Listen to these stories, check your listening comprehension and learn even more (on the topic, with vocabulary and exercises by booking a lesson with me.

Russian Language: a Real Breakthrough

Recruiter: Why do you want to do this job?
Candidate: Iwould be very happy to work here because I really respect the work that this company does and I have always had a positive opinion of it. I believe that with the skills that I have learned over the past six years in this industry, I would be an excellent person to have on the team.
Recruiter: What experience do you have?
Candidate: When I started, I worked as a sales rep for two years and learned a lot during that time and went to a lot of training courses. After two years, I was promoted and became an area manager with a small team of two other people. I did that for three years, before moving to the job I do now. I currently manage a different area with a larger team of five people and since I have been there, our sales have increased by 25%.
Recruiter: Why are you looking for work?
Candidate: Ihave been with this company for six years now and I would like to have experience with a new company and I’m looking for a new challenge. Also, I have a new manager who started a couple of months ago and I don’t really get along with him. He’s pretty stupid.
Recruiter: How would you describe yourself?
Candidate: I’m a hard worker and enjoy learning new skills. I really love working in sales and don’t have a problem with working as long as I need to reach my goals. I’m good working as part of a team, but I’m happy to work by myself too.
Recruiter: What is your dream job?
Candidate: Selling ice cream on a beach! Sun, ice cream and sales: my three favorite things.
Recruiter: What are you good at?
Candidate: One of my biggest strengths is listening to customers to find out what they need and building relationships with them.
Recruiter: How do you deal with a large amount of work?
Candidate: First, I decide what are the most important tasks to deal with and I do those first. If I’ve got a lot to do, I will get up extra early and get a head start.
Recruiter: What are your hobbies?
Candidate: I enjoy cycling and usually go...

English Conversation/Dialogue

Job Interview


♣ Congiuntivo – Coniugazione dei verbi essere e avere 
♣ Passato prossimo
 ♣ Congiuntivo – Coniugazione dei verbi in -ire: Dormire 
♣ Periodo ipotetico –secondo e terzo tipo
♣ Passato remoto 




Le vacanze a Milano di Alfonso

Sono anni ormai che passo le vacanze del periodo di Natale a Milano, perché nell’azienda dove lavoro, hanno bisogno che io sia presente anche nei giorni tra Natale e Capodanno, così non vale la pena tornare giù fino a Trapani per due giorni soltanto. 
Nonostante abbia molti amici a Milano, per me è sempre strano restarmene qui, al nord, lontano dalla mia famiglia che si trova in Sicilia in quei giorni. Oltre al cibo che trovo un po’ pesante per via dell’uso del burro, un altro aspetto a cui ancora non mi abituo al nord è la temperatura e il clima. Devo ammettere che fin dal primo momento in cui mi sono trasferito a Milano, ho subito avvertito una certa difficoltà ad abituarmi al clima più rigido di Trapani.
“Ma il sole qui quando esce fuori?” 
Ho chiesto una volta, a un collega di Modica.
“Il sole è sempre assente, se lo vuoi allora immaginalo”.
Sono rimasto a pensare al sole nei primi mesi di vita qui, poi col tempo mi sono abituato alla sua assenza. 
Se potessi scegliere dove vivere, andrei a vivere senz’altro in un posto caldo come la Sicilia, perché io sono molto metereopatico e quando il cielo è grigio e fa freddo, mi sento triste. Certo, se avessi studiato per diventare una guida turistica, un cuoco, un insegnante, allora sarebbe stato più semplice vivere al sud e trovare un lavoro in Sicilia. Ma siccome ho studiato per diventare un esperto di storia dell’arte di Milano, allora è difficile trovare lavoro altrove. Tuttavia, a parte il clima, Milano in realtà mi piace molto: è una città energica e divertente, aperta e con carattere. Tanti anni fa, quando ancora vivevo a Trapani, andai in gita con la scuola a Parma, ma non mi colpì la sua architettura come quella di Milano. ......


Italiano espresso

Lettura livello b1/b2: Le vacanze a Milano di Alfonso

Part 1 of 5. 

Inside a dusty workroom, an old craftsman held up a chess piece to the window. He rotated it in the sunlight and inspected its every detail. 

“Perfection,” said the craftsman. 

He added it to the set he had been building. Sixteen grey pieces sat on his worktable, all handmade and almost ready for sale. 

The craftsman felt very satisfied with his designs. He was ready for the final stage of the process. He picked up one of the pawn pieces and said, “What about you, my little friend? What colour would you like to be?” 

He reached for his paint brush, dunked it into glass of water and then into a container of paint. The grey pawn received a heavy coating of shiny white paint.

