MEETINGS 2

GETING INVOLVED IN
METTINGS
 What are we going to learn?
Strategies Awareness Useful phrases
To increase participation Of common problems For interrumping and
and co-operation in and strategies clarifying
meetings in English

Many learners of English worry about their mistakes and allow their
insecurities to prevent them from participating in meetings fully.
This lesson provides reassurance that such insecurities are very common
and normal. It also presents some strategies for increasing their confidence
and ability to participate actively in meetings in English.
The lesson also warns students that they themselves are responsible for
overcoming this barrier to communication.

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 THINK AND SHARE…
What problems can you encounter when
participating in a high-level meeting in English ?

What strategies would you use to solve this

problems?

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 1.Questionnaire
What type of person are you when
participating in a meeting?
 COMPLETE THE questionnaire
Complete this questionnaire about meetings in English and keep a record of your
answers. Explain your answers to your partner, using examples where possible.
Be honest!
1. You’re at a brainstorming meeting where everyone is speaking English. The other participants seem to speak
much better English than you. You have lots of ideas and opinions about their ideas. What do you usually do?
a. I interrupt others frequently in order to express my opinions, even though I know I make lots of basic mistakes
with my English.
b. I wait for my turn to present my opinions, and then try to express myself as clearly as I can.
c. I only speak if someone asks me for my opinion, and keep my answers short to avoid mistakes.

2. You’re at a meeting in English where several participants are sitting silently and just listening. What do you do?
a. I ignore them – if they have nothing to say, they shouldn’t be there.
b. I feel sorry for them – perhaps they are having problems with the language.
c. I do everything I can to involve them, by inviting them to speak and preventing others from interrupting them.

3. You’re at a meeting where a junior colleague clearly can’t speak English properly, and they keep making really
basic mistakes like “it don’t work”. How do you feel?
a. Superior. My English is much better, and I’m glad I don’t sound so stupid when I speak.
b. Irritated. If they can’t speak English, they shouldn’t be at this meeting.
c. Impressed. My colleague is demonstrating excellent self-confidence and determination to overcome a language
barrier. And they’re making lots of useful contributions to the meeting.

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 COMPLETE THE questionnaire
Complete this questionnaire about meetings in English and keep a record of your
answers. Explain your answers to your partner, using examples where possible. Be
honest!

4. At your meeting, everyone is talking at the same time in English. You can follow their conversations, but
you’re a few seconds behind. By the time you’ve thought of something to say, and planned how to say it, the
conversation has moved on. How often do you experience this feeling?
a. All the time.
b. Quite often.
c. Rarely or never.
5. You are at a meeting in English where you understand about 60–80% of what you hear. What do you do?
a. Keep interrupting to check what’s going on. It’s a bit embarrassing and frustrating for others, but it’s
important that I understand.
b. Participate actively in the meeting. From time to time I’ll misunderstand the topic and my contributions will
sound a bit stupid, but I’m prepared to take the risk.
c. Sit quietly and listen so as to avoid sounding stupid by talking about the wrong topic.
6. Who is responsible for overcoming your problems with English?
a. Nobody. I make mistakes but it’s not a problem. I’m paid for my professional skills, not for being an expert in
English.
b. My employer. They should provide more English lessons and give me time to study. My teacher could also do
more to improve my English. Also, the other people at meetings should try to help me more.
c. Me 6
 analysis
Check your score and read the analysis. Discuss whether you agree.
Try to come up with some good advice for the three types of person.

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 2.
strategies
 Match the strategies with the type of person who needs them most
Record yourself speaking at a Learn hundreds of new words.
meeting in English (e.g. using a Be systematic and organised –
Dictaphone). Later, listen to your Risk - takers if you learn 10 new words per day
‘performance’ (e.g. while for a year, you can increase your
travelling home from work) and vocabulary by 3650 words! Think
try to correct some of the what that would do for your
mistakes you hear. Perfeccionist fluency and confidence.

Learn a few “interrupting Instead of simply presenting

phrases” like Can I just say Typical user your opinions (I think …), use
something? or Sorry to interrupt, questions (What about if we …?;
but …. These phrases will give you Do you think …?) and question
time to plan what you’re going to tags (That would work, wouldn’t
say. it?) to involve others.
Actively try to involve less
confident colleagues by asking
their opinions frequently and
listening patiently while they
speak.
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 Match the strategies with the type of person who needs them most
Learn some phrases for checking
Go for it! Speaking English in understanding (e.g. What exactly do
public is like learning to ride a you mean by X?;Sorry – I didn’t catch
bike. If you analyse it too much, Risk - takers
that last word.) and make sure you
you’ll convince yourself it’s use them. Remember, there’s no point
impossible. But once you’ve done it in going to a meeting if you don’t
a few times, it’ll feel more natural. understand. It may feel embarrassing
Perfeccionist to keep asking for clarification, but it’s
worse to sit in silence, and worst of
all if your misunderstanding leads to
professional mistakes.
Typical user
Ask a colleague what bad habits If somebody interrupts you, give
you have with English grammar them a chance to speak,
or pronunciation. Then try to especially if you know that person
correct yourself when you’re Don’t let other people
isn’t very confident about using
speaking fluently. It’ll slow you interrupt you too easily. Hold
English in meetings. If they hesitate,
down a bit, but soon you’ll notice it the floor with phrases like Can
encourage them with phrases like
gets easier and faster to be I just finish my point? or I’ll let
Go on or After you.
accurate you speak in a second.
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 3.
Useful language
USEFUL LANGUAGE AND ITS FUNCTION
https://learningapps.org/display?v=ptttgojhc21

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 Practice 1
One of your work colleagues is going to make an
announcement about the current project you are
working on.
You should interrupt the speakers in order to
clarify the meaning of any words and phrases
you do not understand.

Well, EHO have asked for a

complete breakdown of our P
and L figures. They want our
inventory figures to be based on
FIFO. We need that by the end of
Q2. Does that sound feasible?

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 Practice 2
One of your work colleagues is going to make an
announcement about the current project you are
working on.
You should interrupt the speakers in order to
clarify the meaning of any words and phrases you
do not understand.

We’ve decided to conduct a

complete overhaul of our QMS.
Basically, VMA and her team in O
and E want to aim for ISO 9001
accreditation, because they’re
convinced it’ll help them clinch
the Madax deal.

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 Practice 3
NOW IS YOUR TURN! =)

Make an announcement about the current project

you are working on.
Your colleagues should interrupt you in order to
clarify the meaning of any words and phrases
they don´t understand

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 Role play 1
Role-play 1
Your company wants to organise a Work–Life
Balance day.
The aim of the event is to get employees to see
colleagues as people with real lives outside the
workplace, and therefore to be more supportive,
understanding and friendly towards each other.

There is a very limited budget, and the event will take

place on a normal working day, without dramatically
reducing employees’ productivity during that day.
You and some other junior members of staff have
been asked to plan the events for the day. Hold a
brainstorming meeting to plan the event

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 Role play 2
Role-play 2
Your company wants to hold a Staff
Integration event, to enable employees
from different teams and work locations
to get to know each other and build
relationships. You and other senior
managers meet to plan a budget for this
event (in terms of cost per employee)
and to brainstorm ideas for the event.

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