AA:I'mAviArditti. RosanneSkirbleisaway. ThisweekonWORDMASTER, onthephonefromSouthernCalifornia, isEnglishteacherNinaWeinstein. SheteachesbusinessEnglish, amongotherthings, andIwascurioushowsheandherstudentsareaddressingtheeconomiccrisis.

NinaWeinstein

NINAWEINSTEIN:"Well, Iteachstudentsfromallovertheworld. InoneofmylocationsIteachfortheUniversityofCalifornia, andIteachagraduategroupofstudentswhoareworkingonprofessionalcertificates. Andaftertheyfinishmycoursethey'llgointotheregularuniversitywithnativespeakers. Sooneofthethingsthatofcourseisoneveryone'smindrightnowisthestockmarket, andIalwaysadvisemystudentstolistentoaradiostationwehaveouthere.

"Wehavelocalnewsstationsthatkeeprepeatingstories, kindofinaloop, andsoitgivesthemanopportunity, iftheydidn'thearitthefirsttime, tohearitagainandagainandagainasthedaygoeson. SowhatI'vedoneisI'vegiventhemkindofthebasicvocabularythattheyneedtoknowifthey'relisteningtoastockstory."

KFWBNEWS980: " ... Dowstockswentpositiveafewmomentsago-- thatwasthen, thisisnow. We'rebackinnegativeterritorywiththeblue-chipsdownfifty-twopoints. Nasdaqstocksaredownbythirty-one, andS-and-Plowerbyadozen... "

AA:"Yourstudentsareherefromothercountries, they'regoingto, presumablymostofthem, [be] returningtotheircountries, sothey'rekindofobserversofthiseconomiccrisisthatwe'vegotintheUnitedStates. Andobviouslyithasspreadaroundtheworld. Butwhataretheysayingabouttheirownreactionstowhat'sgoingoninthemarkets?"

NINAWEINSTEIN:"Ithinkeverybody'sscared, thisissomethingthatwehaven'tseenindecades, andIthinkespeciallyfortheyoungerstudents. Theolderstudents, whenIworkinprivateindustryIhavestudentsofdifferentages, sothey'vehadsomethinginthepastthatthey'vealsodealtwithandsotheycankindofputitinaperspective. Butwiththeyoungerstudents, theycomehere, they'resoexcitedandthey'reenthusiastic. Thisistheiropportunitytodothisfinalthingbeforetheygooutthereinthebusinessworld. AndIthinkthey'rescared.

"AndsowhatIsaytothemisthat, youknow, thesearecyclesandeventhoughthisisareallybadcycle, there'sabeginningandanend. AndIsaythatwhatIreallythinkisthatthisisagreatopportunitytoincreaseyourskills. Whateveryourskillsare, thisisagreattimetotrain. Andsowhenthecyclefinishesandthingsgettobenormalagain, yourtrainingwillbeevenbetterthanwhatyouhadplannedbefore. AndsothisishowI'mtreatingmyownlife, andmycolleaguesandsoforth, andthisiswhatItelltomystudents."

AA:"Soit'sbusinessEnglishplusalittlephilosophy."

NINAWEINSTEIN:"Yeah! Alittleencouragement. Ithinkeverybodyneedsalittleencouragementduringthesetimes. Soyeah, Ithinkthat'spartofteachingEnglish."

AA:"Doyouevergetquestionsthatrequireaneconomisttoanswer, notanEnglishteacher?"

NINAWEINSTEIN:"Well, actuallyIworkwithexecutiveswhoareinfinanceandsosometimestheyhavequestionsaboutsomethingthatmayhavehappenedintheirarea. AndwhatIdo, becauseIhaveabackgroundinvocabularytoolsandthiswholeareaofbreakingapartwordsandlookingattheirrootsandsoforth, often-- eventhoughit'saverytechnicalarea, oftenyoucanfigureoutjustbasedontherootsandthecontextwhatthetermactuallymeans.

"Andso, fortunatelyIcandothat. Andifitgoesbeyondthat, thenItellthemthattheyneedtoasksomebodyintheirowndepartmentforthattermorwhatnot. Butusuallyyoucanjustkindoffigureitoutbybreakingthewordapart."

AA:"Anddosomeofthetermsthatwe'vegrownusedtohearingnowinthenews, inthedepressingbusinessnewsweheareveryday, dothosetermstranslatewellintoandoutofotherlanguagesthatyourstudentsspeak?"

NINAWEINSTEIN:"Ithinkthattheydo. Ithinkthattheyjustrealizethattheyhavetolearnthesetermsthatweuse. ThetermsthatmightbeusedinJapanwouldbeJapanese. It'snotlikecomputers, whereyouhavetermsthatarekindoftranscendingdifferentlanguages. AndsoIdon'tthinkit'saproblembecausetheyrecognizethatthisisadifferentlanguage, almostlikeEnglishisadifferentlanguagefromSpanish."

AA:NinaWeinsteinisanEnglishteacherandauthorinSouthernCalifornia. OthersegmentswithNinacanbefoundatvoanews.com/wordmaster. Ourstock-marketaudioclipcamefromLosAngelesradiostationKFWBNews980. Andthat'sWORDMASTERforthisweek. I'mAviArditti.

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Dow= DowJonesIndustrialAverage, basedonstockpricesfor30 leading, or"blue-chip," U.S. companies

S&P= Standard& Poor's500, anindexof500 largeU.S. companies; basedonmarketvalue

Nasdaq= NasdaqStockMarket, anelectronicexchangewithcorporateheadquartersinNewYork