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. 

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Discussion

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Average: 4.5 (292 votes)
Profile picture for user zino

Submitted by zino on Sat, 15/02/2025 - 14:08

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  • That's a good question! 🤔 I have daily activities, and I need to learn many skills, so I use different learning materials, including apps. My favorite app for learning is ChatGPT because, with this app, I can learn languages, clinical psychology, mental health, writing books, translation, and much more.

Submitted by Glittery on Fri, 07/02/2025 - 21:02

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I found this website six months ago. This is one of the most useful and active platforms for learning English. I’m really glad that I found this website because it has all levels—beginner, intermediate, and advanced. You can practice listening, speaking, reading, and writing. It gives you everything you need to learn English.

Submitted by Baya 57 on Tue, 04/02/2025 - 12:33

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Version corrected and reformulated by ChatGPT

My Favorite Resources for Learning English

First of all, I will begin with Luke’s English Podcast, which I have been using mostly to improve my listening skills for a few years. His episodes cover a variety of themes, such as storytelling (both real and fictional), interviews with English teachers or people closely connected to English teaching, and casual rambling. Besides useful vocabulary explanations, he also provides insights into grammar and pronunciation. However, the main focus is on listening and comprehension.

Second, I use British Council/Learn English, which I subscribed to a few months ago. I find this website absolutely amazing because it includes everything an English learner needs to enhance their knowledge and skills in all aspects of the language—listening, reading, writing, and speaking. Since I have loved reading since childhood, reading in English was a natural step for me, despite the challenges of understanding vocabulary, idiomatic expressions, and phrasal verbs, which often require me to use dictionaries and ChatGPT. Additionally, it is often said that those who read also write. This has been true for me since I joined British Council/Learn English, as the discussion topics are diverse and relevant, allowing everyone to find something interesting to talk about.

Third, besides these resources, I also use other means to learn English. They combine enjoyment with usefulness—short and engaging videos that last less than five minutes but provide valuable content.

For anyone looking to learn English—or any other subject—there are plenty of resources available on the internet. The key is to choose the best ones based on expert recommendations and the experiences of others.

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Submitted by IsaAra on Thu, 23/01/2025 - 18:35

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Hi,

One of my favorite learning applications is Coursera because I can find different types of courses from English to analytical courses related to my career. 

Submitted by Muhammad992000 on Sun, 12/01/2025 - 11:50

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I  start using this website today and this listening activity is my first and i find it very interesting.

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Submitted by Maria80 on Wed, 08/01/2025 - 11:16

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Hi there,

My favourite app is Google translation, because it is a tool that helping me a lot for improve my English.

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Submitted by ahmed meniem on Tue, 07/01/2025 - 17:46

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I really benefited of this site and i think it is the best , i always listing and watching everyday . actually my English improving because of you. so i’d to thank all of you

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Submitted by Nan Aye Myint Thu on Tue, 31/12/2024 - 06:15

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I love using LearnEnglish and the Cambridge Dictionary. They speak for themselves.

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