🍵 Reading 30 • The Skill Gap
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Today's story: Three people in different stages of life face the same challenge: their job is no longer enough. Whether it's through online courses, peer learning, or quietly retraining behind the scenes, each person must decide whether to adapt… or risk being left behind.
Main menu:
🟢 Discovery (beginner): The Shortcut Key
🟡 Growth (intermediate): The Course Tab
🟣 Expansion (advanced): Thread by Thread
🟢 Discovery: The Shortcut Key
A small question at work turns into a quiet victory no one else sees, but Maya feels it.
Maya works at a front desk, where she greets people, answers phones, and types. She’s reliable, but lately she’s noticed something: her new coworker, Sam, finishes everything much faster. He doesn’t click through menus; he uses keyboard shortcuts.
One afternoon, while waiting for the copier to finish, she asks, “How did you learn that?”
Sam shrugs. “I watched how-to videos on YouTube, just a few of them. It’s easy once you get used to it.”
That night, Maya opens her laptop and finds a video. Then another. At first, she gets confused, but she rewinds and pauses until she understands. She learns five shortcuts before going to bed.
The next morning, she tries them. Her fingers hesitate at first, but little by little, she gets faster. By Thursday, she’s using them naturally. On Friday, she shows Sam one he didn’t even know.
He laughs. “Okay, you’re officially faster than me.”
Maya smiles, then types another line. By learning a new skill, she is able to finish projects a bit earlier, and - most importantly - have more time at the coffee machine!
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📜 Summary
Maya feels behind at work, but after asking her colleague how to work faster, she starts watching short videos online. After some practice, she improves her typing speed and surprises both herself and her coworker.
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Useful vocabulary:
• a shortcut (noun) – a quicker way to do something
• to type (verb) – to write using a keyboard
• proud (adjective) – happy about something you did
• slowly (adverb) – at a slow speed
• because (conjunction) – to show reason
Cultural vocabulary:
• a front desk (noun) – the main desk where people are greeted in an office
• YouTube tutorial (noun) – an instructional video available on the YouTube platform
• mouse and keyboard (noun) – common tools for interacting with a computer; using shortcuts is seen as a sign of tech fluency
Expression:
To teach yourself – to learn something on your own, without a teacher
→ Maya didn’t take a class—she taught herself a few simple tricks that made a big difference.
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✍️ Writing challenge:
Write about a time you learned something by yourself.
What was the skill? Why did you want to learn it?
Example:
I wanted to speak better English, so I started watching short videos. I learned one new word each day. Now I feel more confident when I talk at work.
🔎 Language sub-quests:
– Use the past simple to describe actions (I watched, I learned)
– Use because to explain why you did something
– Try using slowly, quickly, or carefully in a sentence
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🟢🌈 Language Discovery:
Showing Progress in Simple Steps
Learning takes time! At the same time, English lets you show small wins with clear steps. By using logical transitions (like "then", "after that", "finally") and cause-effect words (like "because" or "so"), your story feels smoother and more believable.
✖️ Without nuance:
"I learned shortcuts. I typed faster."
→ Those are two facts, but they feel like two separate ideas.
☑️ With nuance:
"I watched a video, then practiced. By the next day, I typed faster."
→ The words help us understand and feel what you’re saying.
🛠️ Now your turn:
Finish one of these with a small action and result:
– I tried something new, and then…
– At first, I was slow, but…
– I didn’t know how to ____, so I…
Share your thoughts with others, and allow yourself to sound more fluid in English. You’ve got this!
🟡 Growth: The Course Tab
He didn’t need a new job…that is, until the job started leaving him behind.
Manish had been doing the same work for four years. It wasn’t thrilling, but it paid well, and he knew his team. That had always felt like enough.
Then, during a meeting one Tuesday morning, he watched his younger colleague pull up a dashboard. It was clean, visual, full of numbers and color-coded metrics. Everyone nodded, so Manish nodded too, while silently thinking: What am I even looking at?
