Who's who in Effective Socializing

Unit 1: First contact -- Communication skills: welcoming a visitor -- Language knowledge: introductions opening small talk -- Socializing practice: first meetings

Unit 2: Getting to know each other -- Communication skills: welcoming a visitor -- Language knowledge: Asking and responding to questions -- Socializing practice: Developing conversation

Unit 3: More contacts -- Communication skills: Everyday meetings inclusive behaviour -- Language knowledge: Greetings, requests, favours, small talk -- Socializing practice: Everyday meetings

Unit 4: Arrangements: Communication skills -- Communication skills: Understanding and responding to invitations -- Language knowledge: Inviting, accepting, declining, offering, refusing

Unit 5: Arriving for dinner -- Communication skills: Hosting: time, dress, gifts -- Language knowledge: Thanking, offering, and responding -- Socializing practice: Welcoming and entertaining guests

Unit 6: Dinner -- Communication Skills: Complimenting inclusive behaviour -- Language knowledge: Showing appreciation, offering options, comments -- Socializing practice: Stimulating discussion

Unit 7: Communication skills: Choosing and developing topics of conversation -- Language knowledge: Structuring and developing conversation -- Socializing practice: Conversation topics

Unit 8: Farewells -- Communication skills: Wishing farewell -- Language knowledge: Leaving, farewells, reinforcing contacts -- Socializing practice: Saying goodbye

"Effective Socializing is a practical, video-based course designed for professional people who need to use English in social situations, within and beyond the work environment. It presents learners with the communication and language skills needed to operate effectively in a variety of common social contexts, and helps them to develop these skills in meaningful and realistic ways. Effective Socializing focuses on key strategies for effective social interaction such as making small talk, developing conversation, and inclusive behaviour, as well as more conventional functions like welcoming and entertaining guests, invitations, offers, and requests. It helps learners extend their knowledge of useful language for performing these skills,and offers authentic practice tasks which draw on their own ideas and experience. The course is divided into eight units covering the main aspects of socializing, from introductions to farewell. Based around the story of two foreign visitors to a British company, the video illustrates both bad and good examples of social behaviour for analysis and discussion. In each unit, it demonstrates how and why things go wrong in different situations, and looks at ways to avoid such problems, providing a positive model for learners to follow. Effective socializing is intended for intermediate and upper-intermediate level students, and lends itself both to classroom-based teaching and elements of self-study. It can be used as a short, intensive specialist course, or integrated into a wider-ranging Business English programme. The course consists of four interdependent components: a 25 minute video, accompanying Student's Book, an audio casette, and Teacher's Book. Effective Socializing was developed from materials used by York Associates, a specialist language and communications training partnership based in York, England" (Book cover).

Intended for intermediate and upper-intermediate students (B1-B2).