Business English: Making Appointments

Introductory Questions Do you think that making (scheduling) appointments is important for businesses? Why? Where are some good locations for appointments with clients or coworkers? How do you normally schedule appointments?

Vocabulary Match the following words to schedule   to cancel   appointment (to be) available prévoir qqch (pour), rendezvous, desponible, annuler

Vocabulary (continued) Guess what the following words mean: a convenient time   to “give” somebody time (ex: I will give you 5 minutes.)   “sharp” (ex: I will be there at 5pm sharp.)    to set up a meeting    to take (time) (ex: It will only take an hour.)    to be busy Can you use these words in a sentence?

Video and Questions Watch the video and answer the questions below: http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=n49CJNGXl6M   Is Mr. Smith an easy person to schedule an appointment with?   When does Mr. Smith agree to see the product: “this week”, “next week”, “at 8am sharp”, or “next month”?   What day does Mr. Smith agree to meet? When must the meeting with Mr. Sakai (in Japan) be? How does Clive Harris feel about Derrick?   How many minutes late is the meeting going to be with Mr. Harris and Mr. Peters? How does Mr. Harris respond to this news?

Grammar: Prepositions of Time Certain prepositions must be used according to the time being used. For example:  at is used for part of the day: I had scheduled the meeting at night.   time of day: We agreed to meet at 5pm sharp.   celebrations: She is never available at Christmas.   fixed phrases: They had finished working at the same time.

Grammar (continued) on is used for   days of the week: We had set up a meeting on Monday.   date: They had decided that a convenient date to meet would be on October, 23rd.   special holidays: He had canceled the appointment because it was on Easter.   a special part of the day: I told her that I would be busy on the 7th.

Grammar (continued) in is used for months: We had planned to have lunch sometime in January. year: I remember hiring you in 2001.   seasons: She had seen him in the summer. part of the day: We can meet sometime in the evening.   duration: Don’t be so impatient, this appointment will be over in 15 minutes.

Grammar Questions Use the prepositions of time Don’t forget that you have an appointment with Mr. Smith _____ a week. I am available ____ Monday or ____ Wednesday, ____ 8am sharp. Susanne, can you set up a meeting with Mr. Orly _____ September, 12th? We had agreed to meet ____ 10am, but you never came. We met a long time ago, back ____ 1980. I can’t work _____ my anniversary. _____ 3:30 we can meet, but not ____ Monday or Tuesday. The day after tomorrow is good for me. How about _____ the morning? We had met _____ spring. I would like to schedule an appointment ____ a convenient time for the both of us.

Simulation You are a secretary and you must schedule appointments for Mr. Smith. He has a meeting with a few clients 3 times this week at certain times. Tell Mr. Smith when he has these appointments. A person has canceled an appointment, and you can give him three other options out of this list. What do you tell him? (Monday, 4pm; Wednesday, 8am; Thursday 2pm) You have a schedule of your day, and you must tell your boss over the phone what you plan on doing. How do you tell him?   Monday: 8am – meeting with Mr. Robinson 10am – prepare a spreadsheet for Mrs. Kennedy 12pm – have lunch with Tom 1:30pm – pick up invoices at C&J Manufacturing 2:30pm – arrange an interview with Rick Grey   Tuesday: Day off 12pm – go golfing with Tom and Steve