16. Activity 16. Check you understand what’s been said

It’s important to ask questions to make sure you understand what people are saying in meetings.

• Could you slow down?

• Sorry, I don’t follow.

• What do you mean by “upgrade”?

• Could you say it again?

• I didn’t catch that.

• You think we should what?

• Could you be more specific?

Activity 16.1. Which phrase would you say if

1. you didn’t hear what they said?

2. they speak too fast?

3. you don’t understand anything?

4. you don’t understand the word “upgrade”?

5. you don’t understand what they mean by “redesign”?

Activity 16.2. Make 3 short conversations. Create situations where you use the phrases

• Could you slow down?

• Sorry, I don’t follow.

• What do you mean by “upgrade”?

• Could you say it again?

• I didn’t catch that.

• You think we should what?

• Could you be more specific?

17. Activity 17. Think about a situation to justify your decision and read the sentences below.

• It would save money.

• It would save time.

• It would enable us to do smth.

• I’m going to do smth because …

• It compares favorably with our competitors.

• The price is rather high.

Activity 17.1. Answer the questions and say why you’re going to do these things using the phrases above.

1) Are you going to invite all your friends or just your relatives?

2) Why are you going to go jogging once a week?

3) Are you going to hold the meeting in office hours or in the evening?

4) Why are you going to make a party?

5) Are you going to stop or continue smoking?

6) Why are you going to Stockholm?

18. Activity 18. Making compromises.

• If you pay in euros, we will increase the discount.

• If we pay in dollars, will you increase the discount?

• If you paid in euros, we would increase the discount.

• If we paid in dollars, would you increase the discount?

• We’d like you to pay for delivery.

Activity 18.1. Suggest compromises:

Model:

Customer: We’d like you to reduce the price.

Supplier: If we reduced the price, would you increase the order by 50%?

Customer: Yes, we could accept that.

(No, I’m afraid that’s not possible.)

1. We’d like you to increase the discount.

2. I’d like you to pay in dollars.

3. I’d like you to install it.

4. I’d like you to reduce the price.

5. I’d like you to write the letter.

6. I’d like you to call him up.

19. Activity 19. Summarize the views of the participants:

• We could go through that again.

• We could check what we’ve agreed.

• So you’re saying …

• So you think …

• So in your opinion …

Activity 19.1. Summarize colleagues’ views:

Model:

Colleague 1: I’d like to work abroad because I want to earn money to buy a car.

Colleague 2: You’ll have to live there alone without your family.

Summarization: So, if you want to earn money abroad, you will have to live there alone.

Select a topic from the list below and make a short dialogue similar to the model.

• private schools

• jogging

• working abroad

• watching TV

• studying foreign language

• travel abroad

20. Activity 20. Hypothesizing

Sentences are about a hypothetical situation. This one is referring to a future situation that is unlikely to happen:

• If we used cheaper ingredients, we would save money.

This one is referring to a past situation that didn’t happen:

• If we had used cheaper ingredients, we would have saved money.

Activity 20.1. Imagine what would happen in these hypothetical future situations. Complete the sentences. Remember, in hypothetical sentences we use “WERE” in all cases.

1. If all employees owned shares in the company they worked for, …

2. If there were more women in top management positions, …

3. If the government gave more help to companies setting up operations in areas with high level of unemployment, …

4. If there were no state-run health service, ….

5. If the EC had one common currency, …

6. If there were an international law against raping, …

Activity 20.2. Imagine what would have happened in these hypothetical past situations.

1. If I had known it was a formal party, I would have had a suit.

2. If I had given her your fax number, she would have faxed ….

3. If your son had taken an umbrella, he would have….

4. If somebody had told me the meeting was cancelled, I would….

5. If I had known the company was in trouble, I ….

6. If you had checked the invoice before you paid it, ….

Activity 20.3. Ask a colleague what they would do or what they would have done in the situations below.

1. Supposing you won a large sum of money. What would you spend it on?

Model: If I won a large sum of money, I would buy a car.

2. Supposing someone offered you a job in GB. Would you take the job?

3. Supposing you were made redundant. What would you do?

4. You thought you were allowed to park in front of the building. Police towed your car away.

5. Your friend was allergic to seafood. You treated him a fish.

6. Supposing your partner phoned you and invited to a conference. You have a previous engagement.

Criteria for evaluation are:

• You can use “of” to express relationship;

• You can use the genitive case using apostrophe;

• You can apply “be going to” and “will” in situations;

• Five ways of expressing future;

• You are able to state and justify your position at a meeting; to look for compromise solutions in conflict situations; to state alternatives; to negotiate the sale of goods; to recommend actions to take; to ask for opinions; to make, accept and reject suggestions; to establish how problems have arisen and decide how to deal with them; to check that you understand what has been said at a meeting; to summarize the views of other participants.

H/w:

1. Nominative and Genitive. cases.

2. “Be going to” and “will” in future sentences.

3. Five ways of expressing future.

4. Learn dialogues “Discuss a discount” and “Discuss with your colleagues the purchase of chairs” by heart.

5. You are a buyer. You’re buying a TV set. Negotiate the best discount on the TV set. Make a dialogue.

Lesson 13

Objective:

• to receive a business contact and hold a social conversation with them.

Tasks:

• to get to know “There is…” and “There are…” constructions;

• to get acquainted with a person;

• to welcome a visitor;

• to start a conversation;

• to part from a person.