Hello, English learners.
Welcome back to EnglishPod.
My name is Marco.
And I'm Erica.
Today, we're bringing you a lesson about the office.
So, something related to business, right?
That's right.
And in this lesson, we're learning language you can use to tell someone they did a good job.
Okay, so a job well done.
You want to praise somebody.
That's right.
So we're going to listen in as a manager praises his employee on a presentation.
Okay, so before we listen to the dialogue, let's take a look very quickly at vocabulary preview.
Vocabulary preview.
Well, we're going to hear both of these words in the dialogue, and the first one is a whiz.
Whiz.
To be a whiz.
Okay, so it's an adjective.
Somebody is a whiz.
That's right.
And whiz comes from the word wizard.
Okay, so kind of like a witch, but a guy witch.
Yeah, man witch.
So a whiz is someone who is really good at something.
Okay, so I can say David is a computer whiz.
Or Antony is a math whiz.
Okay, so he's really good at computers or he's really good at math or he knows a lot about math.
Exactly.
Okay, and our second word.
Well, we're going to hear about slides.
Slides.
PowerPoint slides.
PowerPoint slides.
Okay, so everyone knows PowerPoint, right?
A computer program.
A computer program that you use to make presentations.
And a slide is one page in that presentation.
Okay, so if you have 10 pages in your PowerPoint presentation, you basically have 10 slides.
Exactly.
Very good.
So now let's listen to the dialogue for the first time and we're going to see what's happening in this business meeting.
And so that concludes my outline for our marketing strategy next year.
Thank you very much for your time.
Hey, that was quite the presentation.
Honestly, I was completely blown away by your strategy outline.
I've got to say, Alex, you really wowed me today.
Ah, come on.
It was nothing.
I'm just doing my job.
No, I think you deserve some recognition here.
I mean, if I look back on your previous presentations, this was a huge improvement.
Well, Kristen did give me a hand with the slides.
She's a real whiz on PowerPoint.
And I saw that you took on board my feedback about pricing strategies.
I really appreciate you taking the time to think through my suggestions.
Yeah, well, that was some good advice.
You made some really good points.
Well, I just wanted to say, well done.
Really, you did a great job.
All right.
Well, it sounds like the employee is a little bit shy or embarrassed by receiving all of these compliments.
Yeah, I guess he's kind of being humble about it.
Exactly.
So why don't we move on to the language now?
There are so many really useful phrases in this dialogue that I think we're just going to focus on those today.
So let's get started with Fluency Builder.
Fluency Builder.
Okay, so today on Fluency Builder, let's start with our first phrase.
The boss was so impressed with the presentation that he said, I was completely blown away.
To be completely blown away.
Okay, so to be completely blown away.
Or to be blown away.
All right, so what does that mean, to be blown away?
To be surprised and amazed, but in a very positive way.
Okay, so I can say, I'm surprised, I'm amazed, but I'm still not very clear on this.
Why don't we listen to a couple of examples of how we could use this phrase?
Example one.
Carl blew me away with his knowledge of political science.
Example 2.
I was blown away when I heard that Jenny and Rick had gotten married.
They had known each other for less than a month.
Example 3.
My parents were blown away when they found out I had a tattoo.
Okay, so I think that's a little bit clearer now.
And this is a wonderful way to give your praise to someone when they do something really amazing.
Okay, so completely blown away.
You blew me away.
That's right.
Now, what about our second word?
Well, it's quite similar.
The boss said that you really wowed me.
You wowed me.
To wow someone.
Okay, so it's spelled W-O-W, wow.
Wow.
So when you wow someone, you make that person go, wow.
Okay.
So you impress somebody to wow someone.
I can use it as a verb.
You wowed me.
I want to wow you.
Well, I want you to wow me.
Okay, so wow.
Now, let's take a look at our third phrase.
The guy, he's a little bit shy.
He's trying to be a little bit humble about, you know, receiving so many compliments.
So he says, oh, it was nothing.
It was nothing.
Really?
It was nothing.
It was nothing.
So that's a way of saying it wasn't hard or it's not a big deal.
It's not that important.
Exactly.
So if somebody's saying, wow, thank you so much for lending me your car.
It was nothing.
It was nothing.
All right.
It's a polite way actually to respond to a nice compliment.
Very good.
So before we move on to our next phrase, let's listen to a couple of examples with it was nothing.
Example 1.
Thanks for lending me your car this week.
I really appreciate it.
It's okay, really.
It was nothing.
Example 2.
I can't believe you organized this surprise birthday party.
Thank you so much.
Don't worry about it.
It was nothing.
Okay, so I think that's pretty clear.
Now, our final phrase here for Fluency Builder, the employee said that Kirsten gave him a hand.
Okay, so to give someone a hand.
Give me a hand.
Give me a hand.
