Learn to talk about schedules
Now Playing: Lesson Audio
Get a breakdown of the dialogue and translations instantly with the Premium line-by-line Audio. Sign up for your Free Lifetime Account Now and get 7 Days of Premium Access including this feature.
Get this lesson’s key vocab, their translations and pronunciations. Sign up for your Free Lifetime Account Now and get 7 Days of Premium Access including this feature.
Unlock Lesson Notes and Transcripts for every single lesson. Sign Up for a Free Lifetime Account and Get 7 Days of Premium Access.
| INTRODUCTION |
| Sadia: Hello, everyone, thanks for tuning in. This is Sadia. |
| Keith: Hey and I’m Keith. “Making the Most of Your Time in America.” |
| Sadia: In our last lesson, Lesson 13 - you learned how to enter an office-- |
| Keith: And how to meet an old business friend. |
| Sadia: You also learned about adverbs-- |
| Keith: And about the verb, "to look." |
| Sadia: In this lesson, you’ll learn how to talk about daily activity. |
| Keith: This conversation takes place at Zo's business associate's office, in the lobby. |
| Keith: The conversation is between the receptionist, Zo, and Ms. Clarke, a company manager and Zo's business associate. |
| Keith: Alright, well let’s listen in to the conversation. |
| DIALOGUE |
| Ms. Clarke: This is my executive assistant, Ms. Rosen. She has today's schedule. |
| Executive Assistant: Hello, Ms. Clarke. My name is Claire. It's very nice to meet you. |
| Zo: Pleased to meet you, too. |
| Executive Assistant: Here is today's schedule. Friday, May 23rd. You have a meeting with Mr. Jones of Schmalberg at the D&D building at 10 am. At noon, you’ll have lunch at Kraft with Mrs. Kim of R &L Trimmings. After that, you’ll meet Mrs. Parker of Vista Company at her office. Then at 4:30, you’ll visit Vista’s factory at 4:30. Finally, there’s a company dinner at 7pm. |
| Zo: Wow, that is quite a day! |
| Ms. Clarke: And it starts now... |
| Keith: One more time, slowly. |
| Ms. Clarke: This is my executive assistant, Ms. Rosen. She has today's schedule. |
| Executive Assistant: Hello, Ms. Clarke. My name is Claire. It's very nice to meet you. |
| Zo: Pleased to meet you, too. |
| Executive Assistant: Here is today's schedule. Friday, May 23rd. You have a meeting with Mr. Jones of Schmalberg at the D&D building at 10 am. At noon, you’ll have lunch at Kraft with Mrs. Kim of R &L Trimmings. After that, you’ll meet Mrs. Parker of Vista Company at her office. Then at 4:30, you’ll visit Vista’s factory at 4:30. Finally, there’s a company dinner at 7pm. |
| Zo: Wow, that is quite a day! |
| Ms. Clarke: And it starts now… |
| POST CONVERSATION BANTER |
| Sadia: Okay. So interesting-- but very intense-- dialogue! |
| Keith: Yeah, for sure! The dialogue gives us a deeper insight into business communication, more specifically the building of a daily agenda or schedule. |
| Sadia: It seems as though Ms. Clarke's assistant, Claire, handles all of Ms. Clarke's scheduling– And this is probably pretty typical of a high-level manager in a large company. And Claire seems to be a pretty good assistant. |
| Keith: She knows when and where of every event in her boss' agenda for the day. This time you’re going here. At this time you’re going here. And she says it very quickly and neatly-- so she’s very efficient! One day I'm going to have an assistant like that... |
| Sadia: Mm-hm. I'm rooting for you, Keith! |
| Keith: I hope so. I really do. |
| Sadia: What's interesting is that Zo will be accompanying Ms. Clarke at all of her different meetings and appointments; so what do you suppose the business relationship of Zo is to Mrs. Clarke? |
| Keith: That’s a good question. So maybe they’re managers at the same level? Or Mrs. Clarke is also Zo's boss? |
| Sadia: It’s possible. I’m not sure. |
| Keith: I think we’re going to find out sooner or later. OK, let's take a look at the vocabulary for this lesson. |
| VOCAB LIST |
| The first word we shall see is: |
| Sadia: manager [natural native speed] |
| Keith: a person who directs a team, often a business team |
| Sadia: manager [slowly - broken down by syllable] |
| Sadia: manager [natural native speed] |
| Next:" |
| executive assistant [natural native speed] |
| Keith: support worker to an officer (executive) of a company |
| executive assistant [slowly - broken down by syllable] |
| executive assistant [natural native speed] |
| Next:" |
| Sadia: schedule [natural native speed] |
| Keith: plan for an activity or event or day; agenda |
| Sadia: schedule [slowly - broken down by syllable] |
| Sadia: schedule [natural native speed] |
| Next:" |
| meeting [natural native speed] |
| Keith: a gathering of people |
| meeting [slowly - broken down by syllable] |
| meeting [natural native speed] |
| Next:" |
