🌅 Sunday Morning English — Weekly Review (March 23–28)
Good morning! It’s Sunday — your day to look back, consolidate, and make this week’s learning truly stick. We covered six powerful topics this week, from terminal commands to small talk. Let’s review the highlights and reinforce your memory! 🧠✨
📅 This Week at a Glance
| Day | Topic | Word of the Day |
|---|---|---|
| Monday | 💻 Technical Vocabulary | deprecate |
| Tuesday | 🤖 AI & Machine Learning | inference |
| Wednesday | 🏛️ System Architecture | scalability |
| Thursday | 🤝 Professional Communication | facilitate |
| Friday | 🚀 Career & Growth | advocate |
| Saturday | 💬 Social English | chit-chat |
🏆 Top 5 Words of the Week — Deep Dive Review
1. 🔴 Deprecate (Monday — Technical)
/ˈdeprəkeɪt/ — verb
Vietnamese: loại bỏ dần / đánh dấu lỗi thời
This word is everywhere in software development — in changelogs, docs, and code comments.
Quick examples:
- “This API endpoint has been deprecated. Please migrate to
/v2/users.” - “We need to deprecate the legacy auth module before Q3.”
- “The function is still working but it’s been deprecated since version 2.0.”
🔑 Pro tip: Don’t confuse deprecate (mark as outdated) with delete (actually remove). Deprecated code still works — for now.
🔗 Cambridge Dictionary — deprecate
2. 🟠 Inference (Tuesday — AI & ML)
/ˈɪnfərəns/ — noun
Vietnamese: suy luận / quá trình chạy mô hình AI
In AI contexts, inference refers to running a trained model to get predictions — different from training.
Quick examples:
- “The inference latency is too high — users are waiting over 3 seconds.”
- “We switched to a quantized model to speed up inference on edge devices.”
- “During inference, the model predicts the next token based on context.”
🔑 Pro tip: In meetings, saying “inference cost” or “inference pipeline” immediately signals you understand production AI — not just research.
3. 🟡 Scalability (Wednesday — Architecture)
/ˌskeɪ.ləˈbɪl.ɪ.ti/ — noun
Vietnamese: khả năng mở rộng
Every system design interview and architecture discussion uses this word. Master it!
Quick examples:
- “The monolith worked fine at 10k users, but scalability became a real concern at 1M.”
- “Horizontal scalability allows us to add more servers rather than upgrading existing ones.”
- “We chose Kafka for its scalability and fault tolerance.”
🔑 Pro tip: Pair scalability with direction — horizontal (adding more machines) vs vertical (bigger machine). This shows architectural depth.
🔗 Cambridge Dictionary — scalability
4. 🟢 Facilitate (Thursday — Professional Communication)
/fəˈsɪlɪteɪt/ — verb
Vietnamese: tạo điều kiện thuận lợi / dẫn dắt / hỗ trợ
A powerful word for meetings, leadership, and stakeholder communication — sounds professional without being stiff.
Quick examples:
- “I’ll facilitate today’s sprint retrospective.”
- “The platform is designed to facilitate collaboration between remote teams.”
- “Can you facilitate a quick sync between the backend and frontend leads?”
🔑 Pro tip: Saying “I’ll facilitate” instead of “I’ll run” or “I’ll lead” shows you understand meeting dynamics — you’re guiding, not controlling.
5. 🔵 Advocate (Friday — Career & Growth)
/ˈædvəkət/ (noun) / /ˈædvəkeɪt/ (verb)
Vietnamese: người ủng hộ (n) / ủng hộ, bảo vệ quan điểm (v)
Notice the pronunciation changes based on the part of speech! This word is key for career conversations.
Quick examples:
- “She has always been a strong advocate for code quality on the team.” (noun)
- “I will advocate for better documentation practices in our next all-hands.” (verb)
- “Being a tech lead means you need to advocate for your team’s needs to management.”
