There are four sessions covering the business writing. They are:
- Meeting Minute
- Report
- Memorandum / Letter
Here below are some useful resources for Meeting Minute:
http://businesswritingcourse.blogspot.com/
This is the official website of the Business English Workshop specifically designed for B2BE GSS Sdn Bhd Vietnam. The training program as well as all training materials will be posted on this website from time to time for participants' references.
Here below are some useful resources for Meeting Minute:
http://businesswritingcourse.blogspot.com/

Video # 3:
In this section, you are asked to listen to the video and fill in the missing words below.
Welcome to EF PodEnglish !
Yes, come in! Yup, have a seat. PodEnglish, Beginner 13, Office Talk.
"John, ------(1)-------?""...I'm really...really...happy with the job...and...and...you...Sir, yeah"
This lesson is all about past continuous questions and answers.
"---------(2)------------?""I was studying for my exam. -------(3)----------"
"I want to say..."
First, we'll review some words about work. Who are the clients at your jobs? Clients are people who buy products or services. In your job, do you have to talk in front of many people? It's called presentation. Sometimes, we use pictures in the presentation. The projector shows the pictures on the wall.
"I've been...4 years. And...and I...""Hello...ahahaha...yup, I don't know how much I appreciated last Thursday. Great night! Oh, we can do it right now, I don't have anything urgent waiting for me..."We're going to watch the video..."See you later, bye bye"
Worker is talking to his boss.
"Lucy,...set up a meeting between him. Make sure to set up a lunch for them, I don't have to be there.
Boss came back from a trip.
"-------(4)---------?"
"Great, thanks."
"We're doing quite well."
"-------------(5)-------------------"
"Well, I was working pretty hard all week"."What were you working on mainly?"
"Well, I was working on the new account with Merry Walker most of the time and of course, I was preparing the presentation for last Friday""---------(6)-----------------?"
"He was helping me with the projector"
"What were the members of staff doing during the presentation?""-----------(7)----------""Where were the clients sitting?"
"They were sitting at the back of the room beside the window"
"-----------(8)-----------------?"
"Yes, they certainly did"
"So you had a good week then?""Yeah, very successful!"
"Yup, perfect! thanks, bye"
"So John, --------(9)-------------?"
"...do mine believe he was every sick and he...yup, I know...and so, yeah...for 4 years but now...so our...I want...ask for...for vacation"
Let's talk about the grammar. Sometimes, we talk about past actions that continued for some time. We show that they continue by using the past continuous. Read these sentences:
I was studying last week. They were studying last week.
Notice how they use "to be" in the past: WAS and WERE.
"Was" is for I, he, she and it.
"Were" is for you, we and they. We add ING to the main verb. This is the past continuous. It shows the action continuing in the past.
"Vacation next week?...ahhhh....I don't know how to start. The answer is NO. --------(10)-------------, John and everyone has to follow including me. And those policies include we ask vacation in advance. You cannot come now and ask for vacation next week. And how could you even dream of having vacation next week you know how important project that is going on right now"
I will show you sentences from the video with some words missing. Read these sentences, guess which words are missing.
Ready? let's watch:
"So tell me what were you doing when I was away"
"Well, I was working pretty hard all week."
You got it: "What were you doing". "I was working".
Try another. Ready?
"What was John doing during the presentation?""He was helping me with the projector"Good job! "What was John doing?". "He was helping me"
"We have a really important meeting. The security or should our server goes down or anything breaks. ---------(11)------------?""I was thinking""You were thinking?""The problem is that you're not thinking. This company need IT security and it need IT staff and you're one of them. ------ (12)------------------------------------. Long nights over and over again. It's because you cannot plan your work and
-------------(13)---------------. I don't care if you work day or night. We all have to do our tasks. "Today, we practice past continuos questions and answers:"What were you doing last week?""We were working all week"
"Are you really...no discussion. ---------(14)------------. Get motivated work with your team mates and ---------(15)------------,
ok? Cheers up. That's all what we have to do...yes""Ok...thank you...thank you...thank you very much for your time and...and have a nice day""And remember...play hard work hard but no vacation next week. Cheers"
3. Commonly Used Phrases at Workplace:
I'm lost = I don't follow what you're saying; I don't understand
I don't get it = I don't understand what you mean
Do you get it? = Do you understand what I just said?
