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 St. Anaela's College of Education
for Home Economics
Lough Gill, Sligo
Telephone (071) 3580 or 2785

The Language of Discussion

Role Play Exercises for Advanced Students

Frank Heyworth

HODDER AND STOUGHTON

LONDON SYDNEY AUCKLAND TORONTO
Copyright © 1978 Frank Heyworth
First impression 1978
Illustrations copyright © 1978 Hodder and Stoughton Ltd

All rights reserved. No part of this publication may be

reproduced or transmitted in any form or by any means,
electronic or mechanical, including photocopy, recording
or any information storage and retrieval system, without
permission in writing from the publisher.

Illustrations by David Rowe

Printed in Great Britain for

Hodder and Stoughton Educational,
a division of Hodder and Stoughton Ltd,
Mill Road, Dunton Green, Sevenoaks, Kent
by Cox & Wyman Ltd,
London, Fakenham and Reading
Contents

Preface and Teacher’s Note page 5

Unit Protecting the Environment 7
Unit Transport for Tomorrow 14
Unit What Kind of Schools? 21
Unit People and Money 27
Unit Marriage and Jobs 31
Unit Press Conference 35
Unit A New Tourist Paradise 41
Unit A Problem of Modernisation 46
Unit Industrial Conflict 52
Unit A Market Research Problem by
Unit The Advertising Campaign 62
Unit Shoplifting 68
Unit i Starting a Business 74
Language Summary 77
 Digitized by the Internet Archive
in 2023 with funding from
Kahle/Austin Foundation

https://archive.org/details/languageofdiscusO000heyw
Preface and Teacher's Note
This collection of role play exercises is designed to give systematic
practice in discussion techniques and strategies for advanced students
of English as a Foreign or Second Language. Each unit of work
contains a description of a situation, a discussion exercise, some work
on the vocabulary and expressions needed for subsequent use in the
role play, instructions for the role simulation and descriptions of the
different roles, together with language notes suggesting effective dis-
cussion strategies. Half of the topics are on subjects of general interest
and problems of contemporary society; the other half deal with prob-
lems of management or the working environment. The language notes
are classified according.to a functional approach and aim to give a fairly
complete account of the language necessary for formal discussion in
English. The concentration on ‘set-piece’, fairly formal situations is
intentional and aims to develop areas of language use which may be
unfamiliar even to students with a good command of every-day con-
versational English.

A Suggested Approach to the Units

The material provided here is intended to be flexible and open-ended,
to stimulate student participation and initiative, so the teacher should
feel free to adapt and experiment with it. What follows is a description
of approaches which have been found successful while the material was
being developed.
Step one: Read the description of the situation with students, trying to
allow students to visualise the situation and to get involved in it.
Step two: Do the orientation discussion, Talking it Over, to elicit the
students’ own points of view and attitudes to the topic or problem; this
is important as it allows fruitful work later on imagining the attitudes
and opinions of the characters in the role play.
Step three: Do the vocabulary exercise which aims to fix words and
expressions students may need in the role play; a good proportion of
the vocabulary items chosen are words and expressions which French
and German students typically get wrong.
Steps one to three normally took one 13-hour session.
Step four: Present the role play exercise and discuss and distribute the
roles, talking through the characters’ likely approach to the discussion
as fully as possible.
Step five: Go through the language notes with explanation, example
and practice.
Steps four and five could take up a second 13-hour session and
students can be asked to prepare their roles for the next session.
Step six: Play the role simulations — recording it on tape, or, ideally, on
video-tape.
Step seven: Re-play the recorded discussion, giving students the chance
to comment on and evaluate their own and each other’s performance.
Work with the class on improving the language used and the strategies
used — or not used — in the role play. This can be the most rewarding
part of the use of the material as it provides a fairly extensive amount of
the student’s own performance in English, and this can be analysed and
worked onina context. It was found useful to work on the reactions, or
lack of them, of the characters even when they were not speaking, and
to work on gestures and other forms of paralanguage.
The units thus provide about six hours’ class work each. It was found
that doing at least six or seven of the units in a systematic and con-
tinuous way — over a period of six weeks, for example — allowed
students to progress considerably, first in the amount of English they
could use spontaneously, and then in the quality of the discussion
techniques and strategies employed.
The role plays seem to work best with not more than five or six
participants, as everybody can get involved in the discussion. If the
group is bigger than this it will probably be found better to split into
two and to arrange for one group to prepare its role play while the
other is recording.
Unit One

Protecting the Environment

Riversham is a small market town of 10,000 inhabitants, situated 35
miles to the north of London; the town centre is formed by the wide
High Street, lined by fine 17th and 18th century houses, and there are a
lot of narrow side streets running off the High Street — which has an
enormous amount of through traffic on it, because the main road from
London to the north-west goes through the town. Until recently,
Riversham has been almost completely unindustrialised and has
served mainly as the market and shopping centre for the agricultural
area around; the town’s proximity to London has made it an attractive
place for commuters to live and since 1950 or so a number of resi-
dential estates have been developed on the outskirts of the town.
At the moment the town council is examining a planning request by a
property developer to build an estate of 600 houses about a mile from
the town centre on land that was previously used for farming. Recently,
too, there has been a certain amount of industrial development in the
area as more and more firms want to avoid the expense of operating in
the centre of London; a pharmaceutical laboratory and a plastics
manufacturer have set up factories and a number of other firms have
made enquiries about the possibilities of transferring their activities to
Riversham. For the moment the town council is encouraging this kind
of development, because the increasing mechanisation of farming has
created a certain amount of unemployment in the town.
Riversham is threatened by outside development, too — the new
motorway to the west will pass through the outskirts of the town and
the nearby airport at Wilton is being increasingly used by holiday
charter flights. There are rumours that the Greater London Council
would be interested in Riversham as a location for housing some of
London’s overspill population, in order to ease the housing crisis in the
area. The increase in population has led to the installation of super-
markets by the big multiple chains, and this financial pressure has
taken away a lot of business from local shopkeepers; a number of them
have sold out because they were unable to stand up to the competition.
A number of Riversham citizens have been disturbed by the rapid
changes going on in a town that had lived very happily without major
upheaval for the best part of 200 years; they have decided, therefore,
to found a ‘Society for the Protection of Riversham’, whose aim will be
to protect the quality of life in Riversham and to make sure it is not
spoiled by indiscriminate and unplanned growth. They intend to organ-
ise public meetings and debates so that everyone living in the town will
be aware of the dangers facing the town. They feel that the present
i
town council is not sufficiently energetic in defending the town’s
interests and have therefore decided to put up candidates in the coming
local elections.

Talking it Over
If you were members of the ‘Society for the Protection of Riversham’,
what would be your plan for the local election campaign? What would
you consider to be the most serious threats to the town’s way of life?
What specific proposals would you make? What arguments would you
use to convince people to elect you? Think of some good election
slogans.

Vocabulary Exercise
1 The town centre of Riversham is a w. High Street with a
number of s streets ru off it; until recently, when its
proximity to London made it an attractive place for co to settle,
it had been am town for the agr area around. Now, there
are a number of res est on the out______ of the town and
the council is considering a pl re by a pro
dev
2 Ahete are that London would like to use Riversham as a
l for ho some of its ov population; the inst_____
of supermarkets by the big mu ch has led to a number of
small shopkeepers se fo) because they are unable to
Stake SS i Se itoncom see
3 The ‘Society for the Protection of Riversham’ a______to protect the
qu of |______ in the town and to m su it is not
sp. by indis and unpl growth.

Role Playing
Two members of the society were elected to the council in the local
elections; the main item on the council’s agenda today is the request for
planning permission by the property developer who wants to build the
residential estate. At the end of the meeting a vote must be taken on
whether to accept or reject the request and the different participants in
the meeting should try to consider all the possible consequences of
building such a big estate.

Roles
HUBERT WILKINSON has been Mayor of Riversham for twelve years and
is at the same time a prominent local businessman, selling agricultural
and garden supplies, and a member of the local Chamber of Com-
merce. In the past he has normally supported development proposals
8
as they bring more income in rates to the town and because new
residents mean more wealth and more business in general; this time his
feelings are mixed, as he wonders whether the disappearance of farm-
ing land might not involve a loss for his business interests. He is very
irritated by the presence of the members of the society in the council, as
he considers them as unrealistic and interfering.

NORMAN JACKSON is also a long-standing member of the town council;

he has the biggest farm in the district, and has modernised and mechan-
ised it to such an extent that it is more like a small factory than a
traditional farm. He is in favour of the proposed housing estate
because he thinks Riversham is sleepy and old-fashioned and because
newcomers and new ideas would liven up the place; he, too, has no
patience with the ideas of the new members of the council who, he says,
want to put the town back into the 19th century.

MRS ELISABETH FORSYTH is 60 years old and has retired from a successful
career as a barrister. Her family has lived in Riversham for three
generations and she is reluctant to see it change too much, but on the
other hand, as a responsible member of the council, thinks that an
increase in size would bring more resources to the town and thus
provide the money for a cultural centre which has been a favourite
scheme of hers for improving town facilities for a number of years.

JANET ROBBINS is one of the two elected members of the ‘Society for the
Protection of Riversham’ on the council; she teaches at the local
secondary school and is president of the town’s historical association.
She is strongly opposed to the proposal for a residential estate: she
thinks that it would spoil the atmosphere of the town where everyone
knows everybody else, that it would increase even more the traffic in
the centre, and that the houses proposed are ugly, badly built and
wouid ruin a town of high architectural interest.

JOSEPH FREEMAN is the second member of the society of the council; he

is a member of the small Labour party group in town and an enthusias-
tic trade unionist. He accuses the other members of the council of
supporting the scheme out of financial interest, and says that rather
than allowing houses to be sold to outsiders it would be better to make
a council housing estate to replace the older and uncomfortable houses
lived in by the agricultural workers in town; he says too that an increase
in the number of inhabitants would create competition for jobs in an
area where there is already too much unemployment. He would like to
see as much farm land kept as possible.
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Language Notes
formal meetings
I declare the meeting open.
The first item on the agenda is...
I would like to propose the motion that...
Would anybody like to second the motion?
The motion is | passed
|refused | by two votes to...
unanimously.
Is there any other business?
I declare the meeting closed.

expressing support in a public meeting

I should like to express my | total

wholehearted | support for this
proposal.
I am fully in favour of this motion.
I think this idea deserves our backing.
The scheme could be of enormous benefit to the | town
community.

expressing opposition in a public meeting

We are | radically
wholly opposed to this kind of | plan
scheme
proposition.
In my opinion this | is not in
|goes completely against | the interests of the
town ratepayers.
I can see no valid reasons for supporting a project of this kind.

giving reasons for or against proposals

because the plan would be beneficial

of benefit |to the people of the town.
I think this is a forward-looking
progressive
enterprising
| extremely valuable | proposal.
because I consider it to be | harmful
against
not consistent with the general
interest.
12
It seems to me to be | an extravagant
a wasteful
a profiteering
a hare-brained | scheme.
Nothing
Everything | I have heard has convinced me that...

Further Subjects for Discussion

Examine the consequences for a town (or a country) of rapid industrial
growth. Would it be feasible — or desirable — to follow a policy of ‘zero
economic growth’? What would be the consequences of such a policy?
What do you mean by the ‘quality of life’?
Talk about the protection of the environment and ecology. What do
you consider to be the main threats to the environment in present-day
society? What specific recommendations would you make to improve
the environment in the region or country you live in?

i
Unit Two

Transport for Tomorrow

Middlingham is a large industrial city in the north of England. It has a
million inhabitants and, like most cities of comparable size, has a
serious traffic problem on its hands: people’s journeys to work are
long, tiring and uncomfortable; there are traffic jams every day at the
rush hours and continuous congestion in the centre throughout the
day; as well as the discomfort involved for everyone, there are addi-
tional disadvantages of noise and air pollution. The city council — an
enterprising and forward-looking body — has decided to study the
problem in order to make a comprehensive long-term plan which will
make the city a better place to live in.
They have commissioned a number of experts to study the problem
from all angles: scientists and engineers who will forecast possible
developments in the motor industry and propose radical new solutions
for public transport; traffic experts who will calculate traffic flow and
the roads that will be needed to cope with this flow; town planners and
architects who will design shopping centres and residential areas
adapted to the transport system and the way people live. In addition
they have taken the original step of commissioning a survey to find out
what the people who live in the city would like as the ideal system for
moving around. A company called Social Research Ltd has been called
in to design a questionnaire to elicit the opinion of city dwellers about
such questions as:

Do people want the city designed to accommodate private transport,

or would they prefer a really efficient public transport system?

