Focus on Vocabulary. Part 1

Mark: Hello everyone. Welcome back to the EnglishLingQ Podcast. Today, Steve and Jill are here again and we will be discussing another content item. Today, it's an intermediate content item and it's entitled Steve Speaks with Fraser About Looking for a Job. Maybe, Jill, you can give us a little background on this content item.

Jill: Fraser is a young man who came into the Linguist Office, actually, and did an interview with Steve. It's about his job hunting skills; what it is that he does when he is looking for a job. Steve: You know, it was an interesting interview because he came really to the K. P. Wood Office because we are in the lumber business. A friend of mine said here's a young man who's having trouble finding work. He's been looking for work for six months. Could you talk to him about the lumber business? So, I said yes, certainly and then I told him I'll talk to you about the lumber business but, I'm going to interview you because, at that time, quite a number of our users were recent immigrants to Canada who were trying to improve their English so they could get a better job. So, Fraser's experience was very relevant to their own situation. Before we get into reading some of the phrases here, I should perhaps mention our URL again.

Mark: I think so. I was actually just going to say this is part one of a three part series in which Steve speaks with Fraser and all these parts, including transcripts and the ability to use our system to learn the vocabulary from them and all of our other learning tools, are available at our website at www.thelinguist.com. So, we encourage all of you who are not already members to please come and check us out. Also, we encourage all of you to provide any feedback on these podcasts. Would you like us to cover other topics and would you like a different format? Any suggestions that you have we are always happy to hear.

Steve: I might add, The Linguist is a unique English language learning system because we focus on a lot of listening and a very systematic way of learning words and phrases as the key to fluency. Now, before we listen to this short interview -- I think it's very useful for us -- Jill and I are going to read out some phrases. We want you to listen to the phrases and try to repeat them, imitating the intonation. Don't worry about words that you don't understand. Just try to imitate the rhythm and the intonation. Alright now, Jill, you've got it there. Can you read the first one?

Jill: Yes. So, the first phrase that we've selected is a relatively recent graduate. Steve: I took a degree in geography.

Jill: Job market.

Steve: I've always had an interest in business. Jill: I was partial to the environment.

Steve: What sorts of things have you been doing? I graduated this past April. I'm independent, maybe to a fault. So, I've sort of gone away from that. (Steve Speaks with Fraser about Looking for a Job) Steve: This morning, I'm meeting with Fraser, who is a relative recently graduate, I think, of a local university, and we are going to talk about his experience in the job market, and perhaps some advice I can give him insofar as the forest industry is concerned. Let me first ask you, Fraser, what is your background? What did you study at university?

Fraser: I took a degree in geography, arts, four-year program, University of Calgary. I got into geography simply because I was interested in the profs, and it's such a wide discipline, in terms of study. I mean, you can study everything from the environment, to urban planning, to forestry and economics, so.

Steve: Did you always have in mind that you would like to work in business? Was geography/business sort of your goal?

Fraser: I've always had an interest in business. My father has been in business, you know, for the last thirty years. When I was younger, I was partial to the environment, working out-of-doors, and being in nature, but as you grow older, you tend to-the environment gets a little harsh, and then you want to move inside. So that's what I'm looking for now, maybe a job that has a combination of both. We'll see. Steve: So that made you look at the forest industry. What sorts of things have you been doing? First of all, when did you graduate, and what has been your job hunting strategy?

Fraser: I graduated this past April, 2004, and I went to visit my girlfriend in Maui for three weeks, and that turned into four months. I didn't have a legal job there, but now I'm back here, and I started my search in more the traditional-type search-job sites, newspapers. I'm independent, maybe to a fault, and so I wanted to sort of look for the job myself. You know, the competition's just fierce when it comes to those jobs that are advertised in the papers or on the job sites. A thousand people have seen them, maybe thirty thousand. So I've sort of gone away from that and tried to do the networking as much as possible. Mark: Well, that was certainly a very interesting interview or, at least, part of the interview of the conversation that you had with Fraser. There's certainly a lot of I'm sure a lot of you will enjoy and appreciate the difficulties that come with going for a job interview, especially if you happen to be doing it in a foreign language. I don't know what experiences you might have had at job interviews, Jill' I know you were at one here. Steve: Fraser, of course, Fraser was doing it in his own language.

Mark: Right.

Steve: But, some of our immigrant learners?

Jill: Even more difficult.

Steve: quite a bit more difficult. But, even for Fraser who is in his own country, his own language, has a network of contacts and friends for example, his friend phoned me and said would you speak to Fraser, even Fraser has trouble. Now, since that time, the job market, again, that term, job market, the job market here in Vancouver has improved. So, I hope Fraser has a job and I hope many other people who were looking for work have, you know, have a job.

Mark: Now, when you said -- you were talking about Fraser having difficulty at his job interview -- at first, I thought you meant his English. He had difficulty?

Steve: No, no, he had no difficulty with his English.

Mark: difficulty finding a job.

Steve: Difficulty finding a job.

(To be continued)