HOW TO SPEAK ENGLISH FLUENTLY DURING VIRTUAL MEETINGS

hey in april of 2020 zoom announced that

on a daily basis

they had 300 million

meeting participants you heard me

correctly

300 million people every day using

zoom having virtual meetings

now you as an english learner yes you’ve

had

many different virtual meetings but

you’ve also had

a lot of trouble because of those

meetings

you see speaking english is difficult

and it’s even more difficult

during virtual meetings but don’t you

worry

that’s what i’m here for today i’m going

to tell you the three main difficulties

that you

and other english learners have during

virtual meetings

and i’m going to give you the solutions

i’m going to tell you the words

the expressions and the patterns you

need to finally speak

english with confidence during any

virtual

meeting i’m teacher tiffany let’s jump

right

in all right so there are three main

difficulties that you as

an english learner experience during

virtual meetings

the first difficulty is right here being

hard to understand you see it is hard to

understand

everyone when using a computer it is

similar to

the difficulty that is experienced when

an english learner has to make a phone

call

for example when someone calls you on

the phone or if you have to call an

american company

or someone that’s a native english

speaker sometimes it can be tricky to

hello um i’m sorry what did you say

to understand what they’re saying and

the exact same

difficulties experienced during a

virtual

meeting now the second difficulty is

right here

difficult to give presentations you see

making an emotional

connection while giving a presentation

actually helps english learners feel

more confident so when people are not

around

it causes more stress to the english

learner

in other words for a virtual meeting you

literally are

just speaking to a camera

and as an english learner this makes it

so much more difficult

because you don’t have that emotional

connection to make with

someone you know making eye contact

because you’re speaking to a camera

and the third difficulty that you and

other english learners experience

is being uncomfortable during breakout

sessions or breakout rooms

you see being placed in a virtual room

with

other people is uncomfortable you feel

more pressure to speak and this can make

you feel

more nervous trust me this is something

that even native english speakers

experience so it’s heightened it’s even

worse for english learners so all right

what are the solutions

i hope you have your pen and your paper

ready because i’m going to give you the

expressions

you need here we go let’s start with

difficulty number one

what to do when you don’t understand

here we go first you need to ask

them to repeat what they said

now this is something that again i

totally understand

sometimes it’s a little bit nerve

wrecking or you can feel

nervous to ask someone to repeat

themselves

right but this is very important when

you don’t

understand you need to ask them to

repeat

what they said now let me give you three

ways

that you can ask someone to repeat what

they said all right

make sure you write these down first you

can say

my apologies i didn’t catch what you

said

would you mind repeating that last

point again very nice way of saying

please repeat what you said and you’re

also letting the person know hey

i would like to understand what you’re

saying would you mind

please just restating it so again you

can ask them by saying

my apologies i didn’t catch what you

said

would you mind repeating that last point

again and you’re also being specific hey

that last

point not everything you said but that

last

point all right now the second way you

can ask someone to repeat what they said

is i understood what you said about

but i missed your other point can you

explain it

one more time please now again

you’re still asking them to repeat

themselves right

but notice what i did at the beginning i

said hey

i understood what you said about dot dot

dot

you’re letting them know hey i have been

listening and the part you said about

maybe they’re discussing you know

different projects you’re working on you

can say hey the part you said about

project number one i understood that but

i missed your other point about project

number two

so for this second example you can let

them know i’m paying attention

i understood one part but the other part

i missed so again you can say

i understood what you said about dot dot

dot

but i missed your other point can you

explain it

one more time please now the third way

to ask someone to repeat themselves is

by saying

i wasn’t able to fully understand

the last point would you mind breaking

it down

one more time please now let me explain

something about this one

when you say to someone would you mind

breaking

it down that is letting the person know

that the way it was explained the first

time

may not have been as clear as you would

have liked it to have been so you want

them to

explain it a different way in simpler

