Speaking Activities for the Classroom

Apologies in the Workplace 

 

Nobody likes excuses, but, sometimes, in your workplace, you must to 

apologize to your client (or to your boss) because you do not yet have the 

required document(s) ready so you get your report completed or. This is an 

uncomfortable situation for everyone concerned, and you will want to get out 

of your situation in the smoothest, most polite and diplomatic  manner 

possible.  

Here is a formula you may follow : 

 

1. Say that you are sorry (apologize). 

 

2. Give a good reason (explanation). 

 

3. Tell what you are doing to solve the problem (right now). 

 

4. Make a promise to the client/boss (when the work will be completed). 

  

 

The above formula will be easier to write if you follow this pattern : 

 

 

1. 

 

I am very sorry that…………………………

 

Apology 

 

2. 

 

The reason is because……………………….

 

Explanation 

 

3. 

 

However, I will complete this job when ……

 

Solution 

 

4. 

 

I can promise you that…………………… 

 

Promise 

 

Note : If you are in a position where you need an excuse, you are already in 

trouble. Nobody is ever satisfied with excuses, especially the client, so the best 

way to avoid finding yourself facing such a compromising predicament is to 

have your work finished in time to meet the deadline, whatever the obstacle. 

 

315

Apologize Using This Formula : 

 

Imagine that you are speaking in the following business situation : 

 

1. 

 

 

I  am  sorry  that  we  do  not  yet  have  your  interim  tax  review  report 

ready. I apologize. Please forgive me. We have really tried our best. 

2. 

 

The reason for our delay is that I am still awaiting receipt of your VAT 

invoices, numbers …… and …… dated ….. ….. ….. and ….. ….. …..,  

which we requested from your accounting office in our email  dated 

Wednesday 22 August 200 … for your payments made to EXG co. 

Ltd. on said dates. 

3. 

 

Jut now, I double-checked with my staff and learned that we have no 

record of the receipt of such documents. Would you please be so kind 

as to check at your end if the documents are in process of being sent. 

This would help me to speed up the process and avoid further delay.  

4. 

 

I promise that as soon as I have been able to review the necessary 

documents, I will finish the report and send it to you immediately. I 

beg your pardon, and I shall do my best to try to be suer that this does 

not happen in the future 

 

 

Note :  

A good manager should always have the foresight to anticipate  a problem 

arising and double-check and follow-up, in time to avoid any unnecessary delay.  

Sometimes, it can save a lot of time and effort, if you talk directly over the 

telephone with the client about the problem.  

He will probably be less-aggravated and more ready to assist you in finding a 

solution if he is kept fully up-to-date regarding the case. Diplomacy is the name 

of the game. 

A direct approach will also save you the trouble of having to write out the 

necessary information and of sending it through an e-mail distribution chain, 

which would further slow the process.  

Moreover, if the problem is not exactly your fault, you may not be the one who 

has to bear the burden of blame.  

 

316

Apologize in the Following Situations : 

 

1.  You do not have the client’s work permit ready. 

2.  You lost the client’s passport. 

3.  You can no longer find the client’s tax slip. 

4.  You have not paid the withholding tax invoice on time. 

5.  The Bank has not released the money for you to pay the contractor. 

6.  The due diligence report is long overdue. 

7.  You are three days late in delivering your proposal. 

8.  You have a software problem and must delay service. 

9.  You have to change the payroll program after a company merger. 

10. The client must go back to Japan and apply for a non-immigrant visa. 

11. The company won’t be a able to pay a stock dividend this year 

because the stock price has plummeted rapidly downwards. 

12. There will be no annual bonus paid this year because of low profits. 

13. The company must cut down costs by thirty percent and has no 

choice but to lay off twenty percent of the staff. 

14. A staff member must move to the head office, because the branch 

office where he works is going to be closed-down. 

15. You cannot hire the applicant because of a recruitment freeze. 

16. The client has been categorized as falling into in a different tax 

category and must pay fifteen percent import tax from now on. 

17. You cannot send the client the interim tax review report until his 

company can provide evidence that the withholding tax on the most 

recent telephone service has been duly paid. 

18. You cannot send the client a memo about the most up-to-date tax 

amendments until you have more specific details about the case. 

 

317

Familiar Apologies 

 

Make an apology in the following situations : 

1.  You have forgotten your wife’s birthday. 

2.  You couldn’t go to visit your Mom on Sunday. 

3.  You cannot attend your son’s graduation ceremony. 

4.  Your wife has seen you in a restaurant with another woman. 

5.  You cannot drive your wife’s parents to the doctor’s on Thursday. 

6.  You are unable to attend your colleague’s wedding. 

7.  You cannot attend your uncle’s funeral ceremony. 

8.  You don’t want to attend the office party. 

9.  You cannot lend your friend any more money. 

10. You do not want to go out drinking with your old school pals. 

11. You are too shy to sing a song in front of a full crowd of people. 

12. You don’t have room for your cousin to come and live in your house. 

13. You don’t want your brother-in-law to call New York on your phone. 

14. You are short of money and you cannot pay your rent on time. 

15. You cannot give your wife any extra money at the moment. 

16. You are unable to buy your son a new car for him to drive to school. 

17. You do not want to give your daughter permission to sleep overnight at 

her friend’s house because you are worried about her safety. 

