Johnny’s ESL Podcast

I am now teaching classes online.  If interested, please contact me via skype, my skype name is johnnyesl.

Thanks

The mp3 and transcript are both provided for free by clicking previous entries at the bottom of this page. However, if you would like to practice the idioms and expressions, you can do this now for only a nominal fee of $2.00. You will get between 3-4 pages of exercises that will help you fully understand and practice the expressions studied in the podcast. The PDF file includes vocabulary practice, reading, fill in the blank, true/false activities, and unscrambling sentences. An answer key is also provided.

I have been having a hard time dealing with my co-worker Daniel for the past year.  Initially, I thought that maybe he was just a slow learner or that he was just green.  I decided that I would cut him some slack and that eventually he would get the hang of how things were done at the office.  He would make mistakes which I would brush off even though they were hurting our bottom line.  I have raised this matter with my boss repeatedly, but he just says that it takes time to learn the ropes of the financial industry.  I see where he is coming from to a point, but when is enough enough.   I guess the part that bothers me most is not just the fact that Daniel is inept, but he also has a nonchalant attitude which makes me crazy.  I guess I might have to go over my boss’s head to get this situation resolved.  However, If I do that my boss might give me the cold shoulder if I need him in the future.  I’ll keep you posted on what I decide to do.

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I had to do the most difficult thing I have ever done as a boss yesterday.  I had to fire an engineer who was not performing up to par.  The part that was the most difficult was that I had to fire him right before the Christmas holidays.  I really felt like Scrooge, but I knew what I was getting into when I took this job.  The meeting was scheduled to start first thing in the morning because I wanted to get it over with.  However, there was a problem that arose at our our office in New York that I had to deal with.  This put back the meeting for a few hours which only put me on edge even more.   So, at around one Jim came into the office looking extremely uptight.  I think he knew that the writing was on the wall.  He had not been performing well and he had received several warnings regarding his performance.  I told him that I had to let him go and that I wished him the best.  After listening to him tell me his side of the story, he ended with telling me he understood and thanked me for the opportunity.  It was such a weight off my mind to finally have the meeting over and with that I left work early.  On my way home, I decided to treat myself so I stopped at an electronics shop and bought myself a 45 inch LCD TV.  I quickly forgot about the day I had at work.

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My colleague Jake continuously asks me if our firm has any plans to merge in the near future.  I have told him repeatedly that I have to keep that information close to the vest.  He told me yesterday that I was always being tight lipped about corporate issues.  He said that according to the rumor mill, an announcement was imminent.  I told him that the only thing I knew was that nothing had been set in stone.  I also informed him that the situation regarding the merger was in flux and that no announcement would be made until we had crossed all of our T’s and dotted all the I’s.

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Opening Remarks:

Ladies and Gentlemen, I want to thank all of you for being here.  There are some very important decisions we need to make as to how we are going to stop the bleeding.  There is no reason for me to sugarcoat anything.  If we want to stem the tide , we are going to have be disclose everything to our stockholders, customers, media, and investigators.  We received confirmation this morning that the problem with the products originated in our factory.  I feel that we need to be completely transparent here.  By being transparent, we will show that we are cooperating in good faith and trying to get to the root of the problem.  If we all chip in and do our part, hopefully this will all blow over quickly. Does anybody have anything they would like to add?

B) I’d like to offer my two cents……………..

stem the tide— to stop a very strong (usually negative trend)

to blow over—  to subside, wane, or pass over with little lasting effect.

disclose— to share everything openly.

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1) I think I deserve a pat on the back for the presentation I gave at the conference.

2) I burned the midnight oil for two weeks to get ready for the exam, however I just passed by the skin of my teeth.

3) Have you found  why Jim and Jason had that big falling out a week ago?

4) It has been over a month since she called you, you need to get the hint that she doesn’t want to see you anymore.

5) When was the last time you were floored by something?

6) I can drop you off at the mall on my way to work.

7) I appreciate you taking me under your wing.  The knowledge I have obtained from watching you work will be invaluable to me.

8) I felt like a fish out of water when I first visited Japan.

9) I got into hot water with my boss because I didn’t meet the deadline.

