Online Class Notes (Joe)

In today’s class we talked about work, the work-life balance, education, langauge learning, and a variety of other topics.

Vocabulary

Your vocabulary use was spectacular. The one vocabulistic shortcoming which I noticed was an overuse of the word ‘interesting’. Try to use a greater variety of words such as
‘fascinating!’,
‘that’s intriguing’,
‘how riveting’
As a response, you can also use the phrase ‘that makes sense’

You talked about getting your LD. I think you meant LLD.
LD is short for legal definition
The double “L” in the abbreviation LLD stems from Cambridge University’s practice of teaching both canon law and civil law.

Pronunciation

Your pronunciation is wonderful. Overrounding is not really an issue that will impact understanding. You may change the way you say ‘most’ and ‘focus’ if you wish, but it’s really not big a problem if you say your /o/ sound the way you do.

You had a few slips of the tongue when saying a couple of words. You may wish to practice these words just to make sure none of them present a serious problem

require
reach
see
confidently
abroad
exhibitions
focused
abandon

There were only two words that were really not very clear sometimes.
work
walk
I recommend that you practice these vowel sounds more to make sure you say them clearly.

Grammar

Overall, your grammar usage was incredibly accurate. Here are a few small issues that you can work on

currently, I’m working for MA
currently, I’m working on MA
Using ‘for’ here may make people think MA is a company that you work for.

they may also require different kind of service
they may also require different kinds of services
they may also require a different kind of service

most of the time I need to speak German with my colleagues
most of the time I needed to speak German with my colleagues
most of the time I used to need to speak German with my colleagues
Using the past tense or ‘used to’ is important here to let people understand you are not doing this anymore

how do you like about the life so flexible?
What do you like about such a flexible life?
How do you feel about such a flexible life?
Making this mistake can cause confusion. Don’t worry if this happens. Just say ‘sorry. slip of the tongue. what I mean is …’ and then rephrase.

thanks for your comfort – this is not natural. Instead, try saying

thanks for your understanding
I appreciate your sympathy
that’s comforting to hear
that’s a relief to hear

Perhaps nex time we can talk more about the artist Wassily Kandinsky. However, I would really like to leave the topics of discussion up to you. As your English is quite remarkeable, I believe that you know best about what you should practice talking about.