EXERCISE

UNIT 1

Exercise 1 Put the conversation in correct order!

Introductions
1. Patrick : Hello. My name's Patrick. What's your name?
2. Jenny : I'm from Seattle. Where are you from?
3. Patrick : Yes I am.
4. Jenny : Jenny.
5. Patrick : Where are you from Jenny?
6. Jenny : No I’m not. I’m Mexican. Are you Spanish?
7. Patrick : I'm from Madrid. Are you American?

Exercise 2 Answer the questions!

Jim : Cedric Frances, let me introduce you to David Blake. David, this is Mr. Cedric Frances
of Telefon Movies in Argentina.
Cedric : Pleasure to meet you.
David : Good to meet you too.
Jim : David works for our New York Branch. He’s responsible for International accounts.

1. Where does Cedric work?

2. What is David’s responsibility?
3. Where does David work?
4. Does Jim know David and Cedric?

Exercise 3 Read the dialogue and make your own dialogue with your partner using the
expressions given!

Bob : Sven! Welcome to LA! Great to see you again.

Sven : Great to see you, too. How are you doing?
Bob : Just Fine. Do you know my colleague, Jim Olsen? I enjoyed talking to you
Sven : Sure I do. How are you, Jim? How do you do
Jim : Good, thanks. How was your trip? See you soon
Sven : Not bad. Thank you
Bob : Good. Let’s go upstairs and get some coffee.

Exercise 4 Fill the blanks !

A : Good afternoon!
B : Good afternoon! My name is _____ (b) ________.
A : Hello. My name is ____ (a) ________.
B : Have we met before?
A : No we haven’t met. Pleased to meet you!
B : Pleased to meet you too. Have you met ______(c) ______?
A : I’m not sure.
C : Yes, we have met before. Good to see you again!
A : Oh yes, I remember now. Good to see you again too!
C : How are you doing?
A : __________________ (d) __________________________.
C : I’m sorry to hear that.
A : And what about you?
C : __________________ (e) __________________________.
B : I have an idea. Let’s go and get some lunch!
A-C : _______________________________________________.

Where did A and C meet?

__________________________________________________________________________________

Exercise 5 Make a dialogue with the requirements below!

A: The introducer (who knows both B and C)

B: Introducee (knows A but not C)
C: Introducee (knows A but not B)

Questions to ask:

 What’s your name?

 What’s your job/occupation?
 Where do you work?
 Which area do you work in?
 Where is your office?
 Who is your boss?

Read the dialogues

Example:
Good morning/Rolf Wehneir/Product manager/Germany/German/marketing

Good morning. My name’s Rolf Wehneir. I’m a product manager from Germany. I’m German and I'm
in marketing.

1. Good afternoon/Sergei Chesnevkev/accountant/ Russia/(nationality)_______/ Sales and Service

2. Good evening/Yuan Ho/student/China/(nationality)_____/Chen Ho university
3. Good morning/Amelia Rivalho/senior manager/Portugal/(nationality)_____/ Rubber Industry
4. Good evening/Michael Reinhard/architect./Switzerland/(nationality)_____/Housing and Property
5. Good morning/Irene Umairo/botanist/Philippine/(nationality)_____/Research Institute

Exercise 6 Make a conversation with your partner/partners (Choose your job)!

A : Good morning.
B : Good morning. What’s your name?
A : My name is _____________. What’s yours?
B : My name is _____________.
A : What’s do you do?
B : I’m a/an _____________ (engineer, lawyer).What about you?
A : I’m a/an _____________ (dentist, secretary)
B : So the area you work in is _____________?
A : Yes. That’s right. Where do you work?
B : I work at ______________________.
A : That’s interesting.
B : And where is your office?
A : My office is in ______________.
B : I see. And who is your boss?
A : My boss is _____________.
B : Okay. It’s been good to talk to you.
A : Yes, I hope to see you again sometime. Goodbye.

Do you plan to meet your friend? Give your reason!

____________________________________________________________________________________
_____________________________________________________________________________________
___________________________________________________________________________________

Exercise 9 Answer the questions

Example:
What/film start/19.15/?
What time does the film start? It starts at quarter past seven.

1. When/train leave/ 15.10/?

__________________________________________________________________________________
2. What/concert begin/20.30/?
__________________________________________________________________________________
3. When/bus arrive/21.50/?
__________________________________________________________________________________
4. What/lecture start/07.15/?
__________________________________________________________________________________
5. When/plane depart/04.45/?
__________________________________________________________________________________
Discussion
1 Look at the tips for small talk below. What is small talk? Do you think the tips are useful?
What is small talk?
Your company sends you to an
important
international conference in the USA.
While you are
travelling from the hotel to the
conference centre you
meet somebody who works for the
Spanish division of
your company for the fi rst time. The
conversation that
you have will probably be what we call
small talk.
TECHNIQUE ONE
Always wear a Whatzit
What’s a Whatzit?
Some people have developed a clever
technique that works well for social or
corporate networking purposes.
The technique requires no special skill on
your part, only the courage to wear a
Whatzit.
A Whatzit is anything unusual – a unique
brooch, an interesting scarf, a strange tie, a
funny hat. A Whatzit is any object that
draws people’s attention so that they
walk over and ask, ‘Uh, what’s that?’
What do people make small talk about?
There are certain safe topics that people usually
make small talk about. The weather is probably
the number one thing. Sometimes even friends
and family members discuss the weather when
they meet or start a conversation. Sports news is
a common topic, especially if a local team is
doing extremely well or badly. If there is
something that you and the other speaker have in
common, that may also be acceptable to talk
about. For example, if the bus is extremely full
and there are no seats available you might talk
about reasons why.
There are also some subjects that are not
considered acceptable when making small talk.
Personal information such as salaries or divorce
are not talked about between people who do not
know each other well. Negative comments about
another person not involved in the conversation
are also not acceptable: when you do not know a
person well you cannot be sure who their friends
are. It is also not wise to continue talking about
an issue that the other person does not seem
comfortable with or interested in. Lastly, avoid
one word answers, and
ask questions to show that you want to keep the
conversation going.
TECHNIQUE TWO
Whoozat?
What to do when you haven’t got a Whatzit…
Like a politician, go to the host and say, ‘That man
/woman over there looks interesting. Who is he / she?’
Then ask for an introduction.
-or- Find out about the stranger’s job, interests or
hobbies. The host might say, ‘Oh, that’s Joe Smith.
I’m not sure what his job is, but I know he loves to
ski.’ Aha, you’ve just been given the icebreaker you
need. Now walk over to Joe Smith and say, ‘Hi,
you’re Joe Smith, aren’t you? Susan was just telling
me what a great skier you
are. Where do you ski?’
Making small talk
Work with a partner. Choose one of the topics below to make small talk about. Student A
should prepare some things to say about one of the topics, Student B should prepare a list of
questions to keep the conversation going.

1 Your last weekend 4 What you’re doing after class

2 Your job/studies 5 The last time you went to a restaurant
3 Your journey to class today 6 The weather today

Beginning and ending small talk

6 Put the words in the correct order to make some useful phrases for beginning and ending small talk.

1 but Sorry have to go I now. 5 your was How weekend?

2 meeting It’s nice been you. 6 Enjoy rest the of the conference.
3 believe can’t how busy it I is. 7 to talking Nice you.
4 journey have you Did a good here? 8 It’s weather lovely today.

Mark each phrase B (for beginning a conversation) or E (for ending a conversation).

Can you add any more?