Click here for the PDF handout or try the online quiz, reading, listening, and activities on grammar, spelling and vocabulary for this lesson on General Electric. Click on the links below or see the activities below this article:
READ
The General Electric Company, or GE, is an American multinational conglomerate. It is usually listed in the top three largest companies in the world. The company was started by the inventor Thomas Edison in 1890. He originally called it Edison General Electric. A series of successful mergers made the company into an industry giant. It is involved in aviation, electronics, finance, healthcare, entertainment and more. It employs over 300,000 people and has yearly revenues in excess of $150 billion. Its current slogan is ‘Imagination at Work’. Its website says: “We consider our culture to be among our innovations. Over decades our leaders have built GE’s culture — a place for creating and bringing big ideas to life. Today, that culture is the unifying force for our many business units around the world.”
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WORKSHEET ACTIVITIES
WARM-UPS
1. BRAINSTORM: Write all the words you can think of about General Electric on the board or on a piece of paper. Talk about these words with your partner(s).
2. GENERAL ELECTRIC MORNING: Each student pretends to be an employee of General Electric. They walk around the class and talk about the company and their job.
3. RUMOURS:Each student writes down a pretend rumour about General Electric. They then walk around the class and talk to other students about their rumour.
4. GOOD AND BAD:Brainstorm good and bad things about General Electric and write them on the board. Students talk about these in pairs.
5. TRUE OR FALSE:Students find out several facts about General Electric. They write these down and add the same number of things about the company that are false. Students test each other on which of their points are true or false.
6. FACTS:In groups, students write down as many facts as they can about General Electric. The winner is the group with the most facts. Teacher may wish to have groups share their facts to make sure they are real.
LISTENING / READING GAP FILL
The General Electric Company, or GE, is an American ________________________. It is usually listed in the top three largest companies in the world. The company was ________________________ Thomas Edison in 1890. He originally called it Edison General Electric. A ________________________ made the company into an industry giant. It ________________________, electronics, finance, healthcare, entertainment and more. It employs over 300,000 people ________________________ in excess of $150 billion. Its current slogan is ‘Imagination at Work’. Its website says: “We consider our ________________________ our innovations. Over decades our leaders have built GE’s culture — ________________________ and bringing big ideas to life. Today, that culture ________________________ for our many business units around the world.”
CORRECT THE SPELLING
The General Electric Company, or GE, is an American multinational conglomerate. It is usually idtels in the top three largest companies in the world. The company was started by the nonretvi Thomas Edison in 1890. He ygalriniol called it Edison General Electric. A series of successful mergers made the company into an tsdyniur giant. It is involved in aviation, electronics, nifcnea, healthcare, entertainment and more. It lysompe over 300,000 people and has yearly revenues in eessxc of $150 billion. Its current ogsnla is ‘Imagination at Work’. Its website says: “We consider our culture to be among our innovations. Over eddcesa our leaders have built GE’s culture — a place for creating and bringing big ideas to life. Today, that culture is the unifying efroc for our many business units around the world.”
UNJUMBLE THE WORDS
The General Electric Company, or GE, is an American multinational conglomerate. usually in top is listed the It three largest companies in the world. The company was started by the inventor Thomas Edison in 1890. He Edison it called originally Electric General. A series of successful industry made company an mergers the into giant. It is involved in aviation, electronics, finance, healthcare, entertainment and more. It employs over yearly has and people 000 , 300 revenues in excess of $150 billion. Its current slogan is ‘Imagination at Work’. Its website says: “be We our to among consider culture our innovations. built Over our have GE’s decades leaders culture — creating bringing a for and big place ideas to life. Today, the is culture that our for force unifying many business units around the world.”
the general electric company or ge is an american multinational conglomerate it is usually listed in the top three largest companies in the world the company was started by the inventor thomas edison in 1890 he originally called it edison general electric a series of successful mergers made the company into an industry giant it is involved in aviation electronics finance healthcare entertainment and more it employs over 300000 people and has yearly revenues in excess of $150 billion its current slogan is ‘imagination at work’ its website says “we consider our culture to be among our innovations over decades our leaders have built ge’s culture — a place for creating and bringing big ideas to life today that culture is the unifying force for our many business units around the world”
CHOOSE THE CORRECT TENSE
The General Electric Company, or GE, .......... (be) an American multinational conglomerate. It is usually .......... (list) in the top three largest companies in the world. The company was .......... (start) by the inventor Thomas Edison in 1890. He originally .......... (call) it Edison General Electric. A series of successful mergers .......... (make) the company into an industry giant. It is involved in aviation, electronics, finance, healthcare, entertainment and more. It .......... (employ) over 300,000 people and .......... (have) yearly revenues in excess of $150 billion. Its current slogan .......... (be) ‘Imagination at Work’. Its website says: “We consider our culture to .......... (be) among our innovations. Over decades our leaders have .......... (build) GE’s culture — a place for creating and bringing big ideas to life. Today, that culture .......... (be) the unifying force for our many business units around the world.”