He felt himself drifting from the conversation. It wasn’t boredom; it was something else. A kind of quiet panic that settled in when you realize the room is moving faster than you are.
That evening, he logged into the company intranet and clicked on the “Learning” tab he’d ignored for months. There it was: “Excel for Beginners.” A tab without tests or sign-ups; just short videos and exercises.
He started slowly; the formulas looked like a foreign language at first. Even though the logic escaped him, he kept clicking forward. On weeknights, between dinner and bedtime, he watched a little, practiced a little, paused a lot. He didn’t always feel confident, but he didn’t stop, either.
Weeks passed. His bookmarks multiplied. His tabs started to overflow onto several pages. Then one morning, he overheard two team leads talking about a new internal role consisting of data tracking, client-facing: mid-level. They hadn’t mentioned him. Still, he applied.
In the interview, someone asked, “Do you have experience with reporting tools?”
He paused, then replied, “Not officially. But I’ve been training myself.”
The hiring manager leaned forward. “You took the initiative?”
Manish nodded. “Yes. I didn’t want to get left behind.”
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📜 Summary
Manish realizes he’s falling behind in tech skills that now matter at work. Quietly, he starts teaching himself Excel using his company’s internal platform. Though unsure at first, he continues, and later applies for a new position where he surprises the hiring team by being ready.
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Useful vocabulary:
• pull up (verb phrase) – to open or access information on a computer screen
• dashboard (noun) – a digital panel used to display data visually
• while (conjunction) – during the same time something else happens
• drift from something (verb phrase) – to slowly lose connection or awareness
• log into (phrasal verb) – to enter a system using a username and password
• tab (noun) – a clickable section in a program or website
• not… either (structure) – used to express agreement in a negative form
Cultural vocabulary:
• metrics (noun, plural) – key numbers or indicators used to measure performance
• internal role (noun) – a new position inside the same company
• upskilling (noun) – gaining new skills to meet new demands
• intranet (noun) – a private internal network for a company or organization
Expression :
to take the initiative – to begin doing something without waiting for others to suggest it
→ Manish didn’t wait to fall behind, so he took the initiative to teach himself the tools he needed.
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✍️ Writing challenge:
Write about a time when you took the initiative to learn something new, especially in a professional or academic setting.
Why did you start? What changed because of it?
Example:
My company switched to a new scheduling system. I didn’t understand it, but no one explained it either. So, I found a training video online. Two weeks later, my manager asked me to help onboard a new colleague using the system. It was a good feeling.
🔎 Language sub-quests:
– Use past simple and past continuous to show contrast between background and main action
– Include a realization verb like noticed, felt, or realized
– Use a contrast connector like even though, but, or while
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🟡🌈 Language Growth:
Describing growth with layers, not drama
When talking about learning something new, we often want to sound impressive. But simple, well-structured sentences that layer timing, context, and realization help the reader understand more clearly.
✖️ Without nuance:
“He opened the tab. He learned to use it.”
→ Technically correct, but vague.
☑️ With nuance:
“He opened the tab while replaying Amira’s explanation in his mind, then recognized the layout from the training.”
→ This sentence shows timing ("while"), context (Amira’s explanation), and mental process (recognition). The reader can picture how understanding is forming: not just what happened, but how it felt.
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🛠️ Now your turn:
Finish one of these sentences using time, context, and small realizations:
While I was watching someone else…
I didn’t know how it worked, but…
I never noticed the option before, until…
Try to show (1) timing, (2) context, and (3) realization.
The goal: Let your reader know what happened clearly, to boost the impact.
🟣 Expansion: Thread by Thread
Some skills aren’t announced: they’re woven quietly into who we become.
Lina used to lead client meetings. She would prepare the agenda in advance, greet clients by name, and guide them through proposals while anticipating questions before they were even asked. If a demo failed, she would improvise. If someone went off-topic, she would bring them back. These meetings demanded tact, clarity, and the ability to read between the lines: qualities she’d refined over years.
