Level B2 Business English
Lesson 7
Meeting – Stating Negative Progress
ミーティング ネガティブな状況に言及する

1
PHRASE OF THE DAY
今日のフレーズ

Unfortunately, we're at a standstill.
不幸なことに、私たちの状況は停滞している。

2
SITUATION
状況

Mark is reporting negative project results in a meeting.
マークはミーティングでプロジェクトの思わしくない結果報告をしています。

3
DIALOGUE
ダイアログ

Directions: First repeat after your tutor and then practice each role.

Cathy
Where do we stand Mark?
Mark
Unfortunately, we’re at a standstill and won’t roll out the new advertising campaign as scheduled.
Cathy
That’s not good. What are the issues that are holding us up?
Mark
Sadly, Yuta left the team. Another issue is Jack’s having a hard time getting necessary approval from legal to move forward. There are several other minor issues, but these are the two big ones that are causing all the headaches regarding project progression.
Cathy
Any word on a replacement for Yuta then?
Mark
HR will start screening candidates as soon as they get some applicants. Regrettably, it'll take at least a few weeks to replace Yuta.

4
VOCABULARY
語い

Directions: First repeat after your tutor and then read aloud by yourself.

standstill
停滞している
hold ~ up
引き止める
approval
承認
legal
法的
move forward
前進する
cause a headache
頭痛の種となる

5
LANGUAGE FOCUS
今日のポイント

Unfortunately, we're at a standstill.
不幸なことに、私たちの状況は停滞している。
Meeting - Stating Negative Progress

Directions: First repeat after your tutor and then read aloud again by yourself.

Unfortunately, we’ve fallen behind schedule.
Things are not moving ahead as planned.
We’ve run into a few hiccups.
We’ve gotten a bit off track in regards to our initial project schedule.
There have been some unforeseeable delays.
We’ve hit a wall that has stopped us dead in our tracks.
Project progress isn’t looking so good at the moment.

6
ACTIVITY
練習

Activity 1: What was the worst news you have ever had to give in a business setting? How did you go about giving it? Discuss this with your tutor, give as many details as possible.

Activity 2: Using the language learned, play the “Good News, Bad News Game.” The tutor starts by reading the sentence below. Then you continue by changing the bad news to good news, but also adding some more bad news. The game should continue until neither of you can quickly think of more bad news.

“We’ve approved the creation of the new designs, but we’ve had some trouble finding a designer."

HINTS
breakdown
内訳
bottleneck
問題点
frustrated
いらいらした
interruption
中断
a slow down
減速する