Welcome to English as a Second Language podcast number 876, Preparing a Professional Portfolio.
This is English as a Second Language podcast episode 876.
I'm your host, Dr Jeff McQuillan, coming to you from the Center for Educational Development in beautiful Los Angeles, California.
Our website is ESLPOD.com.
Become a member of ESL Podcast and download the Learning Guide for this episode.
This episode is a dialogue between Melinda and Chad about preparing a portfolio of your work.
Let's get started.
Ta-da!
I'm finally done with my portfolio.
Do you want to see it?
Sure.
Sure.
This portfolio has samples of your work, right?
It does, but it's much more than that.
It's a presentation of the highlights of my career with examples of my groundbreaking work.
Okay, if you say so.
Let me show you.
The first page is a fact sheet of my major accomplishments, clients, jobs, and awards.
That's followed by a more detailed resume.
And then there are some samples of my best work.
And finally, there are testimonials from satisfied clients.
But this is still a work in progress, right?
What do you mean?
Well, your fact sheet is a half a page long.
There are two samples of your work, and there are no testimonials, just a blank page.
I admit that it's a little thin right now, but what do you expect?
I just started working in the field six months ago.
This portfolio shows that there is room for growth.
Yeah, plenty of room.
Our dialogue begins with Melinda saying to Chad that's an expression that we use when we're proud of something that we're presenting to someone else, like here is something that I painted, or here is my song, and you show it to the other person because you are proud of it, because you think you did a good job.
You say, ta-da, means here it is, look at this.
Melinda says, I'm finally done with my portfolio.
A portfolio is a collection of your work, usually the best things that you have done.
If you're an artist, for example, it would be a collection of your pictures.
If you're a photographer, of your photographs.
If you're a writer, perhaps, of some of the things that you've written.
Any collection of your work is that you use, either to give to someone who may give you a job, a potential employer, or to give to someone who might want to hire you.
So if you're an architect, you might have a portfolio of the plans that you've drawn of buildings to show to someone who might want to hire you to work for them.
Melinda has a portfolio.
She asks Chad if he wants to see it.
Chad says, sure.
This portfolio has samples of your work, right?
Samples, S-A-M-P-L-E, is one piece of something that is used to represent a larger group.
A sample, in this case, would be one of the things that Melinda has done.
An example is another way of saying this.
Melinda says it does.
My portfolio does have samples of my work.
But it's much more than that.
It's a presentation of the highlights of my career. with examples of my groundbreaking work.
The highlight H-I-G-H-L-I-G-H-T of something is the most important or most interesting part of something, the best thing among a group of things.
The highlight of the evening was when I told a joke and everyone laughed.
That probably wouldn't be the highlight of the evening, but that would be an example of what I think is the most important thing that happened during that event.
The portfolio has highlights or some of the best things that Melinda has done in her career, in her work experience.
With examples of, she says, her groundbreaking work.
Groundbreaking work is something that is new, something that is interesting, something that no one else has done before.
Chad says, OK, if you say so.
What Chad is saying here really is that he thinks Melinda might be. bragging a little bit.
Melinda might be saying how important she is.
And of course, no one likes to listen to someone else tell them how important they are.
So Chad doesn't really like the way that Melinda is describing herself.
Melinda says, however, let me show you.
Let me demonstrate to you by letting you look at something.
The first page of her portfolio is a fact sheet of my major accomplishments clients, jobs and awards.
A fact sheet.
S-H-E-E-T is just what it sounds like a sheet of paper, a piece of paper that lists certain important facts about you, or about a company, or about whatever is the subject of that particular report.
In this case, it's a list of Melinda's accomplishments clients, jobs and awards.
Accomplishments are things that you have done.
Achievements, usually things that are important.
It might be, for example, publishing a book.
That might be an accomplishment, something that you have done that you're proud of that's important.
Clients C-L-I-E-N-T-S are the people who have bought things from you, either your products or your services.
A client is the same thing as a customer, someone who buys something from you.
It's used more in professional occupations, like lawyers, for example, have clients.