Now, she was behind the camera, writing subtitles for someone else’s video script. It wasn’t a demotion, officially. But it wasn’t where she had hoped to land, either. Her days were filled with edits, cross-checks, and clipped Slack messages. She rarely spoke up.
Instead of fighting the silence, she filled it. On lunch breaks, between renders, and late at night, she opened new browser tabs: SEO, UX writing, data dashboards. No formal bootcamp or any flashy LinkedIn updates, just quiet self-study.
At first, the concepts blurred together. Tags, search intent, design heuristics… it all felt tangled. But she kept going, one video at a time…one annotated screenshot at a time. One failed prototype, followed by a slightly less-failed version.
Six months later, a leadership program opened up for applications. Despite Lina’s name not being on any shortlists and no one having recommended her, she applied anyway.
She pulled up her portfolio: snippets of revised microcopy, rewritten error messages, UX flows sketched in pen, and a data dashboard she had rebuilt based on user pain points.
During the interview, a panelist finally asked, “How did you manage to learn all this?”
She looked at the screen for a second before answering.
“I stitched it together on my own at home, piece by piece.”
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📜 Summary:
Lina, once a client-facing lead, now finds herself in a quiet, behind-the-scenes role. Instead of waiting to be noticed, she retrains herself quietly through personal study, ultimately applying for a leadership opportunity with a strong, self-built portfolio.
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Useful vocabulary:
• off-topic (adjective) – unrelated to the subject being discussed
• bring back (on topic) (verb phrase) – to redirect attention to the main subject
• refined (adjective) – improved or made more precise over time
• subtitles (noun) – written captions shown onscreen that represent spoken dialogue
• cross-checks (noun) – the act of verifying information by checking from multiple sources
• slightly (adverb) – a little; to a small degree
• renders (noun) – final versions of files, often in video or design work
• browser (noun) – a software used to navigate the internet
• flashy (adjective) – attention-grabbing in a superficial or showy wa
Cultural vocabulary:
• UX writing (noun) – the practice of writing user-friendly and useful text for websites or apps
• Slack message (noun) – a short internal message sent through a popular work chat platform
• portfolio (noun) – a collection of work showing someone’s skills and range
Expression:
Stitch something together – to gradually build or assemble something from different parts
→ Lina didn’t follow a clear path: she stitched her new expertise together, piece by piece.
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✍️ Writing challenge:
Write about a time when you built something quietly: a skill, a habit, or a small project no one noticed at first.
How did you start? Did it lead somewhere unexpected?
Example:
At first, I was just cleaning up team documents. Then I started editing them. Then organizing them. Now, people ask me before sharing anything externally as it became part of my role without being named.
🔎 Language Quests
Use past perfect to show what you had already done before a moment of recognition
Try modals of deduction or possibility (e.g. might have noticed, could have suggested)
Include one indirect or rhetorical question (e.g. “Who was going to notice, if I didn’t say anything?”)
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🟣🌈 Language Expansion:
Habits vs. Moments of Growth
In English, expressing habit over time can create depth, especially when you contrast it with key breakthroughs. Two important structures help:
used to + base verb → past habit that is no longer true
would + base verb → repeated past actions with a storytelling style
✖️ Without layering:
“She did a course. Then she applied.”
→ Factual but dry - we don’t see how that became part of her.
☑️ With layering:
“She would log into free courses every evening, even if she was exhausted. She used to lead meetings — but now, she led herself.”
→ This contrast shows how habitual behavior can carry a story forward, and why it matters.
🛠️ Now, your turn:
Complete one of these using used to, would, or both — and show a contrast:
I used to follow the instructions, but then…
I would open a new tab every night…
At first, I didn’t know where it was going, but…
These nuances allow you to get the message across to people who may not know you too well. This way, you sound eloquent and like you know what you’re talking about!
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