🔑 Pro tip: Use advocate when you want to sound passionate but professional — it’s stronger than support but more diplomatic than fight for.
🔗 Cambridge Dictionary — advocate
🎁 Bonus Word: Chit-chat (Saturday — Social English)
/ˈtʃɪt.tʃæt/ — noun/verb
Vietnamese: nói chuyện phiếm / tám chuyện
Don’t underestimate small talk! It builds trust and opens doors in international workplaces.
Quick examples:
- “We had a bit of chit-chat before the meeting started.”
- “Learning to chit-chat in English made me feel much more comfortable at the company offsite.”
📚 Vocabulary Mega-Table — Best Phrases of the Week
| Phrase | Vietnamese | Context |
|---|---|---|
| breaking change | thay đổi phá vỡ tương thích ngược | Technical: “This PR introduces a breaking change to the API.” |
| hallucination | ảo giác (của AI) | AI & ML: “The model is hallucinating facts that don’t exist.” |
| single point of failure | điểm lỗi duy nhất | Architecture: “We need to eliminate this single point of failure.” |
| circle back | quay lại sau / bàn thêm sau | Professional: “Let’s circle back on this after the standup.” |
| break the ice | phá vỡ sự im lặng ban đầu | Social: “A quick game can break the ice at new team meetings.” |
🗣️ Pronunciation Masterclass — This Week’s Trickiest Words
These words trip up Vietnamese speakers most often:
| Word | IPA | Common Mistake | Correct Tip |
|---|---|---|---|
| deprecate | /ˈdeprəkeɪt/ | dep-re-KATE | Stress on first syllable: DEP-rə-keɪt |
| inference | /ˈɪnfərəns/ | in-FER-ence | Stress on first syllable: IN-fər-əns |
| scalability | /ˌskeɪ.ləˈbɪl.ɪ.ti/ | ska-la-bi-LI-ty | Main stress on BIL: skeɪ-lə-BIL-ɪ-ti |
| facilitate | /fəˈsɪlɪteɪt/ | fa-CI-li-tate | Stress on sil: fə-SIL-ɪ-teɪt |
| advocate (v) | /ˈædvəkeɪt/ | ad-VO-cate | Stress on first: AD-və-keɪt |
🎙️ Practice sentence — read aloud 3 times:
“Our team advocate for scalability, but we must also facilitate discussions about deprecating legacy inference pipelines.”
Focus on: AD-və-keɪt | skeɪ-lə-BIL-ɪ-ti | fə-SIL-ɪ-teɪt | DEP-rə-keɪt | IN-fər-əns
✏️ Exercise 1 — Fill in the Blank (Weekly Review)
Fill in each blank with the correct word from this week: (deprecate / inference / scalability / facilitate / advocate / chit-chat)
- “The new VP always tries to _______ for junior developers in leadership meetings.”
- “Running the model for predictions is called _______, not training.”
- “We had some friendly _______ over coffee before the sprint planning session.”
- “The architecture team chose Kubernetes to improve _______ across regions.”
- “We plan to _______ the v1 API endpoint by the end of this quarter.”
- “She volunteered to _______ the cross-team alignment meeting.”
✅ Check your answers
- advocate — ủng hộ, bảo vệ quan điểm
- inference — quá trình chạy mô hình AI
- chit-chat — nói chuyện phiếm
- scalability — khả năng mở rộng
- deprecate — loại bỏ dần / đánh dấu lỗi thời
- facilitate — dẫn dắt / tạo điều kiện
Score: 6/6 = 🏆 Outstanding | 4-5/6 = 🌟 Great | 3/6 = 👍 Keep practicing!
✏️ Exercise 2 — Translate to English
Translate these sentences from Vietnamese to natural English. Use words from this week where possible!
- “Chúng ta cần loại bỏ dần API cũ trước khi ra mắt phiên bản 3.0.”
