NBE Intermediate Units Highlights

Unit 1 Seeking A Job

Situations: writing CV, recording VCV, job interview
Partner: Alena Vladimirskaya, the main headhunter of the Runet
Functions: giving opinion, expressing hope, expressing doubt, presenting yourself, asking questions politely, showing your interest and enthusiasm, responding to feedback
Grammar: must, should and have to, to be going to and will+Infinitive for expressing future.

In this unit the student will analyze trends in the job market, train to talk about your work and skills and present them in CV, video CV, cover letter and interview. Alena Vladimirskaya, a career development specialist, will share her experience. Alena has been working in the field of HR for 17 years. She is called "The main hunter of the Runet."

Unit 2 Building A Partnership

Situations: participating in a meeting, writing minutes and agendas, presenting a company
Business focus: suppliers, franchisees, China, HoReCa, fast food
Partner: DoDo Pizza
Functions: beginning the meeting, changing the subject, interrupting, summarizing, evaluating options
Grammar: definite/indefinite articles, comparative adjectives and adverbs

In this unit the student will practice choosing suppliers and presenting the company to a partner and will participate in meetings and practice interrupting and reacting to interruptions and will write meetings minutes and agendas. In lessons 3 and 4, the student will learn about DoDo Pizza experience on building relationships with franchisees and suppliers and will solve real-life business situations on finding suppliers in China.

Unit 3 International partner

Situations: negotiation with international partners, resolving a conflict situation
Partner: HYPERVSN, the award-winning technology company based in London
Functions: offering a compromise, softening refusals and requests, making/

changing appointments, making/accepting/rejecting offers, expressing expectations
Grammar: modal verbs, Infinitive and Gerund
In this unit the student will practice writing emails to and negotiating with potential clients from different countries. Along the way, the student will learn cultural specifics of doing business in these countries. Moreover, the student will deal with a real life business case of the London-based company HYPERVSN and will learn how to resolve a conflict situation.

Unit 4 Product Positioning

Situations: conducting user experience interview, describing graphs, writing a report, preparing presentation plan and slides, presenting a product idea, convincing stakeholders
Business focus: marketing, product management, analytics, research
Partner: Nielsen, global data analytics company
Functions: introducing a graph, describing changes, giving an overview, welcoming the audience, outlining a presentation, expressing arguments, welcoming the audience
Grammar: Passive Voice, Past Simple and Present Perfect

In this unit the student are going to deal with launching a new product and will conduct a user experience interview, do market research and present the product concept to stakeholders. Along the way, the student will learn how to describe products, graphs, write a report, structure and deliver a presentation. In the end the student will work with the data from global data analytics company Nielsen to support your arguments and sell your idea.

Unit 5 Mobile Banking

Situation: telephoning
Business focus: banking, cold calling, sales letters, voice assistant
Partner: Tinkoff
Functions: starting a call and stating what you want, taking messages, clarifying information, checking facts, asking for repetition, promising action
Grammar: question forms for checking information
Writing focus: sales emails
Speaking skill: avoiding misunderstanding

In this unit, the student will improve their telephone communication skills and use words and phrases related to bank products and services, and write sales letters. In lesson 3 of the unit, the student will dive into a real-life business case on Oleg, a virtual finance and lifestyle voice assistant, recently launched by Tinkoff and find out how voice assistant helps customers in managing their personal finance. In the end, the student will role-play dialogues with a virtual assistant on personal finance and create the virtual assistant of the future.

Unit 6 Looking for an investor

Situation: preparing elevator pitch, writing executive summary, contacting a potential investor (networking)
Business focus: finance, investment/funding, import, marketplace
Partner: Opportunity Network
Functions: starting a conversation, establishing partnership with a potential investor, describing your company and business ideas through a phone call or at a business event
Grammar: countable and uncountable nouns, attributive clauses
Writing focus: communication by email (inquiry letter) and professional social networks
Speaking skill: making business calls and elevator pitches

In this unit, the student will practice using finance vocabulary by preparing an elevator pitch, writing a compelling inquiry letter and concise yet informative executive summary. The student will learn how to present a startup to a potential investor and build a partnership using business platforms and marketplaces such as Opportunity Network in the case study of lesson 3. In lesson 4, the student will be able to play the role of a startup founder, who seeks new investments.