Dictation:

I am writing to inform you that we have not yet received payment for the web design work that we did for your company.  The final payment of 345.27 is now two months past due.  We request that final payment be made promptly.  We feel that the work we did for your company was professionally and promptly done.  Moreover, we have also received a letter stating that your company was pleased with our performance.  If payment has already been made, please disregard this notice.

Pronunciation tip:

see 

she

ship

sheep

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White lies are the keys to success in every marriage or relationship.  We all tell white lies on a daily basis.  I can not imagine ever always telling the truth.  I know that everyone out there listening, especially the guys knows what I’m talking about.  Your wife or girlfriend comes home from the hairstylist and asks how her hair looks.  Even if you thought that her hair didn’t look that great, you would never say it.  All guys would say, “it looks great baby.”  What about the “do I look fat in these jeans” question.  What man in his right mind would ever say yes.  What man would want to be responsible for telling his wife or girlfriend that she is hitting the wall.  These are examples of white lies.  The small, vital lies we tell each other because we don’t want to rock the boat.   In most  work situations or when  a  student asks me  how their  English  is  progressing ,  I  like to be a straight  shooter.  However , when it comes to  affairs of the  heart,   remember that you can always count on  a white lie to save the day.

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Memo:

I just want to keep you posted on what is going on with the meetings so far.  On the whole, I feel that the recent successes we have had developing new businesses in emerging markets will continue in the next fiscal year.  There are only a few sticking points which might slow down the pace of development.  The one that concerns me the most is the recent credit crunch that has negatively impacted the marketplace.  We will be closely monitoring this situation.

In other company news, the merger deal with Equos is on the brink of being completed.  The various issues that were under discussion are close to being resolved.  Additionally, we are currently narrowing down the list of possible locations for our next company seminar.

A) Do you have a second? I need to pick your brain on a couple of things.

B) It’s not a good time now. I’m in the middle of something.

A) What about tomorrow?

B) Tomorrow’s not good either. I’ll be in and out of the office all day. I have some time on Friday.

A) Friday works for me. Let’s say 8 A.M.

B) Sounds good.

rack your brain

This puzzle is so difficult. I have been racking my brain for hours trying to solve it.

He’s a brain.

someone who is clever

be brain dead

By the time I finish teaching, I am brain dead.

a part of the brain trust.

A member of the president’s secretary is part of his brain trust

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Open the Floor to Something:  Ladies and Gentlemen that concludes my presentation, I would like to now open the floor to questions.

Take The Floor:  Jake will be taking the floor in twenty minutes in order to discuss the latest financial data.

Give The Floor to Someone:  Ladies and Gentlemen, I would like to thank you for listening to me discuss the next step of the project.  I would like to now give the floor to Ms. Adams who will be discussing the logistics of the project.

to Floor Someone: When Maria told me that she was getting married in a week, she totally floored me.  I didn’t even know she was dating anybody.

Get in The Ground Floor:  Look, I’m telling you this company is going to be a success.  If I were you, I would get in on the ground floor so that you aren’t left standing on the sidelines when it gets big.

Falling Through The Floor:  The cost of airline flights has really fallen through the floor this past year because of all the new budget airlines.

Floor It:  Look I need to get to the bank in five minutes! Can you please floor it?

Wipe The Floor:  Our team is much better than their team.  I am confident that we will wipe the floor with them.

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A) Why are you in such a bad mood today?

B) Sorry, I had a really bad day at work.

A) What happened?

B) Well, To put it in a nutshell I was in a meeting with one of our most important clients and the boss totally put me on the spot.  I was sitting there listening to him make our sales pitch, when suddenly out of the blue, he said that I would now be discussing the financing for the project.  He never told me that I would be talking about the financing,  He said that he would handle everything.

A)What did you do?

B) I must have had the deer in the headlights look on my face when I stood up to speak.  After a very shaky beginning, I was able to get my feet under me and deliver a pretty good presentation.  The thing that made me really livid was that after the meeting, my boss acted like nothing out of the ordinary happened.  I learned my lesson today.  From now on,  I’ll always be ready because you never know when things like this are going to happen.

