English Language skills for professional communication

1. ENGLISH LANGUAGE
SKILLS FOR PROFESSIONAL
COMMUNICATION
Teacher: Kathy Reina
UNIVERSITY OF CHICHESTER
OCT- NOV 2015
Celia Moreno Rodríguez

2. Political Vocabulary
POLITICAL VOCABULARY MEANING
A throwback
A person or a thing having the
characteristics of a former time
A toff
A rich or upper class person; this word has a
negative connotation
Devolution The transfer of power to a lower level
Eurosceptic
A person who opposes giving more power to
the European Union
A seismic shift A change with highly significant consequences
Political landscape
This describes what is happening politically,
in a broad sense, across a country
A hardliner
A member of a political
group who adheres rigidly to a set of ideas
or policies.
An anti-monarchist An opponent of the idea of having a Royal
family
A firebrand A radical
A spin doctor
A spokesperson employed by a political party
to give a favourable version of event to the
media

3. GIVING OPINIONS ABOUT ART
Expressions to use when you love a painting……
• It really floats my boat
• The painting speaks to me / It really speaks to
me
• It really strikes a chord with me
• It falls into my style of art
• It’s music for my soul

4. GIVING OPINIONS ABOUT ART
Expressions to use when you loathe a painting…
• It really leaves me cold
• It doesn’t say anything to me
• It doesn’t do anything for me
• It doesn’t exactly float my boat
Expressions to use when neither love nor hate a
painting….
• I feel ambivalent about it / I’m ambivalent about it
• I find it quite insipid

5. WAYS OF DISAGREEING
DIPLOMATICALLY
• I’m not sure about that…
• I see what you mean but…
• You might be right but….
• I’m afraid I disagree..
• I see your point but…
• Sorry to disagree with you…
• Actually, I’m afraid I don’t really agree with
you…

6. SLANG USED BY CHILDREN IN THE UK
LIKE A BOSS!
THAT’S LEGIT!!
IT WAS EPIC!!
“YOU CAN SAY
THAT AGAIN!“
BANTER!
THIS IS SICK!!
HER HOUSE IS SO
LUSH!THAT BOY IS SO
FIT!
YOU’RE A COCKY!

7. TECHNOLOGY TERMS
• A selfie sitck: An extendable metal stick that lets you take a
photo of yourself by positioning the camera beyond the
normal range of your arm.
• Computer savvy: Someone who has a good knowledge of
computers.
• A computer geek/ nerd/ a techie/ a tech-head: Someone
who is really interested in computers and is seen by other to
be socially inept.
• A silver surfer: An elderly person who is a regular and
enthusiastic user of the internet.
• An earworm: a catchy song that continually runs through your
mind.

8. • To photobomb: to spoil a picture by
unexpectedly appearing in it as a joke.
• To rip a CD: to copy songs from audio CD to a
hard disk.
• An internet troll: someone who upsets people
by posting unpleasant messages.
• BTW: By the way
• LOL: Laugh out loud
• IM me: Instant Message me

9. PHRASAL VERBS
• To be caught out: surprised by a difficult situation.
• Tussel over: Strong conflict over something
• Grapples with: to try hard to understand something.
• Pours over: to try to understand something difficult (
in a text)
• Wrestled with: to try hard to deal with a problem /
to try to decide something difficult
• To dump/ to chuck someone/ to split up: to finish a
romantic relation.

10. SELF-CORRECTION SYMBOLS
• Gr: grammar
• WO: word order
• V: vocabulary
• Sp: Spelling
• St: Style (formal, informal..)
• P: Punctuation

11. QUESTIONNAIRES
AIMS:
• Design a questionnarie about education/
adverts to use on campus.
• To practise our speaking and listening skills
with British people.
• To evaluate the conversations we have had
and gain help with any language issues.

12. EDUCATION
• Could you tell us 3 characteristics you think a good
teacher should have?
• Do you have any special memory from your primary
school?
• What was your favourite subject at the school? Why?
• What type of school did you go to? Were you happy?
• Did you feel a big difference between Primary and
Secondary school?
• What are you studying here in the university? Why
did you choose Chichester university?

13. Most of the students answered a good teacher
is someone enthusiastic, motivating, patience,
inspirational, good subject knowledge.
Their special memories from the school were
special events or celebration days like “Dress
up day, Book day…”
And they have chosen Chichester University
because of the teachers and the reputation.

14. ADVERTS ON TV
• What do you think is the best advert on Tv now?
• Can you tell us about a slogan that stands out or
the most popular?
• Is there any advert or slogan closely related to
Bristish culture?
• Can you think of a phrase that you use in your
everyday life that comes from an advert?
• Can you tell us an advert for teenagers and
another for adults?