Table Of ContentHello... and now what?
BY
MARI'AAGUDO MEDINA
ASTRID RUIZ THIERRY
MARlAJOSE GALINSOGAUCEDA
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STRRTEGIES
SUCESSFUL SOCIALIZING
Contents developed by:
MARIA AGUDO MEDINA
MARIA JOSE GALINSOGA UCEDA
ASTRID RUIZ THIERRY
Published by
Editorial Stanley
Design
Angela Gomez Martin
Front page design
Diseho Irunes
Layout
Mizar Publicidad, S.C.
Printers
Imprenta Berekintza
© Editorial Stanley
E-mail: [email protected]
www.stanleyformacion.com
I.S.B.N. 84-7873-390-6
Dep. Leg. BI-2927-04
First published 2004
i
Index
PREFACE Hi
SURVIVAL LANGUAGE 1
FIRST MEETINGS 3
Greetings and introductions 5
Introducing yourself and others 6
Present Simple 7
Questions 8
What do you do? Job description 9
Job description practice 10
Describing a company 11
Possessive pronouns 12
Past Simple 13
Past Simple, Negative and Questions. Practice 14
Pronunciation of-ed past 15
Irregular verbs 16
A day in my life 17
ATTENDING VISITORS 19
Getting information 21
Welcoming visitors 22
The Present Perfect 24
Conversation starters 25
Expressing opinions and ideas 26
Expressing opinions and ideas 27
THE POLITE WAY 29
Modals vs. Imperative 31
Can-Could 32
How to use Would 33
Offers 34
Requests 35
Accepting and declining 36
Thanking and showing appreciation 37
Complaining 38
Apologizing 41
Saying no 43
HELLO... AND NOW WHAT?
11
COFFEE BREAK 45
Describing people 47
Adjectives 48
Social English 50
Eating out 51
At the restaurant 52
Popular misconceptions 53
FINAL ASSESSMENT ROLE-PLAY 55
Final Assessment role-play 57
Basic language used in meetings 60
CONTENT DELIVERY GUIDELINES 61
The'why?'of a Needs Analysis 63
Asking for basic information 64
What do you need to do in English? 65
First Meetings 67
Attending Visitors 72
The Polite Way 73
Progress Assessment Role-play 74
Coffee break 79
Final Assessment Role-play 82
EDITORIAL STANLEY
III
Preface
Thus the basic conviction which guides the content of
The active language training focus
our language training materials is that teaching a
and methodology
language means training students to use it as a tool
for turning the foreign language barrier into a strategic
advantage for their company and themselves.
The Dawning of a New Era for the
Language Training Profession The Realities of Teaching
It is undoubtedly clear that we are at the dawn of a new Language in Business:
era for doing business everywhere. Political, economic,
the Culture Power model
technological, and socio-cultural forces are coming
together to herald a new and radically different global The Business English, or Professional English environ-
and interdependent economy in which communication is ment is far-reaching and eclectic. As trainers and teach-
already the primary driving force for doing business and ers have come from and operated in many different
for competing for a share of the market. countries and cultural backgrounds, and have
themselves, many different views on teaching, it is not
To communicate with clarity, determination, and political
surprising to find that everyone has their own idea on
correctness is becoming a business imperative in which
methodology and what does and doesn't work in the
cultural savoire faire will be a valuable asset for surviving
Business English classroom. This is the reality - that we
in the face of ever more accelerated change in order to
all have a history (or not) in teaching, and we all have
do "Business at the Speed of Thought", to coin the title
ideas formed from our 'own experience'.
of Bill Gate's book. Training in communication skills in
English is, therefore, a key business and economic So what is the 'best' methodology? What are the
instrument for any non-English speaking countrY: English qualities that will create, in reality, an approach that
is clearly coming to be recognized as a strategic tool for REALLY works? It is true to say that in certain
competing on the world market. countries, or with certain groups of people, one
approach may work better than another, but, it is
A clear sign of this is that communication skills are
also true to say that any teaching situation is an
beginning to formally be included in Competency Profiles
interaction between the learner, the teacher
for the assessment of management potential in many
(facilitator) and the material or activity itself.
companies; and English is the primary language identi-
fied for managerial competency. English is no longer that It is also safe to say that language training is not a
"pending class I never took". Nor is it the wrongly tagged service like others. It is special because it cannot
"language barrier". English has become a major oppor- succeed without client participation. It's not like
tunity for those firms and executives who recognize that going to a restaurant or to a movie where the service
learning another language is an open door for gaining provider provides and the client consumes.
competitive advantage.
