MED Magazine - Issue 27 - February 2005
Top Tips for Business English
Teaching socializing skills: activities
by Rosemary Richey
Successful socializing in English requires special language.
These activities will help you learn and practise words and phrases you'll
need for basic socializing in a business context. Use the Macmillan
English Dictionary when completing the exercises.
Activity 1
Read through these sentences taken from people socializing
with clients and customers.
|
On behalf of the sales and marketing
department, I'd like to welcome you to MGH Enterprises. |
|
Let me introduce myself. My name's John Simmons
and I'm the executive director. |
|
Could I give you a hand with your documents? |
|
How do you take your tea? With sugar,
lemon or milk? |
|
I hope you find your hotel convenient.
Are the rooms comfortable? |
|
What do you think of our dismal weather?
I hope it's more cheerful in Dublin. |
|
What line are you in? Is the job rewarding? |
|
Since you mentioned it, let's discuss
the details. |
|
I was wondering if you could do me a favour. |
|
Do you fancy having dinner with us this
evening? |
|
I'd like to get the next round of drinks.
Let's propose a toast to our good working relationship! |
|
Thanks for coming. You can reach me
best by email. Safe journey! |
|
Activity 2
Look up the underlined words taken from activity 1
in the dictionary. Write a synonym or short explanation for each.
|
on behalf of
instead of or as a representative of someone_________________ |
|
executive
_______________________________________________________ |
give you a hand
_______________________________________________________ |
take (your tea)
_______________________________________________________ |
convenient
_______________________________________________________ |
dismal
_______________________________________________________ |
cheerful
_______________________________________________________ |
line
_______________________________________________________ |
rewarding
_______________________________________________________ |
mentioned
_______________________________________________________ |
favour
_______________________________________________________ |
fancy
_______________________________________________________ |
round
_______________________________________________________ |
propose a toast
_______________________________________________________ |
reach
_______________________________________________________ |
journey
_______________________________________________________ |
Activity 3
Finish these sentences with a word from the box. Make
sure you use the correct form of the word.
dismal
|
fancy
|
reach
|
rewarding take
|
|
Do you __take__
your coffee black or white? |
I work long hours, but my job is __________ and I
enjoy it very much. |
Since it's so_______ outside, today's not a good
day to take you on a city tour. |
I'm afraid Ms Collins cannot be _________ since she's
in a meeting all day. |
Do you________ taking a tour of the company? |
Activity 4
Choose words or phrases from the box to finish these important
culture notes on socializing. Check your answers in the dictionary
avoid
|
offended
|
proximity
|
sensitive
|
stereotype
|
taboo
|
titles
|
|
|
Successful socializing depends on you being __sensitive___
to the other person's culture. |
Both Americans and the British usually don't use
________ when speaking to another person. They call each other by
their first names. |
When making small talk, certain topics might be __________
such as family, religion or politics. You may have to _________ these
subjects. |
You must be careful about your body language. Make
sure you don't stand in close _____ of the other person. They might
be _______ by this. |
In any socializing situation, never _______ the other
person. Your ideas may be totally mistaken about his/her culture. |
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