English

Information Technology
Vocational English

Course B o o k
 • I n t r o d u c e y o u r s e l f and others

Working in the • ask a n d a n s w e r p e r s o n a l q u e s t i o n s

IT industry
• talk a b o u t s c h e d u l e d tasks
• use the a l p h a b e t a n d s p e l l out w o r d s

Meeting people
Speaking H o w d o y o u greet p e o p l e i n y o u r c o u n t r y ? W h a t d o y o u say w h e n y o u greet
p e o p l e i n English?

Reading 2 C o m p l e t e these dialogues w i t h t h e w o r d s i n t h e b o x .

all is meet name's Nice this

too you Welcome What's

1 Natasha: H i , m y (1) Natasha.

Khalid: Pleased t o (2) _ you. I'm Khalid Ali.
Natasha: Pleased t o meet y o u , ( 3 ) .

2 Philip: G o o d m o r n i n g . (4) . y o u r name?

Ahmed: I ' m A h m e d . A n d (5) _ are?
f'hilip: M y name's P h i l i p . (6) . t o meet y o u .

Tim: Hi everybody, (7). . is I n g r i d .

All: Hi!
Tim: I n g r i d , t h i s (8) . A h m e d , L i n d a , M o h a m m e d a n d Mansoor.
Ingrid: Nice m e e t i n g y o u (9)
Linda: Likewise.
Tim: (10) t o t h e t e a m a n d g o o d luck.

Listening 3 L i s t e n a n d c h e c k y o u r answers.

4 L i s t e n again a n d repeat t h e dialogues.

Speaking 5 W o r k i n s m a l l g r o u p s . Practise i n t r o d u c t i o n s . F o l l o w t h e i n s t r u c t i o n s below.

1 Introduce yourself.
2 I n t r o d u c e a new t e a m member.

1 Working in the IT industry

 Listening 6 L i s t e n t o t h i s d i a l o g u e a n d c h o o s e t h e c o r r e c t answers.
K a t h r y n : K a r i m , w h a t d o y o u do?
Karim: I'm a (1) website developer/network administrator. Who do you
w o r k for?
K a t h r y n : I w o r k for CISCO. I ' m a (2) system analyst/website analyst there.
W h e r e are y o u f r o m , K a r i m ?
Karim: I'm f r o m K u w a i t . I w o r k for M i c r o s o f t t h e r e . A n d w h e r e are y o u
from, Kathryn?
Kathryn I ' m f r o m t h e (3) UK/US b u t n o w I live i n Qatar. Do y o u k n o w w h e r e
Glenda's from?
Karim: She's f r o m t h e US.
Kathryn A n d w h a t ' s h e r job?
Karim: She w o r k s for (4) IBM/Dell. Her j o b is t o set u p n e w s y s t e m s .

Language

Present tense of be

We use be to say who somebody is I'm Sam. 1 am Sam.

or what something is. You're/We're/They're from the UK. You/ We/They are from the UK.
He's/She's a website developer. He/She is a website developer.
It's in the US. It is in the US.
We use be to ask personal Where are you from?
questions. What's his name/job? What is his name/job?

7 BcXH L i s t e n a n d repeat these w o r d s .

I'm, You're, She's, He's, It's, We're, They're/Their

Reading 8 C o m p l e t e t h i s e m a i l w i t h am, is, are, their, our o r my.

Dear Colleagues
My name (1) Jessica Martin and I (2). the IT Support team
leader. The IT Support team members (3) Mahmoud Al Banawy,
Eli Ibrahim and Guido Pitteri. Mahmoud (4) our network administrator.
Eli and Guido (5) system maintenance officers. (6) job is to
keep our systems going. (7) job is to support you.
(8) contact number (9) 675 567 567.
Best regards
Jessica Martin

Writing 9 W r i t e a r e p l y t o t h e e m a i l i n 8. I n t r o d u c e y o u r s e l f a n d t h r e e p e o p l e i n
your group.

Speaking 1 0 W o r k i n pairs. A s k a n d a n s w e r q u e s t i o n s a b o u t y o u r j o b s , c o m p a n i e s
and nationalities.
Example:
A: Where are you from?
B: I'm from ....