What factors make for the ideal public transport system — comfort?
Low cost? Speed? Frequency?

Do people prefer to live in high density (therefore probably high-rise

flats) near the city centre or in individual houses spread out into the
suburbs?

Would they be prepared to pay for the improvements they want? —a

new transport system would obviously involve higher rates for
people who live in Middlingham.

Would they accept a pedestrian precinct — no private cars allowed —

in the city centre?
14
Talking it Over
Three members of the group should devise the questionnaire for Social
Research and try it out on the other members of the group; they should
then examine the results and put them together in the form of a report
on ‘an improved transport system for Middlingham’ to be criticised and
discussed by members of the group who should express the attitudes of
different people living in town — city centre shop-owners, mothers with
young children, people who travel a long way to work, etc.

Vocabulary Exercise
1 Middlingham’s traffic problems include tr. ] atr
h______, continuous co. in the city centre and long, tiring
j to work for everyone.
2 The City Council has com______ a number of experts to make a
comp , __-t______ study of the problem from all an ;
the experts will f______ possible developments in the motor industry
and try to de sh Cc and res ar. adapted
to the way people live nowadays.
3 The survey carried out by Social Research will el people’s
opinions on whether they would prefer private or p transport;
whether they would like a ped_____ pre in the centre of town;
what f_____ would make f_______ an ideal transport system, and if
they would prefer living in h -I {eS snear thexcity
centre or houses spread out in the s_____—

Role Playing
A local radio station has asked four experts to come and talk on the
subject of ‘Tomorrow’s Transport in the City’. A town planner, a
representative of the car industry, the superintendent of police in
charge of traffic problems and a sociologist have been asked to give
their respective points of view. The programme has a telephone link
wiih listeners who can telephone in to ask questions or express their
opinions.

Roles
JANE ASHTON introduces a regular weekly programme on topical ques-
tions. Her job is to keep the discussion to the point, make sure every-
body has an opportunity to express his opinion and to gain the lis-
teners’ interest by provoking disagreement and argument.
COLIN JONES is in charge of the city’s town planning department. He is
full of original ideas which he would like to put into practice — he has
proposed an underground car park and bus station in the centre of
town which would leave it completely free for pedestrians and a
15
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futuristic complex of shops and flats; he gets impatient with people
who contradict his ideas or say they would cost too much.
ANNE RIDLEY looks after the public relations of one of Britain’s biggest
car manufacturers. The arguments she puts forward are somewhat
defensive — the car industry provides considerable employment and
wealth for the city; much progress has been made in reducing noise and
pollution and it is a restriction on individual liberty to forbid private
cars in city centres. She is good at seeming to agree with people then
turning their argument to make her own point.
BILL THOMPSON is the superintendent of police dealing with traffic
problems. He has come to the studio after a particularly trying day —an
accident in the town centre has caused an enormous traffic jam there.
No less than sixty-five cars have had to be towed away because they
were parked so badly that they blocked other cars, and a spot check on
vehicles has shown that over 40% had some defect either in the brakes
or lighting. He thinks that higher fines, taking away driving licences for
traffic offences and a ruthless system of one-way streets and no parking
areas are the only way to deal with the problem.
MARY GRANGER is a Sociologist who has studied the problems of life in
big cities. She thinks that the pattern of living is increasingly going to be
suburban and that people will move away from towns which she
considers as productive of aggression and nervous tension; she is very
much the champion of the individual against the system of employers,
town planners, policemen and enjoys trying to make the other people
speaking on the programme angry.

Language Notes
For chairing the discussion:
starting
Today’s talking point is...
Today we’re going to talk about...
Who’d like to| begin
start the ball rolling?
eliciting opinions
Would you like to give us your | opinion
point of view
comments?
What’s your opinion on that, Mr Jones?
I wonder if you’d like to comment, Miss Ridley?
provoking arguments
That’s interesting but I think Mr — may have a different point of
view...
18
Would you agree with that attitude?
There seems to be some | conflict
contradiction | between your points of
VIEW, ao
Does that mean you think ...

For Colin Jones, town planner:

introducing ideas and suggestions
The | basic
essential |problem, in my view, is...
It seems to me | evident that...
obvious
I’m convinced that...

for disagreeing (impatiently) with other points of view

You don’t seem to understand
grasp what I’m getting at...I meant...
Well, of course, if you take a | cheese-paring
measly attitude like that
we'll never manage
WON 6 axe
Don’t you see that without vision
imagination it’s impossible to...

for Anne Ridley, public relations officer:

for putting forward defensive arguments
Let’s look at the whole question from a realistic point of view.
Let’s be realistic about this . .
That’s all very well, but you’ve got to take ... into | account
consideration.
wets facefactsece

for disagreeing politely

That’s an interesting point of view but I’m not sure if ...
I agree with you on the whole but it could be said that...
I’m not sure I go along with you on that.

for Bill Thompson, police superintendent:

for expressing irritation
What a day!
You couldn’t imagine the sort of things people do.
I’m beginning to lose patience with ...
19
 ~

for making forceful suggestions

There’s only one | thing to be done
|way of dealing with the problem.
People are going to have to | realise
accept that...
I know from experience that it’s only by. . . that we’ll get the results we
want.

for Mary Granger, sociologist:

for giving information
Our research has shown that...
It has been proved that...
There is some evidence that...

for provoking other people on the programme

I know that Mr will say that...
is going to tell us that...
Of course from a commercial
bureaucratic
repressive point of view, you would say
that
If you had any concern for the individual...

Further Subjects for Discussion

Governments spend enormous amounts of money on building roads
and motorways, and in dealing with the problems caused by cars. Is it
justifiable to spend so much money on private means of transport?
Would you consider it better to invest in road or rail transport? What
do you think are likely to be the means of the transport of tomorrow?
What effects do air pollution, noise and traffic jams have on people?
Look at some of the ways of reducing the bad effects.
Traffic control is just one way of improving the urban environment;
what other changes would you recommend to make towns better
places to live in? What is it that makes a town or city pleasant to live in?

20
Unit Three

What Kind of Schools?

A recent reorganisation of local government in Great Britain has
created a new county called Wessex, which includes two big towns,
Westchester and Brigford — both old towns but with highly developed
modern industry — and a large region of rich agricultural countryside.
In Britain, local government has a large degree of independence in the
organisation of its schools, and the new authority has decided to
rethink the kind of schools and educational provision it offers so that
education in the area will correspond as nearly as possible to the needs
and wishes of the people living in the region.
The educational authority is not, of course, completely free in the
schools system it can organise — the law stipulates that schooling shall
be compulsory from the ages of 5 to 16 and local authorities have been
instructed to prepare a plan for ‘comprehensive’ secondary education,
in which the former distinction between grammar and secondary mod-
ern schools will be abolished and the same kind of educational system
will be provided for all the children of a particular village or part of a
town. Within this framework, however, the local authority can find
original and even radical solutions to the planning of the kind of
schools it wants.
Before deciding on the nature of this reorganisation the new author-
ity has set itself the task of answering a number of basic questions and
of examining the options that are open to it.
Some of the basic questions it thinks need to be answered are:
What are secondary schools for? Development of intellect, or per-
sonality? Preparation for earning a living? For living? For leisure?
What subjects are relevant to these aims?
What subjects are irrelevant and could be abandoned?
Should schools be integrated into the rest of society? If so, how?
What new methods of teaching and learning would be appropriate to
these aims?
What new teaching aids are needed?
What about the design of schools?
The organisational options open to the authority include:

The choice between very large schools and the variety of subjects
that can be offered there, and the intimacy available in a smaller
school.
The decision on the best age to separate different levels of edu-
cation: 13, 11, 16?
21
Whether to divide children into streams according to different levels
of ability.
The place of examinations in the system.
Talking it Over
Discuss your opinions and attitudes towards some of the questions and
options which are facing Wessex. Try to plan what would be the ideal
school for you, or for your children.

Vocabulary Exercise
1 Wessex includes two big towns with h d____ industry and a
region of rich agricultural c
2 The local au______ plans to re educational pro in the
area, and to create a system that co to the n_= sand w
of the people living there.
3 Although the law st_____ that schooling is com______ from 5 to 16,
and that there must be a comp system of secondary education,
the local authority can look for original and re solutions within
this fr
4 They have s themselves the t______ of answering questions
like: ‘is education for living or e al 2 Whats... are
r and what is irr _

Role Playing
The Chief Education Officer has assembled a brains trust in which
different people interested have been asked to say what kinds of
schools they want (and don’t want). Present are schoolchildren,
teachers, a headmistress, a representative of local employers and par-
ents. Topics to be discussed include discipline and freedom in schools,
relations between teachers and pupils and between schools and
society, standards and examinations.

Roles

MRS GWEN HARVEY has been Wessex’s Chief Education Officer for two
years. Her function is to chair the meeting and to make sure that
everybody has his or her say, and also to draw the practical conclusions
to be drawn from the opinions expressed; at the end she should try to
sum up what, if any, are grounds of consensus between the parties
concerned.

NICOLAS GREGG is in his last year at the local grammar school and is
going on to study medicine at university. He has enjoyed and suc-
ceeded in his academic education and thinks that no enormous changes
are necessary; languages and arts subjects bored him and he thinks
there is a case for earlier specialisation; he thinks teachers should be
respected and should know how to keep discipline.
23
HELEN WILLIAMS is in her last year at school, too, but is much more
critical than Nicolas Gregg. She finds the school day boring, divided
into periods learning subjects with nothing to do with ‘real life’; she
considers teachers as old-fashioned and authoritarian and resents the
lack of freedom and independence.

JAMES ARTHUR is managing director of a factory which employs 5,000

workers in Brigford. He feels very strongly that educational standards
are falling, that the apprentices he takes in are almost illiterate and
cannot do even the simplest arithmetic. He puts this down to new-
fangled, ‘progressive’ methods and claims that schools have neglected
basic subjects.

MS ALICE GREEN has been for many years headmistress of one of the
biggest schools in Westchester. She is strongly ‘progressive’ and has
instituted a number of experiments in her school, including the abol-
ition of streaming; she feels that a school’s job is to let children discover
what they want to do and be, and that learning to be independent is
more important than subject content.

RICHARD NEWSON has three children at school in Westchester and is in

two minds about the education they are receiving. He says the children
are enthusiastic and interested in all the projects they do, but is worried
about whether they are being adequately prepared for passing exams
and getting good jobs later; he wonders whether the free atmosphere
at the school reflects the reality of life outside school.
Other participants in the group can adopt any other attitude they wish
concerning educational problems.

Language Notes
For Mrs Harvey:
drawing conclusions and consequences
The consequence of that would be to...
In practical terms that would mean...
In that case it would involve ...

summing up the discussion

Can I go over the main points raised? First, many of you think ...
To sum up then; most of you consider that...
There seems to be general agreement about ..., but a considerable
area of conflict over...
In conclusion, I would say that...
24
Discussion techniques for all participants:

to take part in the discussion

I'd like to raise the subject of ...
May I make a point about... ?
I think it’s important to consider the question of ...
If I could |say a word about...
get a word in edgeways.
What I think is...

to put a point very strongly

I’m convinced that...
It’s quite clear to me that...
I think it’s absolutely | disgraceful
marvellous
wrong/right Oper
Anybody can see that...
You can’t deny that...

to express disagreement
I don’t agree at all; in my opinion...
You’re completely |mixed up
confused
mistaken.
You’ve missed the point completely.
I’m afraid I think that’s |utter nonsense
completely ridiculous.

to support what someone else has said

I agree wholeheartedly with what Mr just said.
I am in complete agreement with...
That’s just what I think.
I’d like to support Miss ’s point of view about...

to bring a discussion back to the point

Perhaps we could go back to the main point.
That’s very interesting, but I don’t think it’s really to the point.
That’s completely | irrelevant.
off the point. We’re talking about ..., not
Could you stick to the | subject,
point, | please.
ZS
Further Subjects for Discussion
Talk about any experiments in education that you know of. Do you
think it would be a good thing to abolish schools completely and give
people ‘educational credits’ to use whenever they wanted during their
lives?
Should political activity be allowed in schools? Should political edu-
cation be part of the syllabus? In many countries pupils have started to
form pupil’s trade unions: what demands could they justifiably make?
Describe your own impressions of your first years at school — what you
liked, what you hated, how you perceived your teachers and school-
mates.

