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Text for dictation:______

People in Britain can look for jobs in the Situations Vacant column of national or local newspapers. National newspapers such as "The Guardian" focus on different areas of employment such us media, education, social work and information technology on different days. Job vacancies are also displayed at Job Centres and other Employment Agencies in towns and cities and on the Internet.

Before applying for a job, you should check that you meet the requirements. These are usually specified in terms of previous experience, qualifications and personality. To show that you are a suitable candidate for the post, it is usual to enclose a curriculum vitae with your letter of application. There are many computer programs that will help you produce a well designed and professional-looking curriculum vitae, available both from computer software retailers and as freeware on the web.

If you make the right impression, you will be invited to an interview; otherwise you will probably receive a letter saying: "we regret to inform you that your application has been unsuccessful." The successful applicant will probably be given a contract of employment which will contain the job description and the terms and conditions. You show your acceptance of these by signing the contract.

On your first day of work, you may be invited to join a trade union. If so, you will probably be introduced to your shop steward, the trade union official who will represent you and your colleagues in negotiations with management. Sooner or later, you will meet your boss. The person who you report to, could also be called a line manager or director. In factories, workers often take their orders from a team-leader or foreman, who is an intermediary between the employer and the employees.



  1. Get an good English speaker to dictate the text giving you a second reading with pauses so that you can write it down.
  2. Afterwards you can look at the above text to check your spelling.
  3. Next, using a red pen, put a small vertical mark high up before each stressed syllable in the text.
  4. Now click here to check that you have marked the correct syllables as the stressed ones.
  5. Finally, read the text aloud, taking care to stress the "stressed syllables" and not to stress the "weak" syllables.