How to Explain your Current WorkStudies in English
hi everybody and welcome back to our
weekly live stream my name is alicia
and in this week’s live lesson we are
going to talk about
how to talk about your current work and
or
your current studies current means
the thing you are doing right now so the
work
you are doing right now the studies you
are doing
right now so we are going to focus on
progressive grammar points progressive
or continuous tense
we are also going to use a little bit of
perfect
tense and then we’re going to practice
some basic
adjective sentences too so let’s get
into it
in just a second while we wait for
people to join us
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uh hello greetings welcome there are
lots of people here today so
let’s review today’s topic i’ll speak a
little more slowly now
today’s topic as i said how to talk
about
your current work and or your studies
so what are you doing now okay so
uh before we begin please please please
make sure to like and share
this video so other people can find the
lesson i’ll do that right now
cool done okay now let’s look at
the lesson boards for today’s live
lesson uh so if you want to take a
screenshot you can do that now i will
show this
again later also we are going to talk
about
first the basic grammar pattern
progressive or conditional here so
actions or conditions happening
now then we are going to talk about
how to express duration of time so this
will be with the uh present
progres uh present perfect 10 sorry
with progressive and finally we are
going to talk about how to express
your feelings and your opinions
uh about your current work and about
your current studies cool yeah
so my goal for you is that you will be
able
uh in this lesson live or later to write
about your current work or current
studies
how long you’ve been doing it and how
you feel about it so those are the three
points
for today let’s begin okay
let’s begin let’s begin let’s start with
the basic
grammar for this lesson progressive
tense so we use progressive tense or
continuous tense
to talk about actions or conditions
happening now so something that’s
happening like now in this moment for
example
i am teaching you are listening i hope
so happening now or generally
in your life happening now so how do we
make the progressive tense
subject is or are
verb in subject is
or are verb in we choose
is or are according to the subject
so uh we are going to use this
basic pattern to describe
some example situations okay and of
course when you want to talk about
yourself you should use i
am as in this first example here too so
i am working on
a project i am working on
a project okay so here we have i
plus my verb in this case it’s special
we use instead of is there r we use
am so i am or i’m then working
so here’s my verb in the ing form i am
working
on a project i am working on a project
okay another example she my subject is
she she is building a website
she is building a website so
this is her current project or her
current
work you can send your homework here
uh in the live chat or later what is
happening in your
work or school life now i will check
okay all right so she is building a
website
great okay he is studying
for an exam he is studying for an exam
note this preposition here not two not
studying to an exam
studying for an exam we use four
because four expresses purpose
okay good okay some examples are coming
in great
uh andrew says i’m working on a new
album good
con mlg says i’m studying for my
university entrance test
great okay all right
okay send your questions i will check
next one
with they so here is a plural subject
they more than one person they
are being observed
for an annual evaluation so i wanted to
include
this kind of sentence pattern because it
follows this
verb in yeah here my verb is b
they are being observed so observed
means watched watched so in this case
for an
annual evaluation what is annual
evaluation
annual evaluation is very common it
means so annual means
yearly every year yeah and evaluation
is like a check usually at work yeah
so your boss or your manager wants to
observe you wants to watch you doing
your job maybe
to check kind of your status what’s your
condition so every year
it’s very common for an annual
evaluation
maybe there’s an observation time period
a period to watch
so they are being observed
for an annual evaluation
okay here’s another just i wanted to
include this example
to use an example with b okay
bandar says i’m not working now because
i’m on holiday
nice victor says i am working on
fingerprint identification
interesting okay uh someone oh on
facebook i
can’t read your name i can’t read the
characters but you said i am creating
restaurant kitchens what does that mean
maybe i’m creating restaurants i’m
creating kitchens and restaurants
something like that jorge thanks so much
for the support on youtube that’s
awesome
okay all right let’s continue more
examples
we are not looking for new staff
we are not looking for new staff so how
do we make this pattern negative
we are not though we put not before
our verb in the ing form so this is
positive
we are looking for new stuff this is
negative
we are not looking for new stuff