26
Unit Four

People and Money

‘Money is the root of all evil.’
“You can’t take it with you when you die.’
‘Money can’t buy happiness, but it can help!’
For most people, there is no problem in deciding how they are going
to spend the money they earn - it all goes on housing, food, clothes,
transport and, if they are lucky, leisure and some holidays. For many
years this had been the situation of the Jameson family. Mr Jameson
earned enough to keep his family — a wife and three children — in
reasonable comfort, but there was never very much money to spare.
Then, about three months ago, they received a letter from a solicitor
saying that an almost forgotten uncle of Mr Jameson’s had died with-
out heirs and had left £20,000 to him.
Everybody in the family had different ideas about how to spend the
money — if they were all put together the money would have been spent
ten times over. Here is what each member of the family said about it:
MRS JAMESON ‘What I'd like to do is to buy a really nice big house with a
garden and plenty of room for everyone. We could get something
marvellous if we sold the one we live in now and put the money from
the sale with the £20,000; if we did this we’d all be happier because we
could be more independent if we weren’t on top of each other all the
time. We wouldn’t be throwing the money away because houses always
rise in value and we could sell it whenever we wanted to.’
MR JAMESON ‘I don’t agree with you: it would be very expensive to keep
up a big house and the children will be grown up soon and leaving
home; there’s no point in putting all our money into a house. I’m
convinced that the best thing to do is to find a safe, sure investment
which would pay enough interest for the money to keep its value — then
we wouldn’t have any problems paying for the children’s education and
if they want to start buying houses later we could give them the money
to start off a mortgage. What I’d appreciate is that with a sum like that
behind us we’d never have to worry about money.’
JONATHAN ‘I can’t understand why you’re both so obsessed with the
future — in the long run we’re all going to be dead anyway. All of us
have spent our lives without doing anything out of the ordinary and
now we’ve got a marvellous opportunity of doing something exciting;
with £20,000 we could all travel round the world, we could see and do
all sorts of things we’ve always wanted to do. It’d be stupid to go on
living in the same dull old way, when we’ve got the luck to be free for a
bit.’
20
HILARY ‘You’re looking at things from a completely selfish point of view
— if we spend the money on ourselves we’ll probably be disappointed,
and it’s only going to make us discontented when it’s all gone. I think
we should all think of the most useful way of spending the money then
give it away; there are people starving all over the world and if we could
save some lives with the money, at least we’d feel it had served a useful
purpose.’
JAMES (aged 10) ‘I think we should buy a sports car, a boat and an
electric train for me.’

Vocabulary Exercise
1 For many years all Mr Jameson’s e had gone on necessities
like food andh , and although they have not been poor, there has
never been much money to s
2 If they had put together all the family’s ideas on how to spend the
inh______, it would have been spent ten t_____ 0 ; Mrs Jame-
son wanted a big house with plenty of r for the family — the
house would r. in Vv. and they wouldn’t be th______ the
MONEY A= =,
3 Mr Jameson preferred a sa__, su_______ investment so that witha
S of money be them they would never have any financial
Ww . Jonathan thought it would be stupid to throw away the
opp of doing something exciting; he said that in the |
8 everybody would be dead anyway.

Talking it Over
Discuss the different ideas of the Jameson family about spending the
money and try to find a solution which would not cause too much
dissension and bad feeling in the family afterwards. Discuss what you
would do if you inherited a similar sum of money.

Role Playing
Play the parts of the Jameson family in the discussion they have, to
decide what to do with the money — the discussion should finish by
coming to a decision.

Roles
The attitudes of the members of the family are those they express
above. Additional information:
MRS JAMESON wants to avoid conflict and argument so tries to find
compromises that everyone can accept.
28
MR JAMESON gets annoyed with his children whom he considers as full of
unrealistic idealism; points out that he is the one who earns the money.
JONATHAN is full of bright ideas for spending the money and wants his
parents to enjoy themselves for a change.
HILARY is very ‘political’ and involved with students’ movements; she
enjoys provoking the rest of the family.

Language Notes
The discussion is between members of the family and will be much less
formal than a radio programme or a public meeting. Language func-
tions will include:
breaking into a conversation
If you’d let me get a word in edgeways I'd...
If you’d only listen to me...
Shut up, Hilary, while I finish ...
That’s | nonsense
stupid
ridiculous.
making suggestions
What about...
Why don’t we...
We could always...
[ve got a | great
marvellous | idea; we could...
Wisten iets ..-

refusing suggestions
It’s out of the question to...
Of course we couldn’t ...
What a ridiculous idea ...
It'd be a complete waste to...
calming the argument
Listen, please, all of you...
Don’t get | upset
angry
Keep your hair on

Further Subjects for Discussion

Find as many original ideas as you can for making a lot of money
quickly. Think of as many ideas as possible for reducing unnecessary
expenditure.
29
Psychologists say that when people spend money to buy objects it is
often as much to satisfy a psychological need (for affection, accept-
ance, prestige, self-assurance, etc.) as for the use of the object itself.
What psychological factors might influence the purchase of:
a car (the buying impulse will differ according to the make of car);
clothes (why do we buy clothes apart from protection against the
elements?); paintings; sweets; jewels?
In most countries there is a vast difference between the incomes of the
rich and the wages of ordinary people. Would it be possible and
desirable to give equal pay to everyone? What problems would be
involved? What professions (if any) deserve to earn more money than
others? Should higher education be rewarded by the opportunity of
obtaining the highest paid and highest status jobs?

30
Unit Five

Marriage and Jobs

Bill Thomas and Janet Anderson are respectively 26 and 25 years old
and are planning to get married shortly; they have known each other
for three years and are sure that they want to live together and would
like to have two or three children. The only important thing on which
they don’t agree is the question of whose career should take pre-
cedence. Bill did a degree in Business and Commerce at university, and
although he spent as much time enjoying the sporting and social
activities of student life, he managed to get through his exams reason-
ably well and has found a job as an assistant sales executive with an
international company that manufactures and sells electronic equip-
ment. His present post involves a lot of travelling and if he is promoted
he is likely to be asked to go and spend occasional periods living
abroad; his career prospects are excellent, and by the time he is 35 he
should be earning a very good salary.
Janet was a much more enthusiastic student, and had exceptionally
good results in the theoretical and practical examinations which led to
her qualification as an architect. Immediately after finishing her studies
she was taken on by a small group of successful architects which
specialises in the construction of public buildings like schools and
hospitals. She loves her work, which she does very well, and promises
to become an original architect; financially her career prospects are as
good as Bill’s.
The problem of ‘whose career comes first?’ is one they have fre-
quently discussed and, both being of a rational turn of mind, they have
made a list of possible solutions to the career problem. These are:
1 For neither to modify his or her career and to accept that this may
mean long periods of separation when Bill is asked to travel or work
abroad or Janet has to survey a contract away from home.
2 For Janet to subordinate her career to Bill’s and change jobs when
Bill is posted elsewhere; in this case she would stop full-time work
when they had children and try to find some freelance work in her spare
time.
3-For Bill to subordinate his career to Janet’s and find a job which
would not involve moving around. When they have children, apart
from maternity leave, it should be possible to afford to pay for some-
one to look after the children while both parents are working.
4 The same solution as (3), except that Bill would give up his job while
the children are small in order that there should be a ‘proper home life’.
|
Talking it Over
Discuss the problem and decide which of the solutions would be most
conducive of happiness for the people concerned.

Vocabulary Exercise
1 Bill did a d____in Business and Commerce and this allowed him to
get a job as sales ex in a company that m electronic
equipment; the job offers excellent pro of prom
2 Bill’s job inv a considerable amount of tra ; he may
even have to sp periods working a d. By the time he is 35
he should be e an excellent s
3 As soon as Janet got her qu as an arch she was t
on by a small group specialising in designing public bu ; this
was because she had done so well in her pr and the
examinations.

Role Playing
Janet and Bill are having yet another argument about whose job comes
first; this time the argument is more urgent because Bill’s boss has just
offered him promotion if he accepts the job of managing the company’s
sales office in Singapore for four years. Two friends of theirs - Tom
Wilson and Sarah Grey — have dropped in to see them and are trying to
keep the peace, and to get them to come to a decision about the
problem.

Roles
JANET and BILL as described in the account above — Bill is easy-going
and not over ambitious, but he is excited at the prospect of living
abroad and worried about what will happen if he turns down pro-
motion. Janet at the moment is working on her first independent
project —a nursery school in a poor part of the city — and is absorbed by
the work; she doesn’t want Bil! to be disappointed but can’t help
feeling that selling transistors in Singapore is unimportant compared to
her work.
TOM WILSON has known both Janet and Bill since they were young; he
works in a bank and has a rather cautious frame of mind which makes
him often put security before everything else; he finds it difficult to
imagine Bill staying at home to look after the children when they are
born.
SARAH GREY is a university friend of Janet’s — she studied psychology
and is a militant supporter of the Women’s Liberation Movement;
she doesn’t really understand why Janet is so keen to get married,
ey
but thinks that if she is really set on it, she should not in any circum-
stances sacrifice her career to her husband’s.

Language Notes
For Janet and Bill:
arguing without hurting the other person’s feelings
I know | how you feel, but.
what you mean,
I know it must be difficult to accept that ...
I see your point of view, of course, but...

raising objections or difficulties

It’s all very well to say ..., but...
It’s not as easy as all that, if we ..., it means that...
Yes, but look, | Janet,
Bill, that would involve ...
Yes, but on the other hand, ...

justifying one’s point of view

It may seem a bit selfish, but ...
I’ve got to think of my | career
future
life, as well, you know.
You know I want to find the best way out for us both, but ...

For Tom and Sarah:

pointing out problems
Have you considered what will happen when ...?
Have you thought about the question of ...?
Don’t forget that ...
You realise, of course, that if you ..., it'll involve ...
You’ve got to remember that...
Be careful about ...

giving advice
if } were you, Id i.
In your position, I’d | jump at the chance of ...
hesitate to...
I don’t think it would be advisable to...
You shouldn’t ... before thinking of all the consequences.
Of course you |should
could. ;...
25
criticising attitudes
I think you’re being rather | selfish
unrealistic
inconsiderate
optimistic
I don’t think you’re being very | helpful
prudent
sympathetic ABOU
You don’t seem to realise
understand | that...

suggesting solutions
Well, you could always ...
One way out would be to...
Why don’t you ...
Wouldn’t it be a good idea to ...?
Couldn’t you ...?

Further Subjects for Discussion

Talk about the Women’s Liberation Movement and its activities;
organise a debate about equal rights for women and try to define
exactly what is meant by ‘equal rights’.
Talk about the job you would ideally have liked to do, or intend to do.
What makes a job interesting, or boring, or worthwhile doing? What
are the advantages and disadvantages of a job which involves a lot of
travelling?
Give your ideas about modern architecture; what would you ask of an
architect who was going to design a new place for you to (a) work in (b)
live in (c) study in?

34
Unit Six

Press Conference

In September 1974, a passenger jet flying from Rome to Singapore was

crossing over the jungle in Burma when one, then two, of its engines
caught fire. The pilot, showing great skill and presence of mind, saw
that there was a clearing in the dense jungle ahead of him and managed
to do acrash landing; the thirty-five passengers had just enough time to
get out of the plane when the fire reached the petrol tanks and the
aircraft exploded and disintegrated. The passengers looked around
them: the clearing was empty of signs of human existence and sur-
rounded by dense and impenetrable-looking jungle. They had no
radio, no food, no maps; the pilot knew approximately where they
were and estimated that although there might be a few forest villages,
the nearest town and road were some 120 miles away to the north-
west.
After the first moments of complete panic and hopelessness, they
realised that it should be possible to survive, but that they would have
to consider calmly and carefully their plan of survival. The first decision
to be taken was whether it would be better to try to make their way to
the nearest town or to stay where they were in the hope of being found.
After along argument they decided to move because the pilot had been
forced off course in order to land in the clearing and there was there-
fore little chance of searchers finding it rapidly; they would not even
know where to begin looking — and there was a risk of everybody
starving before they were saved.
In the pilot’s opinion, the main problems that had to be solved were
food —it should be possible to find fruit and possibly game in the jungle,
but to find enough for forty people was going to occupy a large part of
every day; water — they were just at the end of the rainy season and
could expect storms every two or three days, but would have to find
ways of collecting and storing the water; the direction they would take
— with the sun and their watches it would be relatively simple to
calculate where the north-west was, but in the depths of the tropical
forest it would be terribly easy to lose their way and to start going
round in circles; endurance — the march would obviously last a month
or even more and would push all the people to their physical limits,
especially since they would be ona limited diet; and finally the problem
of co-operation and morale — if everyone was to survive it would be
necessary for the stronger and more resistant people to help the less
strong, they would have to adopt the pace of the slowest rather than the
fastest, and it was probable that some of the group would be ill during
the march.
35
 Six weeks later, when the airline and the Burmese authorities had
given up all hope of there being any survivors, a bedraggled and
exhausted group of six men found their way into a small Burmese town.
Seven days later, a main group of twenty-eight arrived in another small
town 20 miles to the west.

