Name: English for Working In a Team - Business English Conversation Lesson
Uploaded: 2023-12-18T14:21:49.000Z
Duration: 14 min 15 s
Description: Thousands of YouTube videos with English-Chinese subtitles! Now you can learn to understand native speakers, expand your vocabulary, and improve your pronunciation...

I'm Martin, Welcome to Oxford Online English!

Modal verbs - A2

In this business English lesson, you can learn useful language to talk about collaborative

You'll learn words and phrases to talk about teamwork, assigning tasks, staying on schedule

Do you find it difficult to listen to English for long periods?

No problem – use the English subtitles to help yourself understand!

Turn them on now; just click the 'CC' button in the bottom right of your video player.

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Now, let's get started with the first part of your lesson.

In many workplaces, you might be asked to join a team project.

Sometimes the project involves colleagues from the same department, but you may also

work with people from different departments or even different companies.

Pause the video and see how many you can get.

There are many, but here are some common possibilities.

You can 'form a team', create a team', or 'build a team' – these all have a

You'll hear phrases like 'form a team', create a team', and 'build a team'.

In this situation, you might say you 'run the team' or 'head the team'.

You can also say that you are the team lead.

Let's listen to a dialogue about two colleagues who have just started working together on

While you listen, see if you can hear two more expressions.

One: an expression for joining a team project.

Two: an expression for working together on a project.

It's great to have you on board for this project.

I think it's good to join forces on this.

By the way, who else is going to be involved?

Well, as you know, I'm the team lead, but Sarah, Mark and Jennifer are also going to

Well, I'm not sure if you know, but Mark and Jennifer don't get along too well.

Well, we need the team to gel for this project.

I'll talk to them, and if they can't commit to working together, then I'll try to find

The expression for joining a team project was 'on board'.

You heard 'it's great to have you on board for this project'.

For example: 'how many people have you got on board already?'

Meaning: how many people are already on the team?

The expression for working together on a project was 'join forces'.

The sentence was 'I think it's good to join forces on this.'

In the dialogue, you heard Mark's name mentioned.

This means that he doesn't work well in a team.

You also heard 'he tends to do his own thing', and this means the same – that Mark doesn't

You also heard 'we need the team to gel'.

Here's another example: 'The project was a disaster.

The team never really gelled and there were constant arguments.'

If you say 'the team never really gelled', you mean that people couldn't work well

When you're working on a team project, you will be given tasks to do or responsibilities

Let's look at the language for these situations now.

A project usually has several tasks, that are shared between team members.

You can talk about sharing tasks, or you can talk about *allocating* tasks. They have a

A team leader can allocate tasks to team members. This is

called *delegating.* A team lead might *prioritise* tasks.

This means that the most important tasks are completed first.

While you listen, think about two questions.

One: What language does the team lead use for allocating tasks?

Two: What language does the team lead use for giving instructions?

There are a few more tasks that need to be completed.

Mark and Sarah are still working on the designs, aren't they?

Yeah, and Jennifer is doing the written copy.

Would you be able to sort out the printing?

It might be best to get the prices first.

I'll phone around and see how much it will be.

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English for Working In a Team - Business English Conversation Lesson

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