okay and here’s one
everybody needs to know sometimes
unfortunately
has a sad face here not a good thing but
this sentence is i’m not
making much progress lately
i’m not making much progress lately what
does this mean
it means you have some responsibility
you have a job or
project a plan something you are working
on
but you can’t move forward
so you can say i’m not making
much progress lately so progress means
moving forward in something i can’t i
can’t do anything
so you could say i’m not making much
progress lately
lately means recently these days or in
these recent
days okay i’m not making much progress
lately
okay good some examples are coming in
cesar says i am not looking for
a new job i’m not looking for a new job
don’t forget your articles there yeah
um gloria victoria on
youtube says they are not looking for
new customers new customers
plural yeah or maybe it’s singular a new
customer
okay jermaine says we are not hiring
right now nice
is that did you choose this emoji that’s
interesting
okay um charles says we are not looking
for new staff
we are looking for new customers so
there’s two people
use plural customers new customers
more than one customer right you want
many customers yeah
okay good nice examples uh
image grease on facebook says i’m not
making a lot
of money right now i’m not making a lot
of
money right now okay so lots of people
little points just little fixes your
articles up and in the
your plural forms like customers and uh
your prepositions like to
and up okay all right
let’s go to a break let’s take a quick
break and then we’ll go
to part two expressing duration if
you missed it before i will show you
again
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from the link below the video if you’re
watching on youtube and above the video
if you’re watching on facebook you can
find
these pdfs with questions
and key vocabulary words verbs and so on
for different situations so if you want
to get
all of these oh there are a lot here you
can choose from you can download them
all
you can find the link below or above the
video
okay cool so let’s go to part
two now how to express duration
of your activity uh let’s get to that
also
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okay um let’s see let’s go to
expressing duration of time expressing
duration of time
okay so how do we talk about
our current work and or our current
studies
and when we started it or
how long the project is so how do we do
that
this is a very natural thing to do after
you explain your current project okay
so we can do this first with this
expressing
duration of time this means how long you
do something duration of time means how
long you do something so depending on
our subject
we have two patterns we use i you
we or they plus have
been verbing so i have been
verbing you have been verbal
so i have been teaching
for 16 minutes i have been teaching for
16 minutes
you have been listening for 16 minutes i
hope
okay so if your subject is i you we are
they we use
this top pattern have been verbing
if your subject is he she or it use
has he has been verbing
she has been verbing okay
all right so we have this pattern
then how do we add the length of time or
how do we describe when the action
started
yeah we use four or since to do this
with this pattern
yeah four or six what’s the difference
we use four
with a length of time so i just said i
have been teaching
for 16 minutes 16 minutes 16 minutes is
a
length of time yeah okay
since we use with a past
point in time i have been teaching since
10 pm
eastern standard time that’s new york
city time okay
so use a past point in time here
all right for instance so let’s practice
this
together we’ll put these two things
together so if you sent a comment in
part one
you can add now build on that yeah so
give some more information about that
thing you’re working on or the thing
you’re studying
okay let’s look at this one i have been
working
on this project since the beginning
of the year i have been working
on this project since the beginning of
the year
so here is my uh
present perfect progressive pattern i
have been working
on this project so here’s my object i
have been working on this project
then here’s my duration since
okay so i have to use a past point in
time yeah
the beginning of the year the beginning
of the year
marks my start point okay so you can
send me your example
sentences i will look for your examples
uh bruno santos says i’ve been going to
the driving school for about
two months nice ooh driving school good
luck with that cool
okay other one people are saying can we
use past
tense what do you mean to talk about
your current work and studies
yeah you can say i finished blah blah
blah
yeah that’s fine so the focus here is
current so what are you doing now
okay um i have been studying
english since i was five years old yes
many people probably know
that pattern i have been studying
english for two years i have been
studying english for
eight months whatever how do we use this
grammar to talk about our current work
and our current studies too
okay um other ones juan carlos says i
have been studying english for
two years yes sapphiol st sean says i’ve
been waiting for this moment since 1993.
