Using English at Work

Lesson 1 - Arriving at Work

[start of script]

I woke up this morning and thought, "TGIF!" I have been looking forward to the weekend and all I need to do is to get through one more day of work.

I drive to work and pull into the parking lot next to my office building. I stop at the security gate. I put my key card into the card reader and the security arm goes up. I drive into the parking structure and find a parking spot. I make sure that my parking permit is showing in the windshield and I lock up. I get my briefcase out of the back seat and walk toward the building. It's a short walk and I'm there in no time.

When I get there, I take out my badge and put it around my neck before I go through the main entrance of the building. Employees are supposed to wear their badges at all times at work so that the security guards know that we belong there. One day last week, I forgot my badge at home and I had to get a visitor's pass for the day. My coworker made fun of me all day. He kept asking me if he could get me some coffee and when I was leaving. What a joker!

[end of script]

I hope that listening to me talk about arriving at work has taught you some new vocabulary that you can use in your own workplace. Our first lesson has ended, and in the next lesson I'm going to talk about checking my mail, email, and voicemail.

This course has been a production of the Center for Educational Development, in beautiful Los Angeles, California. Visit our website at eslpod.com.

This course was produced by Dr. Jeff McQuillan and Dr. Lucy Tse. Copyright

2008.

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Using English at Work

Lesson 2 - Checking Mail, Email, and Voicemail

SCRIPT

The first thing I do when I get to work each morning is to check my inboxes. I go to the mailroom to check my mail slot to see what mail has arrived overnight. There are always a lot of intra-office and inter-office letters and memos. Much of it is junk mail, so I spend a few minutes sorting through it.

The next thing I do is to turn on my computer to check email. I open my email program and my new messages automatically download into my inbox. Even though I have a pretty good spam filter, I still check through my trash folder carefully to make sure nothing important was filtered out. We're also not supposed to get personal emails at work, but sometimes my friends send or forward me messages to this address and I have to make sure I respond using my personal email address. When I don't have time to finish a message or when I get interrupted, I save it into my draft folder.

Finally, I check my voicemail. I call the voicemail system and enter in my PIN to bypass the outgoing message. I have two new messages, and after listening to them, I save one of them and delete the other.

I look at the clock and it's already 9:30 AM! It's time for the morning meeting.

GLOSSARY

inbox - an electronic space or a real box that holds emails, papers, and other things that one needs to read and respond to

* Mike has two inboxes on his desk: one for things that have to be responded to right away, and one for things that he can read whenever he has some free time.

mailroom - a room in a large office building where mail is organized so that it can be given to the right people

* Every afternoon the mailroom receives thousands of pieces of mail and the workers have to deliver them to the right people by 5:00 p.m.

mail slot - a small box that has a person's name on it and holds mail for that person

* When you go on vacation, don't forget to put an "out of office" sign on your mail slot, so that people know you won't be coming in to get your mail.

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