First Contact- Functions Card Game

First contact functions card game

Work in twos or threes. Deal out the cards. Roleplay a first contact face-to-face conversation, phone call or email exchange, doing as many things on the cards as you can. Discard the relevant cards each time your partner accepts that you have successfully done that thing. You may sometimes even be able to use two cards at one time, e.g. by requesting someone’s name, but your partner can make you take your cards back if you repeated exactly what someone said before, said something that doesn’t match that situation, etc.

When you finish that first contact roleplay, take turns choosing other situations to continue the same card game with (with the cards that are left in your hand). You will probably need to decide more about the situation before start, e.g. who is the caller or visitor, but in each case it must be the first contact between you. When the teacher stops you, the person who has discarded most function cards wins.

When you finish the game, ask about any functions which you couldn’t use or aren’t sure that you know how to use correctly.

 

Cards to tick off or cut up

Smoothly starting	About future contact	About names
About other people	About travel and places	About companies/ jobs
(Double-)check/ Confirm	Compliment	Greeting
Negative response	Offer/ Giving help	Positive response
Reaction to response	Reason(s)	Request/ Asking for help
Smoothly changing topic	Polite	Smoothly ending
Smoothly starting	About future contact	About names
About other people	About travel and places	About companies/ jobs
(Double-)check/ Confirm	Compliment	Greeting
Negative response	Offer/ Giving help	Positive response
Reaction to response	Reason(s)	Request/ Asking for help
Smoothly changing topic	Polite	Smoothly ending
Smoothly starting	About future contact	About names
About other people	About travel and places	About companies/ jobs
(Double-)check/ Confirm	Compliment	Greeting
Negative response	Offer/ Giving help	Positive response
Reaction to response	Reason(s)	Request/ Asking for help
Smoothly changing topic	Polite	Smoothly ending

 

Brainstorm language for these functions from above. Some phrases can go in more than one section.

Greetings (including email opening and closing greetings)

 

 

 

 

 

About names (introductions, etc)

 

 

 

 

 

About companies/ jobs

 

 

 

 

 

Checking/ Double-checking/ Confirming

 

 

 

 

 

About other people

 

 

 

 

 

About travel and places

 

 

 

 

 

Complimenting

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

Smoothly changing topic (getting down to business, etc)

 

 

 

 

 

Reasons

 

 

 

 

 

Offering

 

 

 

 

 

Requesting

 

 

 

 

 

Polite negative responses

 

 

 

 

 

Reactions to responses

 

 

 

 

 

Smoothly ending

 

 

 

 

 

About future contact

 

 

 

 

 

Suggested answers

Many other answers are possible, so please check if you wrote something different.

Greetings (including email opening and closing greetings)

• Good morning/ afternoon/ evening.
• Hello.
• Hi. 
• Goodbye. 
• Bye. 
• Dear Mr/ Ms…
• Best regards

 

About names (introductions, etc)

• Dear Mr/ Ms…
• You must be…
• My name is…/ I’m…
• Can I speak to…, please?
• (This is…) speaking.
• This is (my colleague)…
• Alex Case (Mr)

 

About companies/ jobs

• Good… … Corp. … department. … speaking. How can I help you?
• (I’m calling) from… (We…)
• I’m in charge of/ responsible for/…
• Are you the right person to talk to about…?

 

Checking/ Double-checking/ Confirming

• You must be…
• Are you the right person to talk to about…?

 

About other people

• (Your previous contact) … sends his/ her (best) regards.
• Mr/ Ms… asked me to meet you/ contact you.
• I’m a colleague of…
• I work with…
• I have taken over from…
• Please send my (best) regards to…

 

About travel and places

• Welcome to…
• Thanks for coming all this way.
• How was your journey/ flight?
• Did you have any problems getting here?/ Did you have any trouble finding us?
• It’s a lovely office/ view/ area/ city/ region/…
• Is this your first time here in…?
• Are you from around here?
• Where are you based?
• I’m based in…

 

Complimenting

• It’s a lovely office/ view/ area/ city/ region/…

 

Smoothly changing topic (getting down to business, etc)

• Well, I’d love to chat more, but we have to finish by twelve, so let’s get down to business, shall we?
• So, how can I help you?
• Well, I’m calling about/ to/ because…
• Anyway, the reason why I’m calling is…

 

Reasons

• …’s off sick today, so she asked me to meet you.
• Well, I’d love to chat more, but we have to finish by twelve, so let’s get down to business, shall we?
• Well, I’m calling about/ to/ because…
• Anyway, the reason why I’m calling is…

 

Offering

• Would you like something to drink before we start?
• How can I help you?
• Can I help you with anything else?

 

Requesting

• Can I speak to Mr/ Ms…, please?
• I’m looking forward to hearing from you.
• Yes, please. Can I have a white coffee?

 

Polite negative responses

• No, that’s all for now, thanks.
• I’m okay, thanks. I had one earlier.

 

Reactions to responses

• I’m glad/ sorry to hear that.
• Lucky you!/ I envy you!

 

Smoothly ending

• Can I help you with anything else?
• Well, I’d love to hear more about that but I have to…, so I’ll…
• It was nice to meet you.
• (It was) nice meeting you.

 

About future contact

• I look forward to doing business with you, and hope we have the chance to meet soon.
• I look forward to hearing from you.