Personalised instant roleplays for logistics

Personalised instant roleplays for logistics staff

Choose a way of communicating from below that you often have to do in English, have particular problems doing, will have to do in English, or often do in your job and might have to do in English. Describe one real-life situation to your partner in as much detail as you can, e.g. “A phone call from a client complaining about a delivery which hasn’t arrived, with medium formality”.

Roleplay that situation with your partner. If it is written communication such as an email exchange, just take turns saying what you would write (not writing anything down). Include absolutely everything you would say or write (names, greetings, small talk, etc) from the very beginning of the interaction to the very end of the interaction

 

Post-roleplay discussion/ feedback/ brainstorming

What functions were there in those exchanges? What language did you use to do those things? What other phrases have the same functions?

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

How did you start and finish those exchanges? What other language can be used to start and finish that kind of communication?

 

Things to explain to your partner before you start:

• Way of communicating
• Who you are communicating with
• Topic(s)
• Functions/ What you and the other person does
• Level of formality (very formal, fairly formal, medium formality, casual or very friendly)
• Possible problems (negative reactions, communication problems, etc)
• Who starts the exchange (who sends the first email, who chairs the meeting, etc)

 

Way of communicating

• Telephone
• Email
• Online chat/ Instant messaging
• Teleconference/ Video conference/ Skype/ Online meeting
• Face-to-face meeting
• More informal face to face conversation, e.g. going to someone’s desk or office to speak face to face (without arranging it), a business lunch, or meeting in the elevator

 

Who you are communicating with

• (New/ Regular/ Possible future) customer
• Officials (customs officials, etc)
• Staff in a subsidiary/ group company/ foreign branch
• Other freight companies

 

Topics

• Advantages and/ or disadvantages of…
• Borders/ Customs
• Capacity
• Collection
• Cost
• Delays
• Delivery/ Drop off
• Dimensions (height, width, length, etc)
• Documents/ Paperwork (invoice, etc)
• Duties/ Tax
• (Fragile/ Dangerous/ Heavy) goods
• Handling
• Inspection
• Insurance
• Labelling (barcode, QR code, etc)
• Laws/ Regulations/ Rules
• (Un)loading (time)
• Means of transportation (train, sea/ ship, air, etc)
• Packaging (pallet, container, etc)
• Payment

• Problems (breakdown, industrial action, backlog, traffic, political instability, terrorism, smuggling, piracy, etc)
• Technology
• (GPS) tracking
• Urgency
• Warehouse/ Warehousing
• (Extreme) weather/ Natural disasters (cyclone, earthquake, flooding, etc)
• Weight/ Weighing

 

Functions/ What you and the other person has to do

• Advice/ Feedback/ Recommendations/ Suggestions
• Apologising/ Responding to complaints
• Bad news (e.g. announcing delays)
• Booking/ Making reservations
• Changing/ Cancelling
• Checking progress/ Chasing up
• Checking/ Clarifying/ Confirming
• Chit chat/ Small talk
• Commands/ Demanding action (= Telling someone to do something)
• Comparing/ Explaining (different) options/ Weighing up (different) options
• Complaints
• Contacting people/ Meeting people (for the first time/ again)
• Correcting (mistakes, wrong information, etc)
• Dealing with conflict/ Dealing with disagreements
• Dealing with problems (IT problems, etc)/ Troubleshooting
• Describing (products/ services, company, job, figures/ trends, etc)
• Enquiries (= Inquiries)/ Asking and answering questions/ Giving information
• Forecasting/ Predicting
• Giving reasons
• Instructions
• Introducing yourself
• Negotiating/ Persuading
• Offers (offering help etc)
• Permission/ (Official) approval
• Purchasing/ Ordering
• Quotations/ Estimates
• Requests (asking for help, etc)
• Sales/ Selling (cold calling, sales presentations, etc)
• Scheduling/ Rescheduling
• Talking about figures (= data = numbers)
• Thanking (e.g. acknowledging receipt of something)
• Updates