terms

and all of that comes out in would you

mind

breaking it down so again these are

excellent ways of

asking someone during a virtual meeting

for them to repeat themselves instead of

just saying hey excuse me can you repeat

yourself please

don’t say that say one of these three

and again the last one once again

is i wasn’t able to fully understand

the last point would you mind breaking

it down

one more time please alright so when you

don’t understand

one thing you can do is ask them to

repeat what they said

now the second thing you can do when you

don’t understand

is to summarize to verify

you understood that’s right you can

summarize you heard something during the

virtual meeting

and you want to verify if what you heard

was correct

so three ways you can do that again i’m

giving you the patterns the words you

can say

here we go you can say i want to make

sure that i understood

correctly you said that dot dot dot

is that correct again this is a

great way of letting the person know hey

i have been listening

and it’s been interesting but i just

want to make sure i

understood correctly and the response is

going to be good because you’re showing

that you are paying attention and that

you really do

want to understand now the second way

you can summarize to verify you

understood

is by saying thanks for the explanation

i just want to verify that i got all of

your main

points you said dot dot dot

does that sound about right now here’s

again

the amazing thing when someone who is

presenting

or who’s the one leading a virtual

meeting here’s an individual

you ask a question related to their

presentation

and asks for clarification in this way

it will be received so well because

you’re saying hey

i want to make sure i got all of your

main points because it was so good

the presentation was so great i want to

make sure i understood everything so

again

memorizing these will help you so much

all right

so the third way you can do this is by

saying

i truly appreciated your explanation

or your presentation your main points

were

dot dot dot did i miss anything

again it’s like you’re letting them know

hey i had my notes

i was taking notes and i want to make

sure that i understood everything

please let me know did i miss anything

so this is a great way again

when you don’t understand you can say

one of these three examples

to summarize and verify that you

understood

now another way to say something when

you don’t understand

is to ask someone in

the chat area remember when you’re in a

virtual meeting especially if you’re

using zoom

there’s always going to be a chat area

so if you don’t want to

interrupt the person speaking or

presenting that’s okay

you can still type in the chat box there

are certain ways to

ask to repeat so here’s the thing i want

you to write this

here’s the first one i think i missed

the last

point would someone mind writing what he

or she

said again here super polite

and people will respond because they

realize

oh you didn’t understand we want to help

you understand all right

now another way is you can do this right

here

what did he or she say i wasn’t able to

catch the last part this is very quick

again it’s like hey

i missed it what did she say hey i

missed it what did he say

and you’re asking someone to let you

know just the last portion

not the entire presentation just the

last

portion and finally you can type a

message like this

i didn’t understand one part what did he

or she say about dot dot dot

now again this is in the chat area

but this is even more specific but

you’re letting people know hey

i’m trying to understand but i do need a

little bit of help

but when you write the message in the

chat box

either by one two or three again either

by saying i think i missed the last

point or the second one

what did he or she say or i didn’t

understand one part

when you use one of these methods people

will respond

kindly because these are so good

it’s easy for you to tell somebody i

didn’t understand

but i want to understand now here’s

something i want to pause really quickly

because

what i’m teaching you i’m giving you

expressions natural

patterns used by real native english

speakers

in real life things that we actually say

but here’s the thing i actually have a

pdf a free pdf and it has over

it literally has a thousand english

words

and expressions and what it is is it

helps you sound more like a native

english speaker so

i’m giving you a lot during our class

today but if you want to continue

learning more expressions and more words

totally for free the pdf is totally free

you can download it for free by clicking

the link right in the description again

i’m teaching you some expressions some

patterns that you can use in real life

situations

for virtual meetings but there are so

many other natural expressions

used by native english speakers that you

can use as well and

get the free pdf and you’ll learn them

too so hopefully you get it and i know

you enjoy it link in the description