Talking it Over
Imagine what had happened in the six weeks following the crash —- how
had the two groups reached safety? Why had they split into two
groups? What had happened to the people who did not survive? What
did they do to find food for everyone? What were the main dangers
they faced?

Vocabulary Exercise
1 When one of the plane’s en caught fire, the pilot showed great
Ssk__.._ >and pr of m______ in succeeding in | it ina
clearing; the passengers were lucky to be alive even though they were
in a difficult position, s byidet=2— jungle.
2 They decided it would be better to move than to stay where they
were, because the pilot had been forced o C to land in the
clearing and they would be likely to st______ before they were found.
Their main problems were to find enough fr. and g in the
jungle to.feed forty people, to find ways of c and st______ water,
to avoid lo their w. in the d______ of the jungle and to
keep up the m_____ of the group if they were going to s
3 When the ex group ev re Singapore, they were
met by acr of re , avid for sensational news; the survivors
described how they ov their difficulties, the dangers they had
MW , and the reasons for which the group had s

Role Playing
The news that most of the passengers in the aircraft had escaped spread
rapidly to all the news agencies, and when the survivors finally reached
Rangoon they found a crowd of reporters, avid for sensational news,
waiting to meet them. Four of the survivors — the pilot, one of the air
hostesses, a woman of 25 who had survived together with her 2-
year-old child, and one of the group of men who had left the main party
— agreed to meet the press and to tell the story of their adventures.
Role-play the press conference, during which the passengers describe
how they overcame their difficulties, the dangers they had met with,
why the group split into two, and their meetings with the inhabitants
of the jungle.
36
Roles
BOB WILLIs is 40 and has been an airline pilot for the last fourteen years.
Although he is very modest and does not want to take the credit for the
party’s survival, it is in fact due to his resourcefulness and leadership
that sO many people reached safety. It was he who decided on the
direction to take and who organised each day into a regular routine of
food search in the early morning and marching in the late afternoon.
Although he is very reticent about this, he is unable to hide the fact that
at the beginning there was considerable panic, and that conflict on the
best way of reaching safety led to the group splitting in two.

JAN ROBBINS is a young air-hostess who was on her first international

flight when the plane crashed. The six weeks in the jungle were
extremely difficult for her as she had caught malaria and spent several
days with a very high fever not knowing what was happening; she had
organised the search for food and the preparation of meals during most
of the trip; many of the experiences — the conflicts between the groups,
the people who died — are things she would like to forget, so she tries to
avoid the more indiscreet and sensational questions.

ANNE DUGGAN was flying out with her 2-year-old son to join her
husband who is working in Hong Kong. She is, of course, extremely
relieved to have escaped from the accident in safety, but is also very
bitter about the group who left the party. She says that they were the
strongest physically and if they had stayed could have helped the
weaker ones. She explains how it was impossible to carry those who
were too ill to walk and describes how she carried her child all the time
during the last ten days. She tells about all the difficulties involved in
finding food and protecting the children from heat, animals and insects.

ROBERT JENKINS was on a business trip to Singapore when the plane

crashed; he is an engineer and the owner of a small company which
manufactures electronic components. He was the leader of the small
group which broke away; his reasons for leaving were that he thought
the slow pace of the party, the necessity to spend large parts of each day
searching for food and preparing it were removing any hope of survival
for any of the group, so the only hope was for the strongest and fittest to
press on fast and try to get help for the others. In fact, when they finally
reached safety they were unable to give any sure indication of where
the rest of the party might be. Naturally, he is somewhat guilty and on
the defensive about his actions.

WILLIAM GIBSON is the Far East correspondent of the Daily fa

popular newspaper specialising in sensational stories; he therefore
asks questions designed to get lurid details of the six-week ordeal and
to provide him with a story which will please his editor.
oi
JOHN GREY is a freelance journalist who writes mainly travel articles for
the serious Sunday newspapers. He thinks that the adventures
experienced by the group would provide material for several feature
articles and is especially interested in how they solved the practical
problems of surviving and in the psychological difficulties involved in
avoiding panic, keeping everyone active and organised, resisting fear
and despair.

Language Notes
expressing reticence and unwillingness to answer questions
Id rather not talk about that.
It’s an unpleasant memory and I’d prefer not to...
I’m afraid I have no clear recollection of ...

talking about unpleasant experiences

It was | dreadful
horrible
terrifying, |we were completely | demoralised
panic-stricken
exhausted
The | worst thing
most terrible thing was...
The thing that | worried me most was...
frightened
You can’t imagine how terrifying it is to...
I can’t describe how depressing it is to...

describing how decisions were taken

After a lot of | discussion
hesitation
thought we decided to...
In the circumstances the only chance
our best hope |seemed. to be. to...
We knew it was risky,
taking a chance, but everybody felt that we
had to try...

defending actions one feels guilty about

In the situation we were in | we just had to...
there seemed to be no alternative to...
our only chance was to...
It may seem heartless, but ...
The only realistic hope seemed to us to be to...
Imagine you were in the same situation — what would you have done?
38
asking leading questions
It must have been a horrifying experience.
There must have been times when ...
Tell us about the times you felt the most ...
I expect there were times when you almost gave up.

persuading people to overcome their reticence

I know you must be reluctant to |remember
|talk about | all this, but...
I can appreciate your wanting to forget ...
Do you think you could manage to tell us about ...
Now it’s all over perhaps you could bring yourself to ...

Further Subjects for Discussion

What is the safest means of transport? How could safety in air trans-
port be improved? What means of transport would you prefer for a
very long journey? Why?
What are the main causes of road accidents? What changes could
be made in the law to reduce accidents? How could the design of
cars be changed to make them safer? What kind of road network
would be safest?
Talk about any difficult or dangerous journey that you have
experienced or know about. A number of writers have imagined situ-
ations in which a group of people are isolated as a result of an air crash —
do you think ‘civilised’ people would become ‘primitive’ without the
comforts and protection of life in a developed society? What do you
understand by the terms ‘primitive’ and ‘civilised’?

Bo
 JAN FEB MAR APR MAY JUN JUL AUG SEP OCT NOV DEC It We

40
Unit Seven

A New Tourist Paradise?

Transmalia is a small country on the.coast of West Africa which has
recently won its independence from colonial authorities. The country
is poor and has few natural resources, and for the last twenty years has
lived meagrely on subsistence farming, together with some external aid
which has allowed light industrial development around the capital,
Magawi. In the rest of the country, life goes on more or less as it has
done traditionally for several centuries.
The new government wants its political independence to be allied to
real economic independence and does not want to rely on outside aid
for the development of the country; they realise that because of this,
development and growth will necessarily be slow, but they consider
that this will allow them to avoid the disadvantages of over-rapid
progress and neo-colonial influence, and let them form a society better
adapted to the traditions of the country and its people. To fulfil even
their limited aims of a higher standard of nutrition and health services,
and an expansion of education in the country they need nevertheless to
find a source of foreign capital. The government has decided, there-
fore, to look into the possibility of starting up a tourist industry on the
240-mile-long Atlantic coast.
Here are some details about the climate and geography of Trans-
malia: the climate is tropical, and along the coast temperatures range
from 25° to 35° Centigrade, the coolest period being in the season of
heavy rainfall between June and September; the rest of the year is dry
and the area is much less humid than the rest of West Africa. The
coastal region is an undulating grassy plain, and the whole 240-
mile-long coast is a series of sandy palm-fringed beaches; the sea is
always pleasantly warm, but sometimes rough with waves and under-
currents. Apart from the capital, the coast is sparsely inhabited. There
are a number of fishing villages where traditional methods of fishing
with home-made nets and long pointed boats are used; the fish they
catch is part of the staple diet of the whole country. At the moment
Transmalia has a twice-weekly direct air-link with Europe; there are at
present few good roads in the country, but the road along the coast is
metalled, though in bad condition. There is plenty of labour available,
especially in the capital, which has a severe unemployment problem as
large numbers of young people have come in from the villages but have
been unable to find jobs. Traditional crafts have not been lost, and
there is a rich tradition of wood-carving and weaving. There are few
large wild animals, but a profusion of exotic birds and butterflies. Most
of the endemic diseases, with the exception of malaria, have been
eliminated.
41
Talking it Over
In view of the information provided, do you think it would be possible
to launch Transmalia as a new tourist paradise? Would this fit in with
the government aims for the development of the country? If you decide
it would be a good idea to develop tourism make a plan of how you
would:
(a) attract people to the country (who would come? When?).
(b) plan the necessary facilities for tourists.
(c) offer something different from other holiday countries.
(d) advertise holidays in Transmalia.

Vocabulary Exercise
1 Transmalia wants to gain ec as well as po independence
in order to avoid being dependent CXC an Orden
to finance their limited a_____ of a h St] = OL NUthtOne
h______ and education they need to findas of fo. capital.
2 Temperatures in the region along the co____ ra______ from 25° to
35° and the weather is co during the period of he
rai_____; the sea is always w. , but sometimes ro “the
coast is sp inhabited by fishermen whose catch forms part of the
COUTY/s Stee Jarier
3 There is a tw -W direct air| with Europe, and the
coast road, though in bad condition, is at least me ; there is a
pl____-_ supply of I among the un______ youths in the capital;
local cr include wo and we

Role Playing
A meeting has been arranged to take a final decision on whether to go
ahead with the scheme for tourist development or not. Present at the
meeting are the Minister for Economic Development, who is in the
chair, a representative of the Regional Council for the coastal area, the
director of the country’s small tourist board and two advisers from
Europe — one an expert on tourist development projects and the other
the representative of a large company which specialises in package
holidays and is keen to see Transmalia open to tourists.

Roles
JONAS OKAFOR is 36 years old, Minister of Economic Development, and
an economist trained in Europe. He has seen many so-called ‘aid’
projects turn to the profit of those who finance the development rather
than the country which is supposed to be being helped, and for this
reason he is suspicious of the motives of the European representatives.
On the other hand, he needs capital urgently and will probably support
the scheme if he can be convinced that it is feasible and not too risky.
42
MAURICE EMBALA is the traditional chief of the biggest village on the
coast. He is hesitant about the scheme since it will bring both advan-
tages and difficulties; he would welcome the better roads and elec-
tricity, the improved employment opportunities and the money that
development would bring, but at the same time is afraid that the way of
life of his village would be destroyed, that the people would envy the
wealth of the holidaymakers and that, in the end, the authority of the
traditional chiefs would be undermined.

ROSEMARY AKUNNO was appointed as head of the country’s embryo

tourist board when she returned from four years spent learning about
the hotel and tourist industry in a country on the Mediterranean coast.
She is naturally very enthusiastic about the project, and has made a
detailed plan of the infrastructure that would be needed and the kind of
tourist facilities that would be required; she would like to see Trans-
malia avoid the luxury holiday industry other countries have started
and open villages where tourists could learn the indigenous crafts and
get to know the people as well as enjoying the sun and the beaches.

ANDREW STEPHENS has a long experience of developing holiday resorts

and thinks that Transmalia could be successful in attracting holiday-
makers, but only if they appeal mainly to the wealthiest tourists who
can afford winter holidays and are looking for somewhere new. This
will mean considerable investment in hotels, swimming pools, staff
training, etc. and he will advise trying to persuade travel operators to
find the finance in return for a guaranteed share of profits over ten or
fifteen years.

ALISON WHITE is head of the African section of one of the biggest tour
operators in Europe. She thinks her company could make a lot of
money from luxury holiday villages in Transmalia and is prepared to
find the money for building the villages if the government will build the
roads and promise to eradicate malaria; she thinks that the main
attraction will be the climate and the beaches for winter holidays.

