REMEMBER! In formal English you should:

  • avoid contracted forms (e.g. he’s, we’d, they’ve) but be careful about Saxon Genitive as its forms are correct and very similar to the previous (e.g. today’s meeting, John’s car, parents’ day)
  • address people using the correct word (e.g. difference between a friend and a colleague)
  • avoid colloquialisms (e.g. want to vs. wanna)

Exercise 1:

Listen the HR Director’s speech and fill in the gaps choosing the words below:

Dear A____________,

It is great to welcome all members of our team to today’s meeting which will be dedicated to changes in the field of HR strategy. B____________ happy to point out that our previous strategic activity in development of pro-customer attitudes resulted in success.

Moreover, last week we came to know the new business strategy based on a slogan ”Health means future”. Therefore, C____________ high time to convert these ideas into our HR processes. We all know that in order to convince anyone to start doing something new is simply by learning by example. This is the reason why we would like to first motivate our employees to live healthier lifestyle, so that we could become an inspiration to our D____________.

As a result, our three strategic goals in the field of HRM for the three upcoming years are:

  • for our E____________ developing new skill in the area of assertiveness and stress management
  • for our managers to learn of F__________ support
  • overall improvement of physical condition and enforcing healthier lifestyles among our employees

G____________ obvious that all of the goals mentioned need to be implemented in the right operational activities in all areas of HRM focusing especially on motivation, assessment and development, social H____________, compensation and benefits.

To put it in a nutshell we have got a great and interesting challenge I____________ of us. I count on your involvement

J______ for your time.

A

B

C

D

E

F

G

H

I

J

Exercise 2:

Listen the HR Director’s speech and choose if each statement is true (T) or false (F):

The HR Director…

is proud that the previous strategic activity resulted in success.

does not consider the new strategy as a real challenge.

tells that the new HR strategy applies only to the managers.

criticises overall strategic organisation.

informs that the previous HR strategy involved development of employees’ technical skills.

introduces aims that focus on physical and mental improvement of the employees.

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