News

Breaking news! - Why it's important!

The news is something that anyone who is studying Business English should really pay attention to.

Watch it, read it, or listen to it. It doesn't matter how you digest the news, and, in truth, you would do best to mix all three methods to improve all your skills, but what it is really great for are 2 key things - improving your vocabulary for talking about things that are current and relevant, and providing you will a great resource for things to talk about that really affect us all, from ways of doing business today right down to everyone's day to day lives.

Get it right... the 'news'...

The word 'news' is treated as a singular, uncountable noun in English? So we say the news is good or bad, never 'are' or 'were.'

Since it's uncountable, we don't say 'a news.' Instead we say 'some news', 'a lot of news', 'a news item' or 'a news story.'

Also note that 'news' is not a form of the adjective 'new'!

make it regular!

There are many different ways to 'consume' the news:

newspapers (daily) / magazines (monthly) journals (possibly every quarter or even annually)

Most are also available online these days. Plus... You can watch Sky News for FREE on YouTube. Check out the link in the image!

All hail the British Council!

Practice your reading and find out about business topics and issues at the same time by using the British Council's Business Magazine.

You can read magazine articles for intermediate (CEFR level B1) or upper intermediate (CEFR level B2) levels, with useful language for a wide range of business topics from different perspectives, as well as tips and techniques for dealing with business issues. Plus, each article has interactive exercises to help you understand and use the language. Click the image to go to the page.

Understanding the news

With the internet it's now really easy to find a wide range of news, with many websites that can specifically help English learners. These are our 2 favourites:

Voice of America has many ESL news reports in simpler English, with explanations of any difficult terms.
Breaking News English also has short news stories in different levels. You can read and / or listen to them.

Our thoughts...

Listen to the podcast where we talk about our views on the news, plus what we find interesting and what's 'hot off the press' in the news right now.

Bizpod March 21.pdf

NOW TRY THESE...

What’s a security breach, cyber heist, or identity theft? Learn the modern vocabulary of crime with this essential English News lesson. Find out how cyber criminals affected 70 million customers, what problems they caused, and how to protect yourself. Understanding this English vocabulary and these dangers can help keep you safer in today’s world.

Learn vocabulary and phrases so that you can talk about politics and understand the news! Benjamin will teach you new words and expressions to talk about government, elections, and policy. Is the candidate for president in your country promising to cut the crime rate? Is your president proud of the economic boom in your country?

It’s a great idea to read newspapers to improve your English. But it’s also fun to learn expressions that are mostly used in celebrity gossip magazines. These are called tabloids. Did you know that they sometimes invent new words that become part of regular speech? Stay in the know about celeb culture and learn new words at the same time. You don’t want to miss this funny lesson!

Understand and learn to speak about COVID-19 in English. In this important session, Rebecca will explain the most common vocabulary related to the coronavirus. You’ll learn: nouns such as symptoms, outbreak, pandemic, transmission, and social distancing; verbs and expressions such as to ban gatherings, to protect the vulnerable, to restrict travel, and to flatten the curve; adjectives such as contagious, symptomatic, mandatory, and unprecedented.

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