Language Notes
For Jonas Okafor and Maurice Embala:
expressing doubt and hesitation
Can we be sure that it won’t ...?
Is there any guarantee that ...?
What will happen if ...?
It sounds | very attractive,
most interesting, |but I’d like some assurance that ...
43
asking for details
Could you be more specific about ...?
I’d like to know more about the terms of...
I think we need further details of ...
We must have comprehensive information about ...

For Rosemary Akunno and Alison White:

presenting a scheme with enthusiasm
This would offer marvellous opportunities for ...
It’s a project with enormous scope for ...
My idea is to...
We could | do
make | a marvellous...
It would be something completely different from anything that’s been
done elsewhere.
It would be | highly original to...
quite out of the ordinary to...

dealing with objections

Oh no, I can assure you that...
No, there’s no danger whatsoever of ...
You don’t need to worry about...
I can set your minds at rest on that point.

For Andrew Stephens:

giving a reasoned, balanced account
In view of ..., it should be possible to...
Previous experiences have shown that...
Taking into account factors like the climate, ..., you can be fairly sure
thatex
On the one hand, ..., on the other hand...
All being well,
All things considered, | you should be able to ...
If you take suitable precautions I think you can...

Further Subjects for Discussion

Talk about aid to developing countries — what kind of aid is most
useful? What kind is most harmful? Try to define a good aid policy fora
European country. What could be done to prevent the gap between
developed and developing countries from widening? What mistakes
made by Western countries would you advise new countries to avoid?
What makes a good holiday? Is this helped or hindered by the
development of a tourist industry? Describe any region you know
44
where tourism has been developed — what has been the effect on the
region and the life of the people?
Choose your next holiday — assuming you have the money — from: an
overland trek — camping and Land-Rover — to Afghanistan; a stay ina
luxury hotel on the Mediterranean coast; a rented chalet in the moun-
tains; a holiday in a holiday camp or village; following a course in music
or a craft you enjoy or want to learn; a coach tour round the capitals of
Europe; a stay in a kibbutz — or any other idea you have for the ideal
holiday.

45
Unit Eight

A Problem of Modernisation
When Jeremy Wilson took over Wilson and Sons from his grandfather,
he wasn’t sure whether it was a blessing or a burden. The factory had
been established towards the end of the last century at the height of the
prosperity of the cotton industry in England; until 1945 it had always
been a flourishing, prosperous business, but the development of syn-
thetic fibres and competition from developing countries whose labour
costs were much lower, had cut deep into Wilson’s market for good
quality but fairly ordinary white and patterned coloured cotton. Old
Mr Wilson had seen what was happening, but had had neither the
training nor the enthusiasm to take radical action to prevent sales from
dwindling and running down.
Although Jeremy had been trained as an accountant he had avoided
entering the family firm because he didn’t get on well with his
grandfather and didn’t think that the cotton industry had any real
future. When he learnt that he had inherited the factory, his first
reaction was to try to sell it and invest the money, but the idea of
making a success of it finally tempted him to try and make it into a
going concern. He began by taking stock of the situation to decide what
would be the best way of tackling the job of getting the factory back on
its feet:

The Company — first, the assets: the company owned a 19th-century

factory on a good site not far from the centre of Blackburn and a small
warehouse not far from the factory; the machinery in the factory was
usable, but old and not so efficient as the machines used by more
modern cotton manufacturing firms; in the warehouse there was a
certain amount of unsold (and, in Jeremy Wilson’s opinion, unsale-
able) stock.

The Financial Situation — although the company had not made much
profit in the last ten years the financial situation was not as bad as might
be imagined; the company owned the factory so there were no loans to
be repaid or rent to be reckoned with every month, and Jeremy’s
grandfather’s reluctance to invest had left the sum of £200,000 in the
reserves, so there was some capital available if modernisation was to be
envisaged.

The Market — in 1900, the Lancashire cotton industry had 30% of the
world market; by 1974 this share had dropped to 5%, and most of the
46
small family firms had either been absorbed by the giant synthetic
manufacturers or had simply gone out of business. The few firms which
had succeeded in keeping their independence specialised in high-
quality cotton for the fashion trade and relied on the originality of their
designs to maintain their market at a high level; the secret of their
success lay in their flexibility and their ability to adapt very rapidly to
market conditions.

Human Resources — the personnel of Wilson’s was mainly rather old, as

the company had grown so little in recent time; the executives were
mainly engineers who had a lot of experience in the problems of cotton
manufacture; the sales and accounting departments seemed terribly
old fashioned to Jeremy Wilson. Most of the production workers were
women as was usual in the cotton industry.

Talking it Over
Make a plan of action for the modernisation of Wilson’s: define the
product which would be manufactured, the market in which it would be
sold, the investments that would have to be made and the policy of
personnel management which should be followed — including new
recruitment, retraining of present personnel and your line of action if
you consider that redundancies will be necessary.

PROFIT PRODUCTION
™ 5s

ug i ak >
a)

is

HIEPHCOT
HLO4

SALES

47
Vocabulary Exercise
1 Until 1945 Wilson’s had been a fl » pr cotton manu-
facturer, but the development of sy f and co from
developing countries whose la c were lower had c.
d_____ into the market and no one had taken any action to prevent
sales from dw
2 Jeremy Wilson had been tr. as an acc , but had not gone
into the f f , because he didn’t g on w with
his grandfather; when he inh the firm he began by t—
st______ of the situation to see what was the best way of ge the
factory b on its f
3 The financial situation was not so bad as might be imagined because
the company 0 the factory and thes on which it was built,
so there was nor to be paid or 1 to be r with; old
Mr Wilson’s rel to invest had left some c av in the
reserves.
4 By 1974 Lancashire’s sh of the w. cotton market had
dr to 5% and most of the small firms had been abs by the
gi____ synthetic man or had g out of b . The few
firms which had succeeded in k______ their ind______ relied on the
originality of their de and the fl______ with which they could
ad_____ to market conditions.

Role Playing
Jeremy Wilson has made his plan for modernisation of the factory and
has called his managers to a meeting in which he will present his
project. He knows that he will meet considerable opposition from the
more conservative managers and has therefore taken a lot of care to
prepare a clear explanation of what he plans to do and his reasons for
choosing this type of action. Present at the meeting are Philip Gregg,
the firm’s chief accountant; Tony Johnson, the sales manager; Richard
James, the production manager; Jane Green, the newly-appointed
marketing manager and the personnel manager, Muriel Thomas.

Roles
JEREMY WILSON’S idea is to try and get all the managers on his side even
if they are sceptical at first of his plans; he must therefore explain his
plan very clearly and deal patiently with any questions and objections.
PHILIP GREGG has worked for the firm for twenty years, and, as chief
accountant has prudently managed and jealously guarded the com-
pany’s finances. He is shocked at the quantity of investment and
borrowing involved in the project and considers it to be highly risky.
48
TONY JOHNSON is worried about the work involved in prospecting and
finding new markets and afraid that the appointment of a marketing
manager will diminish his status and influence in the company. He has
been in the company for ten years and has worked up a good and
comfortable relationship with the company’s present customers and is
reluctant to abandon this.
RICHARD JAMES is eager to co-operate in the new plans for the factory as
he has been bored by the routine work of the last few years, and is
thrilled at the idea of getting new machines and dealing with the
problems of setting up a new production line and training workers to
handle it.
JANE GREEN has just been appointed to the post of marketing manager
although she has had several years in another textile company. She will
be responsible for market surveys, defining and planning new products
and the company’s advertising. She has plenty of ideas on the subject,
but does not express them too forcefully as she does not want to create
problems for herself with the older managers.
MURIEL THOMAS is personnel manager and knows that she will have the
job of dealing with any staff unrest or trade union opposition to the
plans, so she wants to be absolutely clear about the effect they will have
on personnel relations — whether it will involve redundancies, change
of work rates or job definitions, if pay rises are envisaged to encourage
worker adaptation to innovation.

Language Notes
giving reasons for plans and proposals
I want to explain exactly why I am proposing to ...
intend to...
because I consider it | inevitable
necessary
absolutely essential | if we are to | survive
progress
grow.
Unless we are | prepared to invest
ready to take some | risks
initiatives we will be
unable to continue ...
I’m sure that if we ..., this will enable us to...
The reasons for this are ...
The thinking behind my proposal is ...
The | results of ...,
consequences of ..., | should allow us to...
49
dealing with objectives, reassuring
I understand you may feel | hesitant
doubtful about... |but I can assure
suspicious you that...
Of course, radical changes are always difficult to accept at first, but I’m
sure that...
Your objection is |understandable
reasonable, but on the other hand...
While I realise you must have some doubts about such a new
venture ...
I can put your minds at rest on that, there can be no question of...

asking for clarification

Does this mean that ...?
Will this involve ...
Could you explain what this will mean in terms of ...?
I don’t quite | grasp
catch the full implications of ... Am I to
take it that ...?

raising objections (respectfully)

I’m rather worried about what you said about...
Wouldn’t it be rather | rash to
risky to ...?
I can see some | difficulties
dangers |ahead of us, if we ...
Don’t you think it would be better to...
I think it would be worth while | reconsidering
thinking again | about...
I’m not sure it’s | feasible
possible CON

expressing support for proposals

I’m completely behind the proposal to ...
I thoroughly approve of ...
I wholeheartedly agree with ...
I could not agree more with your idea ...
The proposal to ... has my full |support
backing ...
50
Further Subjects for Discussion
What industries in your country are declining? What are the new
industries which are developing? Imagine some of the new products
that will be invented in ten years’ time. What is your attitude to an
increasingly technological society? What new invention would you
most like to see? Are ‘growth’ and ‘progress’ always a good thing? Are
industrialisation and modernisation inevitable?

St. Angela's College of Education

for Home Economics
Lough Giil, Sligo
Telephone (071) 3580 or 2785

ayil
Unit Nine

industrial Conflict
BARLOWE MOTORS LIMITED is one of Britain’s biggest car
manufacturers and makes a range of popular and medium-priced cars.
For several years now, the company has been prone to industrial
disputes, constant conflict with the trades unions over apparently
trivial matters and a series of official and unofficial strikes by small
groups of workers. At the moment, the whole of the company’s pro-
duction has stopped because a strike by eighty maintenance engineers
has halted the assembly lines; the reason for the strike is that the
company has sacked one of the electricians, Edward Barker, who had
been constantly late clocking in in the morning and, in spite of several
warnings, had refused to change his ways. His lateness delayed all the
operatives on the assembly line as their machines needed a check up
before they could start in the mornings. The unions claim that this is
wrongful dismissal of one of their workmates and they are refusing to
go back to work until he is reinstated.
Lord Barlowe, the company chairman, is adamant that there is no
question of giving in to the unions’ demands — ‘the present-day work-
man seems to want to run the whole factory; if we can’t sack a workman
who’s consistently late without having a strike on our hands, we might
as well hand the whole factory over to the unions and tell them to get on
with it. Nobody can say we’re bad employers — our wages are among
the highest in the country and the workers have an easy time of it. All
we ask most of them is to clock in at eight in the morning and do a
single, simple operation on the assembly line; for most of them the
job’s so simple they don’t even have to think about what they’re doing.
I know the factory’s a bit dirty and noisy, but we’re running a plant not
a luxury hotel so they can’t expect everything to be perfect. We’ve
opened a very good canteen and there’s a social club, but the atmos-
phere’s still always tense and bitter and the unions go on strike as soon
as they’ve the slightest excuse. In my opinion, they’ve got no con-
science at all about their work, so this time I’m going to stand up to
them and not give in to their demands.’
The union, too, is determined not to give in. Jack Roberts, the
electricians’ shop steward said — ‘this is typical of the company’s
attitude; they don’t want men working for them, they want robots. The
workers in this factory slave away on boring repetitive jobs in dreadful
conditions, and as soon as one of them does anything which upsets
productivity, he’s out on his neck. We’re not going to budge an inch
until Ted Barker’s reinstated — with compensation for wrongful dis-
missal — and something’s been done to improve working conditions in
By
the factory. And I’m sure other workers in other unions are going to
support our actions wholeheartedly.’

ai
ent dhoe ‘|
4 Pye
yf
ff BOSSES

o”
i stny
ill i Hii)
int
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Talking it Over
What do you think are the real reasons for the strike? What suggestions
would you make to settle the dispute? What needs to be done to make
long-term improvements in labour relations in Barlowe’s?

