A business interview

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

Task 2

Discussion

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Average: 4.5 (182 votes)

Submitted by MartaS82 on Tue, 29/03/2022 - 13:58

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My favorite apps to learn english are lyrics training, Anki and all the apps where I can listen to podcasts like Spotify or iVoox. I think the funniest app is Lyrics Training because you listen to music while learning new vocabulary and expressions. I find Anki useful for learning and remembering vocabulary. Finally, I think listening to podcasts you can learn about different topics while practicing your listening.

Submitted by Rocio Ambriz on Mon, 21/03/2022 - 18:51

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In my experience, I prefer the easyer apps that can help me improve my skills, and I prefer to use it in my phone more than my desktop

Submitted by jmajo on Fri, 18/03/2022 - 14:25

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I might have not a favourite app for learning because I prefer the websites or webservices to help me learn, but I used to have installed the LearnEnglish Grammar (British Council) app to help me practise grammar and improve my vocabulary though, I used it mostly when I to traveled by bus to work, nowadays I ride my bicycle to get to work and I don't use it very often.

Thanks for the episode.
Great site!

Submitted by delgado1984 on Tue, 15/03/2022 - 21:33

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In my experience, I did find the Anki app very useful. Anki is a desktop app with which you can create a set of flashcards from zero. The algorithm which regulates how many times you need to study and review your sets is very well done. Then, in addition to this, sometimes I use Italki on which I can practise my speaking skills. On it, you have plenty of teachers who can help you to improve drastically your fluency and make you feel comfortable speaking. That's how I set my learning journey up.

Submitted by ammar.aljabobi on Tue, 01/03/2022 - 22:03

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Actually, the best app for learning languages is Duolingo. It is very useful to learn any language you want. In this app, you can learn more than 20 languages and the way to learn is very effective and allows you to learn gradually. Learning through this application is fun and there is no boredom as if you are playing your favorite game.

Submitted by ninaals on Tue, 22/02/2022 - 17:21

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One of my favourite apps is quizlet, as it let's me create my own flashcards and search for other already made up sets of cards.I also enjoy doing the activities that cambridge provides, for instance the image quizzes, they help me learn while having fun trying to guess.

Submitted by younes01 on Sat, 05/02/2022 - 06:47

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my favorite app or website actually is the British council because it offers a lot of topics to practice with to get dozens of vocabulary in multiple subjects

Submitted by Ssm on Mon, 17/01/2022 - 20:10

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My favourite app is Quizlet. It really helps me to expand my vocabulary.

Submitted by misty on Sun, 09/01/2022 - 23:53

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I am from a non English country, so listening to native English speaker is quite hard for me to comprehend. For an instance, talking to my colleague. I have to ask them to repeat it few times for me to understand, if not I will just pretend that I get what they mean by, "nodding." The app that I have been listening to improve my English are Ted talks, IELTS app, and word of the day.

Submitted by Windy on Sun, 19/12/2021 - 10:00

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I have many favorite apps for learning. As I am from non English speaking country, I always try to improve my English. I have many apps on my phone like Cake, BBC app, VOA English and British council podcast….. Among them, what I like most is BBC learning English app because in that app, you can listen British accent, learn vocals and learn latest news.