Business English, present perfect vs past simple, authentic video, listening decoding

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Task 2. You’re going to listen to a Google employee talk about her career. What questions
is she answering? Fill the gaps in sentences (1) and (2).
https://youtu.be/tNDYDggmFA8?t=2m48s
(1) _____ Dawn, _____ _____ _____ _____ _____ _____ _____.
(2) And _____ _____ _____ _____ _____ _____ a UX
researcher working on Cloud?
Work in pairs. Adapt and ask each other these questions.
Task 3. Fill the gaps in the transcript. Then listen and check.
Extract 1. DAWN. https://youtu.be/tNDYDggmFA8?t=2m48s
OK, so I (1)____________ (join) Google in 2007, after (2)____________ (complete) an
internship in our Mountain View office.
And in 2007 I (3)____________ (join) in Kirkland as a full-time user experience researcher
on Ads and I (4)____________ (spend) my time in many areas here at Google working on
ads, internationalization search, pretty much all the areas that we cover here at Google.
Before Google I actually (5)____________ (be) a returning student in my 30s to get a PhD
in human factor psychology. Way back in the day I was an eighth grade science teacher
after (6)____________ (major in) geology and English.
So I'm one of those women, or one of those people that (7)____________ (start) my
career completely over in my 30s. And (8)____________ (do) an internship and
(9)____________ (get) a full-time offer. So I (10)____________ (join) Cloud late last fall
and (11)____________ (start) running our UX team in January.
Task 1. Read these quotes about
careers. Do you like them? Do you
follow the same principles in your
career?
“I've missed more than 9000 shots in my career. I've
lost almost 300 games. 26 times, I've been trusted to
take the game winningshot and missed. I've failed
over and over and over again in my life. And that is
why I succeed.”
Michael Jordan
“Find out what you like
doingbest and get
someone to payyou for
doingit.”
Katherine Whitehorn

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Task 4. Time expressions. Look at the time expressions highlighted in the transcript.
Which of them are used with
 Past Simple?
 Present Perfect?
 verb+ing?
Complete the rule:
(1) We use ____________ after a preposition.
Time expressions:
(2) We use ____________ when we mention at what time in the past something
happened.
Time expressions:
(3) We use ____________ when we list many events that happened one after
another.
Listing expressions:
(4) We use ____________ when we talk about the whole period that hasn’t finished.
Time expressions:
Task 5. Fill the gaps with the correct form of the verb.
Extract 2. BRYAN KAMINSKI https://youtu.be/DINxNbBOEoI?t=1m15s
I (1)____________ (be) at Google for about 4 and 1/2 years. I focus now on schools in the
Midwest as well as Stanford. And I (2)____________ (have) a number of different roles at
Google. I (3)____________ (start) kind of on the engineering side for a bit,
(4)____________ (go over) to the sales and services side, working with our DoubleClick
organization on display advertising, and then (5)____________ (move back) to the
program scene a little over a year ago.
Extract 3. MARK https://youtu.be/tNDYDggmFA8?t=10m31s
I (6)____________ (join) Google on the Developer Relations team in 2011. So I
(7)____________ (only/be) here a couple years. And I'm now the manager of the
Developer Relations team here in Seattle for Google Cloud Storage and Google Compute
Engine.
Extract 4 ANTHONY https://youtu.be/tNDYDggmFA8?t=7m57s
So I (8)____________ (get) to Google back in December of 2005. I actually
(9)____________ (start) as a help desk technician. So I (10)____________ (probably/be)
here the longest, I think, of the group. I (11)____________ (do) that role for about nine
months and I (12)____________ (transfer) into the SRE organization as a technical
program manager. And (13)____________ (start) to help build Google's data centers and
do capacity planning. The opportunity to join Cloud (14)____________ (start), I think, in, I
think, the spring of 2010. And I actually (15)____________ (join) the engineering team in a
SRE consulting role and (16)____________ (help) doing the production readiness review
for some of Cloud products.
Task 6. Add more time expressions to the box in Task 4. Can any of the expressions be
used with both present perfect and past simple?

