Resumes are a requirement when you’re applying for most jobs.  Although there are many ways to write one, they usually have five sections: your personal contact information, your skills, your work experience, your education and training, and your interests.  A well-written resume can get you an interview and make the difference between whether you get the job or not.  Let’s look at how to write each section.

At the top of your resume and centered on the page, put your first and last name.  Many people put their names in a larger size and in bold print.  Under that on two separate lines, put your complete address, including your postal code.  On the line under that put your phone number and finally your email address under that.

The next part contains your skills, abilities and areas of expertise.  Write your skills in point form, one under the other, lined up on the left side of the page.  You can also put your skills under different categories, such as General skills (for example, hard-working, reliable, organized, quick learner,) Computer skills (for example, proficient in using Microsoft Word, Outlook, Excel,) and Leadership skills (for example, president of your high school graduating class.)

The third part contains your work experience, starting with the latest one.  Again, line these up on the left side of the page.  Put the dates of these jobs (include both paid and volunteer jobs) either on the left or on the right side.  Put the name of the company that you worked for, the city it’s located in and your job title.  You can also include short descriptions of the kind of work you did in each job.

The fourth part contains your education and training.  Again, start with the latest, and include your university or college and any degrees or certificates you got from them.  If you’ve had post-secondary education, it’s not necessary to include your high school.  Also put any other training that you got, for example, a seminar on management.  Put the dates either on the left or on the right side.

The last part, which can be left out if your resume is getting too long, is your interests and hobbies.  Include things that show that you’re a well-rounded person.  If the reader of your resume shares one of your interests, you are more likely to get an interview.

Resumes should be one page if possible, and be on white paper.  Use an easy-to-read font like Times New Roman or Arial at size 12.  Do not include your physical features (height, weight, or a photo), your health (including pregnancy,) the country you come from, languages you speak (unless this is important for the job you want), your marital status, your sexual orientation, your religion, your Facebook or Linkedin accounts, or your age.

There are many online sites that can help you write your resume, so find one of them and get started.  Good luck in your job search.

Click on the audio recording below to hear the above lesson.

Vocabulary

requirement:  something that is necessary
applying:  asking to get
sections:  parts
personal contact:  how to communicate with you
skills:  things you are good at doing
interview:  face to face talk
whether:  if
centered:  in the middle
bold:  dark and heavy
separate:  different
contains:  has
expertise:  things you are excellent at doing
point form:  not complete sentences, short
categories:  titles
reliable:  dependable, doing what you say you’ll do
proficient in:  good at
latest:  last, most recent
degrees:  Bachelor’s degree, Master’s degree or Doctorate degree (PhD)
certificates:  a statement of completion
post-secondary:  after high school
seminar:  short course
left out:  not included
well-rounded:  doing or good at lots of different things
are more likely:  have a better chance
font:  lettering
pregnancy:  having a baby inside
marital status:  married, single, divorced, living with someone
sexual orientation:  straight, gay, lesbian, bisexual, or transexual

Pronunciation Exercise:  Listen and repeat the vocabulary above on the audio file below.

© 2014 Ambien Malecot

Before there was money, people bartered for things. In other words, they traded one thing for another thing, such as chickens for a pig.  Then in 1200 BCE people in China and India started using cowrie shells, which were small, shiny and colorful.  These beautiful shells came from the shallow waters around the Indian and Pacific Oceans.  Meanwhile, in the Americas wampum, a string of beads made from small white shells, was used as money.

A couple centuries later the first metal money, made of bronze or copper, was made in China and looked like the cowrie shells that people were already using as money.  The Qin Dynasty brought the round coins with square holes in the middle to all of China, and these coins continued to be used for the next 2000 years.  In Europe in around 600 BCE, coins were made from silver and gold.  This kind of money was first made in Lydia, present-day western Turkey, and from there it quickly spread to the Greeks, Persians, Macedonians, and then the Romans.

