making arrangements/ email and telephone/ business communication reviews
Work in twos or threes. Act out roleplays from below, roleplaying the whole conversation each time from the opening greeting to saying goodbye at the end. Choose by:
- Rolling a dice and doing the roleplay which comes up with those numbers
- Choosing random numbers without looking below and doing the roleplay which comes up with those numbers
- Choosing any you like
Your teacher will tell you if you have free choice or must stick to one of those three ways.
| First roll of the dice – who you are communicating with | Second roll of the dice – reason for meeting |
| 1. A customer/ client
2. A potential customer/ client 3. A colleague 4. Your boss 5. A foreign visitor 6. A dignitary (mayor, ambassador, member of the royal family, etc) | 1. Negotiation
2. First meeting to establish a business relationship 3. Apology for a mistake or delay 4. Progress check 5. Presenting a (new) product 6. Establishing a joint venture |
Do the same, but this time also rolling the dice etc one more time to add one of these complications with making arrangements:
- This will be the first time you’ve ever met (face to face)
- The venue is difficult to find
- The first time or venue that you suggest isn’t possible
- You disagree on how much time is necessary
- You need to check with someone else before you can finalise the arrangement
- You aren’t 100% sure about your other arrangements
Do the same, but this time pretending that you are emailing. You can do this by passing paper backwards and forwards, or just by saying what you would write in each email (as your teacher tells you). Continue until the end of the exchange, then do the same with other situations above.
Do the same, but this time also rolling the dice etc to decide if you will communicate by email or telephone. 1, 2 or 3 = telephone and 4, 5 or 6 = email.
Without the dice, roleplay realistic making arrangement situations for you, for example:
- With a classmate
- With a friend
- With an ex-colleague
- With a competitor
- With a potential employer
- With a potentially useful business contact
- With a journalist
This time you can choose to communicate by how you really would communicate (by phone, by chat/ instant messenger, face to face, in an online meeting, etc).
———————————
PDF for easy saving and printing:
Related pages
