Describe a time when you worked in a team
You should say:
- what the activity was
- who you worked with you
- how easy or difficult it was
And explain how you felt about being part of this team.
Sample Answer
I’d like to talk about a team project that I was involved in during my “British and American culture” class at the Foreign Trade University in Hanoi. There were six of us on the team, and our task was to identify the differences in the travelling habits of British and American tourists. Our objective was to produce a report and give a presentation.
So the first thing we did was split into two groups of three. We had to conduct a survey, so three of us spent some time designing a questionnaire while the other three prepared an outline for the report. One of the difficulties we encountered was finding enough people for the survey because we needed 50 British and 50 Americans. But thanks to Facebook, we were able to reach enough people from those countries who were willing to help us out and fill in the online survey. In the end, I think it was a successful project because we were able to figure out the main travelling patterns of people from the US and the UK. Our group presentation also went really well.
It was really a memorable experience for all of us and I felt a real sense of accomplishment when we handed in our report and delivered our presentation. But what I was most proud of was how well our team worked together. There were still some minor tiffs between some of the team members, but overall I think each member showed a good level of responsibility and teamwork.
Vocabulary highlights
1. involved in – a part of
2. travelling habits – the common places that people go or common things they do on holiday
3. conduct a survey – to organise and get answers for a set of questions to find out information
4. questionnaire – a list of questions
5. figure out – to understand or to calculate
6. a memorable experience – an experience that you will remember for a long time
7. a real sense of accomplishment – the feeling when you achieve a goal or something important
8. delivered our presentation – to give or show something
9. tiff – a small argument