The first paper money in the world was made in China during the Song Dynasty.  It didn’t replace the older money but was used with it.  Europeans were only using coins up to the year 1600, made from the gold and silver they got from the Americas.  The first banknotes were issued in Sweden by Stockholms Banco in 1661, and many other European banks started using them too.  However, the system was imperfect because the value of all the different banknotes was not standard.  Then in 1816 England made gold the standard of value, and English paper banknotes could be exchanged for this precious metal.  The first paper money in North America, which was really IOUs, was issued by colonial governments to make trade between America and Europe easier since it was such a long journey, and people had to wait for their money for months.  By the start of the 20th century almost all countries had a gold standard backing their legal tender notes.  Because the United States won World War II, her currency, the dollar, was adopted by many other countries as the standard for their currencies.  Each currency was worth a fixed amount in US dollars.  For example, the French franc was worth 20 cents US.  This continued until 1971 when the US government stopped backing the US dollar with gold.  After this many countries stopped making the US dollar their standard.  Most of the world’s currencies became unbacked by anything except their ability to buy things.  For this reason, and the laws of government, money still had value.  The next time you reach for any money, you may look at it a little differently now that you know it’s history.

Click on the audio recording below to hear the lesson.

Vocabulary:

BCE:  Before Common Era (before the year 1)
shell:  the hard exterior of an animal
century:  hundred years
bronze:  a combination of copper and tin
coins:  small round metal money
banknotes:  paper from a bank that promises payment
imperfect:  not perfect
standard:  equal for everybody
precious:  expensive
IOU:  I owe you, a promise on paper to pay someone later
issued:  given to the people
colonial:  controlled by a European country
trade:  the buying and selling of goods between countries
journey:  trip
backing:  supporting
legal tender notes:  paper money supported by government
currency:  paper and coin money
adopted:  accepted and used
fixed:  exact and unchanging

Click on the audio recording below to hear the vocabulary pronunciation.

© 2014 Ambien Malecot

People all over the world enjoy eating pizza.  Here in Vancouver there are many pizza places where you can buy a single slice if you want a snack or a whole pizza if you want a meal.  The ten most popular toppings you can choose are pepperoni, mushrooms, onions, sausage, bacon, extra cheese, black olives, green peppers, pineapple, and spinach, in that order.  Did you know that pizza is a very old food whose history goes back at least 4000 years?  At that time people added ingredients to a flour and water flatbread to make it more tasty.  In the 16th century in Naples, Italy, flatbread was called pizza, a modern word for the old Latin word “pinsa,” and it was common food for the poor.  When tomatoes were first introduced into Europe from the Americas, many people thought they were poisonous, but by the 18th century it was common for poor people around Naples to put them on pizza.  Pizza was mostly sold outside, but pizzarias sprung up in and around Naples to meet the demand of this popular food.  Even tourists would come from other areas to sample Neopolitan pizza.  The first major type of pizza was called the Marinara, which had tomatoes, oregano, garlic and olive oil.  The second major type, dating from 1889, was the Margherita, which had the colors of the Italian flag – basil leaves for green, mozzarella cheese for white, and tomatoes for red.  The mozzarella cheese was specially made from the milk of the Indian Water Buffalo, and no other cheese was allowed.  In 1984, the True Neapolitan Pizza Association set the rules for a true pizza of Naples.  The dough had to be made by hand and not rolled, it had to be 35 centimeters or less in diameter and no more than .33 centimeters thick at the center, and it had to be baked in a wood-fired oven.  When you eat your next slice of pizza, you can have an appreciation of its long history.

Click on the audio recording below to hear the lesson.

Vocabulary:

slice:  triangle-shaped piece
snack:  a little bit of food
toppings:  things put on top
pepperoni:  a bright red sausage made from pork and beef.
sausage:  a food made from ground meat with a skin around it
spinach: a green-leaf vegetable
flour:  a powder made from wheat or other grains
tasty:  delicious
common:  usual
the poor:  poor people
pizzarias:  pizza restaurants
sprung up:  were built
demand:  wanting
tourists:  travelers
sample:  taste
Neopolitan:  from Naples
oregano:  a savory spice
garlic:  a spicy vegetable
basil:  a savory spice
dough:  the flour and water mixture
in diameter:  across the center
appreciation:  thankfulness

Pronunciation Exercise:  Listen and repeat the above vocabulary on the audio file below.