- “Hệ thống của chúng ta thiếu khả năng mở rộng — khi có 100k người dùng, nó sẽ sập.”
- “Tôi sẽ ủng hộ việc tăng lương cho toàn bộ team trong buổi họp với quản lý.”
- “Thời gian chạy mô hình của chúng ta quá lâu — cần tối ưu pipeline.”
- “Hãy nói chuyện phiếm một chút trước khi bắt đầu cuộc họp nhé!”
✅ Suggested Answers
- “We need to deprecate the old API before launching version 3.0.”
- “Our system lacks scalability — at 100k users, it will crash.”
- “I will advocate for a salary increase for the whole team in the management meeting.”
- “Our model inference time is too slow — we need to optimize the pipeline.”
- “Let’s have a bit of chit-chat before we start the meeting!”
Note: There is more than one correct way to say each sentence — compare your version and focus on natural phrasing!
💡 Idiom of the Week
🗣️ “Connect the dots”
Vietnamese meaning: kết nối các manh mối / nhìn ra bức tranh toàn cảnh
This idiom appeared across multiple topics this week — technical reviews, architecture decisions, and career growth all require connecting the dots.
2 Examples:
- “After studying the logs and the metrics, I finally started to connect the dots about why the service was crashing.”
- “A good architect doesn’t just know the tools — they connect the dots between business goals and technical choices.”
👀 Notice: This idiom works in both technical conversations and personal/professional storytelling. Use it when you want to show critical thinking!
🔄 Self-Assessment — How Was Your Week?
Take 2 minutes to honestly rate yourself:
| Area | 😓 Need work | 😊 OK | 🌟 Confident |
|---|---|---|---|
| Used technical vocabulary at work | ☐ | ☐ | ☐ |
| Spoke up in a meeting in English | ☐ | ☐ | ☐ |
| Explained a concept clearly in English | ☐ | ☐ | ☐ |
| Made small talk with a colleague | ☐ | ☐ | ☐ |
| Learned at least 3 new words | ☐ | ☐ | ☐ |
Your honest reflection is more valuable than a perfect score. Pick ONE area to focus on next week.
📺 Recommended Watching — Sunday Review Edition
-
BBC Learning English — The English We Speak — Short episodes (3–5 min) on idioms, phrases, and everyday expressions. Perfect for Sunday morning!
-
English with Lucy — Vocabulary & Pronunciation — Great for reviewing pronunciation patterns; especially useful for the tricky words from this week.
-
TED Talks — Ideas Worth Spreading — Watch any 15-minute talk and try to spot this week’s vocabulary in action (especially scalability, advocate, facilitate).
🎯 Sunday Challenge — Consolidate & Prepare
Your mission today (pick 1 or do all 3!):
Option A — Speak it out 🎙️
Record yourself saying each of the 5 words of the week + one sentence for each. Play it back and compare your pronunciation to the IPA guide above.
Option B — Write it out ✍️
Write a short paragraph (5–7 sentences) about your work week using at least 4 of this week’s words. Share it with a colleague or paste it into ChatGPT for feedback.
Option C — Use it today 💬
In your next conversation or message today, consciously use one word from this week. Even in a Vietnamese conversation, dropping in an English term you just learned helps cement it!
🌟 Weekly Motivation
“You don’t need to be perfect — you need to be consistent. Every lesson you showed up for this week is a brick in the foundation of your English fluency.”
Next week preview:
- 🔧 Monday: More Technical Vocabulary — database queries & DevOps
- 🤖 Tuesday: AI — fine-tuning, embeddings & vector databases
- 🏛️ Wednesday: Cloud Architecture — AWS, distributed systems
- 🤝 Thursday: Giving & receiving feedback professionally
- 🚀 Friday: Negotiating timelines and scope
- 💬 Saturday: Networking at tech events
See you tomorrow for Monday Morning — Technical Vocabulary! 💪
— Your English Coach