Your ESP Coach • English for Specific Purposes: English for WORK

Showing posts with label English for WORK. Show all posts

Active Listening: Hear What People Are Really Saying (From MindTools)

❓QUIZ ⇒ How Good Are Your Listening Skills?

💡Infographic ⇒ View and Download Full-Size Infographic Here

How well you listen has a major impact on the quality of your relationships with others.

[…] Given all the listening that we do, you would think we'd be good at it! In fact, most of us are not, and research suggests that we only remember between 25 percent and 50 percent of what we hear, as described by Edgar Dale's Cone of Experience. That means that when you talk to your boss, colleagues, customers, or spouse for 10 minutes, they pay attention to less than half of the conversation.

Turn it around and it reveals that when you are receiving directions or being presented with information, you aren't hearing the whole message either. You hope the important parts are captured in your 25-50 percent, but what if they're not?

RECOMMENDED: Skills 360 – Business English Pod (More than Business English)

By Georgina Jacobs

🔺IMPORTANT: This is NOT an advert! This is just my honest (and free) opinion. I've already recommended other interesting websites, tools and videos, and I'll keep on doing so in the future as long as I come across things worth recommending.

Why do I recommend this website? Simply because find it useful. Business Skills 360 podcast lessons provide essential tips and language for communicating in English, along with free transcripts, vocabulary quizzes and PDF downloads. (Lessons are listed on the website by the date published, with the more recent lessons at the top. All podcasts are free, and so are most resources though the latest lessons may require a subscription.)

💡Below is a brief podcast lesson overview:

How to tell if you’re being ‘breadcrumbed’ at work, by Emily Torres (From BBC Worklife)

👉By Emily Torres

👉READ FULL ARTICLE: Are you being ‘breadcrumbed’ at work?

From: BBC Worklife / Credit: Getty Images/iStockphoto

Stop breadcrumbing me!

🚩Is your boss commitment-phobic?

Our modern dating vocabulary is making its way into our work lexicon, and it’s bringing more life and colour to the way we describe our experiences. Have you ever been ghosted by a potential employer? Or have you ghosted them? Now, thanks to the latest series of the reality TV show Love Island, we have a new word for an old practice: breadcrumbing.

Are you heading for BURNOUT?

Credit: GETTY IMAGES

Here are two excerpts from two reading articles and three videos on burnout: what it is, what its consequences are and how you can avoid it.

👉How to tell if you’re close to burning out, by Zaria Gorvett (From BBC WORKLIFE)

The World Health Organization (WHO) has redefined burnout as a syndrome linked to chronic work stress. There’s a difference between a busy workload and something more serious, writes Zaria Gorvett.

[…] Late last month [June 2019], the WHO announced that the trendy problem will be recognised in the latest International Classification of Diseases manual, where it is described as a syndrome “resulting from chronic workplace stress that has not been successfully managed”.

How to escape the ‘hyperactive hivemind’ of modern work, by William Park (From BBC Worklife)

👉 By William Park

Should ‘deep focus’ become a central pillar of workplace culture?

The constant ping of messages that keep us plugged into work chatter might be doing more harm than good. We feel we must respond – it is about work, after all. But always being switched on means we never have the chance to think deeply. And that is a problem for companies that want to get the most out of their employees.

The next great revolution in the office will need to correct this, according to one man who wants to reset the way we work. He believes that the value someone can bring to a company will be judged not by their skill, but by their ability to focus. But how do we find the time to shut off distractions and do our best work?

Why we should learn to love awful corporate buzzwords, by Meredith Turits (From BBC Capital)

👉 By Meredith Turits

Why we all need to be a little more zen about grating corporate language.

Is vacuous corporate babble diminishing our capacity to think clearly at work? (Credit: Getty Images)

I just wanted to circle back on this. Have we digested the learnings from our fact-finding mission? I need to leverage these insights in the deliverables.

Perhaps you haven’t received this email verbatim, but if you glance back through jargon-littered emails from various jobs you’ll probably find something startlingly similar. Corporation, start-up, sole proprietorship or family company: bad business speak is endemic to many work environments – and, sometimes, infuriating.

In what can seem like universal condemnation, business jargon is considered bad form. There are dozens of overused words that some argue make smart people sound less intelligent. Movements have even sprung up to bin corporate speak.