© 2014 Ambien Malecot

Everyone sleeps and everyone dreams.  This is a fact.  It’s easy to know why we sleep – our bodies need rest – but why do we dream?  Researchers believe they have answers to this question.  They say that while we are awake, going through our day, we have new experiences.  Some of these experiences we want to keep as memories, but most of them are not important, so we need to forget them to make space for new memories.  Our dreams allow us to do this.

When we sleep, we have two different dream states.  The first is called “slow wave sleep” or SWS.  In this dream state, our hippocampus, the part of the brain where our day’s experiences are stored, sends all that information in short and very fast bursts to a different part of our brain called the frontal cortex.  Then the hippocampus shuts down to allow a second dream state called “random eye movement” or REM, which gets its name from the fast eye movement under the eye lids that happens in this dream state.  In these dreams, which seem like real-time movies, the cortex plays back information from the hippocampus along with other memories that are stored in the brain and determines if the new information is useful or useless.  We save the useful information and discard the useless.  REM dreams happen every 90 to 100 minutes and we have 3 to 4 of them every night.  Also, they last longer and longer as the night goes on.  The last REM dream can last as long as 45 minutes.  Researchers say that if there’s strong emotion connected to a memory, then it is usually stored and remembered.  Although our brains are very active during REM sleep, our bodies are paralyzed so that we don’t act out our dreams.  To have an effective night of sleep, we need a balance of SWS and REM dream states.  Although our brains are active at night, by morning most people don’t remember their dreams.

Click on the audio recording below to hear the lesson.

Vocabulary:

researchers:  people who study things to find answers
experiences:  situations that teach us something
states:  conditions, kinds
bursts:  instances of high energy.
shuts down: turns off
random:  with no order or regularity
stored :  kept
determines:  decides
discard:  throw away, get rid of
last:  continue to be
emotion:  feelings
paralyzed:  unable to move
act out:  do what we’re dreaming
effective:  good for you
balance:  equal amount

Pronunciation Exercise:  Listen and repeat the above vocabulary on the audio file below.

© 2014 Ambien Malecot

For many years historians thought the game of poker came from other games with a similar name, such as the Irish card game of Poka or the French game of Poque.  It is possible that these games influenced the modern game of poker, especially in the area of bluffing.  Because no other card game before the game of poker had the same betting rules, modern thought is that the game of poker originated in the mid 1700s in the southern United States and spread throughout the Mississippi River region by the end of that century.  An English actor by the name of Joseph Crowell reported that the game of poker, as played in New Orleans, Louisiana, in 1829, was played with a deck of 20 cards with four players who bet on which person held the best hand.  Poker was played up and down the Mississippi River on riverboats, which became quite lavish to attract players. When the gold rush started in 1849, the game was brought west by adventurous men who moved to California to find their fortune.  It was played everywhere and became part of the social fabric of the early West.  It was a serious game, however.  There are many tales of men losing their ranches or other valuable assets in poker games.  At this point the 52-card deck was used and the flush was introduced to the game.  Later during the American Civil War, 1861 to 1865, the straight was added.  Modern poker became popular after the WSOP began in 1970.  By the 1980s poker was considered a commonplace recreational activity.  There was a boom in new players at the beginning of the 21^st century when on-line poker was introduced and TV poker was made popular by little cameras showing the hole cards of each player to the audience.

Click on the audio recording below to hear the lesson.