Could you pick me up at the airport? = Could you go to the airport and take me home?
Though your difficult accent, I'm able to pick up what you're saying = I'm able to understand what you're saying even though your accent is not easy to understand.
Get lost ! = Go away !
4. Open Discussion:
5. Video for Entertainment:
In a presentation or in a meeting:
Let's get started or if we are all here, let's get started = I can begin now...
I don't get it or I don't catch it = I don't understand what you said
I don't quite follow you = I don't understand you
Could you say it again or Could you repeat it, please = Since I don't understand what you just said, I like you to repeat it.
I may miss out your point. As I understand that... = What you're saying is wrong!
Thank you for rasing your points....However, I'll check them up and let clear them later... = I need time to check up if your points are right.
If you all don't have any more questions on this, I move on to... = I'm going to switch to the next topic
3. Video's for Entertainment:
Audioscripts:
Welcome to my world!
Two...got to go...two green salads...lamp chop...beef...come on, make a dessert...chocolate cake please...
(I'm) a cook, taste some smells in my memory...now I'm in searching for new ones. So I'm leaving New York city, hope to have a few hifonies around the world. I'm going to some length to do that. I'm looking for extreme emotions and experiences. I try anything, I listen everything, I have nothing to loose.
Hanoi, Vietnam, a beautiful landscape with a lot of history. Holding strongly on tradition with acknowledging inevitable changes with time. It has a ...more than a fair share of payment of turmoil. But it always maintain its characters more on its own. Vietnam is one of my favorite places on earth. The atmostsphere, the people, the food. I came back to where Linh lives
with my friend the last time around. We became good friends, living with me his family home to celebrate TET, the Lunar New Year, the most important time of the year in Vietnam. I couldn't come at a better time.
I just arrived in Hanoi last evening. When arriving in at the hotel, fresh, woke up, arrived right to middle of the TET, the Lunar New Year. I came here to see pagodas and burning chopsticks, making offerings. Then I saw this place and thought it's just kind of place I like. How about a snail soup for breakfast, I got to have some of this. I know this snails involved and it's really good. I got big snails and it got little snails. In the middle there, we got crab meat, usual bean sprouts, some pickled chillies, a little garlic and of course, what it's all about of the day we find it
again and again a new terrific stock.Oh,yes! luring colors here, it just pops out a great day in Hanoi. Look at this color, good...great. You know I would say that's regular good...but the food's always good here. Appetite. It's so exciting to be back here. You know you meet a girl in highschool you got a smell right to true love forever. That same kind of immediate sense of recognition when I arrive in this country. I've dreamed coming back to Hanoi for a long time. It's so cool Linh'd invited me to his house for TET.
Dam, it's good to be alive in Vietnam.Through TET Vietnamese vistors to pagodas to make offerings, they pray for their families and ancestors. And Linh is no exception. This is the place for people to rearrange to sacrify before they bring in temple. The offerings include green cakes, fruits and incenses. All the offerings take place at the...when the incense is burnt out, you tend to take back
the offerings. They've been blessed and supposed to provide happiness for the new year. Offerings complete, Linh and I
meet for food. This is what we get along so well, common ground before appreciate good food.
Oh, yeah. I mean, look at this place, food is everywhere. This is rice, sticky rice, very sticky. It's not parking for
ourselves for a table of the day, grab a bite try what the next guy's got to offer. Everywhere! TET holidays when
indulging in food, it's a fever picture in Vietnam. Everyone's been fasted and now they're back for their favorite
dishes with adventures. If you enjoy foody,you come to this country, you just go absolutely insane. I used to have this
as a kid, same thing happened to them. They're floating at the top. This is traditional medicine, right? maybe
tomorrow. Yeah!What of this? this is something different, corn pancakes, not too difficult, right? throw in a pile of corn a little
flour, cooking oil to crisp and on a racket rock. Try everything, delicious. You know in the central difference between
here, similar operation in America, you won't pass this food source. Every proprietor is beaming with fire, actually.
