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.