Solutions

Woman Taken by Crocodile

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

Answers

1. A woman in Queensland went missing.       2.  She was living in an Aged Care facility.   3.  She went for a walk alone.    4.  Her family searched everywhere.  5.  The Police looked for her.   6.  Her clothes were found near a river.   7.  Her walking stick was found nearby.  8.  Her family think she was taken by a crocodile.

 

 

 

 

Work Words

    Employability Skills (1)

There are 8 skills which are considered essential for success in the workplace. They are often specifically required in job descriptions, and it makes good sense to understand and be able to talk about them at interview.  Then, of course, you need to demonstrate them in your working day, in order to succeed at work.

They are easy to list, but can be considered on many levels, so this post will deal only with a small part of the first one;- Communication Skills. This can be as simple as talking clearly. But how do you know you are talking clearly? You have to check that the person or people have understood you correctly. So you ask them to repeat the essential part. For example:- You say:- ” I need you to work late tomorrow and next Friday ;- can you do it?”

and they say:- “So you want me to do overtime tomorrow and the following Friday as well – two days of overtime, is that right? ”

This is a habit native speakers develop to make sure people understand instructions. It often saves misunderstandings at work.

Another strategy you can practice as a communicator is good listening. Listen to what people say and check that what you think they said is what they actually meant. For example, you get to work and an office worker says:- “The heater was left on all night”. This does not actually suggest that you left it on, but that may be what they think, so you can either:-

Deny it:- “Well, it wasn’t me, I was out yesterday afternoon.”

Leave it open:- “That’s no good. Maybe we can ask people to check it before they leave, if they are leaving after 5 pm.”

Blame it on someone else:- “I think it was John. He usually leaves last.” (Not a good idea to do this! Better to go to the person and talk privately with them first if you think they have left a task undone ).

Sometimes at work, it is not the actual work tasks that are hardest, but the dramas which evolve between people who work alongside you. A pleasant  forgiving approach can make your day (and other people’s) more enjoyable.

 

Work Words  Employability Skills (2) 

This task is suitable for vocabulary for IELTS for students at around level 6 and above, or for people learning basic workplace skills.

Read the text and complete the gaps with the following words:-

description      respond       up (2)

little           properly      demonstrate      

Employability Skills

Team work is our second employability skill. This is often listed in a job description. It is considered an essential skill for the workplace. We all realise the importance of working alongside others to create the best outcomes. Or do we? Do you ever think:-

“Just give it to me and I will do it myself. At least that way I will know it is done properly”.

Of course, we wouldn’t dare say that, it would be rude. But have you ever been put in a group to complete a task, and discovered there is one person who is lazy and does very little. However, because they are part of a hardworking group she/he also obtains the high  group mark? Well, sometimes life is unfair. And the workplace can sometimes be unfair.  So teamwork is also about best ways of reacting to the lazy person, or the person who isn’t quite up to the task. Or the person who doesn’t turn up on time, or gets the dates wrong, or doesn’t participate, or even the one who is so good they want to do the whole task by themself!…

Team work is about how we react to a variety of people scenarios. And interestingly, it is not always the person who got the highest scores at school or university who works best alongside others. Interview questions will sometimes delve into scenarios involving a difficult person, to see what strategies you might use to work along with them, and get the job done as efficiently as possible.

Career Profiles have a good article on how to answer specific teamwork questions at interview. To prepare for an interview, you really need to be specific, and positive. How would you respond to the request:- “Describe for me a time when you were required to manage a challenging team dynamic.” ?

Here is a link to a diagram showing all the employability skills if you want to know what the others are. It also lists some examples of how you might demonstrate them.  This is from a learning organisation, so it is good for learning basic information about the Australian workplace in general.

Work Words Employability Skills (3)

Problem Solving

Read the text and complete the gaps with the following words:-

about                 claim             assistant

specific              bonus             process

Another Employability Skill which you can develop is Problem Solving. Before you have an interview, think about examples of when you  have shown an ability to solve a problem. It needs to be a specific example, with a date, and details about the exact circumstances.

So, you could put a line in your CV saying something like:-

In January 2017, I saved xx Company time and money by putting extra information on our website about  how to make claims.

Or, you might say at interview:-

A specific example of when I solved a problem which led to increased productivity happened in  January 2017. I was working for xx Company as an admin assistant. I was spending about 5 hours a week talking on the phone:- explaining how customers could claim a refund. I got very fed up explaining the process, so I suggested to my boss that we put a section on the website, explaining how people could claim a refund. We added a section that allowed people to make simple claims online, and only ring up if they had a complicated claim. We calculated that this has reduced my telephone talk to customers by about 5%. My boss was so pleased she gave me a bonus.

If you can link two employability skills together- even better! So, an example of you working with others to solve a problem could help you get an interview. 

 

Woman Taken by Crocodile