EXTRA READING

English at Work
What do these people have in common?
A banker in Paris, a waiter in a five-star hotel in Moscow, and a
worker in the Hitachi electronics factory in Tokyo. They all
speak English at work. Today, English is the common language
used in multinational companies in countries from France to
Singapore.

Jean-Paul is working for a financial company in Paris. Every day he has meetings with other managers in
English. He also reads documents and writes emails in English, and speaks on the phone in English to
offices in other countries.
“We're a multinational company with offices all over the world,” says Jean-Paul. “We also have some
people in our Paris office who aren’t French. We need a common language to communicate, and that
language is English. I think it is a good idea, but some people don’t like speaking English in a meeting when
nearly everybody is French.”
Lina is from Costa Rica and works in Moscow. She is learning English to be able to talk with the
customers in the hotel’s restaurant. She gets good tips from foreigners.
Roberto is factory worker from Brazil. He is working in an electronics factory in Tokyo. All of the
manuals for his work are in English.

Read the text and complete the grid:

Name Occupation Origin Living in Place of work Reason to know English

Jean-Paul

Lina

Roberto

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DESCRIPTIVE ADJECTIVES

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 Unit 1 Vocabulary: People From Around the World

_______________ Actor / Actress _______________ Intelligent

_______________ Afghanistan / Afghani _______________ Interesting
_______________ Angry _______________ Ireland / Irish
_______________ Athlete _______________ Janitor
_______________ Argentina / Argentinian _______________ Japan / Japanese
_______________ Australia / Australian _______________ Journalist
_______________ Beautiful _______________ Jordan /Jordanian
_______________ Boring _______________ Kind
_______________ Brazil / Brazilian _______________ Lawyer
_______________ Bright _______________ Lazy
_______________ Busy _______________ Lucky
_______________ Canada / Canadian _______________ Manager
_______________ Cheap _______________ Mexico / Mexican
_______________ Chef _______________ Nationality
_______________ Chile / Chilean _______________ Nervous
_______________ China / Chinese _______________ Nice
_______________ Clean _______________ Octopus
_______________ Cold _______________ Office assistant
_______________ Dancer _______________ Peru / Peruvian
_______________ Dangerous _______________ Photographer
_______________ Delicious _______________ Pilot
_______________ Dentist _______________ Police Officer
_______________ Difficult _______________ Politician
_______________ Dirty _______________ Poor
_______________ Divers _______________ Rich
_______________ Doctor _______________ Ripe
_______________ Dry _______________ Salary
_______________ Easy _______________ Seafood
_______________ Engineer _______________ Shellfish
_______________ Exciting _______________ Teacher
_______________ Expensive _______________ Thailand / Thai
_______________ Famous _______________ Safe
_______________ Farmer _______________ Salesperson
_______________ Favorite _______________ Sea
_______________ Flight attendant _______________ Security Guard
_______________ France / French _______________ Serious
_______________ Free _______________ Sour
_______________ Fresh _______________ Strong
_______________ German / Germany _______________ Sweet
_______________ Government employee _______________ Switzerland / Swiss
_______________ Happy / Unhappy _______________ Ugly
_______________ Healthy _______________ Waiter
_______________ Honest _______________ Weak
_______________ Hot _______________ Wet
_______________ Hungry _______________ Wonderful

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