STUDY AND WRITING SKILLS
14
1.5
Dear Mr Hammond,
I attended your lecture on public speaking at the
Communication Skills conference in London last week
and I was very impressed. I am involved in organising
something similar and I would like to invite you to speak
at our conference in Manama, Bahrain, on 15 May. The
talk would need to last for 60 minutes (45 minutes for
the talk and 15 minutes for questions).
Please find attached a document giving full details of
the programme.
Should you have any further questions, please do not
hesitate to contact me.
I look forward to hearing from you.
Yours sincerely,
Fatima Al Bitar
Conference Organiser
STUDY SKILLS
NOTE-TAKING FROM LISTENING TO A TALK
1
You are going to watch someone giving a lecture about
public speaking. Discuss these questions in small groups.
1
Have you ever made a speech? How did you feel?
2
What tips do you think will be given?
3
What would you like to know about?
2
a
Structure of talks
Formal talks, such as lectures, are
usually structured in a very clear way, with ‘signposts’ to
help listeners. Match headings 1–5 with examples a–e.
1
Introducing what is to come
2
Sequencing
3
Signalling the main point
4
Rephrasing
5
Exemplifying
a
For instance, …
b
I intend to discuss …
c
In other words, …
d
The most important thing …
e
Firstly, I want to …
2
b
What other phrases do you know for each heading?
3
1.1
Note-taking
Watch the first part of the lecture
by James Hammond and make notes of the main points.
4
a
Compare your notes with a partner and discuss
the questions.
1
Did you note the same information?
2
Did you make notes in the same way?
3
Which of the phrases from Exercise 2 did you hear?
Which did you find most useful for your notes?
4
b
Which of these techniques did you use in your
note-taking?
•
arrows
•
using headings/colours
•
using a lot of space
•
underlining key words
•
using capital letters for very important ideas and points
•
your own system of abbreviations and short forms
(e.g. using one letter to mean a word or topic,
S = speech, C = communication)
5
1.2
Watch the second part of the talk and make
notes of the main points. Use techniques from Exercise 4
which you think might be useful.
6
Compare your notes with the notes you made in
Exercise 3. Is the second set of notes better or clearer?
7
Work in small groups and reconstruct what you
heard using your notes. Look at the Video script on
page 168 and check your ideas.
8
Discuss these questions.
1
Do you agree or disagree with any of the advice
given by James?
2
Can you add anything else?
3
What is your opinion of the communication style
of James?
WRITING SKILLS
WRITING AND CHECKINGWRITTEN COMMUNICATION
9
Work with a partner to discuss these questions.
1
How often do you write emails?
2
How often do you send letters (either on paper or
attached to emails)?
3
Do you write more emails for formal or informal
situations?
4
Can you remember the last three emails you wrote?
Who were they to? What was their purpose?
10
Register
Read the two emails sent to the lecturer
James Hammond. In each case, what is the relationship
between the writer and James? How do you know this?
Hi James,
Great talk last week on public speaking. I really enjoyed it.
Do you want to give a talk at an industry thing I’m getting
together in Bahrain in May?
The session needs to be an hour (45 mins for the talk
and 15 mins questions).
See attached for the full prog.
Any problems or queries, just let me know.
Hope to hear from you soon.
Best,
Nader