Yet the backlash might not be worth the effort.

👉 GO TO FULL ARTICLE: In defense of corporate buzzwords

USAGE: "Enquire" Or "Inquire"? (From Oxford Lexico Usage)

The traditional distinction between the verbs enquire and inquire is that enquire is to be used for general senses of ‘ask’, while inquire is reserved for uses meaning ‘make a formal investigation’.

In practice, however, enquire, and the associated noun enquiry, are more common in British English while inquire (and the noun inquiry) are more common in American English, but otherwise there is little discernible distinction in the way the words are used.

Some style guides require that only inquire or only enquire be used.

Could I enquire about your mother's health?
She inquired about the library's rare books collection.
Every enquiry is very welcome.
Adam helped the police with their inquiries.

'Enquire' or 'inquire'? (1:45 minutes)

Both words derive from the Old French enquerre, from a variant of the Latin inquirere, based on quaerere 'seek'. The same root word can be seen in various modern English words, including acquire, require, conquer, quest, request, inquest, and question.

👉GO TO OXFORD: "Enquire" Or "Inquire"?

💡GO TO OXFORD LEXICO and See more from Usage

enquire or inquire (2:00 minutes)

WEEKLY PICKS - 28 - READ and LISTEN SPECIAL

This is a weekly selection of free online self-study materials and resources for you to further improve your English language skills and have fun – ENJOY!

👓+ 🎧THIS WEEK ⇒ READ + LISTEN SPECIAL!

These are not typical reading and listening comprehension exercises. On these websites, you will find a list of podcasts or recordings that you can listen to while reading transcripts. Reading and listening is an easy and effective way of developing your listening skills, improving your pronunciation and building up on your vocabulary at the same time.

📌AMERICAN CUSTOMS AND TRADITIONS

👉GO TO FULL LIST (128 short listening + reading articles)

📌BUSINESS ENGLISH POD ⇨ SKILLS 360

Skills 360 – Levels of Formality in English (Part 1) (Free resources: Lesson Module | Quiz & Vocab | PDF Transcript)
Skills 360 – Levels of Formality in English (Part 2) (Free resources: Lesson Module | Quiz & Vocab | PDF Transcript)
Skills 360 – Communicating Clearly in English (1) (Free resources: Lesson Module | Quiz & Vocab | PDF Transcript)
Skills 360 – Communicating Clearly in English (2) (Free resources: Lesson Module | Quiz & Vocab | PDF Transcript)
Skills 360 – Leading Group Decision-Making Meetings (1) (Free resources: Lesson Module | Quiz & Vocab | PDF Transcript)
Skills 360 – Leading Group Decision-Making Meetings (2) (Free resources: Lesson Module | Quiz & Vocab | PDF Transcript)
Skills 360 – Getting the Most out of a Conference (Part 1) (Free resources: Lesson Module | Quiz & Vocab | PDF Transcript)
Skills 360 – Getting the Most out of a Conference (Part 2) (Free resources: Lesson Module | Quiz & Vocab | PDF Transcript)
Skills 360 – Presentations: Connecting with your Audience (1) (Free resources: Lesson Module | Quiz & Vocab | PDF Transcript)
Skills 360 – Presentations: Connecting with your Audience (2) (Free resources: Lesson Module | Quiz & Vocab | PDF Transcript)
Skills 360 – Teleconferences (Part 1) (Free resources: Transcript | Quiz & Vocab | PDF Transcript | Mobile Quizzes)
Skills 360 – Teleconferences (Part 2) (Free resources: Transcript | Quiz & Vocab | PDF Transcript | Mobile Quizzes)

👉All Busines s English Skills 360 Lessons (Learn business English skills for communicating effectively at work. All Skills 360 lessons are listed on this webpage by the date published, with the more recent lessons at the top.)

📌 VIDEOS

925 English Lesson 9 - How to Talk about your Ideas in English | Business English Conversation (9:57 minutes)

925 English Lesson 10 - How to Agree with Ideas in English | Business English Conversation (9:27 minutes)

925 English Lesson 11 - How to Disagree with Ideas in English | Business English Conversation (10:00 minutes)

MORE PICKS NEXT WEEK!

