Stories and Questions to help you practice listening and writing skills. 

English Stories & Questions

Grammar and English tips for kids, beginners and intermediate students. 

Learn English with William

My story began in London 3 decades ago, but my travels into the teaching world would not take long to begin...

Stories from UK to China

Getting promoted at work is an important part of growing your career and making progress in your professional life. Today we're talking about some tips that can help you to achieve this and some Business English vocabulary that you can use to talk about promotions at work. We'll look at some formal, more professional ways to speak about this topic, and some less formal, more casual ways to discuss this idea. If you use English as a second language at work then improving your communication skills can be really important for promotions and getting hired for new jobs. I hope this podcast will help you improve your English, communicate better, and have more natural, native, and fluent conversations with your colleagues, managers, and friends. 

This podcast is all about helping you to communicate better, in English, at work. I work with international English speakers from around the world who use English, at work, as a second or third language and I hope that I can bring some of the ideas, vocabulary, and grammar, from those sessions, to you in this podcast.

Don't forget, if you want to work with me in one on one, private sessions then I am a full time Business English coach and tutor. I spend my whole professional life helping international professionals to improve the way that they communicate at work. If you'd like to book some of my time then feel free to click on my profile and book some time on my schedule.

Breakout Business English

How to get a PROMOTION - Business English tips and vocabulary lesson

Today we're talking about work like balance. This is one of the most important topics that we discuss with our colleagues and friends so today I want to give you some vocabulary and ideas to make you more confident and fluent when speaking about this subject. Maybe you want to ask your boss if you can work from home, or maybe you're trying to protect your time and stop working on weekends! Hopefully today's podcast can give you some tools, tips, and ideas for how to do this. We'll talk about some natural and native ways to talk about your journey to and from work and negotiating for more time when scheduling deadlines. Also, if you're taking the IELTS or TOEIC tests, hopefully you'll find some useful, natural, and native sounding vocabulary here too that can improve your score. 

Talking about WORK LIFE BALANCE - Business English lesson

There is so much professional Business English vocabulary that we can use at work that originally came from sports! In this podcast we're talking about phrasal verbs, idioms, nouns and verbs that we can take from football, athletics, and the Olympic games, and use at work to improve the way that we communicate in English. So, if you want to express your ideas more clearly in meetings, explain your experience better in job interviews, or make your presentations sound a little more natural and native then hopefully you'll find this episode really useful. Also, if you're taking an IELTS test soon, either the general or academic test, then this is all great vocabulary to take into the exam with you. Especially for the speaking part of the test where informal, natural, and native vocabulary is encouraged! 

Business English vocabulary in sport! - BUSINESS ENGLISH vocabulary and communication lesson

Using English at work as a second language can be challenging. If you spend a lot of time on the phone this is even more true! Today we're talking about Business English vocabulary and communication skills that you can apply to your phone calls to sound more natural, native, and professional when you make or answer phone calls. We might call it telephone English! We talk about how to clarify information, how to ask someone to wait, how to transfer a call, and more. At the end of the podcast we'll have a quiz to check your understanding and find out how much of the new vocabulary and ideas you can remember. 

Don't forget, if you want to work with me in one on one, private sessions then I am a full time Business English coach and tutor. I spend my whole professional life helping international professionals to improve the way that they communicate at work. You can book some of my time at right here on iTalki and I look forward to speaking with you soon!

Using English on the phone - BUSINESS ENGLISH vocabulary and communication tips

Starting a job at an English speaking company can be a challenge. So much new information, meeting new people, and lots of conversations. Although listening is important, knowing what to say when you speak is important too. So for people who speak English as a 2nd language, today we're going to discuss some tips and vocabulary that we can use to make starting work at an English speaking employer as easy, simple, and stress free as possible. We'll hear some idioms, phrasal verbs, and more formal ways to express your ideas, to ask questions, to clarify information, and to introduce yourself. At the end we'll have a vocabulary quiz to see if you can remember what you learned, and a speaking challenge to get you talking!


STARTING A JOB at an English speaking company - Tips and Vocabulary

Let's talk today about how to give feedback at work, especially if you use English as a second language in the workplace and are not a native English speaker.

Giving feedback to your colleagues, your staff, and your managers, is an essential part of a great team. However, so few people actually do it! We often think of feedback as a scary thing that is reserved for end of year performance reviews and appraisals. However, the best teams in the world make both negative and positive feedback a key part of their company culture.

Today we’re going to hear some tips and ideas for how to give feedback to your colleagues. We’ll hear some great natural and native sounding vocabulary that we can use to do this, and then we’ll finish off with some challenges for you. Including a speaking challenge and a vocabulary quiz to see what you’ve remembered from today’s podcast. 

How to GIVE FEEDBACK to your colleagues at work - Business English lesson

Disagreeing with people is an important and healthy part of working on a team towards shared goals. The challenge is therefore, how can we do this in a way that protects and even strengthens our professional relationships? It would be great if the only thing we had to do at work was to agree with people. If everyone around us had great ideas, and if our colleagues' suggestions always seemed like the best things to do. However, this is not the case.  A lot of people worry that if they disagree with their co-workers then this could upset them or damage their professional relationships. However, if we do it right, disagreeing with colleagues when it’s appropriate can be great for your team, your career, and your reputation at work.

Today we’re going to hear some tips and ideas for how to disagree with your colleagues, we’ll hear some great natural and native sounding vocabulary that we can use to do this, and then we’ll finish off with some challenges for you. Including a speaking challenge and a vocabulary quiz to see what you’ve remembered from today’s podcast. As always, if you find this podcast useful and helpful please feel free to follow me on iTalki, it really helps me out. OK, with that said let’s get started. 

How to disagree with your colleagues! - Business English podcast

Teamwork and collaboration are two of the most important topics in Business English. Today let's listen to some vocabulary, grammar, phrases, idioms and ideas for speaking about this in English. As an international professional you are always collaborating with colleagues from around the world, working together to complete projects and deliver great work. Learning and understanding how we can work together better, build better teams, and have better relationships with our team mates is key to being the best professional possible.  If you're listening on Apple podcasts please don't forget to leave a review, it really helps me out! 

For non-native English speakers, and people who speak English as a 2nd language, (second language speakers), working in teams can be challenging. Listening to what your colleagues have to say, and also expressing your own ideas, making as few mistakes as possible, and creating great sentences can be a challenge that many people find really difficult.

In this podcast we're going to be listening to several tips for improving your teamwork and collaboration skills, we'll look at the vocabulary and business English that can really help us to use those tips, then at the end we'll have a short quiz to see how much of what we talk about you can remember.