The question is not 'Is such and such methodology the
As a result of the redefinition in competency profiles best approach?1 or 'Is it right to teach the Grammar rules
throughout all business sectors, firm-based training pro- first?'. The question is 'What is right for this group, or
grams are being redefined as an asset to the company. individual at this time?' It may appear that there is only
This, in turn, is leading firms to be "smarter" in choosing one approach that will work for a particular mix of
their training services suppliers so that programs respond learner, facilitator and situation, but what would happen
appropriately to the greater awareness of language as if you tried another approach? Would it be the disaster
a tool and thus appropriately address the needs of the you think it would be? Are there any other factors that
changing workplace and the specific situations that re- you have not taken into consideration that may allow for
quire competent communication. more flexibility?
This translates into a very clear training imperative:
respond to client needs by training for communicative
competency. Learning a language, and thus teaching it,
involves much, much more than the traditional grammar
program; it involves above all learning how to communi-
cate, exchange and understand ideas and respond
appropriately according to the business situation in a
particular context.
HELLO... AND NOW WHAT?
IV
"nativeness". Progress is measured in terms of student
The Culture Power Methodology
performance in the language, not in terms of teacher
Our methodology, Culture Power, champions active train- defined criteria. Motivation is thus a result of teacher fa-
ing and is directed at assuring a positive impact on cilitated activities that are significant for students. These
business goals. It places the learner at the center of the activities focus on the question "Why am I doing this?"
learning process, with the trainer as the facilitator, and and allow for creativity by impelling students to look at
above all requires the latter's creativity and flexibility and language as a tool for problem-resolution instead of as
an ability to constantly learn new things and new ways a problem area.
of doing the same ol' things in order to respond to be
Content delivery notes are directed at developing student
able to effectively respond to the evolution in client
capacity to communicate as their trainer develops and
needs.
strengthens their self-confidence with the language. The
Our language training materials are therefore based on trainer is considered a partner in the learning process,
6 tenets: much like a pilot to a copilot in a rally. This means that
it is the teacher who must adapt to the market and
1. Language is an evolving tool for communication
business requirements inherent to student needs,
in business.
and not the other way around, by continuously asking
2. The objective of learning a language as a tool is to him/herself on the utility of their teaching: Am I res-
build communicative competency. ponding to my students' needs?
3. Communicative competency is achieved through Culture Power training materials are therefore
significant learning tasks and T.B.O. (teaching by designed to help trainers:
objectives).
© Reinvent the way language training is carried out
4. Achievement is measured by performance in for business by
student use of the language and teacher
© Optimizing the capacity of adult students to
professionalization, and performance is the
learn in
guiding principle for quality delivery of any
type of training. © A learning environment that is efficient, precise,
flexible, and creative in
5. Performance is defined in terms of return on
investment. © Orientating the delivery of training towards
results based on
6. Language training means delivering profitable
value to our clients. © The recognition that the traditionally focused
language teaching processes and methods are no
Learning a language means learning how to behave
longer valid for business reality today.
adequately in specific communication situations.
Communication competency allows one to deal with Our aim is to help trainers meet the challenge of
particular contexts. This is why the objective is to speak teaching the increasingly wide variety of learners
the language fluently but to accomplish the communica- they must address, professionals from different jobs,
tion needed. People just don't have 10 years to learn the cultures and educational backgrounds. We provide
language; the company will lose business before that training contents focused on the needs and concerns of
and as a consequence, many people will lose their jobs. students and the business people we teach and the
If the training delivered provides students with specific necessary training tools and ideas to help the trainer be
tools for handling specific situations, then they will be flexible and creative enough to respond to those needs
able to successfully meet their company's communica- within the boundaries of whatever the reality is at any
tion needs. particular moment.