Vocabulary:

historians:  people who study history
influenced:  had an effect on
bluffing:  making other players believe you have better cards than you really do
betting:  putting money on a possible result
originated:  started
region:  area
century:  one hundred year period
deck:  collection of playing cards
riverboats:  large boats with a rear paddle wheel powered by steam
lavish:  richly decorated
gold rush:  a migration of people to the gold fields of California
fortune:  riches, wealth
social fabric:  the collection of activities that people do together
tales:  stories
ranches:  land to raise animals
valuable assets:  things that you own that are worth lots of money
flush:   five cards of the same suit: spades, hearts, diamonds, or clubs.
introduced:  done for the first time
WSOP:  World Series of Poker
commonplace:  played everywhere
boom:  explosion, fast increase
on-line:  on the Internet
hole cards:  the two cards that only the player can see
audience:  people watching and listening

Pronunciation Exercise:  Listen and repeat the above vocabulary on the audio file below.

To learn the vocabulary of poker, click here.

© 2014 Ambien Malecot

The first mention of soap dates from about 2800 BCE in ancient Babylon.  It was made by mixing oil from the cassia tree and ashes from a fire and boiling the two together in water.  A white foam would form at the top of the pot, and this would harden into soap when cooled.  In other parts of the world, people started making soap with other plant oils, but the method was the same.  In ancient Rome animal fat rather than plant oil was used.  The process of making soap was expensive, however,  so it was only used by the rich.  In the 8th century when production increased, soap became common in Italy, France and Spain, but people in the rest of Europe rarely used it until the 17th century.  Even in 1672 when an Italian gentleman sent a bar of soap to his German lady friend, he had to include instructions on how to use it.  In the late 18th century,  the use of soap increased because of the industrialized production of bar soap and because people understood that using soap made them healthier because it washed away microorganisms.  Around 1790 Nicolas Leblanc, a French chemist, figured out how to get sodium hydroxide (commonly known as lye) from salt, and used this in place of wood ash to make soap.  Today soap is used by people all over the world.  It is made from palm oil, coconut oil, olive oil or laurel oil.  If combined with sodium hydroxide, a harder soap results, and if combined with potassium hydroxide, a softer soap results.

Click on the audio recording below to hear the lesson.

Vocabulary:

mention of:  writing about
BCE:  Before Common Era (used to be BC)
ancient:  very very old
cassia tree:  a tree native to south China and southern and eastern Asia which produces cinnamon
ashes:  the powder that remains after burning
boiling:  raising the temperature so that bubbles form
foam:  many tiny bubbles
harden:  become hard
method:  the way to do something
process:  the way to make something
the rich:  rich people
production:  the making (of something)
rarely:  almost never
industrialized:  made in large quantities by factories
microorganisms:  tiny tiny animals that live on your skin
figured out:  solved the problem of
sodium hydroxide:  NaOH
potassium hydroxide:  KOH

Pronunciation Exercise:  Listen and repeat the above vocabulary on the audio file below.

© 2014 Ambien Malecot

Before you can get a job, there is often an interview process where you meet the person who does the hiring.  It may seem like a scary thing to do, but if you prepare yourself, you can have a very good interview.  Here are some things you can do.

Long before the date of the interview, do some research online to find out about the company.  You should find out what products or services the company offers, how many employees work there, who the company’s competition is, and how long the company has been in operation.  In the interview you are often asked what you know about the company, and if you know very little, then your interview won’t go very well, so make sure you know these things.

It’s also a good idea to visit the company and see what people are wearing.  Go to your interview wearing the same kind of clothes as everyone there.  The way you dress tells the interviewer if you’ll fit in with the other employees.  Start practicing your answers to the common interview questions.  (See below)

On the day of your interview, prepare yourself well.  Clean your body, including washing your hair.  Afterwards, don’t put on too much perfume or after shave lotion.  Strong smells could make the interviewer uncomfortable or worse.  Arrive at the interview site at least fifteen minutes before your appointment.  After you tell the secretary your name, take a seat and relax.  Repeat to yourself, “This is MY job.  All I have to do is finish this interview, and they will offer me the job.”  By saying this again and again, you start to believe it.  When you believe it, you have a positive attitude.  When you bring this attitude into the interview, you have more confidence, so the interview goes much better.

