Terms and Conditions

This game will only work with the Windows operating system.

The game is downloaded as a ZIP file. If you have a version of Windows prior to Windows XP, you will need to have a special utility (such as Winzip) to unzip this file.

No technical support whatsoever will be provided for this game. If you don't understand how to do something, please go to a website (such as www.newbieclub.com) which is a specialist in teaching people how to use their computers.

This program is provided 'as is' without warranty of any kind, either expressed or implied. You download and play this game entirely at your own risk.

Your English Listening Lesson

Yes, I've been on holiday. What is Mauritius like?

Find out by doing these four exercises:

exercise 1

exercise 2

exercise 3

exercise 4

Your English Listening Lesson

We all spend a lot of time at work and want our work environment to be nice. Where do I work and what is it like?

Find out by doing these four exercises:

exercise 1

exercise 2

exercise 3

exercise 4

Hire and fire

If you 'hire' someone, you employ them.

• We hired him on a six month contract.
• I hear that they are not hiring people at the moment because of budget problems.

If you 'fire' somebody, you dismiss them from their job, usually because of something they did.

• I had to fire Sally because she kept on making mistakes.
• If you don't improve, they may decide to fire you.

If you 'make somebody redundant', you dismiss them from their job for economic reasons.

• They are closing down the factory and making 500 people redundant.
• I was made redundant from my last job.

If you 'recruit' people, you persuade them to work for you.

• We need to recruit more young engineers.
• It's difficult to recruit people because our pay is so low.

If you 'headhunt' someone for a job, you approach them because you think they are well-qualified for the job and offer them the job.

• We need to look at the people doing similar jobs in other companies and headhunt the best one.
• He was headhunted at great expense but the job didn't work out and he left.

If you 'hand in (or give in) your notice', you tell your employer that you are going to leave the company.

• She handed in her notice this morning and is leaving at the end of the month.
• He gave in his notice and they told him he could leave straight away.

If a company 'gives someone notice', they tell them that they are going to lose their jobs.

• The company only gave me three days' notice that I was being made redundant.
• We have to give her two months' notice that we are letting her go.

If an employer 'sacks' someone, they fire them.

• They sacked me without notice after ten years with the company.
• I hear they intend to sack him because of his bullying.

If you 'get the sack' or are 'given the sack', you are fired.

• He was given the sack because he kept arriving late.
• If I keep making mistakes, I'm going to get the sack.

'Severance pay' is money paid to workers when they are made redundant.

• The redundant workers were given 26 weeks' severance pay.
• After ten years, I got three days' notice and no severance pay.

If you take legal action against your employer for 'unfair dismissal', you claim that they dismissed you for no good reason.

• He is suing them for unfair dismissal as he says he was only ever late once.
• Dismiss me and I'll take you to court for unfair dismissal. I've done nothing to deserve this.

If you take legal action against your employer for 'constructive dismissal', you claim that you were forced to leave your job because of the actions/behavior of your employer.

• She is making a claim for constructive dismissal because she claims her immediate boss bullied her.
• I'm sure you have the grounds for a complaint of constructive dismissal.

exercise 1

exercise 2

exercise 3

exercise 4
 

Pay 1

'Pay' is money that you get from your employer, either as a wage or as a salary.

• What are the pay and conditions for the job?
• Pay rates in the industry are very poor.

'Back pay' is money owed to you by your employer for work done in the past which has not yet been paid.

• I'm still owed 3 months back pay for the overtime I did before Christmas.
• The company cannot afford to give you the back pay it owes you.

A 'pay cut' is a reduction in the amount of pay you are given.

• We are asking you all to accept a pay cut of 10% to keep the company going.
• He has the stark choice of accepting a pay cut or losing his job.

A 'pay rise' is an increase in pay.

• We are looking for a pay rise in line with inflation.
• I'm going to ask my boss for a pay rise.

A 'pay rate' is the amount per hour (or some other period) that you pay.

• The pay rate is $12 an hour.
• The industry cannot attract good quality workers because of the low pay rates.

'Net pay' is the amount earned after deductions (usually for social security and pensions and perhaps for tax.)

• The gross pay is $12 an hour but net pay is only $9.50 an hour.
• He said he is only earning $5 an hour but that is his net pay, not his gross.

'Equal pay' means that men and women get the same pay for doing the same job.

• The women workers are asking for equal pay with the men.
• In this country, if you don't give the women equal pay, you could go to jail.

An 'itemized pay statement' contains a detailed breakdown of the pay you have earned and the deductions taken from it.

• The bank want me to give them my itemized pay statements for the last six months.
• The law states that employees must receive itemized pay statements.

'Performance-related pay' is where the amount you are paid depends on the quality/quantity of your work.

• Since we introduced performance-related pay, production has doubled.
• They may need the incentive of performance-related pay.

A 'pay scale' is a range of different pay rates which people will receive depending on various factors (e.g. their grade in the company, their qualifications, their years in the company.)

• We have six grades on our pay scale. You will start on the bottom one.
• Perhaps we need to change our pay scale to take account of the loyalty people have shown us?

exercise 1

exercise 2

exercise 3

exercise 4