Whereas if you work at a store, you would just talk about your customers.
Melinda's fact sheet has a list of her clients' jobs and awards.
An award is a prize or an honor given to someone to recognize some good thing that they have done.
Maybe they were the best salesman of that month.
Or maybe someone was the fastest runner in their high school.
They might get an award for that.
Usually an award is either a medal or perhaps what we would call a trophy.
T-R-O-P-H-Y.
A trophy is... a sort of like a small statue, really, that people give as an award.
An award might also just be a piece of paper that says you have won this award.
Melinda says that the fact sheet that she has is followed by a more detailed resume, that When we say it's followed by, we mean that after the fact sheet, perhaps underneath it in the portfolio, as you open up the folder where she might have this information you find a resume.
A resume, R-U-S-U-M-E, is a written document showing your work and education.
It's used if you are applying for a job.
It's a summary of the places you've worked, the schools you've attended, the things that you've done.
Melinda then says, And then there are some samples of my best work.
And finally, there are testimonials from satisfied clients.
A testimonial.
T-E-S-T-I-M-O-N-I-A-L is a written statement, or perhaps an audio or video recording from a customer who is happy with whatever they purchased.
A testimonial is usually is a letter or an email that someone sends a company that says wow, I really loved what you sold me.
I really love this thing that I purchased from you.
I bought.
Satisfied clients would be clients who are happy, who are pleased with something who are pleased with, or happy with whatever they bought from you.
Chad says satisfied But this is still a work in progress, right?
A work in progress, P-R-O-G-R-E-S-S, is something that isn't completed yet.
It isn't finished.
You haven't done everything you need to do.
Melinda says, what do you mean?
Chad says, well, your fact sheet is a half a page long.
In other words, it's not very long.
It's just one half of a piece of paper.
He says there are two samples of your work, which isn't very much, and there are no testimonials, just a blank page.
Blank page.
B-L-A-N-K, here means empty, without any words, without any photos, nothing on it.
So she doesn't have any testimonials, and she only has two samples of her work.
Melinda says, I admit that it's a little thin right now.
When she says it's a little thin, she means there isn't much in there.
There isn't a lot of content.
There isn't a lot of substance.
But she says, what do you expect?
That question, what do you expect, means you should not be surprised.
I just started working in the field in this kind of job six months ago.
This portfolio shows that there is room for growth.
The expression room for growth G-R-O-W-T-H means that you have opportunities for improvement, that it's not finished, it's not complete.
You still have a lot more that you can accomplish.
Chad says, yeah, plenty of room.
Plenty, P-L-E-N-T-Y, of something is a lot of something, much.
We have plenty of food.
We have a lot of food.
Melinda has plenty of room for growth, meaning plenty.
She hasn't really accomplished very much so far, so of course she can only do better in terms of the things she puts in her portfolio.
Now let's listen to the dialogue, this time at a normal speed.
Ta-da!
I'm finally done with my portfolio.
Do you want to see it?
Sure.
This portfolio has samples of your work, right?
It does, but it's much more than that.
It's a presentation of the highlights of my career with examples of my groundbreaking work.
Okay, if you say so.
Let me show you.
The first page is a fact sheet of my major accomplishments, clients, jobs, and awards.
That's followed by a more detailed resume.
And then, there are some samples of my best work.
And finally, there are testimonials from satisfied clients.
But this is still a work in progress, right?
What do you mean?
Well, your fact sheet is a half a page long.
There are two samples of your work and there are no testimonials, just a blank page.
I admit that it's a little thin right now, but what do you expect?
I just started working in the field six months ago.
This portfolio shows that there is room for growth.
Yeah, plenty of room.
We thank our scriptwriter for her groundbreaking work.
I speak, of course, of the wonderful Dr. Lucy Say.
From Los Angeles, California, I'm Jeff McQuillan.
Thank you for listening.
Come back and listen to us again right here on ESL Podcast.
ESL Podcast English as a Second Language podcast is written and produced by Dr Lucy Say, hosted by Dr Jeff McQuillan.
Copyright 2013 by the Center for Educational Development.
