W7: Vocabulary blog

The topic of this week is Global Opportunities for Entrepreneurs. It talks about the ways of cooperating with foreign companies and other relevant issues. When we talk about the ways of international cooperation, there are five key terms, exporting, importing, freight forwarder, learning curve, and licensing, that you should know.

This week we are going to try a new way of writing the vocabulary blog. Here are the steps:

1.      Sit with your partner:

First/Pik

Nui/Eye/Pat

Ton/Pim

Nam/Mew

2.      Watch the video: Thailand: A National Export Initiative Priority Market http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=XLxWpWulu3I

3.      Look into the tasks and work with your partner:

Exporting

(1)   What is “exporting”?

(2)   What is the verb of “exporting”?

(3)   What are the products mentioned in the video that foreign companies usually export to Thailand?

(4)   Make a sentence of “exporting”.

Importing

(1)   What is “importing”?

(2)   What is the verb of “importing”?

(3)   Do you agree that the products mentioned in the video are what Thailand usually imports from foreign companies? What else is Thailand also known for importing?

(4)   Make a sentence of “importing”.

Freight forwarder

(1)   What is the pronunciation of “freight”?

(2)   What does “freight” mean?

(3)   What does “freight forwarder” mean?

(4)   Why is freight forwarder important for a company exporting products to other countries?  

Learning curve

(1)   What is the pronunciation of “curve”?

(2)   What is “learning curve”? (Attention: find the definition of “learning curve” in the business context.)

(3)   What does “learning curve” mean in non-business context?

Licensing

(1)   What is the pronunciation of “licensing”?

(2)   What does “licensing” mean?

(3)   Make a sentence of “licensing”.

(4)   Find one synonym of “licensing”.

4.      After you and your partner finish the tasks above (10:10am), go to two other students’ blogs to leave messages (the blogs you and your partner visit can be different). Your comments should explicitly tell:

(1) Does the student answer all the questions above?

(2) If not, help her/him finish her/his vocab blog based on what you have already known.

(3) Check the definitions of the key terms. Are they similar to yours? If not, discuss with the student by leaving a comment on her/his blog and decide which definition is correct. 

5.      After you and your partner finish writing blogs and leaving messages, ask the teacher to check: open your blog and the two students’ blog where you leave your comments. After checking with the teacher, you can leave at 10:30am.

Online resources

Wikipedia: http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Main_Page

Cambridge Dictionaries Online: http://dictionary.cambridge.org/

Invest words. com: http://www.investorwords.com/

W6: Vocabulary blog

For today's class, we're going to learn five key terms: SWOT analysis, expertise, strategic planning, strategic positioning, and scarcity.

SWOT analysis

1.      What do the four letters in SWOT stand for?  

2.      What is SWOT analysis?

3.      Find the objectives (at least two objectives) of one of the competitors in your field. We will be analyzing the competitor’s SWOT in the coming classes.

4.      Find two pictures (templates) which can help you know more about how to do SWOT analysis.

Expertise

1.      What is the pronunciation of “expertise”?

2.      What does “expertise” mean?

3.      Make a sentence of “expertise”.

Strategic planning

1.      What is strategic planning?

2.      What is the relation between SWOT analysis and strategic planning?

3.      What is the process of strategic planning (or How can you do strategic planning?)?  

Strategic positioning

1.      What is strategic positioning?

2.      Watch the video: Export Marketing Bootcamp -Positioning - Building a Strong Position (http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=Yhzm5Fo6soU )

Answer the following questions:

(1)   Why does a small business owner need to take into account strategic positioning? (Hint: Think about why not care strategic positioning?)

(2)   As a small business owner, what should you consider when finding a position in the market?

(3)   After you find a position in the market, how can you know whether it is a strong position or not?

Scarcity

1.      What is the pronunciation of “scarcity”?

2.      What does “scarcity” mean?

3.      What is the adjective of “scarcity”?

4.      Make a sentence of “scarce” and “scarcity”.

5.      Find three synonyms of “scarcity” and “scare”.

6.      Find three antonyms of “scarcity” and “scare”.

Online resources:

Wikipedia: http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Main_Page

Cambridge Dictionaries Online: http://dictionary.cambridge.org/

Invest words. com: http://www.investorwords.com/

Respond to TWO students’ blogs.

You will respond based on the following rules:

1.      If your classmates leave a comment on your blog and ask for your help, please help them by answering their questions.

2.      Does the student answer all the questions above?

3.      If not, help her/him finish her/his vocab blog based on what you have already known.

4.      Check the definitions of the key terms. Are they similar to yours? If not, discuss with the student by leaving a comment on her/his blog and decide which definition is correct.

Designated responder:
Nam: Pim and Pik
Nui: Ton and First
Pat: Nam and Nui
Mew: Pik and First
First: Pim, Eye 

Pik: Ton, Nui, Nam
Ton: Eye, Mew
First: Pat, Mew
Eye: Pat, Eye

PS: If you haven’t finished the blog in class, finish it by Tuesday 12:00am. Students who do very well in writing the vocabulary blogs will get extra points.

Missing one deadline means you lose 1 point for each unfinished requirement.