Dealing with a problem

In this video, Vanya goes to Yuna with a problem. Listen to the language they use for dealing with a problem and practise saying the useful phrases.

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!

Discussion

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Submitted by TadyEriel on Thu, 15/10/2020 - 14:51

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When was the last time you helped someone with a problem at work? Well, it was last year, I was teaching at classroom when I recieved a phone call, it was a collegue and she told me "I've got a bit of a problem",therefore I said "Wha's the matter". It turned out that,She was running of time and couldn't get in,so she wanted some help. I said "Don't worry, these things happen".Although, our boss told us if we arrieved late,we have to pay a fine. At the end,I had to open the auxiliary gate, Fortunately, nobody saw us.

Submitted by Denise on Thu, 08/10/2020 - 20:41

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It was a three weeks ago when I called my friend to help me in my work which is cleaning birdnest (expensive Chinese food) but she was being very slow so I decided to put all the finished ones in the same bowl so my chief wouldn’t know who made what. But unfortunately she didn’t get better and he realised that she was being slow.
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Submitted by danisep on Sun, 04/10/2020 - 04:17

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I don't remember helped anybody at work, but I have helped my sister and her classmates with some tasks and they pay me to solve his issues. They are working and studying at a time so they need help with tests and assignments. It is good to me because I can go over some topics and earn some money.

Submitted by cittàutopica on Thu, 24/09/2020 - 15:48

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In the last three years I helped my niece, because she had a child one year old and she had having evident troubles studying for passing the academic exams. Therefore I wrote the summaries of the books which she would have to study and she easily passed all the exams.

Submitted by Asni on Thu, 27/08/2020 - 22:55

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Sorry, I didn't realize the comment was so long before submitting it! Thank you for understanding.
Thank you for your efforts too. All the material you provide is very useful. It is helping me a lot in my English learning and you, the LearnEnglish Team, are just great; your attention and all the explanations you give are really helpful! Best regards

Hello Asni,

Thank you for saying so! It's nice to know we're helping people.

 

Peter

The LearnEnglish Team

Submitted by Asni on Thu, 27/08/2020 - 22:53

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It wasn't at work. I helped my brother to deal with a problem he had. He failed to pass a subject for the second time. In Canada, studies are expensive and a quite big amount of my parent's money was going towards his university fees. The problem was that engineering students were not allowed to fail twice the same subject, otherwise, they had to leave or to change to some other study program different from engineering. My brother was really worried, frustrated and a bit depressed because of that. So first, I had to talk to him several times and try to convince him that the problem was not as big as it seemed to be and there had to be some way to work it out. After a couple of days, he could calm down and contacted the departement responsible for that kind of issues inside the university. As he'd always been brilliant and got good marks, he finally was able to deal with this by following an alternative procedure for students that had been progressing well in their program. Afterwards, I had to talk to my parents and explain the whole situation, I also tried to make them understand that these things happened and they didn't have to worry as that was only an exception and everything was already solved.