WEEKLY PICKS - 26

📜 READING PICKS – Articles, blog posts, quizzes and more:

From BBC TRAVEL: Italy’s ‘practically perfect’ food, by Amanda Ruggeri.

Pound for pound, Parmigiano-Reggiano can compete with almost any food for calcium, amino acids, protein and vitamin A – and is prescribed by doctors to cure ailments. It’s also a dairy product… that can be eaten by the lactose-intolerant. (Continue reading)

From BBC CAPITAL: The cost of free public transport, by Marc Auxenfants.

From March next year, commuters in Luxembourg will not be charged for trips on its trains, trams and buses. What’s the cost of such a move? (Continue reading)

BBC Reel: The amazing houses that build themselves At the touch of a button, these incredible homes of the future can self-deploy and build themselves in less than 10 minutes. (Go to videos + full article)

🎬 VIDEO PICKS – Short and fun videos:

LESS-THAN-5-MINUTE VIDEOS:

What Is the Sunday Evening Feeling? (4:58 minutes)

Student Life – Academic writing (4:19 minutes)
Study Skills – Reading difficult texts (3:07 minutes)
How stress affects your brain - Madhumita Murgia (4:15 minutes)
Learning Circles - Bus: Vocabulary and phrases to help you travel on a bus (2:35 minutes)
Ireland | Guinness Storehouse (2:49 minutes)
What Does Your Accent Say About You? (3:25 minutes)

5-TO-10-MINUTE VIDEOS:

How parasites change their host's behavior - Jaap de Roode (5:13 minutes)

How to ... give bad news (6:03 minutes)
The history of tattoos - Addison Anderson (5:16 minutes)
Why We Need Global Solidarity More Than Ever with Elif Shafak (6:51 minutes)
Men Are From Mars, Women Are From Venus by John Gray ► Animated Book Summary (6:41 minutes)
Digital literacy – Presentations (5:26 minute)

A LITTLE LONGER BUT WORTH IT!

Inside The Lives Of North Korean School Children (12:31 minutes)

Winter Holidays Around the World That Definitely Demand a Celebration (12:34 minutes)
10 WEIRD Holiday Traditions From Around The World (11:51 minutes)

💬 VOCABULARY PICKS:

Learners' Questions: Assure, ensure, insure (3:22 minutes)

Collocations 1 (Some words are often used together: Click on the buttons until you find the correct collocation.)
Historic or historical? (Click on “Next Test” for a new set of questions.)
Economic or economical?
Lightening or Lightning? (Both different from ‘lighting’= the lights that light a room, building, or street, or the quality of the light produced.)
Jewelry or Jewellery?
Collectable or Collectible?

💡 GRAMMAR PICKS – Assorted exercises and games:

Intermediate English grammar - Verb patterns, (verb + ing, verb + to) gerunds and infinitives (8:56 minutes)

MORE PICKS NEXT WEEK!

RESILIENCE - Bouncing back from adversity

👉 Excerpts from PSYCHOLOGY TODAY ⇒ GO TO FULL ARTICLES

All About Resilience

Adversity is a fact of life. Resilience is that ineffable quality that allows some people to be knocked down by life and come back at least as strong as before. Rather than letting difficulties or failure overcome them and drain their resolve, they find a way to rise from the ashes. Psychologists have identified some of the factors that make a person resilient, among them a positive attitude, optimism, the ability to regulate emotions, and the ability to see failure as a form of helpful feedback. [...] Resilience is not some magical quality; it takes real mental work to transcend hardship. But even after misfortune, resilient people are able to change course and move toward achieving their goals. There's growing evidence that the the elements of resilience can be cultivated.

From: https://positivepsychologyprogram.com/resilience-quotes/

Bouncing Back From Tough Times

[...] Do you demand a perfect streak, or can you accept a mix of losses and wins? Resilience is about getting through pain and disappointment without letting them crush your spirit, and research continues to uncover what resilient people do as they persist after missteps, accidents, and trauma. Stories of ordinary people thrust into extraordinarily challenging circumstances prove that disasters can be overcome—and can even make one stronger.

The Power of Failure

To fail is deeply human, as is the capacity to inspect, learn from, and transcend failure. That doesn’t mean one needs to pretend that it’s pleasant to fail or simply ignore the frustration that arises when a goal falls out of reach. But accepting the feelings that come with failure, being curious about them, and resisting the urge to judge oneself too harshly are critical skills to cultivate. Ultimately, failures are no more than stumbling blocks on the proverbial path to success: The lessons they teach have implications for humility, maturity, and empathy.

