Welcome to English as a Second Language Podcast, number 95, Nervous at an Interview, part 2.
This is English as a Second Language Podcast, episode 95.
I'm your host, Dr Jeff McQuillan from the Center for Educational Development in beautiful Los Angeles, California.
Today's podcast is part two of a two-part podcast.
We began with number 94, called Nervous at an Interview.
Let's get started.
I was just in time for my interview, and I was very nervous.
I walked up to the receptionist.
She was talking into a headset and typing on her keyboard.
Good morning.
I'm David Lasso.
I have an appointment with Dale Mendoza at 10 o'clock.
Could you please let her know that I'm here?
Please have a seat and I'll tell her.
About three minutes later, a man came out of the office and approached me.
He introduced himself as Ben, Ms.
Mendoza's administrative assistant.
He told me he would show me to her office.
I followed him and we stopped in front of an office door with a placard on the door with the name Dale Mendoza and her title Vice President written on it.
Ben knocked on the door and opened it.
By this time, I was feeling more confident and was actually looking forward to the interview.
Then I saw Dale Mendoza.
She was the same woman who was in the elevator on my way up.
I had been so nervous that I just couldn't stop talking.
I had told her how nervous I was about this interview.
I had even told her about my nightmare with a three-headed monster interviewing me for a job.
And now, here she was, my potential new boss.
Hello, you must be David.
It's nice to meet you.
There was a frog in my throat.
My heart was beating a mile a minute.
It's nice to meet you, too.
Have a seat and make yourself comfortable.
You see, I only have one head and I don't even bite.
Needless to say, that was not my best interview.
But you live and learn.
I'll know next time to keep my mouth shut.
In this podcast we heard the man going for a job interview who was very nervous, and he says that he was just in time for his interview.
To be just in time is the same as in the nick of time, meaning you get there right before the time or the moment you are supposed to be there.
The man walks up to the receptionist who's the person who works in the reception desk or the place where you first go in an office, sort of the welcome place, welcome desk.
And the woman who's working, the receptionist, is talking into a headset.
A headset H-E-D-S-E-T.
All one word is what you would wear on your head talking on the telephone.
So there's a piece that goes in your ear and then there's usually a microphone that comes out and it's on the top of your head.
There's a band that attaches it to your head, if you will.
And that is a headset.
And you can use a headset for talking on the computer, for example.
You can listen and talk in a headset.
The man says he introduces himself.
I'm David Lasso, which is the same, of course, as my name is David Lasso and tells the receptionist could you please let Dale Mendoza know that I'm here.
Could you please let her know that I'm here?
That's what you would say to someone who is a receptionist if you are waiting for an appointment.
Could you let her know means could you tell her that I am here?
The receptionist says, please have a seat, meaning please sit down here and wait.
And a few minutes later, a man comes out of the office, and that man is Ms.
Mendoza's administrative assistant.
An administrative assistant is someone who helps or assists a person.
Administrator, a person in charge of something.
An administrative assistant is someone who is a helper to the person who is the boss, or the person who has a supervisor or administrator role.
The man then shows him to her office, meaning he walks with him and shows him or indicates to him where the office is.
And the man notices, David notices that there is a placard on the door.
A placard, P-L-A-C-A-R-D, is just a sign.
So there's a sign on the door with Dale Mendoza on it and her title, Vice President.
The title of someone is what their position is, what they do in a company.
The president, the vice president, the chief executive officer, all of these are titles.
Titles can also be referred to political figures the president of the country or the prime minister of of a country.
That's a title, the words prime minister and president.
The man then realizes that the woman he is interviewing with is the same woman he talked to yesterday on the elevator and or rather talk to this before the interview on the elevator and realizes that he has told her all of these things about him being nervous.
He says and now here, she was my potential new boss.
Here she was, meaning she's here in front of me.
My potential new boss, potential means my possible new boss.
The woman introduces herself and David says in trying to respond that there was a frog in my throat.
When we say we have a frog like a F-R-O-G, like a little green animal that jumps a frog.
To have a frog in your throat means that you're having problems speaking.
This is often because you may be nervous.
And so there's a frog in his throat means he doesn't know what to say.
He says his heart was beating a mile a minute.
When we say something is going or beating, your heart is beating a mile a minute, it means that you are very nervous and that your heart is going.
The other expression would be your heart is racing.
It means it's beating very fast.
That would be going a mile a minute.
And, of course, going one mile in a minute, well, that would be very fast.
The woman says have a seat.
And says you see, I only have one head and I don't even bite, because David said that he had a dream that she was a three-headed monster.
The story ends with David saying, needless to say, that was not my best interview.
The expression needless to say is something you would say before something very obvious.
Needless to say, if it's sunny outside, the temperature might be warmer.
Not always true, I know, but the expression, needless to say, means you're going to say something obvious now.
It would be the same as obviously here.
David says, but you live and learn.
That's kind of an old expression.
Live and learn means you make mistakes and you learn from your mistakes.
You learn from your experiences.
And he finally says I'll know next time or the next time this happens, to keep my mouth shut, meaning I won't talk.
To keep your mouth shut means not to talk.
We sometimes say to children, Keep your mouth shut.
It's kind of a root, well, it's something you would only say to a child.
It's very rude to say that to an adult.
But a parent who's angry at their child might say, keep your mouth shut, meaning don't talk.
Now let's listen to the story at a native rate of speech.
I was just in time for my interview and I was very nervous.
I walked up to the receptionist.
She was talking into a headset and typing on her keyboard.
Good morning.
I'm David Lasso.
I have an appointment with Dale Mendoza at 10 o'clock.
Could you please let her know that I'm here?
Please have a seat and I'll tell her.
About three minutes later, a man came out of the office and approached me.
He introduced himself as Ben, Ms.
Mendoza's administrative assistant.
He told me he would show me to her office.
I followed him and we stopped in front of an office door with a placard on the door with the name Dale Mendoza and her title Vice President written on it.
Ben knocked on the door and opened it.
By this time, I was feeling more confident and was actually looking forward to the interview.
Then I saw Dale Mendoza.
She was the same woman who was in the elevator on my way up.
I had been so nervous that I just couldn't stop talking.
I had told her how nervous I was about this interview.
I had even told her about my nightmare with a three-headed monster interviewing me for a job.
And now, here she was, my potential new boss.
Hello, you must be David.
It's nice to meet you.
There was a frog in my throat.
My heart was beating a mile a minute.
It's nice to meet you too.
Have a seat and make yourself comfortable.
You see, I only have one head, and I don't even bite.
Needless to say, that was not my best interview, but you live and learn.
I'll know next time to keep my mouth shut.
From Los Angeles, California, I'm Jeff McQuillan.
We'll see you next time on ESL Podcast.
English as a Second Language podcast is written and produced by Dr Lucy Say, hosted by Dr Jeff McQuillan.
This podcast is copyright 2006.
