Welcome To Our Blog

Hi, Everyone!

We're going to use this blog to keep you updated on events at the Canadian Academic Success School, and to supply you with some exercises and activities we've prepared for our various classes.

Tonight at 5308A Yonge Street, we're hosting our monthly ESL in North York Meeting (Get more information here: http://teachers.meetup.com/146/calendar/8010369/). The topic for tonight's meeting is Idioms.

These monthly meetings are free, but of course we're hoping that some of the attendees will eventually take classes with us, or refer us to someone they know who is looking for classes.

So, with that in mind, I thought I'd post an exercise I've used on sales & marketing idioms:

Look at the idioms in the following sentences:

1. Valerie tried to drum up business for the restaurant by mailing flyers and distributing menus.
2. The pizza restaurant generated a lot of buzz for its new teriyaki beef pizza by giving away free samples to people on the street.
3. He was giving us the hard sell. He almost forced us to sign the contract.
4. Many authors plug their latest books by making guest appearances on TV talk shows.
5. Because the children's toys were selling like hotcakes, the company was unable to keep up with orders.
6. We decided to strike while the iron was hot and began to market the sportswear in time for the Beijing Olympics.

Now try to match the idioms with their meaning from the list below:
A. cause people to start talking about a product in a way that increases sales
B. promote a product
C. take advantage of an opportunity
D. pressuring a customer to buy
E. find new customers
F. sell very quickly

Circle the idiom which works best in the following sentences:

Exclusive contests for your online community will ____________ and excitement.
a) strike while the iron is hot
b) generate buzz
c) give the hard sell

During the power outage, candles ____________.
a) drummed up business
b) sold like hot cakes
c) gave the hard sell

The big advertisement in today`s newspaper should ____________.
a) drum up business
b) sell like hotcakes
c) plug

As soon as he heard about the opening, he decided to ____________ and quickly applied for the job.
a) strike while the iron was hot
b) generate buzz
c) drum up business

American Express paid David Beckham a lot of money to ____________ their credit cards.
a) give the hard sell for
b) drum up business for
c) plug

All I did was ask for a price list and a salesman started ____________.
a) drumming up business
b) generating buzz
c) giving me the hard sell