Linda Raynier ⇒ Fear of Failure (How to Overcome the Fear of Failure) (7:37 minutes)

👉 Excerpt from AMERICAN PSYCHOLOGICAL ASSOCIATION ⇒ GO TO FULL ARTICLE

The Road to Resilience

How do people deal with difficult events that change their lives? The death of a loved one, loss of a job, serious illness, terrorist attacks and other traumatic events: these are all examples of very challenging life experiences. Many people react to such circumstances with a flood of strong emotions and a sense of uncertainty.

Yet people generally adapt well over time to life-changing situations and stressful conditions. What enables them to do so? It involves resilience, an ongoing process that requires time and effort and engages people in taking a number of steps.

This brochure is intended to help readers with taking their own road to resilience. The information within describes resilience and some factors that affect how people deal with hardship. Much of the brochure focuses on developing and using a personal strategy for enhancing resilience.

💡 GO TO FULL ARTICLE for more information about:

What is resilience?
Resilience factors & strategies
10 ways to build resilience
Learning from your past
Staying flexible
Places to look for help
Continuing on your journey

From: https://www.apa.org/helpcenter/road-resilience.aspx

👉 Excerpt from MIND TOOLS ⇒ GO TO FULL ARTICLE

Developing Resilience - Overcoming and Growing From Setbacks

According to legend, Thomas Edison made thousands of prototypes of the incandescent light bulb before he finally got it right. And, since the prolific inventor was awarded more than 1,000 patents, it's easy to imagine him failing on a daily basis in his lab at Menlo Park.

In spite of struggling with "failure" throughout his entire working life, Edison never let it get the best of him. All of these "failures," which are reported to be in the tens of thousands, simply showed him how not to invent something. His resilience gave the world some of the most amazing inventions of the early 20th century, such as the phonograph, the telegraph, and the motion picture.

"I have not failed. I've just found 10,000 ways that won't work."– Thomas Edison

In this article, we'll examine resilience: what it is, why we need it, and how to develop it; so that we have the strength and fortitude to overcome adversity, and to keep on moving forward towards our dreams and our goals. (Continue reading)

WEEKLY PICKS - 23

📜READING PICKS – Articles, blog posts, quizzes and more:

From BBC CULTURE: Frida Kahlo and Diego Rivera: Portraits of a complex marriage, by Kelly Grovier. Mexican artists Frida Kahlo and Diego Rivera painted each other for 25 years: those works give us an insight into their relationship, argues Kelly Grovier.

Seen side-by-side in photographs, they struck an almost comic pose: his girth dwarfing her petite frame. When they married, her parents called them ‘the elephant’ and ‘the dove’. He was the older, celebrated master of frescoes who helped revive an ancient Mayan mural tradition, and gave a vivid visual voice to indigenous Mexican labourers seeking social equality after centuries of colonial oppression. She was the younger, self-mythologising dreamer, who magically wove from piercing introspection and chronic physical pain paintings of a severe and mysterious beauty. Together, they were two of the most important artists of the 20th Century. (Continue reading)

From BBC TRAVEL: The country with 11 official languages, by Denby Weller. Before coming to South Africa, the last thing an Australian would think is that there might be language difficulties.

[...] Discussion of the evolution of the colonial languages of South Africa is controversial, not least because they are just two of the 11 official languages in use today, and neither one is the first language for the majority of South Africans. In the 2011 Census, IsiZulu emerged as the language most spoken at home, followed by IsiXhosa. Afrikaans was a first language for 13.5% of South Africans, while English was spoken in just 9.6% of homes. Yet it is English that has emerged as the lingua franca – albeit a unique, local dialect enriched by the company of the many languages of the land. (Continue reading)

🎬 VIDEO PICKS – Short and fun videos:

LESS-THAN-5-MINUTE VIDEOS:

What causes antibiotic resistance? - Kevin Wu (4:34 minutes)

How the food you eat affects your brain - Mia Nacamulli (4:52 minutes)
Learn words from the news: hearing impairment, stimulate, hearing acuity, discriminate (3:41 minutes)
Where does gold come from? - David Lunney (4:34 minutes)
Ireland | Trinity College (2:32 minutes)
HOW TO TIP WHEN VISITING LONDON (4:00 minutes)
Academic Insights – 6 top tips for... working with others (2:32 minutes)

