ENGLISH FOR SOCIALIZING UNIT 4 Making Contacts ENGUA BUSINESS ENGLISH BUSINESS SOCIALIZING U1 1
OBJECTIVES Making arrangements via email Phrases to use in meeting visitors Conversation topic (talking about the weather) ENGUA BUSINESS ENGLISH BUSINESS SOCIALIZING U1 2
STARTING POINT 1. When and where do you need to socialize in English? 2. What topics do you talk about? What topics are taboo in your culture? 3. What do you find difficult in socializing in English? What do you enjoy? 4. How do you break the ice? ENGUA BUSINESS ENGLISH BUSINESS SOCIALIZING U1 3
MAKING ARRANGEMENTS Emails are often used to make arrangements for company visits. Look at the emails below. Which email is more formal? How can you tell? A james.sanchez@greenindustries.com tsyms@carriongton.co.uk B Dear Mr Syms Visit to our company Thank you for your email regarding your forthcoming visit to our company. I would be delighted to pick you up at the airport and take you to your hotel. If you could please send me your flight details, that would be very useful. I look forward to seeing you on Tuesday. Hi, Anna Thanks for your confirmation about our meeting on 23 April. The best way to get to our office from the station is to take a taxi. There s a taxi rank outside the main entrance, you can t miss it! Looking forward to seeing you on Tuesday! All the best, Paul Best regards! James Sanchez Green Industries Inc. 4F Landmark Building Tower 1 8 Dongsanhuan Beilu Beijing China Tel: +86 10 32384575 Email: james.sanchez@greenindustries.com ENGUA BUSINESS ENGLISH BUSINESS SOCIALIZING U1 4
MEETING VISITORS ON ARRIVAL Complete the sentences with words in the box. Some words may be used more than once. mind bags person waiting pleasure finally hope see help again flight 1. It s great to meet you in after all our phone calls and emails. 2. I you haven t been long. 3. It s a to meet you. 4. How was your? 5. Hi, Paul, good to you. 6. Sorry to keep you. 7. Can I you with your? 8. Would you taking this? ENGUA BUSINESS ENGLISH BUSINESS SOCIALIZING U1 5
KEY EXPRESSIONS Meeting visitors on arrival Greetings Welcome to It s nice to meet you in person. Nice to meet you. (when you are meeting sb. for the first time) Great to see you again. (when you know sb. already) Asking about a journey How was your flight/journey? Did you have any trouble finding us? How was the drive? Apologizing for a delay I hope you haven t been waiting long. Sorry to keep you waiting. Offering help Can I help you with your bags? Let me get/take that for you. Can I get you some coffee? ENGUA BUSINESS ENGLISH BUSINESS SOCIALIZING U1 6
MEETING VISITORS ON ARRIVAL Match the questions with the answers. Some questions have more than one answer. 1. Can I help you with your bags? 2. Would you mind taking this? 3. How was your journey? 4. How was the drive? 5. Is there a toilet around here? 6. Where are we going from here? 7. Is there a café where we could sit down? a. I thought we could go to the hotel first. b. Fine, thanks. c. Sure, no problem. d. Not so good. The traffic was horrible. e. That would be great, thanks. f. There s one just this way. g. Uneventful, thanks. h. Yes, there s a nice one just over there. ENGUA BUSINESS ENGLISH BUSINESS SOCIALIZING U1 7
TALKING ABOUT THE WEATHER The weather is one of the most popular small talk topics. It is a topic everybody can talk about. Put the words below into the right categories. roasting cloudy cold drizzling warm hazy overcast humid mild pouring rainy damp freezing sunny grey Words describing temperature Words describing the sky Words to do with the weather ENGUA BUSINESS ENGLISH BUSINESS SOCIALIZING U1 8
EXERCISE Kasia Janiak is accompanying Mr. Syms from the airport to his hotel. Work with your teacher, read the dialogue and study the key words. Mr Syms: Kasia: Mr Syms: Kasia: Mr Syms: Kasia: Mr Syms: Kasia: Mr Syms: Kasia: I can t believe it s so sunny here. It makes a nice change from England. How was the weather when you left? It was rainy as usual! This summer has been thunderous. Well, it s been very lovely here. The last couple of weeks have been very windy. Do you normally get good summers here? It depends. Usually, we get at least a few hot days, but sometimes it rains a lot. I imagine the winters here must be pretty cold. Oh, yes, sometimes, it goes down to minus 15. Well, at least it never gets that cold in England. The winter there is usually grey and wet. It can be very depressing. Oh well, I m glad the weather is nice while you are visiting us. ENGUA BUSINESS ENGLISH BUSINESS SOCIALIZING U1 9
PRACTICE Have a small talk with your teacher to talk about the weather. Answer your teacher s questions by completing the sentences with given words. roasting cloudy cold drizzling warm hazy overcast humid mild pouring rainy damp freezing sunny grey 1. It s today. 2. It was yesterday morning. 3. It was yesterday evening. 4. The weather during my last business trip (or holiday) was. ENGUA BUSINESS ENGLISH BUSINESS SOCIALIZING U1 10
REVIEW Making arrangements via email Phrases to use in meeting visitors Conversation topic (talking about the weather) ENGUA BUSINESS ENGLISH BUSINESS SOCIALIZING U1 11