that’s very specific okay uh
prince larmus sorry i hope i said your
name right says can we use since
plus can you give me an example
of what you mean my first reaction is
no not in this sentence i’ve been
studying english since
i was a kid if you you couldn’t use when
there since when i was a kid
that’s the first kind of example that
comes to mind but that’s not correct
if there’s a different example please
let me know okay
all right let’s go to the next example
sentence
she has been working for 10 hours
she has been working for 10 hours this
one
keep in mind we often reduce this she
has gets reduced
in speech to she’s she’s been working
for 10 hours that’s how a native speaker
would say this she’s been working for 10
hours
okay and here’s a they they
have been talking for ages what does
ages mean i wanted to include this
because it’s very common
and age so one age means a very long
time
many many many many years super long
time
there’s not an exact number of years it
just means a super
long time so when we use ages it sounds
like a very very very long time
so we use this and the length of time
position to show in this case two people
have been talking for a very very
very very very long time yeah so like a
meeting that never
ends you can say they have been talking
for ages
okay cool all right uh other ones
monachan on youtube hi
i had been studying for five hours that
would be a past perfect
uh example i have been studying
for five hours yeah i have been studying
for five hours
okay garin garcia says i have been
drinking my tea for 10 minutes
very nice is your tea still hot is it
cool
okay um
thanks for following up on your question
like i got to know you since
when you started teaching ah uh no that
would not be quite correct
like i learned about you uh because i
found your video maybe
so we use uh that when in kind of
different
patterns like when we interrupt
something or change
something so we wouldn’t use when
uh with since in in this way though but
thank you for that question yeah
like i got to know you uh maybe when
i found your videos that would be okay
but since then when together we wouldn’t
use them in that way so thanks for the
question i hope that helps you
okay let’s go to our next example oh my
gosh there’s so many
i can’t keep up um coco hello has
said i have been working as a safety
officer
uh careful since previous five years
since
five years ago since five years ago
so thank you for sending that example
sentence i don’t have it here
um but when you want to talk about like
uh five years before or in your case
five years prior or previous
use this pattern since five years ago
you can use it here so it’s kind of a
combination
of this and this plus a go so i don’t
have it here
but very close so five years ago
okay uh oh my gosh there are so many
i’ve been studying for two days says
rosie okay
lots of people are writing studying okay
okay i think everybody most people are
getting this
i’m looking for errors to fix now okay
uh andrew can i say we have been known
each other for ages is it correct
that is not correct no we have known
each other we have known each other
okay let’s get back on track so
uh one more a negative now
i haven’t been working on that plan
recently i haven’t been working
on that plan recently so
this haven’t is have not so
this is a pattern you can use if for a
while
you were working on something but
recently recently these days you are not
working on that plan
so you can say i haven’t been working
on that plan recently i haven’t
been working on that plan recently
okay so that was a lot you have great
examples and great questions many of you
are writing i have been studying for
three years or i have been studying for
two months that is awesome
try to use the same grammar point to
talk about some other
continuing actions in your life yeah
challenge yourself
to make some new sentences with your
grammar skills
okay others
okay oh my gosh time’s going quick let’s
finish up with part two there
and then we’ll go to part three
expressing your feelings
yeah expressing your feelings super
great right okay
let’s uh take a super super super short
break
and then go to part three if you missed
it there is free stuff for you to
download
from the link below the video if you’re
watching on youtube
above the video if you’re watching on
facebook there are now
conversation practice uh conversation
practice
cheat sheets so these have this is the
business english one
for example these have phrases for
meetings
and like job titles some uh expressions
like idioms
to practice here if you want to practice
a dialogue or a sample conversation
there are new pdfs you can check
to do that so have a look check the link
below the video
uh in the youtube description if you’re
watching on youtube
if you’re watching on facebook click the
link above the video
okay let’s go to the last part for
today’s lesson
if you haven’t please please please make
sure to hit the like button
yeah it will help other people to find
the lesson
let’s go to the last part
so we talked about how to express the
thing you’re working on or the thing you
are studying now
we talked about the length of time how
long
you’ve been doing it now how do you
express your
feelings or how do you express your
opinions about that project or about
your studies
so let’s look at this okay
so we can use a very basic adjective
sentence
subject is adjective so i
am happy he is sad very very basic
sentence right
you can include about topic
about topic i am excited
