English, baby!

Voice Mail

Date: Sep 14 2001

Intro

1. Learn Vocabulary - Learn some new vocabulary before you start the lesson.

factual

2. Read and Prepare - Read the introduction and prepare to hear the audio.

When I lived in France I had a hard time using the telephone. It was difficult to understand someone when I couldn’t see them speaking to me.
It was even more difficult knowing what to say when I had to leave a message on an answering machine. I was never sure if I was saying things the right way!
We want to help you overcome these challenges by giving you four different examples of REAL messages left on John’s answering machine.
Pay attention to the different ways people talk to John, and then find out how they know him in the discussion that follows!

Dialog

1. Study - Read the dialog again to see how the vocab words are used.

First Message: | drugs and just beat this thing. So anyways, uh, I’m at John’s right now and my mom’s coming to pick me up around, I think like 10:30. (cough, cough) Oh God, and um, and I’m going to the doctor. I’ll probably be at my mom and dad’s after that and um, so, uh, I will be in tomorrow and if you need me give me a call. Okay? Bye.
Second Message: | fantastic lunch that you’re not bringing to me. Um, I’ll be here! Bye!
Third Message: | virus at the moment, and I’m uh, getting a, uh… I have to update my um, anti-virus protection. Uh, but I… it’s not allowing me to get on the Internet, so I’ve got to go actually out and purchase a disk to get into it. So I’ll, uh, be back in touch with you, but I’m, I’m working on the, uh, the text. Uh, almost finished with it and um, got a few more pictures to scan in, and, uh, should be ready to go, uh, very shortly. So. Uh, just letting you know. Haven’t forgotten. Talk to you later, bye.
Fourth Message: | man. I just uh, I got on that 12:00 flight, so I just landed. I’m going to get in my car, so should be there around 2:30 or something… 2:40. So, I’ll see you then. Bye.

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Discussion

First Message:
This is a message I left John when I was sick and had to miss work. Even though John and I are friends, he is also my boss, so I give him a bit more information about where I am, and what I am going to be doing while I am away from the office, trying to get better.
Second Message:
Kelsey and John have been friends since they were teenagers. You can tell that they know each other very well by the way Kelsey uses nicknames. She calls John, “Johnny boy” and refers to herself as, “Kels.” You can also tell how close they are by the way Kelsey jokes with him about lunch.
Third Message:
Ken is a business contact of John’s. He gives John facts about the project he is working on, and is using this message to touch base with John.
Fourth Message:
Miguel has just gotten into town and is going to meet up with John later. His familiar tone and the short nature of his message demonstrate how well he and John know each other. In fact, Miguel doesn’t even say his name because he knows John will know who is calling.
These examples should tell you a few things about leaving messages. If you are good friends with someone, you can leave a very familiar message for them on their machine. If you are leaving a business message, it should be more factual.
Good luck with all of your phone calls! If you have any questions, head on over to the Message Boards!
Your Friend,
Tanis

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