When the interviewer comes out of his or her office, put a smile on your face, stand up and walk towards him ready to give a firm handshake, which is neither too strong nor weak.  At the same time look him in the eyes and say, “I’m pleased to meet you.”  Looking someone in the eyes makes a connection, and this will help in the interview.

After you both sit down in his office, he will start asking you questions.  Answer as honestly as you can.  Sometimes the interviewer will ask a question that has no good answer, such as, “What is your greatest weakness.”   When this happens, choose an answer that’s not so bad.  Say, “Sometimes I get a little nervous when I’m asked to do something I’ve never done before, but I’m learning to ask others for help.  The words “sometimes” and “a little” make your weakness sound smaller, and the part after “but” tells the interviewer that you’re trying to improve.  An answer like this will usually impress the interviewer.  Some people think a job interview is only about answering questions, but this isn’t true.  For every three or four questions you answer, you can ask a question yourself, such as, “Does the company have daycare service?”  If you ask the interviewer a question about the company, it shows that you’re interested in the company.

Don’t ask the money question too early in the interview.  Put that question after questions about benefits, such as medical and dental plans.  Use these words when you ask the money question:  “What can I expect in the way of salary?’  Don’t use:  “How much does the job pay?” because it sounds like you’re not as interested in the job.

If you follow the above guidelines, your job interview should go very well.  Below is a list of common interview questions that you should prepare.

•  Why would you like to work for our company?
•  What two or three things are most important to you in a job?
•  How do you work under pressure?
•  What do you know about our company?
•  What was the worst problem you had in your last job?
•  Why did you leave your last job?
•  Tell me about your last job.
•  Why should we hire you?
•  What are your weaknesses?
•  What are your strengths?
•  Tell me about yourself.
•  Where do you see yourself five years from now?
•  When were you most satisfied in your last job?
•  What did you like about your last job?
•  Why are you leaving your present job?

Click on the audio recording below to hear the lesson.  When you get to the interview questions, pause the audio after each question and give your best answer.

Vocabulary:

If you want to send a package through the mail, there are some things you should do.  First, get a box that is just a little bigger than your item.  If your item is heavy, then use a thicker box.  If you’re sending something that can easily break, then put newspaper, bubble wrap, or something soft around the item in the box.  Make sure the item can’t move when the box is closed.  Secondly, you should tape it up well.  Use packing tape to do this. Don’t use masking tape or duct tape, which may not be accepted by some companies. Never use string, which can come off during shipping.  Thirdly, put your address on the top of the box in the upper left corner, and the address you’re sending it to in the middle.  It’s a good idea to put clear tape over both addresses so the shipper can read them even if they get wet.  Fourthly, if your package is going to another country, you have to put a “Customs Declaration” sticker on it.  On the sticker you should write what is in the package, the value, and the weight.  The clerk will ask if you want the package to go by “air mail” or by “surface mail.”  Surface mail goes by truck, train, or boat, and is cheaper but slower.  Lastly, the clerk will measure and weigh the box and charge you for shipping.  You can also buy insurance if the item is expensive.

Click on the audio recording below to hear the above lesson.

Vocabulary:

item:  the thing you are sending
bubble wrap:  a packing material made of plastic air bubbles
masking tape:  a tape used for painting and other temporary jobs
duct tape:  a strong silver tape used for air ducts
value:  how much it cost
charge you:  get you to pay
shipping:  moving the package to the other person
insurance:  protection in case of loss or damage

Pronunciation Exercise:  Listen and repeat the vocabulary above on the audio file below.

