Weekly Team Update
Read or Listen to the Summary
Thanks, everyone. I’ll get straight to the point — we need to step up our game if we want to finish this project before the deadline. We’ve made good progress, but a few things have slipped through the cracks because communication between departments hasn’t been consistent. To smooth things over, I’ve decided we’ll start having short check-ins every morning next week — just ten minutes to make sure everyone’s on the same page.
I also want to be clear: I’m not here to point fingers or blame anyone. Mistakes happen, and what matters now is how we handle them. Let’s work together to sort things out and make sure the next phase runs smoothly. Before you leave, please update your progress notes in the shared folder so we can all track what’s been done. Thanks again for your effort — I know this team can pull it off.
Read the Friend’s Text Message
Hey, I couldn’t join the meeting today. What did the boss say about the project delays? I heard something about daily check-ins—what are those for? And what did she mean when she said not to point fingers?
Student Writing Tasks
Write a text reply to your friend’s message.
Use clear, polite sentences.
Summarize what the speaker said in your own words.
Use in Your Daily Life
What do the following idioms and phrasal verbs mean in these sentences from everyday life?
My girlfriend told me I need to step up my game if I want to keep her.
After my brother and I argued, our mom helped us smooth things over before dinner.
It’s easy to point fingers when something goes wrong, but harder to fix it.
We finally sorted things out after our misunderstanding about the weekend plans.
