Meeting and Class Notes/Handouts

March 14: Apologies and Accepting Responsibility 


From Business Communication Strategies by Scott Smith


Apologies and Forgiveness

Page 142


Sincere apologies

I'm so/very/really sorry.

I can't tell you how bad/terrible I feel


Accepting the blame for something

It's (all) my fault.

I take full responsibility.


Admitting error

My mistake.

I shouldn't have said/done that.

I (honestly) didn't mean it.

I didn't mean to do it.

I didn't intend to do/say that.

I didn't mean it that way.


Promising not to repeat a particular mistake

It won't happen again. (I promise.)

How can I make it up to you?

Is there anything I can do (to make it up to you)?

Is there any way I can make it up to you?


Forgiving

That's OK.

It's OK.

Don't worry about it.

Forget about it.


Handling Criticism

Page 166

 

Acknowledging

You're (absolutely) right.

I see/understand what you're saying.

I should have known better.


Asking for specification

Can you be more specific/exact?

Can you give me an example?

What exactly do you want (me to do)?

What did I do that makes you think that?


Explaining

I can explain.

Let me explain.

If you'll allow to me to explain, _____.

If you give me a chance to explain, _______.


Expressing thanks

I appreciate your telling me that.

Thanks for pointing that out (to me).

Thanks for letting me know.

Thanks for bringing that to my attention.


March 7: Arguing and Negotiation 

From Business Communication Strategies by Scott Smith


Arguing

Page 123


Making a case

It's clear/obvious that_____.

Have you considered/thought about _____?

Surely you can see/agree that _____.

You have to remember that about _______.


Interrupting

Could/Can I say something?

May I interrupt (here)?

I'm sorry to interrupt, but _______.

Excuse me (for interrupting), but _____.

Sorry. Can I just say _______.

Hold on a second./Wait a minute.


Dealing with interruptions

Can/Would you let me finish, please?

Sorry, please let me finish (what I was saying).

Can I finish (what I was saying)?

Will you please stop interrupting me?


Questioning relevance

Is that (really) relevant?

That's not really relevant to _______.

What does that have to do with ______?

I think you're missing the point.


Balancing arguments

Let's look at the advantages and the disadvantages of _____.

Let's look at the pros and cons of _______.

On the one hand, ______.

On the other hand, ______.


Adding related points

I'd like to add (something to)_ ____.

Regarding/Concerning - _____.


Coming to the point of the matter

The issue is _____ not ______.

That is not the issue.

What are we really talking about (here)?

What it boils down to is _____.

It comes down to one thing ______.

It's all about In essence, ______.


Negotiating

Page 132


Establishing a position

It is (absolutely) essential that _____.

It is very/extremely important that ______.

What's important (for us) is _____.

You've done a great job, but _____.

(Essentially) We're interested in _____.

 (Basically) We're looking for_____.

We hope to/want to_____.

That is not a priority right now.


Making proposals

We suggest _____.

We propose______.

We can/could offer you_____.

The best we can do is_____.


Reacting to proposals

We can go along with that.

That's acceptable.

That's a possibility. (I'll have to check with ____ .)

If you_____, then we have a deal.

So, we have a deal?

We might be able to do that.

We'll have to get back to you on that.

That would be difficult.

I'm afraid we can't go along with that.

There's no way we can agree to that.


Bargaining

If you could_____, we would consider_____.

As long as____, we can agree to_____.

Would you be interested in_____?

We realize that, but _____.

On one condition - _____.

If you can _____, we can ______.

We know that you'd prefer _____, but how about ______.

We might consider that if (you guarantee) _____.

What would you say if we offered you  _____?

We would be willing to do that if (you could) ______.


February 11


February 4



January 18



And a tangent to the book collage: 30 Idioms About Books and Reading from Spellzone

December 10: Update References

American English and Culture



Kid's Conversation and More



November 12, Update References

American Sign Language (and other important) Thanksgiving words and phrases.



Transitions are important part of a language. Check out this worksheet!





November 5, 2023 Update References

Parents, have your kids make a list of words for the blanks in this story. Don't let them read the story. We will do it in class on Friday!








November 2 American English and Culture








October 17 American English and Culture




from Azar, Betty S., Stacy A. Hagen. Fundamentals of English Grammar. Fifth Edition. Pearson, 2020.




October 10 American English and Culture

The grammar practice pages are from Azar, Betty S., Stacy A. Hagen, Geneva Tesh, and Rachel Spack Koch. Understanding and Using English Grammar. Fifth Edition. Workbook. Pearson, 2017.








October 5 American English and Culture








September 18-22
American Sign Language 



American English and Culture







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