so let’s keep going all right so we’ve

mastered this right here

what to do when you don’t understand but

what do you do

when you have to give a presentation

that’s right when you are the one

leading the virtual meeting

talk about nerve wrecking don’t worry

again i’ll give you what you need

here’s what you need to do so when you

have to give the presentation

the first thing you have to remember is

keep

it simple again keep it

simple now here’s the main thing right

here here we go

focus on giving three main

points that’s right i always talk about

threes

focus on three main points it’s not

about talking for a long period of time

it’s about giving the main point so no

matter what your presentation

is focus on giving three main points

then give one to three

easy to understand details

for each point that’s right think about

an

outline no matter what you are going to

present

keep it simple pick three main points

and then one

to three details about each of those

points

and then finally what you’re going to do

is give one

clear example or experience

for each point this again will help you

because it’s

simple it’ll help you connect with those

that are

listening to your presentation those

that are participating in your virtual

meeting

so again when you have to give a

presentation the first thing to remember

is keep it simple and yes this goes back

to

improving your english don’t worry about

using difficult vocabulary words

no focus on keeping it simple

the second thing to remember when you

have to give a presentation

is start with a good attention

grabber think about this at the very

beginning of this lesson

remember i told you something about zoom

i said in april of 2020 300

million people had registered to be

part of meetings on a daily basis so

again

a very interesting fact to grip your

attention at the very beginning

you need to do the same thing at the

beginning of a presentation

you’re giving for a virtual meeting so

there are three things you can use

tell a story give an interesting fact

like i did

or you can ask them a question again

this all ties in to helping you speak

english well during any virtual meeting

because

when you have this breakdown you can be

confident

and you’ll be able to give a better

presentation

now the third thing you have to remember

when you are giving a presentation

is right here make it

interactive and also engage

your audience basically get people

involved by asking questions throughout

the presentation

think about it going back and forth if

you’ve ever participated in one of my

live classes

you know what it’s like now for those

that don’t know

every week i have a live english class

with

my academy students if you want to join

the academy

all you have to do is go to let’s jump

right in dot com

again let’s jump right in com but every

week we have a live english class

and it’s very interactive i ask lots of

questions

and we go back and forth so you should

do the same thing when you’re giving a

presentation during a virtual meeting

so here we go let me give you some

examples does anyone have a question

about the last point i made

again memorize this after you give your

presentation

ask this question does anyone

have a question about the last point

i made or you can say has anyone ever

experienced

this before and finally who can tell me

the first

main point that i mentioned at the

beginning

of my presentation so you see there are

three specific questions

you can ask after you’ve given a

presentation

use these exactly memorize them people

will

interact with you after you’ve given

your presentation

don’t stress use these questions and

trust me

your presentation will go well now what

about the third difficulty

there were three main difficulties for

english learners and virtual meetings

the third one what to do when you are

in a breakout room

this can be tricky but trust me i have

some example expressions

and example patterns that will help you

so first things first

prepare a summary with three points from

the presentation let me pause really

quickly

this means usually for breakout rooms

there’s a period before you break out

where a presentation is giving or given

or something is discussed

during that period take some quick notes

before you go to your breakout room

you need to prepare have three points of

whatever was discussed during that

period

this is just in case you are asked

to say something so you can say

the three main things i learned from the

presentation were

dot dot dot you’ve already prepared

yourself you’re not nervous anymore why

because

during that first part before the

breakout sessions you took some quick

notes

and you picked three points so during

the breakout room

if someone says hey uh can you let us

know what you thought about the

presentation or

hey can you let us know what you thought

about the discussion

immediately using this pattern you can

say

ah the three main things i learned from

the presentation were

dot dot dot and again you’ll be

comfortable

