welcome back I'm Jenna and this is learn academic English where I teach intermediate and advanced
level lessons for English Learners who want to take their English to the next level in today's
lesson I'm going to be talking about idioms for the workplace I'm talking about this topic because
if you need to use English in your work it's the type of situation where you want to feel
confident in your English but as you know English speakers use a lot of idioms and we have many
idioms that we use specifically to talk about work because work is an important part of our lives
so I'm going to teach you 10 idioms for the workplace But be sure that you check
the description box below because I'm going to leave a link to a document that's going to have
all this information there for you so you can get that document and continue to practice and
learn at home okay so let's get into the idioms the first one is to break the ice to break the
ice means to make people feel more friendly and willing to talk to each other I'll break the ice
so we often use this at meetings or when there are a lot of new people who are together for example
we can say to break the ice the group leader asked us to share our plans for the upcoming holiday
or you might ask what are some games that we could use to break the ice
now we also use this as a noun we use the noun Icebreaker how about an icebreaker
for example we need a good Icebreaker for the meeting so that we can get to know each other
so again to break the ice means that maybe when there are a lot of people together who don't know
each other they might not feel comfortable but when you break the ice you do something
that allows the people to feel more friendly comfortable and willing to talk to each other
okay next to call it a day to call it a day means to stop working especially
because you've done enough or because you're tired well I'm calling it a day let's call it
a day and go home for example we often say oh that was a busy day let's call it a day
let's stop working or we could say good job today everyone let's call it a day or it's time to call
it a day it's time to stop working again super common idiom that we use to announce that we've
finished working for the day it's time to stop and go home okay number three to get a foot in
the door this is a very common idiom and this is an important one to know because there really is
not another way to say this what does that mean to get a foot in the door to get a foot in the door
means to get your first opportunity to work in a particular organization or industry what this will
get your foot in the door for example working as an intern is a great way to get a foot in the door
or if you know someone who works at that company could you help me get a foot in the door
it's like you're starting to enter that workplace you have a foot in the door so
the door's not closed to you the door to the company is starting to open and maybe they
will find that they will want to hire you to get your first opportunity to work there
all right number four the bottom line now the bottom line is a common idiom that we
use in many situations and actually I have a whole video that covers this expression
and I'll link that above but the bottom line means the end result of something
or the most important point about something that has been discussed bottom line is that
for example the bottom line is that our profits are falling and we need to make changes now that's
the most important point the bottom line is okay number five to be on the same page now I also have
a video all about this expression too because it is very very useful to be on the same page means
that people have the same understanding everyone who is together has the same understanding of a
situation or the same knowledge you know this is something we all need to be on the same page with
for example let's start our meeting with a quick review so that we can all be on the same page or
let's go over what we talked about last time so we're all on the same page or for example I don't
think that I can work well with my boss because we just are not on the same page we just don't
have the same view or the same understanding number six to think outside the box okay so
here you want to imagine that your thinking is like a box and when you are close-minded
or when you're not open to new ideas you're in this box but if you think outside the box that
means that you are willing to try new ideas or that you are Innovative or that you have a new
and inventive way of thinking of the problem to think of new difficult or unusual ways to
do something especially in business everybody start thinking outside the box bucks for example
we need to think outside the box if we want to come up with creative products for today's market
we need to be Innovative number seven to be ahead of the Curve to be ahead of the curve
means to be in a position where you are more advanced or you're not afraid of taking risks
so this idea implies like imagine that you're driving down the road okay and there's a curve
coming up if you are ahead of the curve that means that you're anticipating things that might happen
or you are able to see the whole problem and maybe solve it first this is especially used
in business to imply that if you are thinking ahead or if you are more advanced you're going
to be able to be more competitive than other businesses for example we could say businesses
that want to stay ahead of the curve are not afraid of taking risks to gain new customers
okay Forward Thinking businesses or businesses that are willing to take risks and do new things
okay number eight number eight is to get down to business to get down to business means to get to
work to start working hard or to focus on the task at hand for example you can say we have only four
days left to finish this project let's get down to business we need to get down to business let's
get down to business number nine to put something on the back burner okay so if you look at a stove
the stove is going to have front burners and back burners and if you think about when you're cooking
often you might put the most important things on the in the front and then maybe something that
you can just kind of let sit there for a while is going to go to the back so what this idiom means
is that in life we can put something on the back burner that means that it has lower priority or
that it's something that maybe you're going to wait and work on later you're just going to let
it sit there you'll you'll tend to it later but it's not something that right now is at the top of
your priority list so you might decide that it's a lower priority it's something that you probably
will deal with later but it's not at the top of your priority list right now so you're going to
put it on the back burner for example we can say I love your idea but I don't have the budget we're
going to have to put it on the back burner for now put Missouri on the back burner okay and finally
number 10 to have a full plate I also have a video about this one a short video this is a very common
idiom that we use to mean that we are very busy because we have a lot of things to do a lot of
different things to do or to be very busy because you have a lot of duties for example we could say
I can't take on any new projects because I have a very full plate or we can say my plate is too full
so to have a full plate or my plate is too full both of those mean that you just have
so many different things that you need to do and you don't have space for any more things
your plate is full there's no space for more items I have a very full plate so remember to practice
there are two things you can do you can get the document in the description box below that has
all of these idioms the meanings and example sentences and I'm going to leave a question in
the description box below you can answer that question in the comments to practice with me
and I would love to know which of these idioms were new for you and which ones do you really
want to learn I hope to see you back here soon let me know if you have questions and take care