Welcome back to the Skills 360 for today’s lesson on how to get the most out of a conference.
The digital age has changed the way we communicate and build relationships. And while it’s great to be able to connect with someone on the other side of the world by email, phone, or chat apps, face to face contact is certainly not dead. In fact, in this hyperconnected world, face to face contact is even more valuable, and one of the best opportunities for face time is at a conference.
Welcome back to Business English Pod for today’s lesson on socializing in english with your boss.
If you’re like most people, you might find socializing with your boss a little uncomfortable. It’s not like socializing with your friends or colleagues, which is an opportunity to relax and have fun. With your boss, you might have to be a bit more careful, both with what you say and how you act.
But this doesn’t mean you can’t be yourself or engage your boss on a more personal level. In fact, socializing with your boss is a really great opportunity to get to know each other better. And that can only help your position and career.
One thing you might want to do if your boss is visiting from afar is to point out things that might be interesting, like places of interest or aspects of culture. That can help break the ice. And it’s a good idea not to talk about yourself too much. Show interest in your boss; you can even ask about his or her professional background.
When you do talk about yourself, you might want to bring up your own history if the conversation provides a natural opportunity. But don’t be boastful. Be sure to respond with modesty if your boss praises you. And if you’re lucky, and your boss seems interested, you might even have the chance to bring up some ideas for the company.
In today’s dialog, we’ll hear David and Lily, who work at the Shanghai office of an American clothing company called Boston Vintage. They’re hosting their boss Cam, who is a production planner with the company. He’s been visiting China to talk with his staff about company strategy and to investigate some potential production facilities.
Listening Questions
1. What place of interest does Lily point out to Cam?
2. How does David respond to Cam’s praise of his team’s work?
3. How does Lily introduce the fact that she has some ideas for improving the company?
In our last 925 English lesson, we had a look at how to start a conversation in English. In this lesson, we’re going to learn how to keep a conversation going and how to end it.
There’s no point in striking up conversation with someone if you can’t keep it going. But what does that involve? I mean, it’s more than just asking and answering questions, right? So, what kinds of things can we say or do to make the conversation flow naturally? Well, one important way that we keep a conversation going is by showing interest in what someone says. Besides learning how to keep a conversation going, we’ll also look at language for showing interest, changing the topic and ending the conversation.
925 English will be a new business English podcast for beginner and intermediate learners. 925 English lessons will focus on chunks of language and English expressions that you can use in work and business. Each 925 English lesson will feature English phrases you can use in different situations and advice on why and how we use them in Business English.
In today’s 925 English lesson, we’re going to learn all about how to start a conversation in English.
Sometimes we call starting an English conversation “breaking the ice.” You can think of the “ice” as that initial silence between people. It could be between strangers on a plane or coworkers in a lunch room. And when we “break” the ice, we say something friendly to start a conversation. So how do you do that? What do you say? And what topics are best?
925 English will be a new business English podcast for beginner and intermediate learners. 925 English lessons will focus on chunks of language and English expressions that you can use in work and business. Each 925 English lesson will feature English phrases you can use in different situations and advice on why and how we use them in Business English.
This is the video version of our first 925English lesson, a new series we’ll launch next year. Our first 925English lesson is about how to say hello to colleagues and customers in English. We look at three different situations: How to greet someone you don’t know, how to respond to a greeting and how to informally greet a colleague or friend. For each situation we provide lots of examples and you can practice the language with some short role-plays.
925English is a new business English series for beginners and lower intermediate learners that we’ll launch early next year. 925English lessons will focus on chunks of language and English expressions that you can use in work and business. We’ll look at language you can say in different situations and advice on why and how we use it.
