Reported Speech – Lead in
A. Context Speaking
- What reasons lead to firing employees?
- What are emotions during job retirement?
- What support is given to retirees?
- How do employers handle retirement planning?
- What alternatives exist before job firing?
- What steps reduce negative firing impact?
B. Context Listening
You are going to hear an interview with Christopher West, the Managing Director of a company called Angleside. Before you listen, look at the newspaper headlines below. Which of the topics in the box do you think Mr West mentions?
- Voluntary redundancy
- Early retirement
- Low profits
- Good business sense
- A promising future
- Poor relationship between management and workers
Listen to the first part of the recording and check if you were right.
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Listen to the first part again and fill in the gaps.
Mr West: However, we 1 _______ voluntary redundancy and early retirement and 2 _______ to cover most of the jobs this way. Interviewer: And what has led to this situation? 3 _______ a result of Angleside’s poor performance over the past five years? Mr West: No, the company 4 _______ badly. This 5 _______ nothing to do with the figures. It just makes good business sense. Interviewer: So 6 _______ that your figures 7 _______ the basis for this decision to cut jobs? Mr West: Absolutely. We 8 _______ the way we operate our business two years ago. |
Here is the journalist’s radio report. Fill in the gaps with the verbs in the box. Then listen to the second part of the recording to check your answers.
At the local company Angleside, up to 150 employees will lose their jobs. Christopher West, the Managing Director, 1 _______ they would be offering voluntary redundancy and early retirement and 2 _______ to cover the job losses in this way. I 3 _______ Mr West if these cuts were a result of Angleside’s poor performance over the past five years but he 4 _______ that the company had not been doing well and 5 _______ that the job losses have nothing to do with the figures. West 6 _______ that they decided to make changes two years ago. He 7 _______ me that the company would continue to operate in the future and 8 _______ to do his best for the employees.
What are the main differences between the texts in Exercise 3 and Exercise 4?