Friday, October 9th

Thursday, October 8th

Your first oral presentation: a company or an organisation

Goal: talk for 3 minutes, in English, with no notes, about a company or an organisation that you choose.

Steps

1. Choose your company or organisation.
   It can be a business (Nike, Tesla, a local shop…), a charity, a sports club, a public service… Choose something you like or know a little, it’s easier if the organisation belongs to the English speaking world. 
2. Open DuckDuckGo and choose the right region.
   Go to DuckDuckGo, then open the settings and change the region:
   • American company → United States
   • British company → United Kingdom
   • Another country (Canada, Australia, Ireland…) → choose that country
3. Do ALL your research in English.
   Type your searches in English and read English pages. If you research in English, you don’t have to translate later, and translation is the most difficult part. Think in English from the beginning!
4. Find information about your company.
   Think about what you know about the characteristics of a company / an organisation:
   • Name, founder(s) and date of creation
   • Where it is based (headquarters) and where it works (local, national, international)
   • Sector and activity: what does it make or sell? What service does it offer?
   • Private or public? Profit or non-profit?
   • Size: number of employees, turnover (money it earns)
   • Its customers, its competitors, its mission and values
   Good places to look: the company’s own “About us” page and English Wikipedia.
5. Fill in a simple SWOT chart.
   A SWOT chart helps you see your company clearly. Copy it on paper and write one or two short ideas in each box.

   Strengths (+) What is the company good at? What makes it special?	Weaknesses (–) What is difficult for the company? What is it not good at?
   Opportunities (+) What good things can happen? (new products, new countries, new trends)	Threats (–) What dangers are there? (competitors, crisis, bad news)

   Strengths and Weaknesses are inside the company. Opportunities and Threats come from outside.
6. Choose 5 or 6 talking points.
   Keep only the most interesting information. Write nothing long: just ideas you can say in your own words.
7. Make a slideshow with pictures only.
   No text on the slides! One picture = one talking point. The pictures help you remember what to say. Free pictures: Unsplash. You can build your slides with Canva or any slideshow software.
8. Practise out loud, without notes.
   Look at your picture, then speak. Time yourself: you must talk for 3 minutes. Practise several times, at home, in front of a mirror or a friend.

Useful links

• DuckDuckGo (search engine)
• DuckDuckGo settings (to change the region)
• Wikipedia in English
• Cambridge Dictionary (English-English: explain a word in English!)

A possible script for the exercise from last week:

Document title or reference : Amazon

WHAT
The document I’m going to talk about is a news photograph taken from the BBC News website. It is about a strike at an Amazon warehouse.

WHERE
The scene takes place in front of a big Amazon warehouse in England, near Birmingham.

WHEN
The event occurred in winter, in January 2024. The date of the strike is given in the article and we can see the grey and cloudy sky.

WHO
The persons involved are the Amazon workers on strike. They are wearing orange vests and they are holding union flags. On the right, there is a man in a yellow vest.

Summary
Basically the story is that of warehouse workers who are on strike. The main issue is pay: they want better wages, and they want Amazon to recognise their union, the GMB.

PARTS
The photo can be divided into 3 parts. The first one, in the foreground, is focused on the group of workers. The second one, in the middle, shows the flags and the banners. The last one, in the background, deals with the huge grey Amazon building.

Analysis
By doing this, the photographer wants to show that the workers are united. He also wants us to realize that the company is very big and powerful.

React
What strikes me the most in this photo is the contrast between the giant building and the small group of people. What I find the most impressive is that they are smiling.

Alluding
It reminds me of the story of David and Goliath: a small group against a very big and powerful opponent.

Conclusion
To sum up, this photo is all based on the idea that workers are united against a powerful company.

Thursday, October 1st

Fill in this form commenting about the picture below. Type “Amazon” in the field labeled “reference” in the form. You will find the information and the vocabulary you need here.

Friday, September 25th

Spider-Man in New York : fix it and go further
Photo : Dulce Pinzón, « Spider-Man », from the series entitled The Real Story of the Superheroes. Caption : « Bernabe Mendez, from the State of Guerrero, works as a professional window cleaner in New York. He sends 500 dollars a month. »

1. TRAPS!
• Qui a pris la photo ? Dulce Pinzón, une photographe → she, the photographer. Pas « Dulden Pinzon », ni journalist, singer ou author.
• Quand ? Il n’y a pas d’« incident » ni d’« event » : The photo was taken in the 2000s. Spider-Man a été créé en 1962 (le film date de 2002). « BBC News, 18 avril 2010 » vient d’un autre document.
• Qui est le personnage ? Ce n’est pas Spider-Man : c’est Bernabe Mendez, un laveur de vitres mexicain déguisé (dressed as Spider-Man). C’est la photographe qui lui fait porter le costume, pour montrer que c’est un vrai héros.
• Les parties : on découpe la photo (on the right / on the left), pas la légende (origins / job / money).
• Grammaire : a hero, a building, a worker, an immigrant · sujet obligatoire (because he is) · -s à la 3e personne (he works) · deal WITH · 21st century.
• Faux amis : first plan → foreground · vue → view · photography → photo · sitting → setting · furniture = meubles · widow = veuve · phrase = sentence.