Working in the IT industry 1 5

 Jobs i n IT
Speaking 1 W o r k i n s m a l l g r o u p s . List t h e IT j o b s y o u know.

Reading 2 Read t h i s t e a m i n t r o d u c t i o n . C o m p l e t e t h e d e s c r i p t i o n s 1-4 w i t h t h e IT j o b s i n

the box.

Hi! I'm Sylvia. I c r e a t e u s e r n a m e s and

p a s s w o r d s and I s e t firewalls.
This is Isabelle. Her j o b is t o plan and design t h e
network. A n d t h i s is Andrew. His j o b is t o make sure
all o f t h e c o m p u t e r s work properly. Finally, M a r k and
Latika. Their area is d a t a processing. We all work f o r
t h e university. Our offices are in building &.

database analyst IT support officer network administrator

network architect

1 Sylvia is a
2 Isabelle is a
3 A n d r e w is a n
4 M a r k a n d L a t i k a are

Language

Present simple
What do you do? I'm a programmer.

We use the present simple What does she do? She's a developer.
to talk about routines and Where does she work? She works for IBM in Poland. She doesn't work in
things that are permanent or Estonia.
happen all the time. Where do they work? They work for Siemens in Egypt.
Do you work in IT? Yes, 1 do/No 1 don't.

Listening 3 StfjEH L i s t e n t o t h r e e p e o p l e t a l k i n g a b o u t t h e i r jobs. C o m p l e t e these j o b

descriptions.
1 Karl
Job: software
R e s p o n s i b i l i t i e s : he designs a n d c o m p u t e r games.
2 Heba
Job: analyst
Responsibilities: h e . . computer problems.
3 Wojtek
Job: database
R e s p o n s i b i l i t i e s : he analyses a n d . . e l e c t r o n i c data.

6 1 Working in the IT industry

 1

Speaking 4 W o r k i n p a i r s . A s k a n d answer q u e s t i o n s a b o u t K a r l , Heba a n d Wojtek.

Example:
A: What does Karl do?
B.He's ....

Listening L i s t e n a n d c o m p l e t e t h i s dialogue.
Ahmed: W h e r e (1) y o u w o r k , Betty?
Betty: 1 w o r k for Dell i n D u b a i . W h a t (2) . you?
Ahmed: I (3) for HP i n Budapest. W h a t d o y o u (4) , Milo?
Milo: I'm a (5) . developer. I w o r k ( 6 ) . . Microsoft i n Prague.
Betty: Milo, do you (7). Frida?
Milo: Yes, I d o . W h a t d o y o u (8) t o know?
Betty: W h e r e (9) she w o r k ?
Milo: She w o r k s w i t h ( 1 0 ) . . i n Prague. She designs w e b s i t e s for
(11)
Ahmed: I see. Right, let's go. T h e w o r k s h o p s t a r t s i n five m i n u t e s .

6 L i s t e n a n d repeat these q u e s t i o n s .
1 Where do y o u work?
2 W h a t a b o u t you?
3 W h a t d o y o u do?
4 W h a t d o y o u w a n t t o know?
5 W h e r e does she w o r k ?

Writing 7 W h a t is y o u r d r e a m job? W r i t e a j o b d e s c r i p t i o n for t h e j o b of y o u r c h o i c e .

Job:

Company to work for:

Responsibilities:

Speaking 8 Tell t h e rest of t h e g r o u p a b o u t y o u r d r e a m j o b . Use y o u r notes t o h e l p y o u .

Example: My dream job is ... . I design/solve/analyse ....

Working in the IT industry

 Schedules
Listening L i s t e n t o t w o p e o p l e at a n IT conference. C o m p l e t e t h i s d i a l o g u e .

Penelope: Hi, D o n . (1) are you.'