Vocabulary Exercise
1 Barlowe’s m ar of popular and m______-priced cars.
The ¢ has been pr to continual ind______ dis. and
str. for minor reasons.
2 The reason for the present con. is that the company had
S one of the workers who had been consistently late cl -
i______ in the morning and that this had de other operatives
whose machines needed a ch
3 The chairman of the company thinks that if they can no longer
dis a worker who is consistently late, they might as well h____
co) the f. to the unions; he thinks the pr =
worker is well treated so he is determined to st______ u to the
workers’ threats and not

Role Playing
Because both sides involved in the dispute refuse to negotiate, the strike
has lasted for over three weeks bringing production in the factory
(and in suppliers’ factories) to a standstill — with serious consequences
for the firm and the country’s economy. Because of this OTV sent
down reporters and cameramen from the current affairs programme
Lifeline to make a half-hour film about the strike. Among the people
interviewed were: Lord Barlowe, Jack Roberts, Edward Barker, Phil
Wright — one of the workers who isn’t supporting the strike, Lisbeth
Smith, personnel officer at Barlowe’s, Mrs Linda March, the wife of
one of the strikers.

Roles
CLIVE APPLETON, television reporter, knows that viewers enjoy current
affairs programmes most when there is argument and conflict, so he
often takes up a position against the person he is interviewing in order
to provoke them. He plans to interview Lord Barlowe and Jack
Roberts together at the end of the programme, as he thinks this might
provide an interesting clash of temperaments.

LORD BARLOWE is beginning to be worried about the effects of the strike

on the company’s shares and although he doesn’t want to lose face or
appear weak, he is prepared to look for some kind of compromise
solution.
54
JACK ROBERTS is worried about the effects of the strike as the union’s
strike fund is running rather low, but he is not prepared to end the
dispute without getting some concessions from management — on
working conditions as well as the reinstatement of Ted Barker.
TED BARKER himself explains the reasons for his constant lateness
(invent them), but promises to keep time if he is reinstated; he com-
plains strongly about working conditions in general.
PHIL WRIGHT is an older worker who has never been an enthusiastic
unionist. He explains that in his opinion, the union leaders look for
pretexts for going on strike and are trying to harm the company from
political motives.
LISBETH SMITH describes the difficulties of personnel relations in the
factory. She says that if the workers are prepared to go back to work,
she is prepared to negotiate changes in working conditions and wants
to know what the workers’ ideas for improvement would be.

MRS MARCH tells how difficult it is to make ends meet on strike pay when
you have to keep a family of four children. She still supports the strike,
though, as she says she would expect other workers to stand up for her
husband if he was in the same situation.

Language Notes
interview questions
Could you tell us your impressions of the strike, please?
Could you say what you consider to be the main reasons for the
dispute?
What do you feel about the strike after three weeks off work?
What’s your attitude to the stoppage?

questions to provoke disagreement

Lord Barlowe
Jack Roberts |has said ...; could we have your comments on that?
Many people find your attitude | unreasonable
obstinate
harmful. Would you like to
explain ...
What can you say in justification of ...?

introducing opinions, attitudes

Well, I’d just like to say that ...
My attitude from the beginning of the strike has been that ...
First of all, I want to say that...
My feelings about the strike? Well, ...
55
denying the implications of provocative questions
No, | that’s not true at all.
there’s no truth at all in that.
No, I don’t accept for a moment that...
You’re completely mistaken if you suggest that ...
No, that’s something I | refuse to accept.
reject completely.

offering a compromise
Of course, if |management
the unions are prepared to adopt a more
reasonable
co-operative | attitude, we | would
might | consider ...
As soon as the other side shows it’s ready to negotiate, we'll...
All that’s needed to break the deadlock
is for the unions
management to...
On condition that they show some good will by ... we’re ready to sit
down at the conference table and...

Further Subjects for Discussion

What are the principal reasons for conflict in industrial relations? What
could be done to make factory work more ‘human’? What changes in
working conditions would you like to see in the next twenty years? Talk
about any experiments you know in which attempts are being made to
improve factory life?
What do you consider to be the functions of trade unions? Do you
think their role needs to change to adapt itself to modern conditions?
Should unions campaign to share in the management of companies?
What forms of ection can unions use to obtain what they want from
employers and governments? Imagine some of the things an inter-
national trade union could do.

56
Unit Ten

A Market Research Problem

CRAFTSHIP is a company which for the last sixty years has made
high-quality, hand-made furniture, built by craftsmen for a small but
faithful clientele in the centre of London; most of the furniture ordered
by customers is in reproduction of Regency and 18th-century styles.
Three years ago Peter Casey took over the firm when his father retired,
and at first carried on the firm exactly as his father (and grandfather)
had done before him; over the last year, however, he has become
increasingly worried by a slight decrease in the orders coming in, and
by comments from several customers who have obviously found the
reproduction furniture old-fashioned and boring in spite of the high
level of craftsmanship. Mr Casey began to wonder whether it might not
be better to try to create modern designs and so adapt his product to
contemporary taste; he was determined that the company should not
lose its reputation for exclusive, well-built furniture, and intended to
keep to a fairly small number of wealthy customers rather than try to
break into the mass-production market.
Having more or less decided that he wants to change the emphasis of
the company, Peter Casey is at rather a loss to know how to put his
ideas into practice; he has no experience of furniture design and it will
obviously be necessary to bring a designer into the firm. He is rather
hesitant, too, about making too radical a changeover as he doesn’t
want to lose those of his present customers who are satisfied with what
he makes now; and, finally, he is anxious about the amount of invest-
ment which will be involved in changing over to new forms of pro-
duction and in launching the new product.
Mr Casey’s bank manager advised him to consult a group of market
research consultants before taking any firm decision; he said that a
thorough study of marketing possibilities would allow him to avoid
making a leap in the dark so Peter Casey entered directly into contact
with Research Associates, who immediately came to see him in order
to fix the research brief. After a lengthy meeting it was decided that
before reaching a final decision the following information was necess-
ary:
What proportion of Mr Casey’s present customers were no longer
satisfied with the present styles of furniture offered them?
What kind of furniture would they like to buy?
Would they be prepared to buy modern furniture from Craftship or
did they think of the firm only in connection with reproduction
models?
Were the qualities of good workmanship and durability as important
ot
 in the market for modern styles as they were for the present product?
What elements influenced the decision to buy a piece of furniture?
Who in the family made the decision?
What forms of advertising or public relations could persuade people
to buy modern furniture from Craftship?

Talking it Over
If you worked for Research Associates how would you go about finding
the information required by Mr Casey? Who would you interview?
What questions would elicit the answers you require? What methods
would you use to make sure that your results were accurate?

Vocabulary Exercise
Pe Wherrthe its Oy from his father, Peter Casey at first
can =O the firm exactly as before, but as time went on he
became increasingly w about a de in o , and by
comments from c that, although the level of cr was high,
the f______ was old-f. :
2 Although he had more or less decided to change the em______ of the
c , he was rather a______ a |______ to, know _how tto _put his
Le tO Di, ; he is anxious about the amount of in______ that
will be inv. in changing o — to new forms of production and
in | the new pr
3 To avoid making a |______ in the d_____, Mrr Casey decided to
c a-fithy oOLsm= == Sire c to make a th
si of the market? the br for Research Associates was to
find inf______ about the attitude of pr. customers to the idea of
buying modern furniture from Craftship.

Role Playing
Play the meeting between Mr Casey, his works manager, Tom Barrow;
three representatives of Research Associates, Jill Harding, Alec
Barber and Rachel Donegan, a furniture designer, during which the
results of the market study are presented, and those present at the
meeting work out plans for putting results into practice. They should
decide on whether it will be advisable to make the changeover to
modern furniture; on whether it should be done gradually or all at
once; how the new furniture will be introduced to customers; and last
but not least what will be the characteristics of the new furniture.
The following data from the research project will provide material
for the role playing:
35% of customers said they were completely satisfied with the
present style of Craftship; 40% said it was a pity the design was not as
58
 good as the workmanship; 25% said they would not buy from the
company again unless designs changed.
Customers wanted furniture that was comfortable (90%), relaxed
(62%), gay (55%), adaptable (55%), light and easy to move (48%).
Only 5% said they would think of going to Craftship to buy modern
furniture.
75% said good workmanship was absolutely desirable in modern
furniture, but was often unobtainable.
In 85% of cases the initiative for buying furniture came from the
wife, but the choice was a decision reached by the husband and wife
together.
15% looked at magazines like ‘Ideal Home’ before choosing; the
others went to big stores or looked around town before choosing.
Roles
PETER CASEY’S aim in the meeting is to reach a decision about the policy
of his firm and to work out a plan for putting it into practice; he knows
that his works manager is sceptical of his plans and wants to try to
persuade him that it is not a hare-brained idea. He is also afraid that the
ideas of the furniture designer may be too avant-garde, and intends
therefore to make sure that they decide to adopt designs which will be
saleable.
TOM BARROW is 55 and has spent all his working life with Craftship; he is
a fine craftsman and it is his insistence on high standards that has
allowed the firm to maintain its good reputation. He has little sympathy
for ‘artistic’ furniture designers and does not think that a change of
style will solve the company’s problems — although he has no really
convincing alternative to offer, other than ‘people will soon get tired of
this modern rubbish’. In the meeting he will do his best to convince his
boss not to revolutionise the firm overnight.
JILL HARDING is at the meeting to present the market survey her firm has
carried out and to draw the conclusions from its findings. She has just
joined the company and is anxious to make a good impression, so has
prepared charts and diagrams to illustrate her presentation.
ALEC BARBER’S job at the meeting is to advise Craftship on how best to
use the evidence provided by the market survey; he thinks that it is
clear that without a change in outlook the firm is doomed to disappear
and will advocate strongly and enthusiastically a changeover to more
contemporary styles. He should prepare proposals for advertising and
publicity to help sell the new products he suggests.
RACHEL DONEGAN is one of the country’s best and most progressive
furniture designers; she is convinced that modern life styles mean that
the old fixed heavy furniture is outmoded and that lighter, more
flexible solutions are necessary. She is enthusiastic about the possi-
bility of working with Craftship because it is the first chance she has had
59
to create a whole range of furniture over a reasonable period of time,
and for this reason she is anxious to convince Mr Casey to adopt her
solutions.

Language Notes
explaining the purpose of a meeting
The purpose of today’s meeting is to
reach a decision on...
make up our minds whether ...
work out a plan for...
The subject for today’s meeting is...
On the agenda today is...
raising objections
There’s no point in change for the sake of change . .
I don’t accept that there’s any need to...
You haven’t convinced me that...
There’s nothing in the market survey that will persuade me to...
There’s no evidence that...
advocating proposals
I’m | sure
convinced
It’s my conviction that...
I’m absolutely certain that...
I advise you most strongly to...
If you follow my advice you won’t hesitate to...
Without any doubt, the best thing to dois...
presenting information or proposals
First of all I’d like to | explain
present
show you...
I’m going to concentrate on main, points, First.,..°,,.thenisaur
and finally ...
What I | suggest
propose
advise 1S TO cain,
The most important features of my proposals are...
My idea would be to...
To‘sumpupithen; i.e
In conclusion, I'll summarise | the results of the survey
the conclusions to be drawn
what | I'd like to do
I can offer.
60
Further Subjects for Discussion
Say what you know about market research and the techniques it uses.
Does the increasing use of market research techniques benefit con-
sumers or go against their interests? Marcuse describes the consumer
society as one in which people must work in order to have money to
buy consumer goods and buy things in order to sustain the economy,
and, in consequence, their jobs — is this a fair definition of ‘Western’
society?
Describe how you would furnish your ideal home; describe too the
kind of house you would most like to live in.