| Sadia: building [natural native speed] |
| Keith: a roofed and walled structure made for permanent use |
| Sadia: building [slowly - broken down by syllable] |
| Sadia: building [natural native speed] |
| Next:" |
| at [natural native speed] |
| Keith: shows presence or happening in, on or near |
| at [slowly - broken down by syllable] |
| at [natural native speed] |
| Next:" |
| Sadia: noon [natural native speed] |
| Keith: midday; 12 o'clock |
| Sadia: noon [slowly - broken down by syllable] |
| Sadia: noon [natural native speed] |
| Next:" |
| to eat [natural native speed] |
| Keith: to consume food |
| to eat [slowly - broken down by syllable] |
| to eat [natural native speed] |
| Next:" |
| Sadia: lunch [natural native speed] |
| Keith: afternoon meal; after breakfast, before dinner |
| Sadia: lunch [slowly - broken down by syllable] |
| Sadia: lunch [natural native speed] |
| Next:" |
| to meet [natural native speed] |
| Keith: to come together |
| to meet [slowly - broken down by syllable] |
| to meet [natural native speed] |
| Next:" |
| Sadia: factory [natural native speed] |
| Keith: a building where items are made |
| Sadia: factory [slowly - broken down by syllable] |
| Sadia: factory [natural native speed] |
| Next:" |
| company [natural native speed] |
| Keith: a group of people or things; a business group |
| company [slowly - broken down by syllable] |
| company [natural native speed] |
| Next:" |
| Sadia: dinner [natural native speed] |
| Keith: the final meal of the day; the meal after lunch |
| Sadia: dinner [slowly - broken down by syllable] |
| Sadia: dinner [natural native speed] |
| VOCAB AND PHRASE USAGE |
| Keith: Let’s have a closer look at the usage for some of the words and phrases from this lesson. |
| Sadia: OK, the first phrase we’ll look at is, "This is..." |
| Keith: Ms. Clarke introduces Zo to her executive |
| assistant. Her name is Claire. And she introduces him by saying, “This is my executive |
| assistant, Ms. Rosen.” |
| Sadia: To introduce someone else, simply gesture toward the |
| person, put your hand toward the person, and say, “This is and then say your relationship to the |
| person, and then the person’s name |
| Keith: For example, if I were to introduce you, Sadia, to my best |
| friend, Elliott, put my hand out, and my hand is open, and say, “ Sadia, hey, this |
| is my best friend, Elliott.” But I’m not putting one finger out. I’m not pointing. |
| Sadia: You don’t want to point. Considered very rude, although I’m not sure why. |
| Keith: Yeah, I’m not sure why either. |
| Sadia: Gesture with your hand, not your finger. |
| Keith: OK. |
| Sadia: The next phrase is, "She has today's schedule." After Ms. |
| Clarke introduces Claire, she says, “She has today’s |
| schedule.” What does this mean, Keith? |
| Keith: Well, this means that Claire has prepared the schedule for |
| the day and will present it to Ms. Clarke and Zo. |
| Sadia: OK. |
| Keith: What’s the next phrase? |
| Sadia: The next phrase is, "Friday, May 23rd." |
| Keith: Before listing the day’s events, the executive assistant reminds Ms. Clarke (and Zo) of the day and date; she says, “Friday, May 23rd.” |
| Sadia: And this is a standard way to mention or to talk about a date. |
| Keith: It’s a typical way to talk about a date, so we can say, Friday, August 27th? |
| Sadia: Ooh! That's my birthday! |
| Keith: That’s why you put it in the script. |
| Sadia: Perhaps. And to celebrate, we should go on to the next phrase. |
| Keith: [laughs] The next phrase is, "to have a meeting (with)." |
| Sadia: To have a meeting with someone means to get together and talk with him or her-- |
| Keith: Yeah, usually this is about business. Our next phrase is, "to have lunch." |
| Sadia: Claire tells Ms. Clarke, “At noon, you’ll have lunch at Craft with Mrs. Kim of R&L Trimmings.” |
| Keith: "To have lunch" means, to eat lunch. |
| Sadia: Exactly, but I think the verb “have” kind of implies that you’re eating lunch with someone else. |
| Keith: So to eat lunch, is to eat it. |
| Sadia: Yeah. |
| Keith: To have lunch is to eat lunch with people. The next phrase is, "to meet." |
| Sadia: To meet is to gather with someone—or a group of people— so that you can talk. Next we have, "to visit." |
| Keith: What does that mean? |
| Sadia: To visit a place means to go and see it, usually for a pretty short amount of time, and possibly out of respect. |
| Keith: Okay. So Ms. Clarke is going to visit another company’s factory. Maybe she is considering or thinking about doing business with them, or they’re doing business with her. |
| Sadia: It’s pretty likely. What’s the last phrase? |
| Keith: Our last phrase for today is, "Wow, that is quite a (something)!" |
| Sadia: As you have guessed, This phrase is used to express surprise. |
