Telephone conversations

 The recorded telephone conversations present three situations that a temporary agency manager has to deal with. These are in the form of short conversations and although they do not follow the exact format for Part 3 of the test, they allow students to develop strategies for this section. Students are asked to listen for the specific information to help them to identify the context of each conversation. In the first two conversations, the callers are enquiring about the availability of temporary personnel, and in the third, the caller is informing one of her clients that an employee has interrupted his contract. Although telephoning is dealt with in detail in Unit 3, you may want to focus students' attention on the following language:

This is ...

Speaking.

I'm calling to...

What can I do for you?

Can you get back to me ...?

Can / help you?

นี่คือ...

กำลังพูดอยู่

ฉันโทรไป...

มีอะไรให้ช่วยครับ?

คุณโทรกลับหาผมได้ไหม... ?

Listening

Name of caller	Subject of call	Action to betaken
Call 1: Jason Jackman	Asking if Sabrina Marquez can do another contract	Laura to check on January contract and to get back to Jason tomorrow
Call 2: Howard Mason	Wants to hire two truck drivers to deliver merchandise to Mexico	Laura to go for meeting at Howard's office tomorrow at 11 a.m. to go over the conditions and contract
Call 3: Laura Alvarado	Chef currently on temporary assignment has resigned to take up full-time post without giving notice	New chef to call Manfred first thing tomorrow

AUDIOSCRIPT A and B Man Hi Laura. This is Jason Jackman from ShowKase stores. Woman Hi Jason. What can I do for you? Man Well, I'm calling to ask you if there's any chance of getting Sabrina Marquez to do another contract with us. You know, she worked at our Lexington store last year during the holiday period. Is there any way we can get her back again this year? Woman Just let me have a look at her schedule. OK, here it is. Well, right now she's working on a two- month contract for a department store. But that finishes on the fifteenth - when do you need her to start? Man It would be great if she could start right after that and work through the end of January. Woman She's down for another contract in January but that hasn't been finalized yet. Let me check with her on this. Man I really need to get this sorted out pretty quickly. Can you get back to me before the end of the week? Woman No problem. I'll let you know tomorrow. 2 Woman PeoplePower. Can I help you? Man Yes. My name is Howard Mason. I'm the HR manager of Dextro Logistics and we need to hire some temporary staff. Woman Fine, Mr. Mason. What exactly are you looking for? Man Well I need to hire two truck drivers for a service contract that we've just taken on. Do you have any drivers available? Woman Yes, we do have a number of drivers available. What does the job involve? Man It's for an international assignment. We have to deliver some merchandise to a client in Mexico. And they gave us your name. The job would be for two drivers and would take about a week, I reckon. Woman I'll need to know the exact dates and we'll also have to discuss the conditions and go over the contract together. I think it might be better to meet. Man Sure. Could you come over to my office tomorrow mid-morning? We're at 19 West 57th, third floor. Woman Just let me check. OK. That's fine. Shall we say at 11? Man Fine. See you then. 3 Woman This is Laura Alvarado of PeoplePower. Manfred Liebe please? Man Speaking. What can I do for you? Woman Well, actually it's about Hamish Douglas, you know, the chef who's been working under contract with you. for the last two weeks. I'm sorry to have to tell you this but he's just informed me that he's accepted a full-time position elsewhere without giving me any notice. Man That's really a shame because he was working out so well. But I assume you'll be able to supply us with a replacement as soon as possible. Woman Yes. I have a young French chef, Madeleine Legrand, who can replace him. She's just waiting for me to confirm the assignment. Man This is a busy period and I can't afford to be short- staffed. Could you please have her call me first thing tomorrow?