Do the preparation task first. Then listen to the audio and do the exercises.
Preparation
Transcript
Hi, everyone. I know you're all busy so I'll keep this briefing quick. I have some important information about a change in the management team. As you already know, our head of department, James Watson, is leaving his position at the end of this week. His replacement is starting at the end of the next month. In the meantime, we'll continue with our projects as usual.
I have two more quick points. Firstly, there will be some improvements made to the staff car park next month for a few weeks. It will be closed during that time.
Don't worry, we've found a solution. We can use the local church car park until our own one is ready. If you arrive before 8.30 a.m., please use our small car park on Brown Street, and if you arrive after that, you should go directly to the church car park. It's only a five-minute walk away. But they need it in the evenings, so you have to leave before 6 p.m. Sorry about that – I know how much you all love working late!
The other thing I wanted to tell you about is that the canteen has now introduced a cashless payment system. So, you can't use cash for payments any more. You can pay directly with your smartphone or you can pay using your company ID card. The total amount put on your company ID card comes off your salary at the end of each month.
OK. That's it? Are there any questions?
Hello Nguyen Hien,
In this sentence, using is a present participle. It describes how the action can be done. It's quite a common construction. For example:
You can read more about these constructions on this page:
https://learnenglish.britishcouncil.org/grammar/intermediate-to-upper-intermediate/participle-clauses
Peter
The LearnEnglish Team
Hello Olimpia,
Can you specify what kind of course you're interested in, please? There are several options, some free and some paid, some based on self-access and some on working with a teacher. You can read about them here:
https://learnenglish.britishcouncil.org/online-courses
You can also find a course in your own country, whether face-to-face, online or blended:
https://learnenglish.britishcouncil.org/courses/language-schools
On our site we have a lot of listening materials at many levels, so there is a lot you can listen to in order to improve your pronunciation and listening skills. The first thing to do is to identify your level so that you can choose appropriate material. If you do not already know your level then our online test is a good place to start:
https://learnenglish.britishcouncil.org/online-english-level-test
Peter
The LearnEnglish Team