Culture Power training content is, therefore, focused Our ultimate goal is to bring a higher recognition and
towards participative management where students take status to the language training profession and to help
responsibility for their learning, as they do with any them reap greater rewards in terms of their our own job
other business project they undertake. They thus are satisfaction, as well as increase the value placed on them
responsible for choosing what they want to learn. In fact, by both employers and students. We strongly believe
learning to communicate is their project, not the that language trainers are not only English (or French,
teacher's. The entire learning process is therefore or Japanese) teachers; they are creative learning
student centered and teacher guided. Errors are facilitators of tools for communicating in another
considered as opportunities for and the quality of teach- language, and they will be in greater demand as they
ing is understood to result from the teacher's know-how become better at what they do!
and ability to learn about the language, as well as their
EDITORIAL STANLEY
V
The Business Challenge Introduction
of Language Trainers
Very often, an EFL learner who has been studying the
language for some time discovers that he/she cannot
Business success is based on results that create value
truly communicate when trying to speak in this lan-
and wealth: any trainer is paid to improve the ability of
guage; in spite of knowing the grammar, structures, and
his/her client to communicate better so that they can do
vocabulary, the pre-intermediate, or even intermediate
better business. The major challenge faced by language
and upper-intermediate, learner still finds great difficulty
training professionals today is how to provide and
in getting the message through, and they find themselves
deliver learning content that adds profitable value for their
at a serious loss in terms of communicating ability. But
clients.
why can this be so?
This requires language trainers to do three things:
It is not only a matter of not mastering the language
1. Abandon yesterday. The question is not "How good fully; it is rather a question of not knowing the language
are we?" but "What will our products and services strategies necessary to communicate in real life situa-
produce for our clients?". tions. Thus, learning the grammar is not enough; one
must learn how native speakers use the language in
2. Measure performance. It is necessary to continu-
specific situations. And no situation is more frustrating
ously and systematically assess student progress
for an EFL student, no matter the level, than one
from the point of view of their business reality
involving socializing skills.
imperative and to look for and anticipate needed
changes in content delivery is addressing their This book aims to provide English learners, with a pre-
specific professional needs. The basic question intermediate and above level, with the basic language
here is: "What constitutes performance?" strategies and vocabulary necessary to improve the
learner's fluency and self-confidence in situations
3. Innovate, not imitate. The trainer's job is to ask: "Is
requiring social English. By looking at different typical
this an opportunity for me to innovate?
situations, the student will learn what to say and how to
And innovation is, of course, never risk free. Indeed, it is
act when receiving visitors, having lunch or dinner at a
risky to try to make the future, but it is even riskier to not
restaurant, and what expressions are useful to have
try to make it. After all one cannot manage change. One
handy in your mind when participating in meetings. At
can only be ahead of it. And that is what our
the end of the course, the student will be able to
English training materials guarantee its users: a helpful
consider what type of register is needed in each
tool in order to be able to stay one step ahead by
situation, and, more importantly, he/she will be able to
providing content that has the best ratio between
use the language adequately and efficiently.
opportunity and risk. Your first step as a professional
in the field is to identify any possible problems
Objectives:
you have with our methodology and turn into an
opportunity for your professional growth.
© To build and improve basic social language skills
Astrid Ruiz Thierry
to ensure confidence and fluency.
CEO, Business Bridges
© To enhance confidence for starting and maintaining
conversations and discussions.
© To ensure confident application of the skills
acquired in key social and business situations.
© To understand the basics of cross-cultural etiquette
in both social and business situations.
HELLO... AND NOW WHAT?
1
Survival language
Asking for something,
asking about words,
asking to repeat. Apologising,
asking for help.
Can I have
a pen, please?
I don't
understand
What does
«invoice » mean?
Can you help
me, please?
Could you repeat
that, please?
Is this right /
wrong?
How do you say
"..."in English?
I need help!
Excuse me?
I m sorry
How do you spell
"management"?
What's "..."
in English?
Can you say that
again, please?
HELLO... AND NOW WHAT?
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