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I have been trying to tell my boss that we don’t need to spend a bunch of cash advertising our English School.  He seems to feel that flashy spots on television will get our name out there.  Additionally, he feels that half page ads in the newspaper are another viable option for us to look at it.  I can not get past how naive he is when he is dealing with these advertising companies.  I have told him time and again that the best advertising is word of mouth.  He doesn’t seem to grasp the fact that if our school gives good lessons, uses excellent materials, and satisifies the needs of our students that the word will spread about how good our school is.   He has flushed about 10,000 dollars down the toilet so far and the results have been insignificant.  I guess I will just have to persist in trying to convince him that money doesn’t grow on trees.  If he could only see that an excellent curriculum is much more integral to the success of the school than advertising, our school would be much better off.

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Before we start today, there are a couple of housekeeping issues that we need to take care of.  First, have we made all the arrangements for next week’s Conference?

A) Yes, that has all been taken care of.

Glad to hear that.  Next, Has the contractor given us a firm date of commencement on the William’s project?

B) I just hear from them today.  The project will start as scheduled on the 20th of April.

Excellent, now that we have taken care of the housekeeping.  Let’s move on to today’s agenda.   I know that my reputation of never saying anything of note may have some of you dreading today’s meeting.  Let me just say that there are a number of high priority items that we need to get through today.  Before going any further, please make note of the third item listed on today’s agenda.  I have decided that I would like to just touch on that issue today.  I will go into more detail next week.  I didn’t have enough time to prep that issue.  Since we will be tackling a wide variety of topics today, please feel free to take notes.  Finally, before we start with the first item on the agenda, I would like to thank Jamie for doing such a wonderful job taking the minutes during our meetings.

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ack:  I can’t believe you passed up moving to France for a year.Paul:  I’d love to go but the timing isn’t good for me now.

Jack:  It sounds like a sweet deal. They offered you a pay raise, an apartment, and a car.  I was hoping the firm would offer me a position abroad.  It seems like I always get passed over when they make these decisions.

Paul:  Have you told management that you would be interested in working overseas?

Jack: I’ve mentioned it to Jim in passing.

Paul: You know how busy Jim is.  If you just mentioned it to him in passing, it probably went in one ear and out the other.  Look if you really want to make a mark at the company, you got grab the bull by the horns, and make it absolutely clear to Jim that you feel slighted by not being offered a position at our overseas offices.

Jack: I’ll try and get a meeting scheduled for tomorrow.

Paul: Let me know how things shake out.

Jack: Sure

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Do you have any skeletons in your closet?  I think that we all do.  Generally speaking, we don’t share the skeletons we have in our closet with friends and colleagues.  A skeleton in the closet can leave you red faced or upset, if it were discovered.  Let’s say you were a politician or anybody else with a high profile job, your enemies could use a skeleton in your closet to blackmail you.  Most of us want this information kept on the down low.  Some of us, might even offer to bribe those who have discovered a skeleton in our closet so that they will keep our secret.  We would be willing to go to great lengths to keep the cat in the bag.  Those of you who are married or have girlfriends and boyfriends should ask them about skeletons in their closet.  They might try to duck the question, or even worse, put the shoe on the other foot, by asking about the skeletons in your closet.

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I still haven’t been able to get over Michelle dumping me.  It happened six months ago, but I feel like it was yesterday.  I know I should take these kinds of things in stride, however difficult.  When my friends ask me what I got up to on weekends, I always tell them nothing.  Going to work is an extremely difficult chore.  I just want to get it over with as soon as possible so that I can get home and feel sorry for myself.  Even my friends have started making fun of me by asking if I want them to throw me a pity party.  There are so many errands that I keep putting off doing that my “to do” list keeps getting longer and longer.  I haven’t gotten around to doing things that need my immediate attention.  I want to get back to being the easy-going Johnny that I used to be.  I hope things get better soon.

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Jake:  I think the best way forward is to set up a new department.  The department would be responsible for handling the influx of new business.

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Expressions:

to be on the brink of defeat

to veg out I’m going to go home and just veg out in front of the television.

a boob-tube What’s on the boob-tube today?

a nag, to nag Men don’t like to be nagged. You nag me every day. Gosh, My girlfriend is such a nag.

the life of the party This party is pretty boring. Yeah, Jason isn’t here yet. He is the life of the party. When he gets here it will be OK.

a wet blanket Why are you always such a wet blanket? You never wanna do anything.

variety is the spice of life

an engaging conversation / an engaging person We had an engaging conversation on politics. to get engaged I got engaged.

a spirited debate I had a really spirited debate with Bob about president Bush. run-of-the-mill (adj) It was pretty run-of-the-mill.