Conversation:

Student:  I’d like to mail this package overseas, please.
Clerk:  Okay.  Let me weigh and measure it.  It weighs 765 grams, and measures 12 by 34 by 22 for a total of 68 centimeters.  Because it’s less than 2 kilograms and 90 centimeters, it is classed as a small packet, not a parcel.
Student:  What does that mean?
Clerk:  That‘s the cheapest rate.  Do you want to send it by surface mail or air mail?
Student:  I’d like it to get there by the weekend, so send it by air mail.  What’s the charge?
Clerk:  That’ll cost you $16.60 plus $1.00 GST.
Student:  That’s good.  Here’s a twenty.
Clerk:  Thanks.  Here’s your receipt and $2.40 change.  Fill out this customs declaration form, and I’ll stick it on the packet.  Do you want insurance on it?
Student:  No thanks.  It’s not very valuable.  There.  All finished.  Thank you for your help.
Clerk:  My pleasure.

Vocabulary:

overseas:  to another country
packet:  package under 2 kg
parcel:  package over 2 kg
rate:  the amount you have to pay
charge:  price
GST:  Goods and services tax (in Canada only)
receipt:  proof of payment
customs declaration:  a paper that says what’s inside a package
insurance:  a guarantee of getting your money back if it’s lost
valuable:  worth a lot of money

Pronunciation Exercise:  Listen and repeat the vocabulary above on the audio file below.

© 2013 Ambien Malecot

This is the story of how a person of simple means became a legend in his own lifetime.  His name was John Chapman, born in 1774, and he was a strange man.  He prefered to go shoeless, wore non-stylish clothing, and wore a pot on his head.  However, people found him to be a kind and generous man.  His beliefs made him live a simple life, so although he owned land, he prefered to travel around the U.S. states of Pennsylvania, Ohio, Indiana, Illinois and northern West Virginia.  He traveled from farm to farm planting apple seeds in small nurseries.  From there they would eventually be planted in orchards by the farmer.  This is how he got his name Johnny Appleseed.  Since trees grown from seed produce apples that are sour, few people used them for eating or cooking.  Instead, most of the apples he was responsible for planting were used for making apple cider.  This was a free and abundant source of alcohol in frontier America in the early 19th century.  Along with apple seeds, John also brought knowledge of his religion to anyone who would listen.  He lived a mostly nomadic life, sleeping on the floors of the homes of the people who took him in while he was traveling.  He actually converted many Native Americans to his religion, and they had great respect for him, saying he had been touched by the Great Spirit.  John traveled through their lands with no trouble at all.  There are lots of tales about this man.  My favorite is this one:  One day on his travels when he was about to make a camp fire in a hollow log so he could sleep in it and stay warm at the same time, he found a mother bear and her cubs.  Rather than disturb the sleeping bears, he moved his fire to the other end of the large log and slept in the snow.  Lots of these kinds of stories are told about the man.   Johnny Appleseed was a simple man, but people all over the United States remember him.

Click on the audio recording below to hear the lesson.

Vocabulary:

simple means:  not much money
legend:  a story that is passed down through generations
pot:  the utencil that holds food that you cook
generous:  giving and sharing
beliefs:  things that you believe
prefered:  chose
nurseries:  small buildings where seeds can safely grow into plants
eventually:  after some time
orchard:  rows and rows of fruit trees together
sour:  opposite of sweet
apple cider:  an alcoholic drink made from apples
abundant:  found everywhere
frontier:  newly settled area
religion:  belief in God
nomadic:  having no home, always traveling
took him in:  invited him to stay the night
converted:  changed to a different religion
respect:  belief in someone’s goodness or knowledge
Great Spirit:  God
tales:  short stories
hollow:  only the outside is there
log:  fallen tree
cubs:  baby bears
disturb:  bother, make uncomfortable

Pronunciation Exercise:  Listen and repeat the above vocabulary on the audio file below.

© 2014 Ambien Malecot

According to studies started by Carl Jung, the famous Swiss psychiatrist and psychotherapist, and developed by psychologists since then, there are two ways people receive information from the outside world.  One way is with the senses, looking for details and facts, and the other way is with insight, trusting their own thoughts and feelings.  Similarly, there are two ways people make decisions.  The first is by thinking it out, and the second is by trusting their feelings.  These 2 variables make the 4 basic personality styles: controlling, promoting, supporting, and analyzing.