61
Unit Eleven

The Advertising Campaign

MacTavishes is an old-established whisky distillery in the north-east of
Scotland. For many years it has produced a high-quality malt whisky
with a slightly smoky taste; the firm is a small one, and until very
recently has sold mainly to the local market in Scotland, although a
number of Engiish and American connoisseurs who have tried the
whisky while on holiday in Scotland write from time to time to ask
MacTavishes to deliver a crate. At the moment there is an enormous
increase in the sales of malt — as distinct from blended — whiskies, and
malt whisky is becoming an increasingly fashionable drink all over
Great Britain and in Europe, especially France and Germany. Mr
MacTavish — the firm is still in the hands of the original family — has
decided that here is an opportunity to expand his market. There would
be no problems involved in increasing considerably the output of the
distillery and the firm has been managed carefully and economically
for the last 150 years, so there is plenty of money available in reserve to
finance growth without putting the company into debt.
MacTavishes’ principal problem is the organisation of advertising:
the whisky is acknowledged to be good by everyone who has tried it
and there are no production or financial difficulties, but the firm is
practically unknown outside Scotland. Therefore, an Edinburgh
advertising agency has been commissioned to plan an advertising
campaign to launch the whisky, first on the British market, then inter-
nationally. In order to prepare the campaign the agency has begun by
doing some desk research on the market for malt whisky — here are
some of the most significant findings:
Malt whisky is regarded as a luxury product and sells for 20-30%
more than ordinary whisky.
Total sales of malt whisky amount to 7% of whisky sales and the
market for malt is growing by 15% per year.
Because demand for malt whisky has been fairly limited until recent
times, the market is not dominated by any one brand; no firm has
more than a 10% share of the market.
Some of the reasons given by purchasers for their choice of a malt
rather than a blended whisky were: (a) It’s a distinctive drink with an
individual and very pleasant taste. (b) It’s different from other whiskies
and people are impressed when you offer them some. (c) The smoky
taste reminds me of the moors and mountains of Scotland. (d) It’s a
connoisseur’s drink. (e) It’s a marvellous way of ending a good meal.
95% of purchasers are in the upper income brackets.
62
 The agency decide to use the information in the survey to decide on
the best kind of campaign to run; they had to make up their minds
about:
Who the potential buyers were.
What medium (or media) would best allow them to reach the poten-
tial buyers.
What advertising message would most effectively create a market
and a distinctive brand image for the whisky made by MacTavishes.
What to call the whisky.
What advertising copy and visual effects would put the message
across most effectively.

Talking it Over
Suggest answers to the questions the advertising agency needs to
answer and try to imagine a successful advertising campaign; look at
advertisements for whisky and other expensive drinks and discuss the
methods they use to appeal to the public. Prepare the presentation of
the campaign to Mr MacTavish who is sceptical about advertising and
will have to be convinced if he is to give his go ahead to the campaign.

Vocabulary Exercise
1 Until very rec , MacTavishes have sold only on the local
market, though connoisseurs who have tr. it sometimes ask for a
cr. to be del ; it’s avery h qu whisky with a
eee SKY tS

2 Malt whisky is becoming more f and the firm has decided to

ex______; there will be no difficulty in______ in increasing ou as
the firm has been managed e

3 Anadv ag has been com_____ to prepare the |

of the whisky and has done some desk re in order to plan the
Cc. the ag has to decide on what m_______ to use to contact
pot 2D , the mes which will create a dis
br ims and ‘the c. and vis effects which will
succeed in pu-______ the message acr

Role Playing
Act the meeting at which the representatives of the agency presents its
plan for the campaign to MacTavishes. The purpose of the meeting is
to come to a decision about the kind of advertising to be done and to
get the go ahead from Mr MacTavish for launching the campaign. The
representatives of the agency should come with sample suggestions of
ads and slogans.
63
Roles
ALISON MACKENZIE is a market researcher for the advertising agency,
Dean Advertisers, and her job in the meeting is to present the results of
the study into the market for malt whiskies (she can invent data), and
the conclusions to be drawn from the study for the advertising cam-
paign. She is new to the job and because of this, rather hesitant in her
conclusions.
ROBERT CRAIG is in charge of media planning for Dean and should give
an account of the possible alternatives for the choice of media for the
campaign, presenting the advantages and disadvantages of the glossy
magazines, newspaper, television and radio advertising. He should
choose one medium and recommend it firmly.
CHRISTINE ANDERSON is the account executive who will be responsible
for the co-ordination of the campaign; she introduces the presentation
of the results of the research and presents the sample advertisements
for choice by MacTavishes. She thinks the product has enormous
possibilities if it is well advertised and proposes an expensive and
elaborate campaign (she should make up the details), the cost of which
comes as an enormous shock to Mr MacTavish, who challenges her to
64
prove to him that spending what he considers as astronomical sums will
be profitable to the firm. She should be ready with a less expensive
proposal, which she will present without much conviction.

ALASTAIR MACTAVISH is the owner and managing director of the com-

pany; he is an expert distiller and, although he accepts that advertising
is necessary if he wants to expand, is deeply suspicious of advertising
jargon and wants to be convinced that he will not be throwing money
away. Throughout the meeting he insists on having specific, quantified
details and is fiercely critical of the expense involved; in his opinion the
best advertising would give details of the care and skill involved in
making the whisky.
JAMES CAMERON is aged 28, and is sales manager at MacTavishes. For
some time he has been trying to persuade Mr MacTavish to back an
advertising campaign as he has been convinced that the company could
grow very quickly — and his own job and salary at the same time. For
this reason he is an ally of the agency during the meeting though he
avoids direct opposition or contradiction of his boss’s arguments.
Language Notes
presenting results or proposals
First ’ll show you... .,, next Pll give an account of ..., then I'll present
the.
The most important |features
factors
elements | to be taken into consideration are...
The | main
most important points seem to me to be...
Finally,
In conclusion,
To sum up, then ss

asking for explanation or clarification

I’m not clear about...
Could you explain what you mean by... .?
I don’t follow your jargon, what do you mean by... .?
Before we go any further, I’d like to be sure that...
Could you be more specific about . . .?
Could you give me all the facts and figures to back that up, please?
I’m very worried about all the expense involved in... Can you prove
that...

backing up arguments, reassuring

I can assure you that...
There’s no need to worry about . . . Our research shows that...
Look at in | this way
another way. The money you spend will...
Yes, of course, you can be quite sure that...
It’s been | shown
proved time and again |that.. .

supporting (discreetly) points made by another person

I think |Mr Cameron has a very interesting point there.
there’s | a lot of truth in that argument.
|a lot to be said for...
I'd go along with that point of view.
I’m sure we can rely on the | research results
previous experience
what Mr says.
I found that a very |convincing argument
interesting suggestion, etc.
66
coming to conclusions
To sum up then, | we’re all agreed to...
there’s general agreement on...
we can go ahead with...
we’ve taken a decision to...

Further Subjects for Discussion

Do you think the public needs protection from advertising? What
restrictions would you place on it? What (if any) do you consider to be
the benefits of advertising to the community? What would you include
in an advertising code to prevent misleading advertising?
Politicians often use advertising and its techniques to promote their
‘image’: give some examples of the way they do this. Would it be
possible to devise an electoral law in which money would not have the
power to influence votes by ‘marketing’ politicians?
Describe advertisements which amuse you, which irritate you, which
influence you and make you buy things, which put you off buying
things. In what ways, and to wHat degree are you influenced by adver-
tising?

67
Unit Twelve

Shoplifting
FRESHFOOD is a chain of very successful supermarkets which has
grown phenomenally in the fifteen years since it was founded, and now
has branches in the High Streets of all the towns of any size in Britain.
In the beginning the stores sold only foodstuffs, but in recent years they
have diversified enormously and now sell clothes, books and records,
electrical and domestic equipment as well. The success of the chain has
been due above all to an adventurous and enterprising management
and to the attractive layout and display in the stores; it has been
discovered that impulse buying accounts for almost 35% of the total
turnover of the stores. The stores are organised completely for self-
service and customers are encouraged to wander around the spaciously
laid out stands. Special offers and reduced prices are used to tempt
customers into the stores and there are frequently bargains to be found
in the stores’ different departments.
Over the last few months the stores’ management has been becom-
ing more and more worried about the problem of shoplifting and
pilfering in the stores. This has reached such a pitch that losses from
theft have reached between 3% and 4% of sales. Freshfood’s managers
have tried to combat this by a number of methods: store detectives
have been employed and customers caught shoplifting have been
reported to the police and subsequently fined; notices have been
placed in the stores warning customers that anybody found shoplifting
would be prosecuted; closed circuit cameras and a television screen
have been installed — mainly for their deterrent effect, as it is im-
possible to watch every part of the stores at the same time without
spending more on people on the look-out for shoplifters than is lost
through theft.
In spite of the measures taken by the management, there has been
little reduction in the losses and these have now reached a point where
either prices must rise or the firm’s profit margin be reduced. As the
competition between the High Street supermarkets is very keen, the
managers are reluctant to increase prices as even a small increase could
affect total turnover. They decide therefore to try to find a solution
which would reduce pilfering without affecting sales and begin by
collecting as much information about shoplifters as possible. Here are
some of their findings:
There is more shoplifting from the non-food departments than from
the food hall; clothes, books and records disappear most.
The shoplifters who have been arrested all had enough money on
them to be able to buy the goods that they had stolen.
68
 The shoplifters come from all age ranges and social classes; there are
relatively more middle-aged, middle-class women than would be
expected.
Many of the shoplifters admitted that they regularly stole goods
from stores.
Very few could, or would say why they had stolen the articles - which
were frequently ones for which they had little obvious need.

Talking it Over
Discuss why shoplifting is such a great problem in Freshfoods’ stores.
What suggestions would you offer to help reduce stealing in the stores?
What do you think should be the company’s attitude towards shop-
lifters they catch? Why do you think people steal things they could
easily pay for and which they don’t really need?
Vocabulary Exercise
1 Freshfood now has br in all the towns of a_____s in
Britain. Its ph____— growth has been due to the very attractive
and d___in the stores; sp of. are used to tempt
c s into the stores and people are frequently led into im
b in the hope of finding b S
2 The m_____ is worried about the problem of sh because it
has increased so much that it acc for between 3 and 4% of
t______ and, if no solution to this problem can be found, the shop will
either have to increase pr or cut its pr. m
3 Various m. s have been taken to c sh > store
detectives have reported c s caught stealing to the police who
have pr them and they have beenf , and cl Cc.
C. have been ins. for their de elfees:

Role Playing
A student has been caught stealing books from a big department store
and is being tried in court for this offence. He admits having taken the
books, but contends that there is every justification for taking things
from a company which profits enormously and unfairly from the gen-
eral public; the books taken by the student — recognised as very gifted
by the university authorities — were relevant to the studies he is doing.

Roles to be played in the trial include: the judge; counsels for the
defence and prosecution; a store detective; the manager of the store,
and any witnesses needed to illustrate the cases for the defence and
prosecution. (Note: In American English, this word is spelt ‘defense’.)

Roles
THE JUDGE must announce the different steps in the trial — statement of
the case for the prosecution, for the defence, the hearing of evidence,
summing up, considering the verdict, sentence. He must make sure
that the counsels for the defence and prosecution do not ask the
witnesses leading questions. He must sum up the evidence at the end of
the case and instruct the jury on the legal context in which they are
required to decide whether the accused is guilty or not guilty. He must
sentence the accused if he is found guilty.
THE COUNSEL FOR THE PROSECUTION must state the case for the pro-
secution and show that the person accused is really guilty of the crime.
He must bring witnesses to prove his evidence and will question any
witness called by the defence to try and put their evidence in doubt. At
the end he must make a speech persuading the jury to find the accused
guilty.
70
 JIE i|HT
iil

THE COUNSEL FOR THE DEFENCE should protect the interests of the
accused person, either by showing that he is not guilty, or not proved to
be guilty, or by convincing the jury that there are ‘attenuating cir-
cumstances’ which can excuse the crime in this case. He can bring
witnesses either to prove that the accused is not guilty or to testify to his
good character. He will also question the witnesses for the prosecution
and make a final speech for the defence.
THE STORE DETECTIVE gives an account of the circumstances in which he
arrested the accused: how he made certain that the student was taking
the books without intention of paying; what he said when stopped by
the store detective, whether he had money with him, the value of the
items chosen.
THE MANAGER OF THE STORE explains why he has decided to prosecute
the shoplifter. Until recently when people were caught stealing from
his store he simply made them pay for the goods and let them free with
a warning. Now, however, shoplifting has increased so much that he
has decided to make an example in this case.
THE STUDENT Philip White is studying politics and economics at —
University. He is a most intelligent student and hopes to become a
professional economist. His political convictions are anti-capitalist
and, outwardly at least, he shows no remorse for the crime he is
accused of.
71
Language Notes
formal !anguage used in courts of law
. , you are accused of . . . (give place, date and accusation).
Do you plead guilty or not guilty?
Before giving evidence witnesses swear: ‘To tell the truth, the whole
truth and nothing but the truth’. Counsels for the defence or pro-
secution may be asked if they wish to cross-examine each other’s
witness.
The jury is asked to ‘consider your verdict. Do you find the accused
guilty or not guilty?’
If found guilty, the accused may be asked: ‘Have you anything to say in
your defence?’ Then the judge delivers ‘the sentence’.
He ‘sentences’ the accused to pay a fine or to serve a period of time in
prison — a ‘prison sentence’. He may ‘condemn’ the accused to many
years’ or life imprisonment, if it is a serious offence.

for eliciting evidence

Can you tell us exactly what happened on...
I want you to think carefully and say what you saw on...
Will you explain | what led you to believe that...
your reasons for believing that...
Could you give us the facts of what you observed, please, when...

for casting doubt on evidence

Are you absolutely sure that ...?
Can you say without any hesitation that. . .?
I | suggest
put it to you |that you may have been mistaken when...
It is possible that you may have imagined that...

summing up evidence
Let us look at the facts of the case...
It has been | shown
proved | that...
You have heard how... .
Evidence has been brought showing that...

persuading the jury

I have no doubt that you will agree with me that...
The witnesses for the prosecution have proved conclusively that . .
We must make an example of...
A verdict of guilty will act as deterrent to...
122
Although it has been shown that... ,
you have heard that | the accused is of good character
there are extenuating circumstances
his act can be explained by...
Before condemning the accused, you should consider the effect on
his | career
studies of ...
future.

giving instructions to the jury

If you consider that... , then you must come to a verdict of .. . If, on
the other hand | it is your opinion
you are convinced | that...
then it is your duty to...