you won’t be nervous and people will be

impressed with your english

now another way of presenting your three

points is right here

the three things that stood out to me

the most from the presentation were dot

dot dot

now to stand out just means something

that

um really stuck in my memory something

that

caught my attention something that was

very interesting to me

we say stood out to me so again you can

say

the three things that stood out to me

the most

from the presentation were dot dot dot

now the second thing when you’re trying

to figure out what to do in a break room

breakout room is have a few questions

prepared

now you need to make sure the questions

are related to the topic

of the presentation or the discussion

again

i’m giving you tips to help you

literally

stop feeling awkward and nervous during

virtual meetings

these things will help you so have a few

questions prepared that’s right it’s not

meant for you to just sit down and be

quiet

remember western culture we like to

engage

and be involved so someone is going to

probably ask you a question

or to ask you to say something so if you

have questions prepared

it will help you a lot so for example

here we go

um he or she said dot dot dot being the

presenter

what are your thoughts on that

conversation

mastering english conversation going

back and forth

back and forth i talked about mastering

in this conversation

actually in my last live class with my

students

from my academy and we talked about

going back and forth

naturally what’s happening here is you

have a question

already prepared based on the discussion

hey the presenter said

dot dot dot maybe you’re talking about

real estate can you tell me what are

your thoughts on that

and boom now you’re delivering the

questions to someone in your breakout

room

and it will lead to a very deep

conversation

now you can also say this he or she

presented two ideas about da da da

which one did you resonate with

the most it means which one did you

relate to

the most or which one did you connect

with the most

so what’s happening you’re showing that

you were

listening that you understood the

presentation

that it was interesting and you’re also

showing that you are

interested in the other individual or

individuals in the breakout room you see

what’s happening right

it’s not just about the words you know

it’s about

literally understanding how to operate

properly

in a virtual meeting when you master

these things

honestly not just for english learners

even for

native english speakers you will feel so

much more

comfortable in virtual meetings now

there’s a third thing i want to tell you

about

related to the breakout rooms when

you’re in a breakout room the third

thing you can do is right here

listen and restate what your group

members say you see doing this before

you give your own comment

shows that you were listening hey when

you’re in a breakout room

think about it as a small meeting and

think about it also as a conversation

back and forth so when you focus on hey

what are my colleagues what are my

group members saying and then you repeat

to them what they said before you make

your comment

they will immediately want to listen to

you more

why because you cared about what they

said

you cared about their opinions so now

they’re going to care about your

opinions

again it’s so much deeper than just

english but you’ll feel so much more

comfortable

because everyone’s going to be

interested in what you’re saying

and you’ll start feeling confident so

how do you do this here we go let me

show you

um you said dot dot again restate what

they said very quickly

i also agree with that i would add

though

dot dot dot i’m acknowledging what the

individual said

i’m then saying hey i actually agree

with that but you know what

i kind of want to add something and it

keeps the conversation flowing

now another thing you can do is right

here you can say

i like how you said dot dot dot

i think that dot dot dot again

acknowledging first what the other

individual said showing them that you

were listening

and then giving your opinion this is how

you operate in a breakout room and this

is how you

stop feeling awkward how you speak

english with

confident during any virtual meeting

now i hope you learned a lot i hope you

really enjoyed today’s lesson

i hope it helped you master virtual

meetings

no longer will you have to feel awkward

or confused or nervous

you can feel confident no matter what

virtual meeting

you’re in thank you so much for joining

again i want to remind you to please

get your free pdf 1000 english

words and expressions totally for free

the link is in the description

i taught you some patterns and some

words and expressions today

and they’re going to help you but if you

want to learn more and sound like a

native english speaker

just get your free pdf by clicking the

link in the description

thank you again so much for joining i

can’t wait to see you again next week

for our lesson

remember as always to speak english

[Music]

