5 ideas to help someone with poor English understand you

Maike presses the ‘leave meeting’ button and gets herself a cup of coffee. She needs it. She’s just had a meeting with Paulo whose English is pretty basic and she’s not sure that he understood what she explained about the project and his role in it. As soon as she noticed his confusion she […]
What happens if you don’t make your voice heard

The monthly project meeting is about to start and Anna expects to be contributing quite a lot this time. She’s a little nervous about having to do it in English, but she’s well prepared and feeling quietly confident that she’ll manage. Yet as the meeting unfolds Anna feels less and less satisfied with the way […]
Ending small talk politely

In the past I’ve encouraged you to take an active role in small talk and given some ideas for what to talk about. Whenever you engage in small talk there does, of course, come a moment when it has to end. If you start a phone call or meeting with a little small […]