Further Subjects for Discussion

Why are supermarkets so successful? What advantages do they offer to
customers? Why are their prices lower than in traditional shops?
Stealing of various kinds makes up a large proportion of the crimes
tried by courts — should it be punished severely? If so, what is an
appropriate punishment?
Do you agree that prisons are places where people learn how to be
confirmed criminals? Do you see alternatives to prisons as a way of
dealing with crime? What is the function of ‘punishment’?

13
Unit Thirteen

Starting a Business
Arthur Wright is a young electronics engineer who works for a com-
pany which manufactures all kinds of audio-visual equipment: tele-
vision, projectors, videotape recorders, etc. In his spare time Arthur
has hit upon the idea of a new device which would allow the manu-
facture of a smaller and simpler video recorder at a relatively low price
and would, in his opinion, transform this machine from the very
expensive toy it is at present to a machine as useful and as common as a
tape recorder. With it, it would be possible to record and keep tele-
vision programmes and to watch them when and as often as one liked;
with a simple film camera it would be possible to record holidays and
family events and replay them without all the fuss of screens and film
projectors, and visual messages could be sent in a small cassette to
wherever one wanted.
Arthur was extremely excited by his discovery, and, since he did not
particularly enjoy the routine and discipline of his work in the big
company he thought it would be a good idea to try and form his own
company and develop the idea himself. As he told his friends, there was
no reason why his employers should profit from his originality and he
already had visions of vast fortune, a Rolls-Royce and retirement at the
age of 45.
Asa first step he had taken out a patent on his invention which would
prevent anyone else from copying it; then he got in touch with a friend
of his called Bob Howes who was a company accountant and asked for
some advice about starting his own firm. Arthur was very taken aback
when he realised how much capital would be necessary to rent a
factory, buy machines and equipment, recruit personnel, advertise and
put his product on the market, and he realised that his dreams of a
quick million were unrealistic and, indeed, that it was out of the
question for him to think of manufacturing a complete video recorder.
He refused to abandon the idea completely, and thought that it would
be possible to open a small workshop which would make the device he
had invented and then to sell it to the big companies, who would use it
as a component for their own video recorders. In this way he would be
independent and his own boss and would have a more interesting job
than that as a simple engineer.

Talking it Over
What advice would you give to Arthur about setting up his company?
Try to make a list of all the questions he would have to settle before it
74
would be possible. He has almost no capital of his own — how could he
try to obtain enough to start off? What expenses would he have to take
into account? What legal formalities would he need to deal with? Do
you think he would be able to make a success of his venture?

Vocabulary Exercise
1 Arthur Wright has h u______ a device which would al
thease eof asim 2's videotape recorder at a relatively
[x
esp ‘
2 This device would make it possible to r holidays and family
events and to k___ and w television pr. whenever one
wanted to.
3 Arthur decided to try to develop his in______ himself as he didn’t
see why his em______ should p. f his originality; at first he
had visions of vast f and re_ at 45.
4 He began by taking out ap on his device so that no one could
Cc it, then asked for a___ from a friend who was an ac
5 He was very t_____ a-_____ when he realised how much it would
cost to r_____ a f______, buy machines andr. p 5 ee
and put his p on-thepma

Role Playing
Arthur Wright and his friend Bob Howes have made a budget for the
first year of the company’s activity, and have decided to ask their bank
manager for a loan of £10,000 to allow them to get the company
started. They have to convince the bank manager that the device is
really saleable, that there is not too much risk involved in lending them
money, that they are potentially competent managers who have taken
into account all the difficulties of starting a firm.

Roles
ARTHUR WRIGHT has decided that, as he knows more about engineering
than business he will present the technical aspects of the product, its
advantages, how it can be manufactured, who the potential customers
would be and in what way it is an innovation.
BOB HOWES will concentrate on the administrative part of the presenta-
tion; he has estimated all the costs to be incurred in the first year, the
sales needed to cover investment and start making a profit and all the
legal aspects of founding a company.
WILLIAM GRAYSON is the local manager of Northways Bank: he knows
and likes Arthur Wright and Bob Howes and would like to give the
loan, but he knows that 75% of all new products fail and must, of
Ti)
course, make sure that he does not lend the bank’s money without
being fairly sure it will be repaid. This is especially important in this
case as Arthur Wright has no security apart from his invention. He
must, therefore, question them very closely to make sure they have
foreseen the difficulties and have a feasible proposal.

Language Notes
for Arthur Wright
presenting a project
First of all, Pll show you what it’s for and how it works...
Now, if you want to simplify a video cassette, you’ve got to...
The big advantages of my device is that it...
It’s a | radically new
revolutionary | approach to the problem of...

answering questions and defending project

Yes, we’ve | thought about that
taken that into account. There'll be no problem in...
Well, it'll obviously be a problem, but we can | solve
deal with | it Dyce
No, I can assure you that the problem of. . . has already
been | looked into.
We cane... investigated.

for Bob Howes

presenting a project
Let’s begin by looking at the figures...
I’ve calculated that...
The estimated’ cost of... > will be. «..
We should reach the first year target of ...,if we...
I’ve allowed a fair margin for error, so...
At a conservative estimate, we should be able to sell...

for William Grayson

asking searching questions
Before we go any further, I’d like to be quite clear about... .
Can you give me an exact idea of how you'll deal with...
I’d like to see how you | reached
|came to | these figures
Could you break down your calculations
estimates into more details, please.
I’d be grateful if you could go over the technical side again. Just what is
the particular advantage of .. .?
76
Have you foreseen what might happen if...
How dependent will you be on the economic situation? For example,
ae

Further Subjects for Discussion

What qualities are needed to start a business successfully? What are
the relative advantages and disadvantages of working in a small and in
a large firm? Is it possible for small firms to compete with the giants? If
so, what are their competitive advantages?
Imagine all the possible uses of a videotape recorder: would the fact of
having instant visual material available kill books as a form of culture?
Describe the different effects and advantages of different media like
TV, radio and the Press.

Language Summary
1 Protecting the Environment
context — formal public meeting.
language functions
formulas for conducting public meetings; opening and closing meet-
ings; proposing, seconding and passing motions and resolutions
expressing approval and support
expressing disapproval and opposition
justifying and giving reasons for support or opposition.

2 Transport for Tomorrow

context — local radio broadcast, therefore fairly formal public speech,
but without the frozen formulas of a public meeting.
language functions
introducing a topic for discussion
eliciting opinions
provoking response — by pointing out contradiction
— by innuendo and accusation
making suggestions — tentative/forceful
expressing disagreement — politely/impatiently
responding to disagreement and defence of previously expressed
opinion.

3 What Kind of Schools

context — public brains trust; formal meeting, but with aim of dis-
cussion, not decisions or resolutions.
Wht
language functions
drawing conclusions of discussion
obtaining attention of meeting
bringing meeting to end and summing up
expressing opinion — forcefully
expressing disagreement — aggressively
expressing support for or agreement with other speakers
bringing discussion back to point at issue.

4 People and Money

context — family discussion, therefore very informal in tone, no gambits
to disguise or smooth over disagreement.
language functions
obtaining attention, interrupting
making suggestions — with conviction and enthusiasm
rejecting suggestions — with force
calming down argument.

5 Marriage and Jobs

context — informal discussion/argument between a couple planning to
get married, in presence of friends, therefore private rather than public
speech.
language functions
introducing disagreement — recognising other person’s viewpoint
raising objections to previously expressed opinion
justifying opinion or proposal before expressing it
questioning feasibility of proposals or correctness of opinions
giving advice
expressing criticism of attitudes or opinion
making suggestions — tentative.

6 Press Conference
context — press conference given by survivors of air crash; tone of
language likely to be influenced by factors such as tiredness, un-
willingness to talk of painful experience, reporters’ curiosity, etc. —
public and semi-formal.
language function
expressing reticence/refusal to talk
expressing pain, fear, worry, etc.
describing and justifying decisions — taken hesitantly and with
reluctance
expressing defence of and justification for previous actions
78
eliciting information — allowing for reticence
eliciting information — persuading to talk.

7 A New Tourist Paradise

context — a formal discussion which is intended to reach a decision after
negotiation — people of different nationalities, not knowing each other,
therefore fairly impersonal.
language functions
expressing hesitation or doubt
eliciting details and further information
presenting proposals — with enthusiasm
answering objections to proposals
presenting a reasoned argument/both sides of question.

8 A Problem of Modernisation
context — a business meeting to present proposals and to take decisions
concerning them; semi-formal only, as the people involved work for
the same company and are all at managerial level.
language functions
expressing reasons for proposals or action
justifying proposals
answering objections — with intention to reassure
eliciting explanation and clarification
raising objections to proposals — with respect to a superior
expressing support for proposals.

9 Industrial Conflict
context — television or radio programme about a strike; elements
affecting tone of discussion are the conflict between the two sides, the
need to justify action in the eyes of the public. The general level of
speech style on TV is probably semi-informal.
language functions
eliciting opinions and attitudes
provoking argument and disagreement
introducing expression of opinion
rejecting accusations or provocation
offering compromise — tentatively, defensively.

10 A Market Research Problem

context — meeting in a company to hear results of a market survey and
to take decisions arising from information; the participants in the
meeting are from different organisations so the style will be fairly
i)
formal; the meeting is concerned with practical problems so there
should be little expression of attitudes as if for public consumption.
language functions
introducing topic of meeting
raising objections to proposals
expressing strong advocacy of proposals
presenting information or proposals
listing pieces of information.

11 The Advertising Campaign

context — a meeting to take a decision about an advertising campaign —
the main theme of the meeting is persuading Mr MacTavish to accept
the proposals that are made. The style will be semi-formal.
language functions
presenting information and proposals
ordering priorities
eliciting explanation or clarification — politely, suspiciously
reassuring
dealing with objections to arguments
expressing support for proposals of another speaker — with tact
reaching conclusions/formulating decisions.

12 Shoplifting
context — the formal public situation of a trial involves an amount of
frozen style in the language of the court and the rules concerning
interrogation and questioning.
language functions
formulas in court of law
questioning to elicit evidence
reformulating questions to cast doubt on previous answers
summarising what has been said — formal reported speech
expressing strong advocacy in order to persuade.

13 Starting a Business
context — meeting with bank manager in order to persuade him to grant
loan; formal private meeting.

language functions
presenting and ordering information
replying to questions and answering objections
expressing future probability and forecasts
eliciting further information
questioning and raising objections.
a) St. Angela's College of Education
for Home Economics
1 7 gm oT pric
 ‘SC= O06) 3/

his book is due fc

——$—_———————
See

at No. 1208
 THE LANGUAGE
| OF DISCUSSION .
i

Discussions and arguments amongst friends or in

business, defending one’s point of view, attacking
someone else’s — all these activities need specific
Janguage skills and techniques. Advanced students
cannot progress very far unless they have mastered
_ these language functions, and can use them
- appropriately in a variety of contexts.

Language of Discussion therefore provides an

interesting range of thirteen role-play situations for
advanced students — about half are illustrated, and
half have a business/management setting. Rach unit
5 has: :

a sizeable reading passage to set the scene

a brief comprehension exercise to ca at
vocabulary f 4

background notes on each character's attitude, aze, ete

detailed ftnctional language notes
topics foor further discusston

ISBN 0 340 22774 5