They have big smiles on their faces, come on in, try this, this is the best, not yelling "what do you want?". You know
you want fries with onion. You don't get that here. You know that's good. You can talk to me expression as proprietor
that they're selling something really tasty and they know it. Take example, quel eggs, anything for quel eggs, just peel
them, not there ... a little bit of salt, redy bean ...uhm, tastes delicious ...people's rolling people's
coming...please. So I know Linh's family is a big taste of the land. I saw something on the market that I couldn't
resist: shrimp cakes. I think just one...one...this is pretty straight forward operation. You got shrimp, your barter
oil, cooking in oil, a quick sneak...we're ready to go... now for those of you who starve to the core, I dare you..dare
you to find more scenic here. This is fresh water shrimp...yeah...fresh water...crispy,..., shrimpy and delicious!Uhm...Hanoi beer...this is bottled one, not the bubble one...right...bubble, not bubble...good to see you again...ok,
cheers...how do you say in Vietnamese "cheers"?...ah..."Chuc mung"..."Chuc mung"...I really love this guy and I can't
wait to meet his family.As the celebration of TET continues, the speed of the bust with activities, everyone dressed up for holidays, on the way
to visit families, carrying foods, offerings, gifts. The Vietnamese looks ...very suspicious...I'm glad to wear my suit
and I don't want to look slacked in front of his family.This is my grand father and my father in law now...Ok, meet the family...I'd been nervous since I met my own in-laws.Hello...this is my father...well, nothing suits the owner like Hanoi Vodka...no rules of toxication... Vietnamese rice wine...do you know this?...it's called fresh bite...it's actually from...not pouring it in correct...but
I'm a good guest ...just in case I have any reservation that Linh briefed the benefits of the treat provided to
me...digestive system...that's the frequent problem of the show ...cheers....the best best... Ok?...yeah...
Unsurpisingly, action on fault with familiar logic...Happy New Year!...Ok, maybe I don't have Vietnamese calendar quite
figured out yet... but my calendar we celebrated about New Year already...oh, here we go...re-enforcement...so we Linh
family's festivity...Linh's sister, wife and other in-laws in the kitchen preparing the meal...alright, I know it may not
seem fair...seriously, you a bunch of you guys arguing...for TET meal? ...as most Vietnamese kitchens keen rely on simple
ingredients...but the key is how different flavors, colors and texture are put in together...presentation is
important...this pancake is called "Banh chung"....goodness rice, fatty pork, been paste wrapped in "dorn" leaves, type
of bamboo twine. It's steamed for 12 hours and a must-have TET cake in Hanoi...Ah...this is a Chung cake...we call it Banh chung....and this is very traditional one with the bean and the pork... it
looks good, doesn't it?...yeah...meaning pork... I prefer...yeah, me too...Traditional extent most of these dishes...astonishing...again every table seems naturally ending up incredible colors and
fresh...since we pull it out...we seem to have some serious damages to these...I think we try something ...some of these
first then you try this...ok, this is the color of rice during TET holidays in Vietnam...
Hi Folks,
As per feedback from all of you in the past sessions, I'd like to adjust the content and delivery of our workshop to include OPEN DISCUSIONS from now on. The objective of these open discussions is to enhance your English conversational skills, in which I encourage all of you to participate actively. So do not be afraid to speak up what you think as this will help you progress in spoken English.

: BLOG, GOD, LOCK, LOG, NOT, ODD, SHOCK, SOCK, SOFTWARE, WANT, etc.
: BORING, LAW, LORD, NORTH, OR, ORDER, ORDINARY, ORGANIZATION, etc.The video's #1 and #2 in Session 4 will guide you through how to conduct such a professional presentation.
So relax and enjoy the talk.