/01
“You know the answer and cannot say the date.”
Dates and durations
Since when, how often, how long. The hardest small thing in a second language and the thing this conversation is mostly made of.
At the clinic, rehearsed out loud
1
person runs this conversation
7 min
The shortest conversation
Describing a symptom to somebody who is typing, and who will ask you to repeat the date because it has to go in the system exactly.
B2 · confidentC1 · advanced
What actually happens
Five things people say before they start.
One of them is usually the real reason. What sits underneath it is what actually gets scored.
/02
“You end up pointing.”
Describing a symptom
Where, what kind, how bad. Vocabulary you have never needed until the day you need it urgently.
/03
“The second ask makes you doubt the first answer.”
Being asked to repeat
He is typing, so he will ask again, not because you were unclear but because he needs it exactly. Hearing that as a system requirement rather than as your failure matters.
/04
“You prepared the symptoms and got stuck on the paperwork.”
The administrative half
Documents, an address, an appointment time. Reception before medicine, and it is where the conversation actually starts.
Not the situation you need?
Bring the real thing: the job description, the date on the letter, the words the school used. Everyone who runs at the clinic will work from what you actually walked in with.
How a first conversation worksWho you will be talking to
At the clinic, with 1 of these 1.
In whichever order helps. The first 5 minutes with a free partner cost nothing, so you can talk to two of them before you choose.
At the clinicWhat it costs
One price a minute, whoever you talk to.
A harder conversation simply runs longer. The shortest way to rehearse at the clinic is 7 min.
You pay for the seconds you talk, and the minutes come off a balance you already hold. Nothing renews, and you are never sent a bill. Plans and refunds.
B2 · confident
12 min
is how long a conversation at this difficulty runs
A clinic receptionist in Mexican Spanish, neutral, typing while you talk.
- Minutes of talking in total
- 72
- What that costs here
- $32
- The same minutes with a tutor
- $300
- You do not spend
- −$268
At $50 an hour, rounded up to the 60-minute booking nobody will sell you less than.
Your first 5 minutes
What 5 free minutes are for.
01
Do reception first
Two scenarios: the desk and the symptoms. The desk is the one that comes first in life too.
The terms, in full
- Free
- 5 minutes
- No card asked for
02
Practise the date out loud
It is the single most repeated failure in this room and it is fixable in one session.
Paid for out of your free minutes
- Dates and durations
- Describing a symptom
- Being asked to repeat
- The administrative half
Questions
What people ask before they start.
Nearby
What people open next.
The rest of Everyday life first, then everything else at the same difficulty.
All the situationsYour child's school
B2 · confidentC1 · advancedTen minutes with a teacher, and everything you did not ask is a year of their schooling.2 peoplefrom 8 minBehind the counter
B1 · workingB2 · confidentAn order said once, at full speed, with two modifications and a queue.1 personfrom 5 minYour first shift
B1 · workingB2 · confidentA manager explaining a till, once, while three other things need him.1 personfrom 5 min
B2 · confidentC1 · advancedTen minutes with a teacher, and everything you did not ask is a year of their schooling.2 peoplefrom 8 minBehind the counterB1 · workingB2 · confidentAn order said once, at full speed, with two modifications and a queue.1 personfrom 5 minYour first shiftB1 · workingB2 · confidentA manager explaining a till, once, while three other things need him.1 personfrom 5 min