The General Electric Company, or GE, is an American multinational conglomerate. It is usually ____________ in the top three largest companies in the world. The company was started by the ____________ Thomas Edison in 1890. He originally called it Edison General Electric. A series of successful ____________ made the company into an industry ____________. It is involved in aviation, electronics, finance, healthcare, entertainment and more. It employs over 300,000 people and has yearly revenues in ____________ of $150 billion. Its current slogan is ‘Imagination at Work’. Its website says: “We ____________ our culture to be among our innovations. Over ____________ our leaders have built GE’s culture — a place for creating and bringing big ____________ to life. Today, that culture is the unifying ____________ for our many business ____________ around the world.”
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PROJECT GENERAL ELECTRIC
Part 1. Your mission is to increase the profits and sales of General Electric. Complete this table with your project partner(s):
Main products
How to improve them
A brand new ‘killer’ product
How General Electric is better than the competition
How to beat the competition
Part 2. Change partners and look at their project. Suggest improvements. Ask for advice on your project:
Part 3. Make a presentation on your project. Give it to the class. Vote the best projects.
GENERAL ELECTRIC – ROLE PLAY 1
Role A – General Electric CEO
You believe your company is the best in the world. It pays its workers very well and working conditions are great. Your company is very green – it cares about the environment. You think your levels of customer service are great. Disagree with person B, C and D.
Role B – General Electric worker
You think it’s a bad company to work for. You’re very unhappy with pay, raises and bonuses. You are very unhappy with the working environment. You don’t like the company’s policy on the environment. You keep hearing profits are more important than customers. Disagree with A and C. Tell D the truth.
Role C – General Electric customer
You are a customer of General Electric. You used to think it was great, but not now. Its workers are always very rude. No one ever answers the phone. You are shocked about its policy on the environment. You think all staff should get less pay. You disagree with person A and B. Tell D the truth.
Role D – A journalist
You keep hearing bad things about General Electric. You want to tell the world in your newspaper. You heard the CEO gets a huge bonus every year. You found a company memo saying profits are more important than the environment. You want to know why so many staff are ill. Find the truth.
GENERAL ELECTRIC – ROLE PLAY 2
Role A – General Electric New Products Director
You have created a new product for General Electric. You believe the new product will be the company’s best ever. It will be a bestseller. There are people who do not agree with you. You need B, C and D on your side. Tell them why this is a product that will bring great things to General Electric.
Role B – General Electric Marketing Director
You think the company’s new product is a really bad idea. It will give your company a really bad name. You think the New Products Director is trying to destroy the company. Try to get him/her to understand there’s no way the new product will sell. Try to get person C and D on your side.
Role C – General Electric Market Researcher
You have interviewed thousands of people about the new product. They don’t like it or hate it. You think it will be successful if they make many changes. Tell the New Products Director he/she needs to change the product. You neither like nor trust person B. Disagree will him/her.
Role D – General Electric Shareholder
You know a lot about General Electric’s new product. You are worried it will not sell and share prices will go down. You think A is crazy and must find a new job. You agree with everything B says. You don’t agree with C. The new product should not go on the market.
Write a letter of apology to the customer. Explain why you cannot give a refund. Show your partner your letter. Correct each other’s work.
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HOMEWORK
1. VOCABULARY EXTENSION: Choose several of the words from the text. Use a dictionary or Google’s search field (or another search engine) to build up more associations / collocations of each word.
2. INTERNET INFO: Search the Internet and find more information about General Electric. Talk about what you discover with your partner(s) in the next lesson.
3. MAGAZINE ARTICLE:Write a magazine article about General Electric. What have they done recently? What are their plans? Read what you wrote to your classmates in the next lesson. Give each other feedback on your articles.
4. GENERAL ELECTRIC POSTERMake a poster about General Electric. Make sure you sell the company to the public. Show it to your classmates in the next lesson. Give each other feedback on your posters.
5. MY GENERAL ELECTRIC LESSON:Make your own English lesson on General Electric. Make sure there is a good mix of things to do. Find some good online activities. Teach the class / another group when you have finished.
6. ONLINE SHARING:Use your blog, wiki, Facebook page, MySpace page, Twitter stream, Del-icio-us / StumbleUpon account, or any other social media tool to get opinions on General Electric. Share your findings with the class.
ANSWERS
Check your answers in the article at the top of this page.
