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Talking about work

Episode 260417 / 17 Apr 2026

(Photo: Getty)

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Introduction

Georgie and Becca have a real conversation in easy English about work – the jobs we do and the way we feel about them. Learn to talk about being stressed or calm, being organised or disorganised and how a supportive environment can help someone who feels nervous.

Vocabulary

stress
feeling of worry or tension, usually caused by a particular situation

calm
feeling of peace and relaxation, without strong emotions

nervous
worried, anxious

organised
well prepared or planned 

disorganised
badly prepared or planned

supportive
helpful and encouraging to others

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Transcript

Georgie
Hello and welcome to Real Easy English, where we have real conversations in easy English to help you learn. I'm Georgie.
 
Becca
And I'm Becca. You can find a video version of this podcast on our website and test yourself with a worksheet on bbclearningenglish.com.
 
Georgie
Hello Becca. How are you?
 
Becca
I'm really well, thank you, Georgie. How about yourself?
 
Georgie
Yes, I'm good, thank you. Are you having a busy week?
 
Becca
It has been a little bit busy, but also quite fun. How about yours?
 
Georgie
Me too. I've had a busy week, but it's going well. And Becca, today we're talking about work. We're going to talk about what we're good at, at work, and also what we do when things go wrong.
 
Becca
Ooh. OK.
 
Georgie
So, what do you like about work?
 
Becca
I like that we have different tasks to do in the day, and some of them are creative, and then other tasks you really need to, kind of, put more thought and focus into.
 
Georgie
Becca, do you ever find work stressful?
 
Becca
Of course. I think that you will find work stressful at some point during your job or your career. Yeah, I think if I haven't planned things well – if I haven't done the preparation well – then I find things a bit stressful.
 
Georgie
Yeah.
 
Becca
How about yourself?
 
Georgie
Yeah, me too. When we have lots of projects as well, I feel like when we have a lot of things going on, it can be stressful to, kind of, juggle different tasks. And when we need to publish a new podcast or a new video series, it can be... there can be a lot of pressure to get things done.
 
Becca
So, would you say that you're someone who gets stressed easily at work? Because you seem to be quite calm all the time.
 
Georgie
Yeah. No, I don't actually get too stressed very often. Even when there's a bit of pressure at work, I tend to stay quite calm. I always just think, there's no point in worrying. Worrying doesn't actually fix the issues. And you can only do what you can do. So, yeah, I tend to stay quite relaxed. What about you? Do you get quite stressed or...
 
Becca
Yeah, as I previously mentioned, I think if... I'm usually quite an organised person but, you know, there are some times where I feel a bit disorganised. And if I don't prepare, I find myself in stressful situations and I might start feeling a bit nervous, especially as time gets closer to completing something. I really don't like having things late.

Georgie
Yeah.
 
Becca
Not just in work, but in my general life.
 
Georgie
So, you get nervous if you're not feeling organised. But are you good at being organised?
 
Becca
Yes. If I write things down, then I tend to stay organised. It's likely that I won't feel very stressed. I can start to relax a bit when I know that, you know, I've ticked things off my list. Do you write to-do lists?
 
Georgie
I do. I do write to-do lists. And that can be really helpful to, kind of, keep calm because you have your whole plan on a page that you can see. And you can, kind of, know where you are in your week, which is really helpful.
 
Becca
Yeah.
 
Georgie
What happens when things go wrong at work? What... how do you, kind of... how do you deal with these situations?
 
Becca
Well, I've only been here for a little while in comparison to yourself and the rest of the team. And I feel really thankful that you're all very supportive. So, if I do have something that I haven't quite finished, or I'm not really sure what I'm doing with it, or it just goes completely wrong, then I feel that I can come to yourself or any of the team to ask for a little bit of help or guidance.
 
Georgie
Oh, that's good! I don't think anything's gone completely wrong since you've been here.
 
Becca
Not yet... Audio listeners – fingers crossed!
 
Georgie
Fingers crossed! OK. Let's recap the language we heard during the conversation, starting with stress. Now, stress is a feeling of worry, usually caused by a particular situation. And you can describe a person as being stressed, and that is the feeling of having stress. And we can also say stressful, which describes the situation.
 
Becca
We also had calm, and that's when you don't feel stressed or worried about something. For example, Georgie is always very calm at work.
 
Georgie
We also heard nervous, which describes someone who worries a lot.
 
Becca
We had organised – someone who is organised plans very well and prepares very well. The opposite of organised is disorganised.
 
Georgie
And we heard supportive, and if someone is supportive, they help other people.
 
Becca
That's it for this episode of Real Easy English. We'll be back next week with another easy English conversation.
 
Georgie
And if you want more easy English, head to our website to try some of our other easy series – for example, the London Letter Challenge. Go to our website, bbclearningenglish.com.
 
Becca
Goodbye for now!
 
Georgie
Bye!

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