passives

Today we made an exercise about passives, it was really difficult maybe because the structure is a little complicated, in fact it seem easy but in my case when I tried to solve it, I can´t i had to analyse carefully each sentence in order to change the form. I read some information about passives and I think it helped me to understand better the topic, now I know passives can be used in different situations for instance:

When the agent is unknown or unimportant

• The stock as delivered to us this morning.

Systems and processes

• The figures are being finalised at the moment.

Formal reports and notices.

• The issue was raised by the company´s auditors.

Reporting unconfirmed information

• The CEO is said to be in favor of smart tags.

Tuesday´s class

Well on Tuesday, we continued with the main topic of the unit and we made some exercises in which we learned vocabulary and also we made a listening.

Firstly we made an exercise in which we had to classify some new vocabulary into two different categories ( inventory control and smart tag technology), then we solved another exercise in which we had to match the words in order to build some word partnerships, later we had to use the word partership we had formed previously in some sentences, to be honest this exercise was diffiult and very confused but we learnt new vocary such as:

• after sales-benefits


• error-prone task


• loading bay


• conveyor belt


• broadcast

After we finished those exercises we made a listening in which a woman talked about the advantages smart tags will offer retailers and manufactures; this lestening was very clear and understandable.

READING " THE BEST THING SINCE BARCODE"

well, this article is very interesting because it is about the changes in the technology that will allow replacing barcodes! It means that will be a kind of special micro chips or better known as smart tags that will contain information related to products, but in addition those smart tags will be able to prevent theft and the costs will be reduced; furthermore it is believed that the sales are going to increase, which is a very interesting point and a very important innovation for brands.

In fact, Gillete is piloting this project which pretends to be a wonderful innovation, because it invloves not only product information, reduce check outs, reduce theft but also, increase sales and tracking products, so as you can see those smart tags will change the way products are moving nowadays.

Unfortunately there is a problem that is facing this project and it is that consumers might reject smart tags becasuse they seem too invasive of their privacy, neverthless people in charge in this project is working on a privacy policy in order to avoid the disagree of consumers.

LOGISTICS

This week we started with a new topic "logistics", firstly we read the article entitled "The best thing since barcode" and it was very interesting because itwas about the new technology that is going to be applied in order to have better results in transporting products and a considerable reduction of theft.

There was a lot of new vocabulary on the text but it wasn´t difficult to understand due to the context.

After we read the article ,we answered the exercise on page 120 in which we had to choose the best option in a serie on questions related to the text, it was not difficult but a little confused.

unit 14 LOGISTICS

Well on Friday we started unit 14 that is about logisctics, and we were talking about how the barcode has changed the way in commerce and also the diferent uses of the barcode.

On the other hand we read the introduction on page 119 and we learnt new vocabulary, we also analysed the picture on the same page and we started doing an exercise on page 120 in which we had to talk with a classmate about 3 interesting questions about logistics.

I think this unit is going to be very interesting because it is related to our major and we will have previous knowledge about the topic.

STEP BY STEP

Today we played a game in which we had to put our right foot together with a classmate and we had to practice the reported speech, then our teacher said "step by step" and we had to change with another classmate and the person who was remaining alone recivied a punishment, it was funny and a good way to learn an practice, specially a topic like reported speech.

Reported speech

Under the main topic we are cheking in this unit ( communication) , today we were talking about a topic that is a little difficult for us " Indirect Speech" (also referred to as 'reported speech') that we know refers to a sentence reporting what someone has said.

There are some rules about reported speech that we checked in the book they are easy to understad but the problem in my case is that when I try to use it I get confused, but I think the solution is practice.

We made a listening about reported speech ans it was really difficult because we had to turn the senteces we listed in reported speech form.

READING " COPING WITH INFOGLUT"

This reading on page 113 is very interesting, it is about the importance of communication in companies, we know that is necessary communication in an organization in order to works effectively, the most important forms of communication in a company are e-mails, faxes, cell phones, etc, and of course technology is an important role inside the flow of communication in a company.

On the other hand the reading talks about the problems that the companies are facing lately due to information overload, this brings to managers several problems becase they have a lot of information to process and they don´t have enough time to solve that kind of situations.

I´m sure that communication in a company is very important, but as a manager or director of an organization is important to determinate priorities and solve the real problems.

Tips on witting effective e-mails ( Responding to Bill)

Bill

You know we have had a lot of job to do this days but don´t worrie here is the information you need:

Next meeting with the sales reps is going to be on Friday at 8.00 am. We hope you will be there giving us your opininion and some ideas in order to improve the efficiency in the company.

On the other hand my new assistant Miriam Anderson has surprised me with her efficiency and skills to solve the problems he are facing in our area so I'm so happy withe her job.

Finally I can recommend you some bonus for my team I think they have been doing a good job lately so they deserve a bonus for the productivity that they have reached.

I hope see you soon. Have a nice weekend.
John

April 1st

In this class we made a review about conditionals, I think conditionals sometimes are confused, but if you analyse carefully each sentece an it´s context is going to be easier to understand it, not only is important to undestarstand it, but also know how to use it.

31st March 2008

well in this class we started checking unit 13 which is about communication, first we were talking about the different ways to communicate such as cell phones, text messages, e-mail, fax etc.

Then we made an exercise on page 112 in which we had to read some extracts sent to a Human Resources manager and we had to identify which type of business correspondence they came from, it was very interesting because we had to analyse carefully each extract in order to find the best ansewer.

And finally we made the listening on page 115 about how to use e-mail effectively.