🌙 Sunday Evening — Week 25 Recap & Week 26 Preview

Welcome to your Sunday evening session. Tonight we close out Week 25, celebrate your progress, and set your intentions for the week ahead.

📖 Word of the Day

momentum

Pronunciation: /məˈmentəm/ (noun) 🔊 Cambridge | YouGlish | YouTube

Vietnamese meaning:

  • đà, động lực — the force or energy that keeps something moving or developing

3 Examples:

  1. “Our team built momentum during Q2 — every sprint we shipped faster than the last.”
  2. “Don’t lose your momentum over the weekend. Keep one small habit going.”
  3. “The new hire’s energy gave the project momentum it was missing for months.”

Pronunciation tip: Stress on the second syllable: mə-MEN-təm. The ‘t’ in the middle is softened in American English: mə-MEN-əm.

📚 Week 25 Vocabulary Recap

PhraseVietnameseExample
articulate clearlydiễn đạt rõ ràng”Can you articulate clearly what the blocker is?“
constructive feedbackphản hồi mang tính xây dựng”I appreciate your constructive feedback on the PR.”
delegate effectivelyủy quyền hiệu quả”A good lead knows how to delegate effectively.”
facilitate the discussionđiều phối cuộc thảo luận”She facilitated the discussion without taking sides.”
empathize with the userđặt mình vào vị trí người dùng”We need to empathize with the user before designing.”

🗣️ Pronunciation Practice

Sentence of the week

“I want to articulate my feedback clearly, facilitate an open discussion, and delegate the next steps to the team.”

Breakdown:

  • ar-TIC-u-late — stress on the second syllable
  • fa-CIL-i-tate — stress on the second syllable
  • DEL-e-gate — stress on the first syllable (verb: DEL-e-gate / noun: DEL-e-gət)

Rhythm tip: This sentence has a natural rhythm in three clauses. Practice each clause as a unit, then connect them:

  1. “I want to ar-TIC-u-late my feedback CLEAR-ly”
  2. “fa-CIL-i-tate an O-pen dis-CUS-sion”
  3. “DEL-e-gate the next STEPS to the TEAM”

Try it: Say the full sentence 3 times, getting slightly faster each time. Record yourself on the third try.

✏️ Exercises

Exercise 1 — Fill in the blank

Choose the correct word: momentum / articulate / constructive / delegate / facilitate

  1. “A good Tech Lead can _______ complex technical ideas to non-engineers.”
  2. “We need someone to _______ today’s retrospective so everyone can speak freely.”
  3. “Please give _______ feedback — tell me what to improve, not just what’s wrong.”
  4. “After the launch, we lost _______. Let’s schedule a sync to get back on track.”
  5. “I’ll _______ the testing work to junior engineers — they need the experience.”
✅ Answers
  1. articulate — diễn đạt rõ ràng
  2. facilitate — điều phối
  3. constructive — mang tính xây dựng
  4. momentum — đà, động lực
  5. delegate — ủy quyền

Exercise 2 — Translate to English

Translate these common tech-lead phrases:

  1. “Chúng ta cần duy trì đà này sang sprint tiếp theo.”
  2. “Hãy diễn đạt rõ ràng hơn về vấn đề bạn đang gặp.”
  3. “Tôi sẽ ủy quyền phần này cho team backend.”
✅ Answers
  1. “We need to maintain this momentum into the next sprint.”
  2. “Please articulate more clearly the problem you’re facing.”
  3. “I’ll delegate this part to the backend team.”

💬 Idiom of the Day

”Keep the ball rolling”

Vietnamese: Tiếp tục giữ đà, không để mọi thứ dừng lại

Meaning: To keep something progressing or to maintain the momentum of a task or conversation.

Examples:

  1. “Great standup everyone — let’s keep the ball rolling and hit the milestone by Friday.”
  2. “Even with two engineers out sick, we managed to keep the ball rolling on the feature.”

🎤 Speaking Challenge — 60 Seconds

Topic: “My biggest English win this week”

Speak for 60 seconds about one moment this week where you used English well at work — or one word/phrase you finally understood and used correctly.

Starter sentences:

  • “This week, I managed to…”
  • “The most useful phrase I practiced was…”
  • “I felt more confident when I…”

Challenge: Record yourself on your phone. Listen back. Notice: Did you pause too long? Did you say “uh” a lot? Did you stress the right words?

🔭 Week 26 Preview

Next week we explore Presentation & Storytelling in English — perfect for sprint demos, all-hands meetings, and stakeholder updates.

DayTopic
MondayOpening a presentation with confidence
TuesdayData storytelling — numbers + narrative
WednesdayHandling Q&A without freezing
ThursdayVirtual presentation tips (Teams/Zoom)
FridayElevator pitch for your project
SaturdayCasual English — networking small talk
SundayWeek 26 recap

Key vocab coming: compelling narrative, transition smoothly, address the elephant in the room, land the key message, wrap up

🌟 Evening Challenge

Before tomorrow morning: Write 2 sentences in English about one thing you’ll start differently next week. Post it in a team Slack channel or just in your notes app.

Example:

“Next week I’ll facilitate our daily standup in English for at least 2 days. I want to build momentum toward using English naturally at work.”

🌙 Week 25 complete. You showed up — that’s already half the battle. See you Monday morning! 💪

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