presenter: This all sounds great. So, how did you come up with the idea?

Anna: Well, as you might guess, I was one of those parents I described earlier. I really wanted to help my son with his homework, but I was either too busy with work or I didn't actually know anything about the subjects he was having difficulty with. Also, we live in an area where there aren't many tutors and the ones that are there are either very expensive or have long waiting lists.

Presenter: Yes. I can understand your predicament. Well, it sounds like a very useful app that is clearly meeting a need. And its popularity obviously speaks for itself.

Anna: Thank you.

Presenter: So, do you have plans for the future?

Anna: We've just secured some funding and hope to expand the range of services we offer using the app.

Presenter: We wish you the best of luck. Thanks again for coming in. That was Anna Oliveira, founder of the tutoring app HomeworX (with an 'x', don't forget!), which is available for both Apple and Android devices. Join us again next week for another business interview. Have a great week, everyone.

Task 1

Exercise

Task 2

Exercise

Discussion

What's your favourite app for learning and why?

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Language level

B2 Upper intermediate

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Good day everyone, I like to listen radios' app from USA. For me is very interesting because I can practise my listening an be update about the news. Thank you! Stay home! Stay safe!

My best app for learning is you tube , this avail me convenience in term of time, dictate by my personal schedule. More also it gives both visual and audio sections which aid learning and understanding.

Actually my favorite app right now is youtube, I use it to watch videos to improve my English especially in vocabulary, grammar, and pronunciation. Also, I use twitter to be connected with the world.

My favorite app for learning are Youtube and App, there, I can find videos on many topics: verbs, phrasal verbs, pronunciation,... but also films,...

My favourite app for learning is 'Opera Mini'. The reason for this, is due to its efficacy.

My favourite apps for learning are: All the british council apps for learning English and youtube

I use different apps to help me improve my vocabulary, grammar and writing skills. I have used Reverso, Grammarly, LDCE, even the Johnny G app. Each one offers distinctive characteristics which are useful for me, as I progress with my studies.

I have many favourite apps for learning english on mind, for intance Cake is a great app where you can learn and practice your pronunciation and English course offers pretty good explaination about grammar. But in my personal opinion, if you want to learn english you need to be in a learning mood, that means to be focus so it is better to study in the computer not in the phone. And this web is the best for that !!!

My favourite learning app is British Council, as it offers variety of fun filled activities to help learning English better. It also assess the level of the learner and suggest the activities accordingly. One can find activities, audios, videos, quizzes, forums etc. covering all the important aspects of English- reading, writing, listening and speaking. To conclude, it's a complete English learning package.