Developing relationship

You will hear five short conversations between people who work in the same company. After hearing each conversation, discuss these questions with your partner:

· What is the relationship between the speakers?

· What are their jobs?

· What are they talking about?

· How does a relationship change as you get to know someone better?

As you get to know someone, it’s useful to find out what your common interests are. Then you can have a social conversation as well as ‘talking shop’ (talking about business).

Work in pairs

1. Discuss the questions below:

· What is small talk?

· Which of these topics do you talk about - and which do you not talk about – during the first meeting with a business associate?

ü sport ü travel ü music ü politics ü hobbies ü your education

ü your family ü films ü business ü religion ü the weather ü money

Other topics …………………………………………………………………………..

· And what difference does it make if the other person is:

a foreigner a man a woman older than you younger than you senior to you junior to you

2. Join another pair and compare your answers

Listen to the recording. An Englishmen Peter Welch, who is a Director of an international company, talks about what he thinks is important in preparing for business contacts with people from other cultures. He mentioned several key areas to find out about. Identify six of them. Did you think of any of the same issue?

Exercise 1

Match the formal expressions on the left with their informal equivalents on the right.

1. I am sure… 2. Two. 3. That’s no problem. 4. My suitcase is very light. 5. I look forward to it. 6. When did you arrive? 7. That was delicious. 8. Unfortunately not. 9. Would you like some more? 10. I’d love some but I’ve already eaten too much.

a. I’m travelling light. b. That was great! c. ‘Fraid not. d. Sorry, I’m full up. e. I bet… f. No probs (Australian) g. Can’t wait. h. A couple. i. When did you get in? j. How about a bit more?

Exercise 2

Small talk

Put the conversation in the correct order. The first and the last paragraphs are placed correctly.

a. b. c. d. e. f. g. h. i. j. k. l. m.

We were just talking about this new sports centre they are building in town. Do you play any sports at all, Kim? Not yet, no. Why are you doing something? Against Real Madrid? No, I missed it. I had to go to a birthday party. No problem. Oh, before I forget. I’ve got two tickets to see them in Manchester if you are interested. No, me neither. Talking of football, did you see the match last night? Oh, right. Thanks for telling me. Incidentally, have you still got my Rolling Stones CD? Me? Well, not really, I used to play a bit of football. No, nothing special. By the way, sorry to talk business, but did you remember to send that estimate to Clive? Pity. It was a great game. On the subject of parties, have you made any plans for New Year’s Eve yet? Did you? Me too. I was never any good, though. Oops! Yeah, sorry. I meant to give it back to you. I’ll bring in tomorrow. Thanks for lending it to me. Yeah, I sent it yesterday. Oh, that reminds me. Clive said to tell you he won’t be able to make Thursday’s meeting. He said he’d call you. Are you kidding? Of course I’m interested! I’ve never seen them live.

According to Dale Carnegie, author of the all-time best-selling people skills book How to Win Friends and influence people, ‘You can make more friends in two months by becoming interested in other people than you can in two years by trying to get people interested in you.’

Work with a partner to practice keeping up a conversation.

Student A

You are at a cocktail party with speaker B, a very important client. You’ve been having a great time so far, but he /she doesn’t seem to be having much fun. You don’t know him/her very well socially, so try to find out what he/she is interested in his/her ‘hot buttons’. There’s a list of conversation starters and topics. Keep changing the topic until you hit one of his/her hot buttons – he/she must be interested in something! And try to remain cheerful and positive no matter how dull and unfriendly he/she may seem.

Student B

You are at a cocktail party with Speaker A, one of your many suppliers. You generally hate this kind of event and so far you’ve had a miserable evening. Look at the list of topics and choose just two you are prepared to have a conversation about – your ‘hot buttons’. If Speaker A tries to engage you in conversation on any topic apart from your hot buttons, say very little. Do nothing to change the topic, but show enthusiasm if one of your hot button topics comes up.

Task 1

Choose one of the articles and take the following steps:

ü read the article.

ü identify the main points.

ü write down 10 questions.

ü make the vocabulary card (new words, phraseological expressions, idioms, etc).

ü prepare and make one-minute presentation on the issue discussed in the article.

Date: 2016-01-14; view: 871

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