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Unit 21: Welcome to your new job
Indirect questions

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  1. 1 Nice to meet you!
  2. 2 What to wear
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  5. 5 Christmas every day
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  22. 22 Beyond the planets
  23. 23 Great expectations!
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  25. 25 Moving house
  26. 26 It must be love
  27. 27 Job hunting success... and failure
  28. 28 Speeding into the future
  29. 29 Lost arts
  30. 30 Tales of survival

Session 1

Everybody remembers the feeling of being new - either the first day at school or university, or starting a new job. In this session, we're going to watch Amith's first day at work with BBC Learning English. He's quite nervous, and some things don't go according to plan! You'll hear some useful language for politely asking for information.

Sessions in this unit

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Session 1 score

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    Activity 1
  • 0 / 6
    Activity 2
  • 0 / 0
    Activity 3
  1. Activity 1
  2. Activity 2
  3. Activity 3

Activity 2

Being polite at work

How to have a good first day at work

We've seen some pictures from Amith's first day at work, and we've found out about his problems. How is he going to solve them? You can find out in this video. While you're watching, listen out for the expressions Amith uses to ask for information and help.

Here's a question for you to answer about the video: Has Amith still got any problems at the end of the day?

Watch the video and try the activity

Show transcript Hide transcript

Voiceover
Young, up-and-coming actor Amith Rahman is today working with the Learning English team at BBC Broadcasting House. He's sure it's going to be an interesting day.

Interviewer
Amith. Hi. How are you this morning?

Amith
Yeah. Good, good. Not bad. It's a bit unusual really. I'm normally acting, but today I'm working with the BBC Learning English team. I hope they're nice.

Interviewer
So, could you tell us if you're feeling nervous at all?

Amith
Nervous? I'm always a little bit nervous when I start a new job. We'll see. We'll see.

Interviewer
OK. Good luck. Have a nice day.

Amith
Hello. I'm trying to get to the sixth floor. Do you know where the lift is?

Security guard
Yes. It's through this door and it's on your left there.

Amith
Thank you.

Amith
Hi. Er, sorry, it's my first day. Do you know if this computer is free?

Harry
Yeah. Sure. You can sit there.

Amith
Thanks. (Sits down) Er, what was your name?

Catherine
Catherine.

Amith
Could you tell me what I do to log on to the computer?

Catherine
Yeah. Just put your username and password in.

Amith
How do I log on again?

Harry
You type your name there and type your password there.

Interviewer
Amith. How's it going so far?

Amith
They got my name wrong on the computer system. Look at this email address. I mean, it's Amith with an 'i' and Rahman with an 'h'.

Interviewer
Well. Hope you get it sorted soon.

Amith
(On the phone) Well, I mean, I've been trying to sort this out for ages. Have you any idea how long it will take? How long will it take?

Interviewer
So, Amith. How are you getting on with things?

Amith
Yeah, it's been a great day. And I managed to fix my computer problem. Er, do you know where the printer is? Thanks.

Amith found the lift, logged on and sorted out his computer problems. He also found the printer, so all his problems were solved!

To do

Now let's look at how Amith asked for information and help. Here are some of the questions that he asked - but was he being polite?

Polite or not?

6 Questions

Decide whether the questions Amith asked were polite or not so polite

Congratulations you completed the Quiz
Excellent! Great job! Bad luck! You scored:
x / y

Polite or not?

6 Questions

Decide whether the questions Amith asked were polite or not so polite

Congratulations you completed the Quiz
Excellent! Great job! Bad luck! You scored:
x / y

Next

Amith asked polite questions... most of the time! We'll take a closer look at polite questions in Session 2. Now it's 6 Minute Vocabulary. This time it's all about phrases like 'look for' and 'log on': Rob and Catherine take a look at the wonderful world of multi-word verbs.

Session Grammar

View full grammar reference

Session Vocabulary

  • up-and-coming
    making good progress soon after starting something, and likely to become successful

    log on
    start using a computer, usually by typing a special name and password

    username
    a name you use to identify yourself on a computer, network or online service

View full vocabulary reference

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