Don: I'm (2) t h a n k s , Penelope. A n d you?
Penelope: I'm OK. Bit t i r e d f r o m t h e flight.
Don: Right.
Penelope: (3) w o r k s h o p (4) y o u w a n t t o a t t e n d today, Don?
Don: I w a n t t o go t o t h e CISCO n e t w o r k s e c u r i t y w o r k s h o p .
Penelope: Sounds i n t e r e s t i n g . W h a t t i m e does i t start?
Don: It (5) at 9.15.
Penelope: A n d (6) does i t finish?
Don: It (7) at 4.00 i n t h e a f t e r n o o n .
Penelope: Well, I (8) to attend the Microsoft Windows Applications
w o r k s h o p . It (9) at 8.30 a m a n d (10) at 6.00 p m .
But t h e y have t w o breaks, at 10.30 a n d 12.45.
Don: That's good.
Penelope: H o p e y o u e n j o y y o u r session.
Don: You t o o . See y o u a r o u n d .

Language

Schedules
We use ar with clock times.

It starts at 9.15. (nine fifteen!quarter past nine)

It begins at 8.30. (eight thirty/half past eight)
What time does it start/begin/finish/end? It finishes at 4.00. (four o'clock)
It ends at 5.05. (five oh five/five past five)

When do you have a break? We have a break at 12.45. (twelve forty-five/a quarter to one)

L i s t e n a n d repeat t h e s e t i m e s .
1 7.05 5 4.35
2 6.45 6 2.15
3 8 o'clock 7 12 o ' c l o c k
4 10.45 8 9.50
 L i s t e n a n d repeat t h e s e sentences.
1 It finishes at 5.00.
2 It ends at 8.00.
3 It s t a r t s at 6.00.

Speaking 4 W o r k i n pairs. A s k a n d answer q u e s t i o n s a b o u t y o u r d a i l y s c h e d u l e a n d breaks.

Make notes.
Example:
A: What time/When do you start work?
B: I start at 8.00. What about you?
A: I begin at... .

5 Tell a n o t h e r pair a b o u t y o u r p a r t n e r ' s schedule.

Example:... starts work at 8.00 and finishes at 4.00. She has a break at 12.00.

Reading 6 C o m p l e t e these sentences w i t h t h e w o r d s i n t h e box.

at at in for from

I w o r k i n an office (1) D u b a i b u t I'm (2) Canada. I w o r k

(3) SAP t h e r e . I s t a r t w o r k (4) . 8.15, have l u n c h i n a cafe
(5) 1.30 a n d finish a b o u t 5.00.

/ II
9
Writing 7 W r i t e t h r e e sentences a b o u t y o u r s e l f a n d y o u r d a i l y schedule.

Working in the IT industry 1 9

 Spelling
Speaking W o r k i n s m a l l g r o u p s . List t h e IT a c r o n y m s y o u know.

HTML (HyperText Markup Language) FTP (File Transfer Protocol) a standard

HTML is a mark-up language used to network protocol used to copy a file from one
describe the structure of a web page. host to another.

WLAN (Wireless Local Area Network) A type

of local-area network that uses
high-frequency radio wires to communicate
between nodes.

Listening 2 L i s t e n a n d c o m p l e t e t h i s dialogue.
B o b , c a n y o u (1) me, please?
Sure.
I d o n ' t u n d e r s t a n d t h i s a c r o n y m . W h a t does i t (2) for?
Let m e see. 'W3'. I ' m n o t sure. M a y b e WWW, t h e W o r l d W i d e Web.
OK. W h a t does P2P s t a n d for?
(3) s t a n d s for person-to-person.
OK. W h a t does IP (4) ?
It means I n t e r n e t P r o t o c o l .
H o w d o y o u (5) 'Protocol'?
p - r - o - t - o - c - o - 1 .
Thanks.
You're w e l c o m e .

L i s t e n t o t h e l e t t e r s a n d repeat t h e m .
a hj k
Z /zed/ in British bcdegptvz
English and /zee/ in f Imnsxz
American English.
i y
o
qu w
r
Speaking 4 W o r k i n pairs. Make a list of a c r o n y m s .
Ask a n d answer q u e s t i o n s .
Example:
A: What does HTML
stand for/mean?
B: It stands for/means ....

10 1 Working in the IT industry