apartment blocks ,villas, hotel

airport, road links ,port

theme park ,beaches ,

shopping

Accommodation: detached house, semi-detached house, Infrastructure: bridge, tunnel, Attraction: theatre, botanical park, zoo

Arabia’s field of dreamsOne of the world’s most successful business ventures is a small city-state that learned lessons from Singapore and Hong Kong

A TROPICAL sun sets behind the palm trees and white sand of Jumeirah beach. Here, machines are building houses on one of the world’s largest man-made islands, designed in the shape of a palm tree (picture). England’s soccer stars, led by David Beckham, were among the early buyers when the 2,000 villas sold out in a week.

Dubai expects its oil reserves to run out in about ten years. But the city-state is using its oil income to invest in a different sort of future, replacing oil with people

1

2

Today, Dubai has 272 hotels with 30,000 rooms and almost 5 million foreign visitors a year. In the desert, Dubailand is being built – a $19-billion theme park twice the size of Disneyland in Florida.

The city-state has build huge tax-free shopping malls and launched sporting events, such as the Desert Classic golf tournament and the Dubai World Cup horse race, and so it has become a holiday destination offering attractions such as desert safaris and dhow cruises.

Dubai is open to foreigners. Of its 1.5 million people, over 80 per cent are expatriates. Dubai’s easy-going style has made it a positive place to live and work.

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4

Dubailand = under construction

In Dubai’s free-trade zones, no local partner is required. These zones are attracting the service sector, by setting up developments for multi-national companies specializing in similar activities. For example, Internet city houses regional offices of Microsoft, Siemens and IBM, among others. Media City is home to the regional offices of several TV stations. There are plans for a Knowledge Village, which may attract foreign colleges.

5

Media City = complete

Knowledge village = planned

Dubai intends to establish itself as the leading capital market for its region. The Dubai International Finance Center is now taking shape, and the world’s leading investment banks are already waiting to move in. The new city of skyscrapers includes Burj Dubai, an office block that will be the tallest building in the world when completed in a few years. Giorgio Armani is going to open a hotel on its top floors.

If it succeeds, Dubai will not only be a tourist resort but an important business center.

Burj Dubai = under construction

Reading 2 ,p 60

1 .houses/villas

2 .ten years

3 .beaches, hotels, theme park, tax-free shopping, events, desert safaris, dhow cruises

4 .1.5 million; 20 per cent are from Dubai

5 .multi-nationals, IT and computing companies ,

media, and TV, banks and financial companies

10

CU UP

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d. service sector

f. regional office

a. capital market

b. investment bank

e. shopping mall

C, multi-national company

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Vocabulary 2.2. p. 62

multi-national company

service sector

investment bank

regional office

shopping mall

capital market

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Listening: An office abroad p. 63

Declan Murphy

Before setting up an office in another country, you’ll need to do quite a lot of research. There are a number of things to consider.

To start with, you want to be sure that the country has a strong economy. And that means low inflation and a stable currency. If the prospects for growth are good, then so much the better.

They you need to consider other factors. For example, does the location have a good infrastructure – a modern airport, good roads and perhaps shipping facilities if you need them?

And the third main area to research is the financial side. How much will it cost to rent office space? Does the government of the region offer special encouragement to foreign business such as low taxation? If the local government has a positive attitude to foreign business and the costs are low, then obviously these are going to be big advantages.

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Listening, An office abroad, p 63

Track 27

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///

/

//

17

Strong economy (good/stable are also possible)

Low inflation/ unemployment

Stable currency (strong is also possible)

Good prospects for growth/ infrastructure/ access to regional markets (easy access is also possible)

Low cost of renting office space / labor costs / taxation

positive attitudes to foreign business (good is also possible)

18

will / won’t

) be (going to + infinitive

the present continuous

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are ( ’re) going to set up

am (’m) traveling

am (’m) going to look at

are you going to travel/will you travel

is meeting

am (’m) going to collect

will (’ll) present

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are (’re) discussing/ are going to discuss

am (’m) leaving

am (’m) attending/ am (’m) going to attend

are you coming backam (’m) staying/ am (’m) going to stay

will (’ll) tell

21

22

2

3

4

5

6

7

Culture at work

FlexibleFixed

You are spontaneous and can make arrangements at short notice.

You want to plan schedules carefully and fix arrangements well in advance

You do not consider it a problem to cancel or change appointments.

You like to keep appointments. You do not like to cancel or change arrangements.

If you make an arrangement to meet at a certain time, it does not matter if you are a little late.

If you make an arrangement to meet at a certain time, it is important to be punctual.

Writing focus: Memos

1 .First, decide who you are.

)In this case, SS are part of a team working for the Whiterose Hotel Division(.

2 .Every time you start to write, you need to ask yourself two questions:

a. What is the purpose of this piece of writing?

b. Who am I writing to?

(Here Ss identify the town that they think the Hotel Division should move to and give reasons why. The memo will be

real by all the staff of the hotel Division).

3.Look at the section on Memos on page 16 of the Style Guide. Notice the suggested structure for a memo:

To/From/Subject/Date

No opening greeting necessary

Main message

Recommendations

Name or initials of the writer

Is this structure appropriate for this memo? What are you going to put on the subject line? Plan the sections you are going to divide the memo into. Then brainstorm the points you might cover in each section

4 .What style should be the memo be written in?

)As it says in the style guide, memos are short, official notes that will be read by people within a company. Memos are usually less formal than business letters. The language is simple and clear and the

tone is normally neutral(.

5 .What phrases might be appropriate for your

memo?

6 .Now go ahead and write the memo.

7 .When you have finished, check your writing

for: logical structure, clarity of ideas, accuracy

of language, appropriateness of style.

Memo: suggested answer (100 words)

To: The staff of the Hotel Division

From: Name

Subject: Location of new offices

Date: (today’s date)

The Whiterose Head Office can no longer provide enough space for all our employees. We are planning to relocate the staff of the Hotel Division to new offices in Luton. We believe this will be an excellent location because it is close to London, so most staff will not need to move house. Luton also has good communications with the rest of Britain and internationally. This means that if you have to travel on

business, you can fly from your local airport.