They Made Me the Boss of People Older Than Me | Juan's Second Year, Chapter 1

https://yourenglishtoolbox.com/episodes/205-they-made-me-the-boss-of-people-older-than-me/

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You may know the words in English and still hesitate when the conversation really matters. Juan knows that feeling. He moved from Barcelona to Wolverhampton to study business, and he discovered that becoming fluent with real people was harder than doing exercises.

After telling his story in our Small Talk series, Juan returns as part of the Your English Toolbox team. He now joins us in two formats: the short weekly What Does That Even Mean? and the longer Sunday conversations of Juan's Second Year. He shares small moments from work and everyday life, including the things that helped him and the mistakes that taught him something useful.

In this first chapter, Juan has been asked to supervise the Saturday shift at his café. He needs to ask Sue, an experienced colleague, to carry glasses to the back. The words he chooses are clear, but he worries that they sound too abrupt. On the bus home, he remembers a question Sue used to ask him and begins to understand how context can change the meaning of a request.

Practise with Martin, Julia and Juan:

• Could you take the glasses to the back?
• Would you mind taking the glasses to the back?
• When you get a chance — when the task is not urgent.
• Do you want to…? — sometimes a genuine question, sometimes a gentle request.
• How to respond when you cannot do something immediately.

Words, tone, relationship and urgency all matter. A longer request is not automatically more polite.

This chapter pairs with Who Are You in English?, our companion episode about expressing yourself in another language.

Free study materials

Full transcript (PDF): https://yourenglishtoolbox.com/downloads/episode-205-transcript-en.pdf Vocabulary guide (PDF): https://yourenglishtoolbox.com/downloads/episode-205-vocab-en.pdf

Español: Transcripción y vocabulario en español disponibles en la web.

Deutsch: Transkription und Vokabular auf Deutsch auf unserer Website verfügbar.

Français : Transcription et vocabulaire en français disponibles sur notre site web.

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Learn with this episode on Your English Toolbox: follow the transcript, practise the expressions and download the study materials from the episode page.

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