About 15% of people have a controlling style personality.  They are natural leaders and love to be in control.  They receive information through their senses and make fast and clear decisions with their feelings.  They are confident, disciplined, self-motivating, forward-looking people who want to get things done quickly.  They like to win, don’t mind stress, and often take risks.  They don’t like to waste time and don’t like other people wasting their time either.  They work best alone.  On the negative side they aren’t good listeners and can be seen as rude.  What they want most is to feel responsible and achieve a lot.

About 15% of people have a promoting style personality.  They are creative with many ideas, often at the same time.  They are friendly, energetic, and competitive people who start relationships easily and motivate others.  They receive information through their feelings and also make spontaneous decisions with their feelings.  They like to be the center of attention by telling good stories, driving fast cars, and doing things other people would never do.  They have good communication skills and can influence and motivate others.  They work best in groups, but like to do things the easiest way.  They don’t like details or anything boring.  On the negative side they talk before they think, are a bit disorganized, and can be forgetful.  What they want most is for others to recognize and approve of them.

About 35% of people have a supporting style personality.  They are friendly and good listeners.  They are dependable, trustworthy, patient, and loyal.  They receive information through their feelings and make slow, emotional decisions by thinking it out.  If they start something, they finish it, and if someone else starts something but doesn’t finish, they will often finish the job because they love to help.  They work best in groups and want to do things in an organized way.  They like to volunteer and be part of a group.  They don’t like public attention but prefer to stay unknown.  On the negative side they don’t take criticism well and don’t like sudden changes.  What they want most is to feel secure and needed.

About 35% of people have an analyzing style personality.  They are careful workers who hate to make mistakes.  They are conscientious, and sometimes unemotional people who like to gather information with their senses and make slow and careful decisions by thinking it out.  This often takes a long time because they need to gather more information to make the right decision.  They work best alone and don’t like to work under pressure.  They work well with details and schedules.  On the negative side they don’t like surprises or changes in their routine.  What they want most is perfection and truth.

Did one of these personality styles sound like you?  By knowing yourself and guessing what other people are, you can improve your communication and get along well with people with other styles.

Click on the audio recording below to hear the lesson.

Vocabulary:

psychiatrist:  a doctor who treats emotional, behavioral, or mental disorders
psychotherapist:  a doctor who treats people with emotional or mental disorders
psychologists:  scientists who study why people do what they do
senses:  seeing, hearing, smelling, tasting, and touching
details:  small things
insight:  a feeling or thought you have which does not come from your senses
similarly:  in a way that’s almost the same
decisions:  choices of what to do
thinking it out:  thinking about all the possibilities
variables:  things that can change
styles:  types, kinds
confident:  feeling sure about yourself, knowing you can do the job
disciplined:  always doing the things you have to
self-motivating:  giving yourself reasons to do something
forward-looking:  looking into the future
risks:  things that could  be dangerous
waste:  not use well
rude:  impolite
responsible:  feeling that it’s your duty to do something
achieve:  do important things
creative:  thinking of new things
energetic:  with lots of energy
competitive:  wanting to win
motivate:  encourages other people to do things
spontaneous:  done quickly without thinking
center of attention:  people seeing and listening to you
skills: abilities, things you can easily do
influence:  make people agree with you
recognize:  know who you are
approve: like what you are doing
dependable:  always there to help or support someone
trustworthy:  being a person that people can trust
patient:  able to continue for a long time
loyal:  always supporting another person
volunteer:  freely choose to do something
public attention:  lots of people looking at and listening to you
criticism:  telling someone what they’re doing wrong and how to improve
secure:  safe
conscientious:  always doing the right thing
unemotional:  not showing your emotions like anger, joy or fear
under pressure:  feeling that you have to finish the job quickly and do it well
schedules:  list of jobs to do and times to do them
perfection:  everything being perfect
get along:  interact
Pronunciation Exercise:  Listen and repeat the above vocabulary on the audio file below.

© 2014 Ambien Malecot