English, baby!

Work Interrupted - With The Past Progressive Tense

Date: Apr 20 2010

Themes: Soap Opera, Work

Grammar: Past Progressive Tense

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Intro

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2. Read and Prepare - Read the introduction and prepare to hear the audio.

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Being a perfect boss is a matter of balance. You have to be the right combination of strict, fun, friendly, and professional.

When Devan first started running her own company with all her friends as employees, she was a bit of a slave driver. Then she started playing favorites. Now she has a new problem. Nobody can get any work done, because Devan keeps interrupting them.

In today’s special grammar episode of As the World Learns, Devan’s employees use the past progressive tense to explain what they were doing before Devan stopped them.

3. Watch - Watch the video without reading the dialog.

Dialog

1. Listen and Read - Listen to the audio and read the dialog at the same time.

2. Study - Read the dialog again to see how the vocab words are used.

Jason: Man, we’re eating lunch so late.

Mason: Tell me about it, man.

Jason: I can’t get anything done!

Ella: It’s ridiculous.

Mason: And I’ve still got stuff to do! I’ve only cleaned like half the office.

Jason: Devan, like, interrupts me every time I try to do something productive.

Ella: Me too!

Mason: What were you trying to get done, you know?

Jason: Oh, I was just trying to recruit more traffic to the site and she interrupted me to referee a game of paper football.

Ella: I was on the phone talking with this very lucrative advertiser to set something up and get some money in, you know, for the site, and then Devan calls me in and tells me to pick up her dog and then get her dog’s paw-nails painted.

Mason: Seriously, guys, I was trying to take the garbage out and she, like, called me over to look at which kind of sweater she thought would be better for her grandma.

Jason: Oh man.

Ella: We’re never going to get anything done!

Devan: What are you guys doing in here? Get back to work! Come on! I’m just kidding, I’m just kidding. We’re totally about to have a poker tournament in here. Who wants to buy in? It’s $10. Come on, who wants to play, who wants to play. Anybody?

Jason: Oh my god.

Grammar Point

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Discussion

Go Super to Listen

Jason, Mason, and Ella are eating lunch really late at the office because they haven’t been able to get anything done all day. Every time they try to do some work, Devan interrupts them.

Everyone explains what they were doing before Devan stopped them. It finally looks like the gang might get some work done when Devan comes over and yells at them for being lazy. But it turns out she really just wanted to interrupt them again. It looks like it’s going to be a long day at the office.

What were you doing the last time someone interrupted you? What qualities do you think make a good boss?

Comments

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Marcelolic

Brazil

Humm I hate to be interrrupted when I'm doing something even if it is something important! hehe For instance,I like to run on the electric treadmill watching TV in the gym so I hate when someone wants to chat to me in this moment :P

I guess to be a good boss you must to be friendly,serious and professional certainly ;)

migato

Qatar

THIS EXERCISE IS VERY GOOD,,, THANK YOU ENGLISH BABY

migato

Qatar

THIS EXERCISE IS VERY GOOD,,, THANK YOU ENGLISH BABY

Risk

Costa Rica

part of being a good boss is to understand your employees specialy if you were in their position before. now the problem in my office is that we are overload with work every day while the boss is just giving new assigments and taking quite long breaks.

luise

Taiwan

Its the worst situation when you focused to do something and you had timestress but somebody always interrupted your work from time to time Oh my God you maybe wanted to kill him or her

snejka

Bulgaria

I haven't any boss.Only my husband interrupted me while i was learning English. He invited me for cofee-break.

azzatarek

Egypt

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kukuka

Ukraine

Just a few minutes ago I was about to start this lesson on ebaby and my boss interrupted me, he came over to my room and told me by BF is waiting for me downstairs near the receptionist's post. I think a good boss is the kind of person who can think of good working results and his employees's interests simultaneously and meanwhile happen to stay calm and unbiased.

handwriter

Norway

Ah! I hope that I haven't offended any of you "yous" out there with all this talk about "I."

handwriter

Norway

Thanks – I have tried to be me or even myself, but I do better and have more success with the ladies when I am I and not me or myself – go figure, huh? "I" hates being "myself" or just "me." jeje

Romio79

Russian Federation

Ha-ha. That was good

handwriter

Norway

No, yes, I may at times get impatient with myself, but never to a point of hating myself. I was just commenting on another's commentary how he said that he hated bosses and then said that he was soon to be a boss – or something like that.

You may have been referring to Split or dual Personality. I guess that some may even have multiple personalities.

As for yours truly, there are only three of us: Me, myself and I.

Me: "Self, if I have told you once, I have told you a thousand times that I is only looking out for himself and does not care about you and me."

Myself: "Yes, I know me, but I want I to know that we are forms of I – we are like brothers."

I: "yeah! Yeah! Will you two please stop all that self-centered crap. I am I and you two are only an object and a reflexive of I - you can never be I. I am and always will be the subject of both of you."

fennyyang

China

now i have a very strict boss and not happy to do my work.

lulu6151

China

GOOD BOSS KNOW WHAT IS MOST IMPORTANT.. MAKE MONEY IS MAIN JOB FOR BOSS. SO I GUESS THIS WOMAN IS CRAZY HERE.

0marsit0

Mexico

I was trying to enjoy my first vacation day when my boss called me to ask for a report…damn!

Romio79

Russian Federation

"If one hates bosses and is a boss or plans to be one, therefore, being self-employed, would this mean that he or she would be troubled with self-hatered too?"

Handwriter, it's really better not to hate yourself even if you are self-employed and hate bosses)) By the way be careful! If you feel two personalities in yourself (boss and employee) at the same time it looks like some psycological desease))) Sorry, I don't know it's term in english.

handwriter

Norway

Maybe a more fitting title for this lesson could be "Boss Interrupted." that is to say, "mentally interrupted." I wonder if there is a medical term for this in the DSM 5.

euden-d

Bhutan

I was interrupted by the sound of the door bell while I was sleeping.
A good boss should be kind, polite, considerate, well behaved, and ofcourse professional, a good example to the employees, someone who is comfortable to work with.

rosendo

Mexico

i think nobody likes to be Interrupted. especially me , when some one Interrup me , i feel like hit him/her bcs u are concetrate in 1 activity and u need to be alone and need the enviroment silence

Jogral

Brazil

Well, i´ve had many bosses in various kinds of job. There isn´t a only formule. It dependes upon the job, the team and the boss personnality. It´s coommmon a a great worker and mate turns a bad boss when upgrated. And the oppsite happens too. The bigger enterprises in all the world were found and run by members of a family. Nowadays, to maintain the best in market, they have to put professional executives to lead the entrerprise. What I mean: the better boss is that fits with the businness envirommen.