5-TO-10-MINUTE VIDEOS:

BBC 6 Minute English: What Makes You Laugh? with English Subtitle (6:03 minutes)

Why The Netherlands Isn't Under Water (7:14 minutes)
Skills for Work: Group Discussion Skills (7:12 minutes)
5 Minute Biographies - Season 2, Episode 4 - Mary I, Queen of England (9:03 minutes)
Skills for Work: Team-working Skills (5:33 minutes)
Digital Literacy – English for study (5:15 minutes)

A LITTLE LONGER BUT WORTH IT!

How to Survive Long Haul Flights - Travel Tips, Hacks & Tricks (11:42 minutes)

Improve Your Vocabulary: KNOW, MEET, MEET WITH, or MEET UP? (10:42 minutes)
Travel English | English For Travel And Tourism - Car Rental (12:03 minutes)
Australian Accent Tips 2 - Short Vowel Sounds (15:13 minutes)

💬 VOCABULARY PICKS:

VOCABULARY: Find out when to write hyphens (6:14 minutes)

Vocabulary Test (Multiple choice exercise)
Bedroom (Things you will find in a bedroom)
Christmas Traditions
Idioms - exercise 13
Idioms - exercise 14
Already / All ready
Already / All ready - exercise 2
Altogether vs All Together
GV029 - Expressions with TAKE, MAKE, PUT and KEEP

💡 GRAMMAR PICKS – Assorted exercises and games:

English Grammar - comparing with LIKE & AS (9:10 minutes)

like-as exercise
As and Like Exercise 1
Like and As
Verb Tense Consistency
Conditional tenses - exercise 2
Make or Do Exercise 3
Participle Adjectives (ED and ING Adjectives) 1
Indirect Questions 1
Have – auxiliary or main verb (3 DIFFERENT EXERCISES)
WHO or WHOM?
WOULD YOU LIKE or DO YOU LIKE? 1

MORE PICKS NEXT WEEK!

How Emotionally Intelligent Are You?

Boosting Your People Skills

We all know people who are in full control of their emotions. They're calm in a crisis, and they make decisions sensitively, however stressful the situation.

We also know people who can read the emotions of others. They understand what to say to make people feel better, and they know how to inspire them to take action.

People like this have high emotional intelligence (or EI). They have strong relationships, and they manage difficult situations calmly and effectively. They're also likely to be resilient in the face of adversity.

So, how emotionally intelligent are you, and how can you develop further? Find out below.

❓ QUIZ ⇒ How Emotionally Intelligent Are You?

💡 You may also be interested in:

FREE PERSONALITY TEST: Which personality type are you?

WEEKLY PICKS - 22

This is a weekly selection of reading articles, free online exercises, YouTube videos, games, quizzes and resources for you to further improve your English language skills and have fun – ENJOY!

📜READING PICKS – Articles, blog posts, quizzes and more:

From BBC CAPITAL: How similar you are to your partner can affect your happiness, by Christian Jarrett. Researchers have found that how similar you are to your partner can affect your happiness – but it’s complicated.

Among many monogamous species, from cockatiels to cichlid fish, studies have revealed a clear pattern: it helps to be more similar to your mate. When mating pairs are behaviourally similar, their reproductive success tends to be higher.

In human terms, this would imply it’s better to be similar to your partner. Indeed, for a long time psychologists and others have argued that similarity is probably beneficial – after all, then we will be more likely to enjoy the same pursuits, values and outlook on life.

But no matter how intuitive the idea seems, for decades nearly every study has failed to support it.

Now, though, a team of psychologists at the University of Amsterdam think they know why. They have taken a far more sophisticated and nuanced look at the issue than in previous research. (Continue reading)

From BBC REEL: Reel: The oldest coffee in the world. From huts in remote villages to internet cafes in the capital city, coffee ceremonies are the centre of social life and hospitality in Ethiopia, the birthplace of coffee. (Continue reading)

🎬 VIDEO PICKS – Short and fun videos:

LESS-THAN-5-MINUTE VIDEOS:

How to show annoyance (4:11 minutes)