ESL Podcast 582 - A Parent-Teacher Conference
parent-teacher conference - a special meeting between a student's parents and teacher when they discuss how well (or poorly) the student is doing in school
At the parent-teacher conference, they found out that their daughter hadn't been doing her homework for the past two weeks.
to go beyond (something) - to discuss or deal with something else in addition to what is expected; to go further into something
At this company, we go beyond our customer's expectations and try to give them the best service possible.
report card - a piece of paper given to each student every quarter or every term showing his or her grades in all classes
Miyuki's report card had three As, two Bs, and one C.
standardized test scores - the number of points received on tests that are given to all students at the same grade level, used to compare their performance
Do universities consider students' standardized test scores from tests taken in elementary school?
attentive - paying attention; listening to and caring about what another person says
Daniel wishes his wife were more attentive. He feels like she doesn't even hear what he's saying most of the time.
hard worker - a person who tries very hard to do what is expected or required; a person who is dedicated and committed to doing his or her work well
Pauline isn't our brightest employee, but she is a very hard worker and always does her job well.
to hand in - to submit; to turn in; to give a document or form to someone with authority, usually so that it can be graded or evaluated
Don't forget to hand in your essays by the end of the day.
homework - assignments that should be completed at home after school and given to the teacher by a certain time and date
Even the kindergarten teacher gives her students homework, asking them to practice writing letters and numbers.
portfolio - a collection of the work that one has done during a particular period of time, especially for artists, models, and students
This artist's portfolio contains some beautiful watercolor paintings.
to work on - to try to improve something; to try to become better at something or do something better
Janice is going to France this summer to work on her French.
to misbehave - to behave inappropriately; to do things that are against the rules; to act in unexpected and unacceptable ways
The teacher becomes very frustrated when his students misbehave by talking and playing games during class.
to lose (one's) temper - to become very angry and lose control of one's actions and words
When the employee came in late for the fifth day in a row, his boss lost her temper and shouted, "You're fired!"
social skills - the ability to interact with other people in positive ways and make friends
People who work in teams need to have strong social skills so that they can maintain good relationships with their co-workers.
academics - related to education at a school, especially to education in traditional areas like writing, reading, math, history, and science
When James' academics began to suffer, his parents told him to stop playing so many sports so that he would have more time to study
subject - one area of knowledge studied in school, such as English, math, history, science, a foreign language, music, and more
Biology used to be my favorite subject in school, but now I prefer chemistry.
cooperatively - collaboratively; doing things together with other people, offering to help them get something done
If those two companies could find a way to work together cooperatively, they'd both be more profitable.
to get ahead - to be successful, especially to be more successful than other people
Ash is studying several computer programming languages to get ahead in his job.
improvement - something that has become better
We've seen a great improvement in our sales figures over the past year, with revenue increasing by more than 250 percent.