Gary and Jaya talks about the latest news in the office, and Jaya gives Gary a few tips on how to use proper English.
Phone-in Lesson 01
Download Phone-in Lessons 2002 – Lesson 01 (ZIP, 2.6MB)
| Jaya is taking a call at the HotDotCom office… | |
| Jaya: | (On phone) I see… Good… I’m sure we’d be very interested. It sounds like just the event we need to give HotDotCom more exposure… Great. … You’ve got the e-mail address, haven’t you?… Oh, my name? Yes of course – it’s Jaya… Jaya Gunaratnam… No, I’m the webmaster – Mmm. That’s right!… Bye for now and thank you! |
| Jaya hangs up and looks for Gary… | |
| Jaya: | (calling) Gary! Gary, where you? |
| Gary: | Aiyah! This postman so blur one! Waste sooo much time. |
| Jaya: | Postman not important. Got news! |
| Gary: | News – ah? |
| Jaya: | Got event upcoming. |
| Gary: | Events ah? Wah! Lots of goodie bags-ah! |
| Jaya: | Cannot just attend for give-away! Can get own stand! A HotDotCom stand at the Suntec Travel Exhibition. |
| Gary: | Aiyah. Must work overtime. Sure, must work overtime. Sure miss Jane these days. She sure help with workload. |
| Jaya: | Aiyah – also… Jane no come back to Singapore. HQ sending a new ang moh, Simon. |
| Gary: | Simon? Man ah? (Pause) Wonder how he look like? Maybe fierce. Maybe very handsome. (Pause) Then got competition. |
| Mei Ling: |
Hello. Remember me? I’m Mei Ling, the boss of HotDotCom. Our British colleague Jane certainly helped us out last year – and not just with the workload. She really helped us with our Speak Good English drive. But it looks like Gary and Jaya are slipping back into Singlish again: |
| Replay… | |
| Gary: | Aiyah! This postman so blur one! Waste sooo much time. |
| Jaya: | Postman not important. Got news! |
| Gary: | News-ah? |
| Mei Ling: | I think Jaya must be getting lazy with his English – at least when he speaks to Gary – because I know he can switch to good English when he thinks about it: |
| Replay… | |
| Jaya: | (On phone) I see. Good… I’m sure we’d be very interested. It sounds like just the event we need to give HotDotCom more exposure… |
| Mei Ling: |
All the same, I feel we all need to brush up our English, so that’s why we’re launching a second Speak Good English drive today. Together we’ll look at recognising words and phrases that won’t be understood outside Singapore. Like ‘blur’ and ‘fierce. |
| Jaya: | And we’ll be checking our pronunciation is clear and pointing out some common mistakes and offering alternative ways of saying things. |
| Replay… | |
| Gary: | Wonder how he look like? Maybe fierce. |
| Jaya: | No, Gary. You should say: “I wonder what he looks like? Perhaps he’s strict. |
| Gary: | ‘I wonder what he looks like, perhaps he’s strict.’ (Pause) OK. (Pause) So anyway… Simon… how is he? |
| Jaya: | Still not right Gary. |
| Mei Ling: | Do you know what it means when you say ‘how is he’? (Pause). To find out, read the Quiz Point in tomorrow’s newspapers. |
| Jaya: | And dial in tomorrow to catch up with the team for Lesson 2! |
Quiz Point
“How is he?” asks about someone’s health. If you want to ask about their appearance, you say: “What does he look like?”
Written by Niamh O’ Leary, Laraine Bamrah, Harry Allen, Clare Williams, Shirley Lim and Alaisdair Raynham for The British Council, in association with the Speak Good English Movement.
© Ministry of Information, Communications and the Arts and British Council Singapore 2002