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The conversation:

Ring…

Hello, Mr. Thompson’s office.

Yes, is Mr. Thompson in?

I am sorry sir, he is in a meeting.

Can you tell me when he will be available?

These meetings usually last an hour, but this one has been going on for two. So I am not sure when it will be done.

I see.

Sir, if you want, I can take a message.

OK. Can you tell him that Jason Smith from the Frontier Group called. Tell him that I will be at my office until seven pm. He can call me there at 041 265 5781. After 7, I will be available on my cell. That number is: 043 532 1798.

Sir, may I ask what this phone call is in regard to?

It is in regard to the Cooper project. Please tell him that it is imperative that I speak with him today.

I will let him know as soon as the meeting ends.

Thank you.

Questions:

1. Where is Mr. Thompson?

2. How long do these meetings usually last?

3. How long has this meeting been going on?

4. Until what time will Jason be at his office?

5. What is Jason’s office number?

6. What is Jason’s cell phone number?

7. Can Jason wait until tomorrow to talk to Mr. Thomson?

8. What is the name of Jason’s company?

Some extra expressions:

get cracking on something to let the cat out of the bag let up to have a let-down to let someone down to let someone in on something to let the dog out to let someone in

Answers:

1. Mr. Thompson is in the meeting.

2. One hour.

3. It has been going on for two hours.

4. Until 7.

5. 041 265 5781

6. 043 532 1798

7. No.

8. The Phoenix Group

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The taxi driver: That will be 30 dollars.

John: What? You just went one block.

The taxi driver: Sir, that is how much the fare is.

John: Look, I wasn’t born yesterday. You are trying to rip me off.

The taxi driver: Sir, time is money and I am wasting time and losing money arguing with you. You have to pay that fare.

John: You think I am some gullible tourist? I am well-schooled on how this scam works. Do you know I travel all over the world on business. I know what’s what. I want your name and cab number.

The taxi driver: Why?

John: Because I am going to make an example of you. I am sick and tired of dealing with people looking for a hand out. I am going to demand you be fired.

The taxi driver: Look sir, I am sorry. Please forgive me. I didn’t mean anything by it. I am sorry for trying to take advantage of you. Please, I’ll just charge you the usual fare: 10 dollars.

John: Good. That’s better. I hope you’ve learned your lesson. Bye.

The taxi driver: What a sucker!

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ack: Scotch, on the rocks.

Coming up. Here you are.

Thanks man, seems a bit slow  in here tonight.

Don’t worry, it usually picks up around midnight.

Are you here on business?

Yeah, a medical convention. I am a cardiologist. I love Vegas. I take any chance I get to come here.

What are you from?

Chicago. I flew in on the red-eye last night. As soon as I landed I hit the casinos.

How did you do?

Lost my shirt. I won’t be telling my wife that, she’ll kill me. I ended up maxxing my credit card lady luck wasn’t smiling on me, that’s for sure.

Yeah man, don’t tell the misses. What happens in Vegas stays in Vegas, huh?

Ha. I couldn’t have said it better myself. Well, since you had such a rough time last night that drink you have there it’s on the house.

Thanks man, cheers.

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Jack: Hey, I have never seen you in that dress before, Jane.

Jane: That’s because it is new.

Jack: How much was it?

Jane: All you need to know is it’s Prado.

Jack: Jane, you know since I lost my job we’ve had hard time making ends meet. And how do you show this understanding? By splurging on a Prada dress?

Jane: Take it easy, Jack. Since you have been at home, all you do is mope around the house and feel sorry for yourself. Go find another job. Can’t you see that we have been stuck in a rut for a while now? And honey, I don’t know how to say this to you but I just gonna say it, since you have been at home all you have manage to do is grow a nice beer gut. Your stomach looks like a storage space for Budweiser.

Jack: That was a lowblow, Jane. A very low blow. What happened to you telling me: we’ll get through this or we will have to tighten the belt.

Jane: Yeah, I said this ages ago. And I am so sick and tired of you throwing that in my face every time I buy something. Jack, you do know that expression: no money no honey? If you don’t take care of me, baby, I am out of the door.

Jack: Fine, don’t let it hit you on your way out.

Jane: Fine, I am out of here.

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