about this project for example i am
excited about this
project or she is nervous
about the presentation she is nervous
about the presentation
okay you might also hear people use
feeling before an emotion adjective here
you can choose
if you want to include it you could say
i’m feeling happy about this
that’s also very natural that’s up to
you feeling adding
feeling just kind of in increases the
emotional feel
a little bit okay so you can use this
to share your feeling or your opinion
about your current work or your current
studies
okay another example
he is worried about
tomorrow’s meeting he is worried about
tomorrow’s meeting okay so all of these
sentences
use this about topic pattern yeah
he’s worried about tomorrow’s meeting
one more we are happy about
the good news we are happy about
the good news all right
now how do we express negative
feelings yeah this one simple
i’m exhausted so exhausted means very
tired so very tired is okay
but put them together make one word
exhausted i’m exhausted
i’m super super tired or this one we can
use a negative pattern here too
i’m not optimistic i’m not optimistic
what does optimistic mean
optimistic means feeling positive
about something i feel positive about
the outcome i feel positive about the
result
of something so i imagine something
positive in the future
so if you say i’m not optimistic
it means i don’t feel positive
about the future i don’t feel positive
about something in the future
okay i’m not optimistic so you can use
this
if you don’t have a great feeling about
what’s going to happen
next i’m not optimistic okay all right
some of your examples are coming in
amalzade says i’m excited about this
live video very nice
uh victor says i feel so excited about
your class great okay
um let’s see charles says i love this
job
great anientara
sorry i hope i said that right says i’m
worried about my future
yeah for sure that’s very common okay
let’s see uh cesar says my sister is
nervous about the vaccine ah yes many
people
feel a bit nervous about it yeah i hope
everyone is still
staying safe out there uh oh
someone on facebook i can’t read your
name i’m very sorry you wrote the
comment i’m tired about
my homework thank you for this when you
use tired
in this pattern when you use tired we
use
tired of something tired of something
i’ll include this on the board
this is kind of a special one uh when
you use
tired tired of something something
this i know it’s kind of strange but we
always use of
in this one we don’t use about in this
pattern it’s just
it’s a different uh a different pattern
to use i’m tired
of homework i’m tired of this thing okay
oh all right i’m nervous about my
interview says nazareth do you have an
interview
everybody who has an interview good luck
okay
all right good um other ones oh my gosh
there are so many
uh i’m excited about my tomorrow
presentation says sun messi uh
i’m excited about my uh presentation
or i’m excited about my presentation
tomorrow
or i’m excited about uh tomorrow’s
presentation one of those two tomorrow’s
presentation or my presentation tomorrow
okey dokey um
emilie says i’m tired of the small board
yes i know but i cannot fit
a giant white board in my house so small
board it is
okay uh a wheel says i’m exhausted about
maybe the language
about studying language i know it’s
forever
right i still learn new english words
all the time we have to always be
learning something yeah
okay oh my gosh i’m late i have to
finish there
so let’s be done there uh yeah don’t
forget to use
tired of something and also yeah
it’s good it helps to connect with
people to express
your feelings and your thoughts about
what you’re working
on now so let’s finish there for today
i’ll show you today’s lesson board so
you can take
a picture ready go okay so
actions and conditions happening now we
talked about with progressive
and continuous tense and or continuous
tense
uh then we talked about duration of time
with perfect uh present perfect
continuous
and then we practice some basic
adjective sentences
over here to express your feelings and
emotions about your current work very
nice thanks for all of your awesome
questions
uh one more came in can we use very
before adjectives
yes i am very tired i’m very excited i
am very nervous
yes 100 yes okay whew that was a lot
so let’s uh finish up i’ll give you the
next lesson information
actually next lesson we will have a
break we have a little tiny little
summer break
next week so i will see you again in two
weeks
two weeks next lesson will be wednesday
july
29th at 10 p.m eastern standard time
that is new york city time
if you do not know your local time
please use your google skills
or you can set a notification on youtube
or on facebook
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always share
a link and a topic reminder in my
stories so you can get the information
somewhere in the next lesson we are
going to talk about
how to practice pronunciation alone
your pronunciation i get this question a
lot
so this will be the focus topic for uh
the next live lesson
in two weeks okay so
i’ll say goodbye for this week i’ll say
goodbye there
uh if you want to make sure you get all
of the free stuff
i showed you earlier don’t forget to
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alicia you can find those links on
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too all right so i will say goodbye for
this week and wish you a nice
week next week and then i’ll see you
again
very soon so have a good week have a
good week