2. Corrige ces phrases (toutes viennent de la classe)
1. The document I’m going to talk is a picture that deals spiderman.
2. The sitting is tall bulding typical of NYC.
3. The incident took place in BBC News, 18 avril 2010.
4. The main character is Spiderman because is an hero.
5. He work on a tall building and he clean an window.
6. In the first plan we see the man, and in the third plan a lake.
7. The picture watch Spiderman that washes a window.
8. The photo be divised two parts.
9. By doing this the singer want to suggest that job is so hard.
10. What I find the most impressive about this the man who works.

1. The document I’m going to talk to you about is a picture that deals with a man dressed as Spider-Man.
2. The setting is a tall building typical of NYC.
3. The photo was taken in the 2000s.
4. The main character is Bernabe Mendez, dressed as Spider-Man, because he is a hero.
5. He works on a tall building and he cleans a window.
6. In the foreground we see the man, and in the far background a river.
7. The picture shows Spider-Man washing a window.
8. The photo can be divided into two parts.
9. By doing this, the photographer wants to suggest that this job is very hard.
10. What I find the most impressive about this photo is that the man works as a superhero.

3. Les rubriques oubliées : complète avec une expression de la fiche
Presque personne n’a rempli ANALYSIS, REACT, ALLUDING et CONCLUSION. Complète chaque phrase (plusieurs réponses possibles).
1. By doing this, the photographer wants to make us ________ that immigrant workers are real heroes.
2. What ________ me the most about this photo is the contrast between the superhero costume and the ordinary job.
3. What I find the most ________ about this photo is that he works so high up for so little money.
4. It ________ me of the Spider-Man films, but here the hero is a real man.
5. The photographer seems to ________ the danger of the job: we can almost feel the vertigo.
6. Drawing a conclusion about the document, we can say that it all ________ around the idea that immigrants are invisible heroes.
useful words : realize · strikes · ironical · reminds · emphasize · revolves

4. Vrai ou faux ? Justifie en anglais
1. The man in the photo is the real Spider-Man.
2. The photo was taken by a journalist.
3. Bernabe Mendez comes from Mexico.
4. The water on the left is the sea.
5. Spider-Man was created in 2002.
6. Bernabe sends money to his family.

1. False: he is Bernabe Mendez, a window cleaner dressed as Spider-Man.
2. False: Dulce Pinzón is a photographer.
3. True: he comes from the State of Guerrero, in Mexico.
4. False: it is a river.
5. False: Spider-Man was created in 1962; the first film came out in 2002.
6. True: he sends 500 dollars a month.

5. complete the end
Écris les rubriques ANALYSIS, REACT, ALLUDING et CONCLUSION. Utilise au moins 4 expressions de la fiche et au moins 3 mots de cette liste :
everyday hero · invisible · poorly paid · to support his family · to send money home · dangerous · the American dream · contrast · tribute (hommage)

Thursday, September 24th

Fill in this form commenting about the picture below. Type “Spiderman” in the field labeled “reference” in the form.

Friday, September 18th

Photographer : Dulce Pinzon

Series : The real story of Superheroes

Use the survival kit : how to present a document:

WHAT: The document I’m going to talk to you about is a photo taken by Dulden Pinzon that deals with the topic of the life of Mexican immigrant worker in NYC.

WHERE: The setting is a tall building typical of NYC.

 

Thursday, September 15th

« Ministers mull volcano ash cloud flight chaos measures »
BBC News, 18 avril 2010

Take some notes while doing the exercise, don’t write EVERYTHING but write SOMETHING!

1. Compound adjectives
2. Compound nouns
3. Word formation

Friday, September 11th

Thursday, September 10th

Basics:

1. useful vocabulary
2. numbers and figures (to train yourself at home use this)
3. comparatives and superlatives
4. Howlers – most common mistakes to avoid

Friday, September 4th

Thursday, September 3rd

General introduction & a short history of the English language, you may find most of what I said (and more) in this video on YouTube.