Happy 2025! I hope it's off to a great start.

In today's newsletter:

🚀 Help! I don't understand the question.

🚀 Thoughts about goal and habit setting

🚀 A free webinar to activate your professional vocabulary

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What was the question exactly? 🤔

In the NGO & International Cooperation community, you are working with colleagues from around the world. 🌍

World English is amazing

But sometimes, it’s hard to understand an unfamiliar accent.

A client recently told me that she feels nervous when presenting to international colleagues.

Sometimes she can’t understand when they ask her a question, due to the variety of accents on the call.

We practiced various strategies and phrases for putting her colleagues at ease and understanding the question.

Strategies for Understanding

⌨️ Often a written question is the best solution:

• Would you mind putting your question in the chat?
• Could you write that in the chat, so we can all see it?

🛜 Or blame technology:

• I’m sorry I didn’t hear that clearly. My connection is a little weak.
• You cut out there for a second. Could you repeat that please?

✔️ Summarizing a question is always a good practice. If you think you have the general idea of their question, try this:

• So are you asking [summarize what you think their question is]?
• Okay. You want to know about X.

It’s so important to understand each other. I hope this helps!

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🎯Goal Setting + Habit Setting

This week in the INTERACT community, we've been talking about our goals for 2025. It's exciting for some, scary for others (maybe both for me!)

As we think about our goals, we need to think about the actions -- and ultimately, the regular habits, that will guide us to successfully reaching our goals.

Here's an example:

GOAL: Participate in a professional training in English (instead of choosing the Spanish option!).

ACTIONS: Develop my listening skills on the topic; practice asking questions; increase my confidence

HABITS - schedule them on your calendar!: 📅

• Daily: Listen to a podcast or webinar on professional topics.
• Three times per week: Summarize what I've listened to orally & in writing. Practice asking questions related to the content.
• Weekly: Review key vocabulary and phrases related to the training topic. Write and post them near my computer.

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FREE Webinar: Activate your Professional Vocabulary

If you are frustrated that you UNDERSTAND so many words, but you never USE them --
this webinar is for you.
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If you want to use a greater variety of words in your NGO / International Cooperation meetings --this webinar is for you.

If vocabulary development is part of your 2025 Goals & Habits -- this webinar is for YOU!

Learn how to:
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🚀FIND the vocabulary YOU need
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🚀TRACK it in an organized way
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🚀USE it in real life
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You will gain:

MORE vocabulary
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MORE fluency
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MORE expression
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Sign up today and receive a free Vocabulary Activator guide.

REGISTER now!

Here's to reaching our goals in 2025 and having some fun along the way.

Best, Amy