1.3. Exchanging Information

1.3.1. Work in small groups. Discuss these questions.

1)Is it easy for you to understand foreign names by ear? What do you do if you need to write them down?

2)What differences between the Russian and the English ways of saying dates and telephone numbers do you know?

1.3.2. Read the text and memorize the codes.

Names, Dates and Numbers

Have you ever talked on the phone with someone who was trying to phonetically

convey to you a confirmation code or a name and they were having trouble coming

up with words to correspond with each letter? “Um…d, as in ‘dog’…um…b, as in

‘boy’…um…n, as in ‘nancy’…” It’s quite frustrating – at both ends – and entirely

unnecessary. There is a much more elegant and standard solution, the International

Radiotelephony Spelling Alphabet.

When reading off serial numbers, or spelling anything technical out over the phone,

one should use the most widely used radiotelephony phonetic alphabet. The official name

is the International Civil Aviation Organization (ICAO) spelling alphabet. It assigns

code words to the letters of the English alphabet acrophonically (Alfa for A, Bravo for B,

etc.) so that critical combinations of letters (and numbers) can be pronounced and

understood by those who transmit and receive voice messages by radio or telephone

regardless of their native language, especially when the safety of navigation or persons is

essential. The paramount reason is to ensure intelligibility of voice signals over radio

When involved in business activities you will hear a lot of dates. See the way the

dates below are to be spoken and practice saying them.

1 March 1998 ‘the first of March nineteen ninety-eight’

17 November 2000 ‘the seventeenth of November two thousand’

2 June 2005 ‘the second of June twenty oh five’

In America, and sometimes in Britain, dates are written with the month first: November 17 2000; June 2005. Be careful! Dates are sometimes written in number form only: 3.7.08. In Britain this would mean ‘the third of July twenty oh eight’; in America, and on many computers, it would mean ‘the seventh of March twenty oh

eight’.

Phone numbers are pronounced in groups. The digits are said separately. Your voice should go up for each group, except for the last one, when your voice goes down to signal that it is the end of the number. '0' is usually spoken as oh in BrE, but as zero in AmE. '11', '22', etc. is usually spoken as double one, double two in BrE, but

one one, two two in AmE.

1.3.3. Answer the questions to the text.

1)What is ICAO phonetic alphabet?

2)Why was it created?

3)What are the general rules of saying dates?

4)What are the rules of the BrE and AmE ways of saying telephone numbers?

1.3.4. Read the telephone conversations, define the purposes of the calls.

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1.3.5. Fill in the chart with the expressions from the dialogues.

Providing a phone number

Providing a name

Checking information

1.3.6.Exchanging information role-play. Student A – choose an address from the list in the Attachment and dictate it to your partner. Spell each word when you dictate. If spelling is not clear enough make use of the ICAO spelling alphabet. Student B – check that you have got the information correctly, then you dictate the information from your list to your partner.

1.3.7.Role-play the situation in the cards (see Attachment).

One of you is the Marketing Director of a sunglasses manufacturer. The other is the European Sales Manager. Role-play a telephone call to talk about a focus group for the company's new range of sunglasses. Use sentences from the lesson and the

additional vocabulary below.

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