A business interview

Listen to the business interview to practise and improve your listening skills.

Do the preparation task first. Then listen to the audio and do the exercises.

Preparation

Transcript

Presenter: Welcome to today's show. We're very happy to have Anna Oliveira as our guest today. Anna is the creator and founder of HomeworX – spelled with an 'x' we should note – an app which helps teenagers with their homework. Thanks for coming in, Anna.

Anna: Thanks for having me.

Presenter: So, tell us about your app. How does it work?

Anna: Well, teenagers and their parents have numerous challenges when it comes to homework these days. In many families both parents work and don't have much available time to help their kids with their homework. And even if they do have time to help, they may not be able to offer support with the content. What I mean is, they may not know, or at least remember, enough in any given subject to support.

Presenter: You mean they might not be able to remember complex maths or might have never studied certain subjects, such as biology or economics, themselves?

Anna: Exactly. So they might want to support their children with their homework, but have neither the time nor the knowledge to do so.

Presenter: I see. So the app helps solve this problem?

Anna: Yes, and more. The next issue is that tutors can be expensive, and there may be long waiting lists for specialist tutors in the town or region you live in. Our HomeworX app brings students and tutors together online. Students can search a database of pre-approved tutors and sign up for live online support. They don't need to be in the same town or city.

Presenter: That sounds really great.

Anna: It is. And this approach also enables us to offer the tutoring services at lower prices because there's no travelling time involved for the tutor to get to the student's home. And tutors who live in remote areas are happy to get access to more students, and be able to work from home, even at lower rates.

Presenter: This all sounds great. So, how did you come up with the idea?

Anna: Well, as you might guess, I was one of those parents I described earlier. I really wanted to help my son with his homework, but I was either too busy with work or I didn't actually know anything about the subjects he was having difficulty with. Also, we live in an area where there aren't many tutors and the ones that are there are either very expensive or have long waiting lists.

Presenter: Yes. I can understand your predicament. Well, it sounds like a very useful app that is clearly meeting a need. And its popularity obviously speaks for itself.

Anna: Thank you.

Presenter: So, do you have plans for the future?

Anna: We've just secured some funding and hope to expand the range of services we offer using the app.

Presenter: We wish you the best of luck. Thanks again for coming in. That was Anna Oliveira, founder of the tutoring app HomeworX (with an 'x', don't forget!), which is available for both Apple and Android devices. Join us again next week for another business interview. Have a great week, everyone.

Task 1

Exercise

Task 2

Exercise

Discussion

What's your favourite app for learning and why?

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Language level

B2 Upper intermediate

My favourite app is IELTS speaking vocubularies, I prefer the app because it helps me to learn English by speaking, reading, listening and writing. Since I started using the app I'v improved my English in all mentioned categories. Everyday I get at least one or more new vocubularies. Self speaking practise has boosted my confidence in speaking. Listening TED talk has helped me to strengthern my ability of listening english words and to be familiar with engnglish pronunciations. I believe in more days to come I'll master the language effectively.

My favorite app for learning is the British Council’s IELTS Prep App, because it has range of resources, providing comprehensive knowledge and abundance learning materials for all the 4 skills learning needs, and practicing such as listening, reading, writing and speaking. It is very easy to download from Google play store or app store to be used with your mobile phones, tablets or iPad. I believe this is a very good app for students who are both working and studying at the same time. So they will have more flexible learning options and also be able to overcome the time limit difficulties. They can even learn on the go, such as on the bus or train with utmost convenience.

I usually used babbel to learn english or other apps to listen english lesson podcast, e.g audible.

I prefer learning through British Council because it focuses on the all sides of learning and specifically listening and reading.

Very hepful innovation for students' homework

There are so many apps available on the phone but my favorite app is "IELTS Prep". I am using it on my Andriod phone from some time. It's not only easy to use but also good to practice IETLS exams, as online exams are available on it. Other than that, I am using it for listening and grammar mistakes.

Dear Barno, That's very great and me too, I'm using the same App and found very helpful :) Wish you all the best. Yours Truly

I think that that’s good to use app for students or anyone very convenient

My favorite apps for learning are "Tiny cards", "Pocket" and "Tasks". They aren't exactly learning apps but they help me greatly in organizing my things for studying. I recommend you all to use them and you will thank me later.