Basically to help someone.
Help me or assist me.
Okay, so to help someone, give me a hand or let me give you a hand.
That's right.
All right, very good.
So great phrases in Fluency Builder today.
I think it's time for us to listen to the dialogue for the second time.
We're going to slow it down a little bit so we can catch all these phrases and then we'll come back.
And so that concludes my outline for our marketing strategy for next year.
Thank you very much for your time.
Hey, that was quite the presentation.
Honestly, I was completely blown away by your strategy outline.
I've got to say, Alex, you really wowed me today.
Ah, come on.
It was nothing.
I'm just doing my job.
No, I think you deserve some recognition here.
I mean, if I look back on your previous presentations, this is a huge improvement.
Well, Kristen did give me a hand with the slides.
She's a real whiz on PowerPoint.
And I saw that you took on board my feedback about pricing strategies.
I really appreciate you taking the time to think through my suggestions.
Yeah, well, that was some good advice.
You made some really good points.
Well, I just wanted to say, well done.
Really, you did a great job.
Okay, so like we said before, there's a lot of really helpful phrases in here.
And we're going to look at a few more of these in Putting It Together.
Putting It Together Putting It Together Okay, so let's start with the first phrase.
The boss was quite impressed with him, and he said, that was quite the presentation.
That was quite the presentation.
All right, quite the presentation.
So, this phrase, quite the presentation, it means it was good, right?
It was special.
It was very good.
Now, we can take the noun presentation out and replace it with any other noun.
Alright, so I can say, Bob is quite the basketball player.
Why don't we listen now for a few more examples.
Example 1.
I heard you are quite the dancer.
Can you teach me some moves?
Example 2.
Carl is quite the ladies' man.
He is very good when it comes to talking to girls.
Example 3.
Nancy is quite gifted at math.
She can solve any math problem you give her.
So you're saying in a very good way that something is very good.
Or special.
Very special.
All right.
So the boss was very impressed with the employee and he said and I saw that you took on board my feedback to take on board my feedback.
OK, so take on board something.
So here, my feedback is my suggestions, right?
And when you take on board my feedback, you accept my feedback and you use it.
OK, so I can say, for example, I want you to take on board my ideas.
Or Jenny took on board a few of my suggestions.
I was really happy.
Okay, very good.
So to take on board, to accept and use.
All right, so take on board feedback, take on board suggestion, take on board ideas.
Okay, very good.
And we have one more phrase I'm putting it together today.
To think something through.
To think it through.
Okay, so think it through.
So here, the boss said that he took the time to think through my suggestions.
So think through, what does that mean?
To think carefully about all of the details of something.
Okay, so to take into consideration all the aspects.
Right.
So why don't we give an example?
If you're thinking through a plan, right?
You don't just think about the end, the outcome.
You want to think about all of the small details, the steps in that plan.
Okay.
So maybe I want to buy a new car, but it's a lot of money.
So I really have to think it through.
So you have to think carefully about everything that is involved in buying the new car.
All the money you're going to have to, you know, not spend on parties, and Exactly.
You have to think it through.
You have to analyze it very carefully.
That's right.
So let's give a few examples of how we can use this phrase.
Hey, Marco, have you thought through my suggestions?
I can say you guys are very young.
I think you should think it through before you get married.
Good advice.
Okay.
So to think it through.
Okay.
So three great phrases.
And why don't we hear them one more time in our dialogue?
And so that concludes my outline for our marketing strategy next year.
Thank you very much for your time.
Hey, that was quite the presentation.
Honestly, I was completely blown away by your strategy outline.
I've got to say, Alex, you really wowed me today.
Ah, come on.
It was nothing.
I'm just doing my job.
No, I think you deserve some recognition here.
I mean, if I look back on your previous presentations, this is a huge improvement.
Well, Kristen did give me a hand with the slides.
She's a real whiz on PowerPoint.
And I saw that you took on board my feedback about pricing strategies.
I really appreciate you taking the time to think through my suggestions.
Yeah, well, that was some good advice.
You made some really good points.
Well, I just wanted to say, well done.
Really, you did a great job.
Okay, great dialogue and some interesting phrases for giving praise, right?
That's, I think, very important in the workplace.
Yeah, and you know what?
I read recently that something like six out of every ten employees don't get regular praise from their boss.
Yeah, it's very important.
And in some cultures well, it's not very common to praise or to give positive feedback to their employees.
Yeah, but I think for Western employees actually it's really important and it helps them work harder the more times they hear job well done.
Yeah, very good.
So now you have the tools that maybe you can use with your employees or... With your friends.
With your friends.
Yep.
Okay, so if you have any questions, comments, or doubts, please come to our website, EnglishPod.com.
Yep, Marco and I are always around to help you out.
So until next time, thanks for listening and goodbye.
Bye.
