Dealing with a problem
Do the preparation exercise first. Then watch the video and do the exercises to check your understanding and practise the language.
Transcript
Ana: Hi! I'm Ana. Welcome to What to Say!
Do you know what to say when you need to deal with a problem? Listen out for useful language for dealing with a problem. Then, we'll practise saying the new phrases – after this.
Vanya: Yuna!
Yuna: Oh, morning!
Vanya: I've got a bit of a problem.
Yuna: What's wrong?
Vanya: Can we talk in private?
Yuna: Of course.
Yuna: Right, so, what's the matter?
Vanya: Well, I've made a mistake. A big mistake.
Yuna: OK. I'm sure we can work it out.
Vanya: It was such a silly thing to do!
Yuna: I'm getting worried now. What's going on here?
Vanya: OK. It was late last night and I was tired. I wasn't concentrating and I accidentally used my company credit card instead of my own to buy something!
Yuna: Don't worry, these things happen. There's a procedure to deal with this. How much did you spend?
Vanya: It was quite expensive.
Yuna: How expensive?
Vanya: It was very expensive.
Yuna: Vanya, how expensive?
Vanya: £3,782 … and 56 pence.
Yuna: What? You spent £3,782?!
Vanya: … and 56 pence.
Yuna: What was it? Vanya?
Vanya: Just a weekend break! I just like a really nice hotel!
Yuna: OK, I see. Thanks for letting me know.
Vanya: Ah! I feel so much better now I've told you. Please don't tell Noelia.
Yuna: Oh, I'm definitely going to tell her!
Noelia: Hi!
Vanya: Hi!
Ana: Hello again! Wow, that's a lot of money for a weekend break. So, did you notice the useful phrases used for dealing with a problem? Listen to me and then repeat.
What's wrong?
I've got a bit of a problem.
Could we talk in private?
What's the matter?
I've made a mistake.
I'm sure we can work it out.
Don't worry, these things happen.
Thanks for letting me know.
I feel so much better now I've told you.
Ana: Try and use some of these phrases the next time you need to deal with a problem in English. Bye for now!
The last time I helped someone at university was when my group member was working on his role. He usually forgot what he had to do, so I suggested to him to take a note, and I gave him a piece of paper. Since then, he has not forgotten his work again.
The last time I helped someone at work was when a teammate was struggling with integrating an API into our frontend application. He was having issues handling asynchronous data using JavaScript fetch() and understanding how promises worked.
I sat down with him and explained how API requests work step by step — from sending the request to handling the response and errors.
After that, I created a small example project and shared it with the team so everyone could understand API integration better. This not only solved his issue but also improved our team’s overall efficiency.
I have always helped my colleagues at work because i believe that helping others is a virtue we should have as humans
Actually, I'm still a student but I usually help my friends and family fixing their problems.
The last time I helped someone was at work, when my colleague came to me and said he had a problem, and he made a silly mistake by sending an email to the wrong person. I comforted him and showed him the best way to send an email to a specific person by searching for the person first, then taking a moment to review the email after finishing writing it
It had been a long time since a member of my team told me that he had accepted tasks from other departments without getting approval from the line manager, which is the usual procedure. As a result, we updated some procedures and sent an email to the department to explain how to handle an urgent situation without waiting for line manager approval.
Actually, I don't remember when was the last time I helped someone at work. Seems I've never did it before, my collegues just don't make any mistakes)
By the way, it's impossible to leave the comment to the first video of this series.
Hello Safe_Mode
This is fixed now. As always, thanks for letting us know.
Best regards
Kirk
LearnEnglish team
Today, a colleague asked me for help with a course we’re planning on psychological first aid.
I have some experience in this area.
We recently received feedback asking for more practical activities and fewer theoretical parts.
Today, I was teaching part of the course.
It was two weeks ago with my cousin. She is in college and her teacher sent her a group project related with law matters, normative, articles, even a study case she has to defend as if she was a lawyer herself along with her teammates. Since I graduated from college three years ago as a lawyer, I knew what it has to be done in these things, so I gave her all the information I know from law school and tips so she can do her best defending her project.