The Business Spotlight Podcast

The podcast for 27 October 2015 focuses on idioms. Do an exercise and find out how you can spice up your language by using idioms.

Imagine that you are standing in front of the counter in the baggage hall in an airport. Your luggage has not arrived and you want to report it to the representative of your airline. In our exercise, you can check your understanding of what the airline representative is saying.

The podcast for 6 October 2015 looks at the vocabulary of telecommunications. Do an exercise and be careful to avoid false friends. Which object do you take with you wherever you go and use to talk with someone?

Being able to ask questions is an important skill in many areas of business life. Listen to the podcast and practise how to ask questions in job interviews.

The podcast for 8 September 2015 is a short news item about food in Singapore. As you listen, try to answer this question: why is food becoming more expensive there?

The podcast for 4 August 2015 looks at the vocabulary of law. Let's do an exercise and be careful to avoid false friends.

The podcast for 21 July 2015 focuses on reporting events. Often in business situations, we need to report events that have happened. But do you know the right verb forms to use? Find out with an exercise.

The podcast for 7 July 2015 is a short news item about a Canadian doctor. Listen and try to answer this question: which country does Dr Liu refer to when she is discussing the Ebola crisis?

The podcast for 23 June 2015 looks at the importance of storytelling in presentations. Many business presentations are very boring because they fail to engage the audience. One way to engage people is by using the techniques of storytelling. Listen to communication skills expert Ken Taylor and try our exercise.

The podcast for 9 June 2015 looks at the vocabulary of music. In this week's exercise, we focus on music idioms for business situations.

The podcast for 26 May 2015 is a news item about the beginnings of Airbnb. As you listen, try to answer the question: How many people found rooms through Airbnb last year?

The podcast for 12 May 2015 looks at teamwork. Most of us have worked in teams at one time or another. Sometimes people work together well to reach common goals. But just as often, it seems, the best of plans do not materialize. Here's communication skills expert, Ken Taylor, with advice and language tips for working effectively in teams.

The podcast for 28 April 2015 looks at the pronunciation of geographical and place names in the UK and US. Test yourself with an exercise.

The podcast for the 14 April 2015 looks at the vocabulary of politics. Do an exercise and be careful to avoid false friends.

The podcast for 31 March 2015 comes from our Grammar section. Often in business situations, we need to talk about plan, intentions and schedules. One way of doing this is to use the structure "be due to". You can practise this with the following sentences.