Lesson 1 Student View

SSC Finance English Foundations

An introduction to finance vocabulary used in Shared Services Centers, with reading, speaking, emails, interview practice, and grammar for work experience.

Level Intermediate
Focus Core SSC finance language
Skills Reading, speaking, grammar
Next Step Lesson 2 builds on this
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Lesson Goals

What the student will practice

  • Understand key SSC finance terms used in daily work.
  • Read and discuss a short text about a finance specialist.
  • Explain finance responsibilities in simple, clear English.
  • Write short professional emails about invoice issues.
  • Review Present Perfect and Past Simple.
Warm-Up

Starter questions

  1. What finance tasks do you already know in English?
  2. What is the difference between a customer and a vendor?
  3. What do people do in a Shared Services Center?
  4. Is speaking or vocabulary harder for you in finance English?
Reading

A Day in an SSC Finance Team

Maria works in the finance department of a Shared Services Center. Her team supports several countries in Latin America. She processes invoices, checks payment details, and answers vendor questions.

Every morning, Maria reviews urgent emails and checks blocked invoices. If an invoice has missing information, she contacts the vendor or the local business team. She also makes sure that payment terms are correct in the system.

At the end of the week, Maria helps prepare reports for her manager. During month-end closing, the team is busy because they need to finish tasks on time and avoid delays. Maria says that accuracy, communication, and time management are essential.

Comprehension

Answer the questions

  1. Where does Maria work?
  2. What does she do every morning?
  3. What happens if information is missing?
  4. Why is month-end closing busy?
  5. What three skills does Maria mention?

Teacher answers

  1. She works in the finance department of a Shared Services Center.
  2. She reviews urgent emails and checks blocked invoices.
  3. She contacts the vendor or the local business team.
  4. Because tasks must be completed on time and delays must be avoided.
  5. Accuracy, communication, and time management.
Vocabulary Practice

Use the new words

Match the word to the meaning

  1. invoice
  2. vendor
  3. deadline
  4. accuracy
  5. overdue
a. careful correctness
b. final date
c. late
d. supplier
e. request for payment

Answers: 1-e, 2-d, 3-b, 4-a, 5-c

Fill in the blanks

Use: vendor, invoice, report, deadline, overdue

  1. We received an __________ yesterday.
  2. The payment is __________, so we need to act quickly.
  3. Please contact the __________ for clarification.
  4. I need to finish the monthly __________ today.
  5. Everything must be ready before the __________.

Answers: 1. invoice 2. overdue 3. vendor 4. report 5. deadline

Speaking

Describe your work

  1. What finance tasks can you do in English?
  2. What skills are important in a finance job?
  3. How do you manage deadlines and urgent tasks?
  4. What would you say to a vendor with a late payment?
Role-play

Vendor payment problem

A vendor asks why the payment is late. Explain the issue and the next step professionally.

Useful phrases:
  • Let me check the status for you.
  • The invoice is currently blocked.
  • Some information is missing.
  • The payment should be processed by Friday.
Grammar Homework

Present Perfect vs Past Simple

Use Past Simple for finished past time and Present Perfect for experience or unfinished time.

Choose the correct form

  1. I worked / have worked in customer service for two years.
  2. She has prepared / prepared the report yesterday.
  3. We have processed / processed more than 100 invoices this month.
  4. They sent / have sent the payment last Friday.

Teacher answers

  1. have worked
  2. prepared
  3. have processed
  4. sent

Teacher answers are visible.

Tip: keep answers hidden during class and reveal them during feedback.