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Career expressions
Task 7. Match the expressions with their meanings:
1 to major in [physics] A a qualification that you get when you complete a university
course
2 a degree B to study something as your main subject at a university or
college
3 an offer C a short period of time that a student spends working in a
company to get experience
4 a PhD D a university degree of a very high level
5 an internship E a formal invitation from a company to start working there
Task 8. Fill the gaps with the expressions from the audio.
Extract 1 (Dawn):
completed/did
got x2
joined
majored in
started running
A _______________ Geology/psychology
B _______________ a [degree/PhD] in psychology
C _______________ an internship
D _______________ a full-time offer
E _______________ the company
F _______________ our UX team
Extract 2 (Brian Kaminsky):
have had
moved back to
started on
went over to
side x2
scene
roles
I (a) _______________ a number of different (b)_______________ at Google. I
(c)_______________ the engineering (d)_______________ for a bit, (e)_______________

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the sales and services (f)_______________, and then (g)_______________ the program
(h)_______________ a little over a year ago.
Task 8. Write a paragraph about your own career path.
Check your writing:
Did you use Past Simple, Present Perfect, verb+ing correctly?
Did you use interesting time expressions, e.g. for about … years, for a bit, etc?
How many career expressions did you use?
Task 7. Work in pairs. Tell your partner about your career.
Links The videos in this lesson come from Google Developers Youtube channel

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Key
Task 2 So Dawn, tell us a little bit about yourself. And how did you get to be a UX
researcher working on Cloud?
Task 3
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=tNDYDggmFA8
DAWN: OK, so I 1) joined Google in 2007, after 2) completing an internship in our
Mountain View office. And in 2007 I 3) joined in Kirkland as a full-time user experience
researcher on Ads and 4) I've spent my time in many areas here at Google working on
ads, internationalization search, pretty much all the areas that we cover here at Google.
3:19
Before Google I actually was a returning student in my 30s to get a Ph.D. in human factor
psychology. Way back in the day I 5) was an eighth grade science teacher after 6)
majoring in geology and English. So I'm one of those women, or one of those people that
7) started my career completely over in my 30s. And 8) did an internship and 9) got a full-
time offer. So I 10) joined Cloud late last fall and 11) started running our UX team in
January.
Task 4
(1) We use verb+ing after a preposition.
Examples of time expressions: after completing an internship, after majoring in
psychology
(2) We use past simple when we mention at what time in the past something
happened.
Examples of time expressions: in 2007, before Google, in my thirties, late last fall, in
January.
(3) We use past simple when we mention many events that happened one after
another.
Listing: And did an internship and got a full-time offer.
(4) We use present perfect when we talk about the whole period that hasn’t finished.
Examples of time expressions: I’ve spent my time in many areas here at Google
Task 5 https://youtu.be/DINxNbBOEoI?t=1m15s
Extract 2. Brian Kaminsky. 1) I've been at Google for about 4 and 1/2 years. I focus now
on schools in the Midwest as well as Stanford. And 2) I've had a number of different roles
at Google. I 3) started kind of on the engineering side for a bit, 4) went over to the sales
and services side, working with our DoubleClick organization on display advertising, and
then 5) moved back to the program scene a little over a year ago.
Extract 3. MARK https://youtu.be/tNDYDggmFA8?t=10m31s
I 6) joined Google on the Developer Relations team in 2011. So 7) I’ve only been here a

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couple years. And I'm now the manager of the Developer Relations team here in Seattle for
Google Cloud Storage and Google Compute Engine.
Extract 4 ANTHONY https://youtu.be/tNDYDggmFA8?t=7m57s
So I (8) got to Google back in December of 2005. I actually (9) started as a help desk
technician. So (10) I’ve probably been here the longest of the group. I (11) did that role
for about nine months and I (12) transferred into the SRE organization as a technical
program manager. And (13) started to help build Google's data centers and do capacity
planning. The opportunity to join Cloud (14) started I think, in the spring of 2010. And I
actually (15) joined the engineering team in a SRE consulting role and (16) helped doing
the production readiness review for some of Cloud products.
Task 6.
(2) past simple: back in September of 2005; in the spring 2010, a little over a year ago
(3) listing: started on the engineering side for a bit, moved over to… and then moved back
to…; I did that role for about nine months
(4) present perfect with unfinished periods: for about four and a half years, [I’ve had a
number of different roles] at Google; the longest of the group; a couple years
Both past simple and present perfect can be used with time periods (e.g. ‘for about nine
months’, ‘at Google’) – depending on whether the period is finished or not.
Task 7
to major in [physics] to study something as your main subject at a university or college
a degree a qualification that you get when you complete a university course
an offer an formal invitation from a company to start working there
a PhD a university degree of a very high level
an internship a short period of time that a student spends working in a company
to get experience
A majored in Geology/psychology
B got a degree/PhD in psychology
C completed/did an internship
D got a full-time offer
E joined the company
F started running our UX team
I (a) ‘ve had a number of different (b) roles at Google. I (c) started on the engineering (d)
side for a bit, (e) went over to the sales and services (f) side, and then (g) moved back
to the program (h) scene a little over a year ago.