Part Ⅰ Situational Dialogues
Situational Dialogue 1
Susan,a junior secretary of ABC Company,is asked to arrange an important meeting. She doesn’t have much experience,so she asks David for help.
(S:Susan,D:David)
S:Hi,David. Can you do me a favor?
D:I will if I can.
S:Could you help me arrange this meeting?I don’t have much experience arranging meetings and I heard that you have done it before.
D:What kind of meeting is it going to be?
S:We’re going to have a meeting with all the departmental managers.
D:When is this meeting?
S:Next Tuesday.
D:That’s easy. The first thing we need to do is to set an agenda for the meeting and then give copies of it to everyone who is going to be attending.
S:No problem,I have a list of all the people right here.
D:Which meeting room are you going to use?
S:I think we should use Conference Room 2. It’s the most comfortable one and the facilities there are new and excellent.
D:That’s a good idea.
Practice 1
Task 1:Listen to the dialogue and role-play it in pairs.
Task 2:Simulated situational conversation.
Suppose you are Susan,the secretary. You are calling to inform the Marketing Manager,Mr.Brown,of a meeting.
Situational Dialogue 2
Sophia,a secretary,is talking with Tony,the director of the Administrative Department,about taking minutes.
(S:Sophia,T:Tony)
S:Although I’ve taken minutes for several meetings,I don’t think I’ve done a good job. Would you please give me some tips?
T:I’d be happy to. To take good minutes,you really need to concentrate. Of course,you must be accurate as well.
S:Surely I did. But the problem is I can’t take down everything everyone says during the meeting.
T:You have to take down all the topics discussed,the main points made by each speaker and any decisions made,but you don’t have to write down every word.