Lesson 39: Water Cooler Chat

Listening Lab
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Water Cooler Chat

Lesson Goal: Learn how to listen and participate in short, informal conversations with colleagues using common idioms.

Small Talk at Work

In many offices, employees gather around the water cooler (or coffee machine) to take a break. The conversations here are not about serious business; they are about building relationships. This is called small talk.

During small talk, native speakers often use idioms. For example, instead of saying "I have not seen you for a while," they might say "long time no see". Instead of saying "I am very busy," they might say "I have been a busy bee."

Go to the next card to learn the idioms, then listen to Sarah and Mike's conversation in the Listen tab!

psychology

Idioms

សំនួនវោហារស័ព្ទ
Long time no see /lɔːŋ taɪm noʊ siː/ ខានជួបគ្នាយូរហើយ
Busy bee /ˈbɪz.i biː/ អ្នករវល់ខ្លាំង / ឧស្សាហ៍
calendar_month

Weekend Talk

ការសន្ទនាអំពីចុងសប្តាហ៍
How was your weekend? /haʊ wəz jɔːr ˈwiːk.end/ ចុងសប្តាហ៍របស់អ្នកម៉េចដែរ?
Catch up (on) /kætʃ ʌp/ ធ្វើកិច្ចការដែលខកខាន (សង)
directions_run

Activities

សកម្មភាពផ្សេងៗ
Hiking /ˈhaɪ.kɪŋ/ ការឡើងភ្នំ / ដើរព្រៃ
Relaxed /rɪˈlækst/ សម្រាក / ធូរស្រាល
headphones

headphones Listen Closely

Click play to listen to the conversation.

fact_check COMPREHENSION CHECK
1. Why hasn't Sarah seen Mike lately?
2. What did Mike do on the weekend?
3. What did Sarah do on the weekend?
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Real World Tasks

Practice your small talk skills!
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Mission Report

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