you still there you know what time it is

it’s story time

a i said it’s story time

all right so for today’s story time it’s

actually about

singing kind of let me explain

so when i first left nasa

right i left nasa i actually prior to

going to korea

i came back to maryland i’m from

maryland

and i stayed with my parents they’re

great people

they said tiff you can stay with us

while you figure out what you’d like to

do next

so i said okay now i’m an individual

that likes to be active i like to be

involved i like to help

out so at my church they um

voted me in as the social uh the social

ministry leader so i was in charge of

like social events

at my church for about a year or two uh

period right

so i was always trying to come up with

things that were fun

for our church family to do together and

one day i came up with this idea so i’ve

always loved

singing but i also liked lip sync

now lip sync is when the music is

playing no sound is coming out of your

voice

but it’s playing in the background and

you’re acting like you’re singing it so

for example

when i say story time

a i said it’s story time

i’m literally singing but i know many of

you and you’ve

messaged me and told me sing along or

you

mouth along so as i’m singing you’re

like

right so no words are coming out no

sound is coming out but you’re

singing along that is lip singing with

your lips right

so i came up with this great idea i said

you know what

one now i’m a seventh day adventist so

sabbath on saturdays i go to church

i said one sabbath afternoon in the

evening

i want to have a lip sync contest now

my idea was to have people of all ages

come together from our church bring

their favorite songs

and they would perform up front

in front of us and we would vote who was

the best

who seemed like they really were singing

so i told a few people i told my family

and they were like yeah that’s gonna be

so much fun

so i’m like okay great now the thing is

it had never been done at my

church and so it had to be

marketed it had to be presented to the

church

so i realized that i couldn’t just

announce it simply in a simple way like

hey church family do you want to come to

a lip-sync contest

i realized that i had to do something uh

i had to do something to grab their

attention remember we talked about

during the lesson an attention grabber

right

so i came up with this idea one of my

favorite

singing groups is mary marriott two

sisters

their voices amazing gospel group and

they had a song

um i’m trying to think there were so

many songs that i liked i wanna

remember the exact song it was in the

morning

you’ll be alright no um

okay i can’t remember the exact song

let’s just say it was that one i’ll sing

that one

so what i was going to do was during

church

there’s an announcement period now my

church is pretty big between four to

five hundred people every single sabbath

on saturdays

so i asked the pastor and the person in

charge said hey i want to give an

announcement but it’s gonna be a little

bit different i don’t need to be up

front

i actually need to come from the back of

the church and they were like the back

of the church i said just trust me they

said okay

so i gave the cd to the sound guy

one of my friends and said hey when i

say go

when i walk into the church in the very

back the doors are gonna close behind me

and i’m gonna look at you

i want you to hit play he said okay now

remember our church is not small

so i was a little bit nervous but i was

also kind of excited so you know i’m not

really a shy person but

certain situations can be a little bit

nerve-wracking so

um it was time for the announcements and

they were like okay so our next

announcement is coming up

and there was silence and the church

went silent because no one was up front

so i opened the back doors and i was

standing there and a few people started

looking at me

because i hadn’t done anything yet i

looked at my friend and i said

you know i kind of gave him the eye like

it’s your time buddy

so the music came on right and it’s kind

of a jam

right so it’s playing people kind of you

know rocking with their like what is

about to happen

so the song starts playing now i knew

all the words because again

one of my favorite gospel groups so

let’s say the song was again

in the morning you’ll be all right

so i had to lip sync though so i was lip

singing now if you’re lip singing

the entire church is looking at you you

can’t just walk normally

so i started kind of dancing down the

aisle pointing at people and

of course people were smiling laughing

having a great time

so by the time i got to the front of the

church i looked at my friend i said okay

cut the music

people were like okay you know clapping

you know laughing having a good time

and i made the announcement all right

family we’re going to be having a lip

sync contest and i explained everything

right

but again i had grabbed their attention

now fast forward

the program was amazing it was super

funny

um people of all ages participated it

was great and actually

the older individuals were the ones who

did the best so

it was really a nice program and our

family church family came together

really well so everyone enjoyed it but

that announcement i will never forget

the way i did that announcement why

because it really got everyone’s

attention so again just like i taught

you in today’s lesson about

getting people’s attention at the

beginning of your presentation

it’s very important because they will

stay with you they’ll be interested

and they’ll be involved so i hope you

enjoyed today’s story time

if you have a story where you did

something that was

really shocking or really out of the

blue let us know in the comment section

again don’t forget to get your free pdf

if you want to learn

more words and expressions and sound

like a native english speaker

click the link right in the description

and i will see you

next week