| Keith: Yeah, when you’re surprised, you say, “Wow, this is quite a (something). So Zo is surprised by how busy the day will be, so busy. He’s surprised, and he says, “Wow, that is quite a day!” |
Lesson focus |
|---|
| Sadia: The focus points of this lesson are sentence order, more prepositions, and adverbs of time. |
| Keith: Let's start with sentence order-- |
| Sadia: OK, especially sentence order as it appears with things on an agenda or a schedule. Ms. Clarke’s executive assistant, Claire, tells Ms. Clarke’s very full schedule for the day. So let's review some of the items on the agenda. What are they? |
| Keith: The first one is, "You have a meeting with Mr. Jones of |
| Schmalberg at the D&D building at 10am." What’s the order, the sentence order, for items on the schedule, I guess? |
| Sadia: THE ORDER IS, Subject, Verb, Object, Location and finally the, Time. Let’s see if we can pick it apart. 10am." YOU is the SUBJECT. |
| Keith: Right. and next is HAVE is the VERB. |
| Sadia: A MEETING WITH MR. JONES OF SCHMALBERG is the OBJECT. |
| Keith: The location is AT THE D&D BUILDING. |
| Sadia: And finally, AT 10AM is the TIME. |
| Keith: So the whole sentence is, "You have a meeting with Mr. Jones of Schmalberg at the D&D building at 10am." |
| Sadia: Subject - Verb - Object - Location - and Time. |
| Keith: Let's break down one more line from the dialogue. |
| Sadia: How about, "You’ll visit Vista’s factory at 430." |
| Keith: Again, that’s Subject - Verb - Object - Location - Time. |
| Sadia: So, YOU'LL is the SUBJECT, VISIT is the VERB, VISTA'S FACTORY is the LOCATION, and AT 4:30 is the TIME. |
| Keith: "You’ll visit Vista’s factory at 4:30." |
| Sadia: So, now you know how to list items on a schedule or agenda. What's next? |
| Keith: Well, you'll never guess... |
| Sadia: I bet I can... |
| Keith: No you can't... |
| Sadia: PREPOSITIONS. |
| Keith: You got it. Yeah, we’re talking about more prepositions. Now you’ve already learned that prepositions link nouns, pronouns, and phrases to other words in a sentence— |
| Sadia: And that they show the relationship of their objects to the rest of the sentence. |
| Keith: But let’s focus on the preposition “at,” which appears throughout the dialogue for this entire lesson. |
| Sadia: We just heard the first line-- it, "You have a meeting with Mr. Jones of Schmalberg AT the D&D building AT 10am." |
| Keith: Yeah, very good. Also the line, "You’ll have lunch AT Craft WITH-- that's also a preposition-- Mrs. Kim of R&L Trimmings." |
| Sadia: And then, "After that, you will meet Mrs. Parker of Vista Company AT her office." |
| Keith: So you can see, “at” usually shows the place where or the time when. |
| Sadia: So, I could say, “I have a doctor’s appointment AT 2 o’clock.” |
| Keith: Right. Or I’m supposed to meet her AT her apartment, the place, AT 9 o’clock, the time. |
| Sadia: Also appearing in the dialogue is the preposition, “to." T-O. Ms. Clarke’s assistant says to Zo, “It's very nice to meet you.” |
| Keith: In this case, the preposition “to” shows the reason or the purpose. Some other examples of “to” being used in the same way - I’d like to go with you to the party. |
| Sadia: And how about, he’s going to school. |
| Keith: OK, so we had “at,” “to,” and “with.” Keep studying those prepositions, everyone. |
| Sadia: They will haunt you forever! |
| Keith: It’s not haunting. What's our last grammar point? |
| Sadia: The last one is adverbs of time. We've looked at adverbs in the past, in the previous lesson I think. But in today's lesson they're used in a particular way-- and that is to show WHEN something will be done. |
| Keith: In THIS dialogue, we hear things like, "At noon, you’ll have lunch at Craft with Mrs. Kim of R&L Trimmings." |
| Sadia: So AT NOON indicates when lunch will occur. AT NOON is an adverb of time. |
| Keith: What about, "After that, you will meet Mrs. Parker of Vista Company at her office." So when will Ms. Clarke meet Mrs. Parker at her office? |
| Sadia: AFTER THAT. |
| Keith: Right. So AFTER THAT is an adverb of time. |
| Sadia: Claire-- the executive assistant also says, "Then, you’ll visit Vista’s factory at 4:30." THEN is an adverb of time.. |
| Keith: And she also says, "Finally, there’s a company dinner at 700 pm." FINALLY is the adverb of time. |
| Sadia: Right, so, adverbs of time answer the question, “When?” So if I said, “I went to my friend’s birthday party yesterday,” what would the adverb of time be? |
| Keith: WHEN did you go to your friend’s birthday party? You went yesterday, so YESTERDAY is the adverb of time. |
| Sadia: Precisely. So adverbs of time simply give an indication of when an event will take place. |
| Keith: Thank you everyone for listening. |
| Sadia: Thanks. We’ll see you next time. |
| Keith: Bye. |
Comments
Hide