Fast-forward several years into the future. After repeated use and abuse, that little pawn’s proud white colour had faded. Areas of his original grey were visible. Because of this, whenever players assembled their chess set, they left this little grey-white pawn to the side. 

“Uhm, is that yours or mine?” said the white player. 

“It doesn’t matter. Put it back in the box and choose from the others,” said the black player. 

This little plastic pawn’s name was Gary. 


Being a Cloud

Gary the Chess Piece

A listening exercise for understanding English through Korean context.

Listening script 1


Listening script 2


Listening script 3

Colt Ssam 콜트 쌤

Ep.1 - 도와주기 & 감사하기

みんなの日本語　6課
わたしとゆかさんがはなします。
わたし：あー、ゆかさん
ゆかさん：なんですか。
わたし：あした友だちと花火（はなび）をします。ゆかさんもいっしょにしませんか。
ゆかさん：いいですね。なんじからしますか。
わたし：８じからします。
ゆかさん：わかりました。
わたし：じゃあ、あした。
花火はすきですか。
花火はきれいです。
私は花火が大好（だいす）きです。

みなさんは、朝（あさ）ごはん　なにをたべますか。
わたしは　パンとたまごをたべます。
なにをのみますか。
わたしは　オレンジジュースとコーヒーをのみます。

あした　なにを　しますか。
わたしは　テニスをします。

エミリーさん　あしたなにをしますか。
母（はは）とデパートへいきます。
デパートでなにをかいますか。
かばんをかいます。

スザンヌさん　あした　何をしますか。
図書館（としょかん）へいきます。
いっしょに　べんきょうしませんか。
いいですね。
スタバでコーヒーをのみましょう。
スタバへいきましょう。
じゃあ、１０じにあいましょう。

「スタバ」わかりますか。「スタバ」は「スターバックス」です。
たくさん聞（き）いて、練習（れんしゅう）してください。


にほんごのれんしゅう

みんなの日本語　Lesson 6

Swedish furniture company IKEA has opened a new store.

There's nothing strange about that. But wait a minute — the new store is inside a video game. And it's paying real people to work there!

IKEA advertised for 10 positions in a virtual store it has opened in Roblox — and got more than 178,000 applications!

Roblox is a popular online gaming platform that lets users play games and create their own.

IKEA has created The Co-Worker Game on the platform. And it needed some employees.

At the start of June, IKEA began looking for people aged 18 and over in the UK and Ireland to work as paid members of staff at the in-game store.

It said staff would help customers, and would be able to get promoted and move departments, just like in real life.

The company said it wanted to show that it does things a little differently.

Wes Davis from technology website The Verge called it a "weird" but "harmless" idea.

He said he'd never heard of other companies paying people to work in a game, but added that US company Walmart has already created a game on Roblox.

IKEA said its employees would be paid a little over $16.50 per hour during their work-from-home shifts, which is about the same as the company's other workers get paid in the UK.

The store opened on June 24. It's not clear how long the workers will be employed for, although the company said the positions would be on a "limited contract."

It also said anyone who didn't get a job could still experience the virtual store and win in-game prizes.

Practice Listening, Reading & Comprehension

IKEA Pays People Real Money to Work in Video Game

Convergent Thinkers vs. Divergent Thinkers: Is One Better Than the Other?

verybody is capable of both convergent and divergent thinking, depending on the situation. However, it’s natural to lean more toward one or the other when approaching problems and projects.

“Some people have a natural preference for divergent thinking. They are the people in organizations who love to come up with new ideas,” says Manning, “They are also the people who are most useful when solving daunting, complex challenges because they are more likely to articulate ideas that are new and useful.”

The real issue lies in becoming too reliant on one method of thinking. “Too much divergent thinking can lead to endless ideation and no solutions. Too much convergent thinking can lead to no new ideas and ‘analysis paralysis,’”

Project Management and the Lure of Convergent Thinking
That’s a trap that project management professionals—who are notoriously married to their plans and processes—can fall into easily.

Let’s break this all down with some examples. Divergent thinking starts with an objective—perhaps you need to generate 1,000 new leads within a month. You start by brainstorming creative ideas and solutions to satisfy that goal: happy hours with famous speakers, direct mailers including $100 gift cards, a man in a gorilla suit on the corner of Times Square.

From there, you move into evaluating those options and settling on the one(s) that works best. This is an example of convergent thinking.

Let's continue later today on this topic and explore it further. See you soon.

The Habits of Highly Effective English Communicators

Business English For Project Managers. Reading & Comprehension

https://drive.google.com/file/d/1oM7sziUXE8M-3efSRFppDQ1erMLb00sN/view?usp=drivesdk