18. You have to tell your wife that you cannot come on time for the dinner 

party dinner because you have to work overtime in order to meet an 

important deadline. 

19. You do cannot let your assistant go home to her husband and family 

until after she has completed typing the memorandum. 

20. You must admit to the client that you need more time to finish the job. 

 

318

Saying No Politely 

 

1.  A secretary wants to change her job within the company. 

2.  A senior manager is asking to be promoted immediately. 

3.  A staff member asks to be excused from learning English. 

4.  One of your staff members asks you not to give him/her urgent 

work every day because he/she gets too confused. 

5.  Please don’t let anybody interrupt me when I am working. 

6.  Your assistant wants someone else to finish the task/job so he/she 

can go to Chula to study at 6 pm for his/her MBA. 

7.  Someone wants to leave at five pm so she can drive her son home. 

8.  A young, female staff member says she does not want to travel to 

meet with clients because she is shy and lacks confidence. 

9.  Your assistant asks you to correct his/her English correspondence.  

10. Someone wants three weeks vacation leave in the peak period. 

 

How would you politely refuse the following requests? 

1.  Can you give me three more days to finish the job? 

2.  I don’t want to work on weekends. 

3.  Don’t ask me to work overtime too often. 

4.  I don’t want hand in my billable hours. 

5.  Please don’t make me work towards achieving a budget limit. 

6.  Please don’t criticize the quality of my work. 

7.  Don’t ask me to get here early every day. 

8.  I should be able to leave the office after eight hours work. 

9.  Please pay me overtime when I have to stay to finish my work. 

10. Please pay me time-and-a-half when I work on Saturdays. 

 

319

Choose Your Words Carefully 

 

A lot of communication in business is transacted via e-mail, which can be a 

convenient thing, because an e-mail is short and gets to the client quickly. 

Avoid the tendency, however, to be too short and curt in your language, so 

that it may offend the person who pays the money that you depend upon to 

earn your salary. For example, 

 

Don’t say, “You have not paid your bill. Pay now or you’ll pay the consequences later.” 

Instead, say, “It has come to our attention that we have not yet received 

payment for our invoice number 987, dated November 7

th

, 2007. Please be 

kind enough to remit payment by December 31

st

, 2007. We very much 

enjoy being of service to you and hope to continue to do so in the future.” 

Don’t say, “We are still waiting for your overdue delivery. What’s wrong?” 

Instead, say, “Our warehousing division is  still awaiting delivery of the 

mobile crane that we ordered to be delivered by the deadline of April 1

st

. 

Would you please be kind enough to inform us of the reasons for this delay 

and when you can complete delivery. Your immediate response to this 

query would be much appreciated.” 

Don’t say, “Our annual audit report is way overdue and it’s past the deadline already.” 

Instead, say something like, “We are still waiting for the annual audit report 

that you have been compiling for us, and we would like to remind you that 

the tax deadline has already passed and that we will have to pay a fine for 

filing late. For this reason, we would appreciate your response informing us 

of the present status of the audit and when we can expect the report.” 

Don’t answer, “It’s your fault because you have withheld important data.” 

Instead say, “We have all the work completed except for the section 

pertaining to freight and shipment charges on the custom’s invoice as 

detailed in our e-mail of August 4

th

 2007. As soon as we have obtained the 

pertinent customs documents from you, we will be able to proceed quickly 

and send the audit to you with no further delay.” 

Don’t say, “How long do we have to wait for you to reply to our question?” 

Instead, say, “We are still awaiting your reply to our query of September 2

nd

, 

2007, and would appreciate your bringing us up-to-date regarding this 

matter.” 

 

320

Try Pronouncing These Computer Terms  

 

Microsoft Outlook 

Blue Tooth Places 

Document Scrap Bin 

Adobe Acrobat 

Corel City.com 

New Network Connections 

Microsoft Word 

Windows Explorer 

Norton Anti-virus Disk 

Cyber Link Power Director Pro 

Blank Document 

Internet Mail 

You’ve got Mail 

Ariel Narrow Fonts 

Times New Roman Fonts 

Print Layout 

Borders and Columns 

Draw Table 

Hyperlink 

Track Changes 

Language Thesaurus 

Microsoft Word Help 

Activate Product 

Remote Assistance 

Accessories 

Set Program Access and Defaults 

Hewlett Packard 

Nero-Burning Rom 

 

321

Some Visa and Work Permit language 

 

Try to pronounce these words and phrases correctly after the teacher. 

 

These are the requirements regarding work permit renewals and visa extensions  

Preparation of applications and all relevant documents 

Requesting approval for work permit applications and visa extensions 

From the Royal Thai Board of Investment 

Filing of applications and doing liaison work 

Until the applications have finally been approved 

Preparation of all the relevant documents for renewals and extensions 

Accompanying the client to the One Stop Service Center 

Obtaining multiple entry permits for seventy-three Japanese nationals 

Preparation of documents for all native Japanese and their families 

Supporting documents for Japanese managers returning home 

Arranging the return of work permits for departing managers  

Within seven days of their date of resignation from a management position 

Fees are payable upon presentation of an invoice 

Three copies of their passports duly signed and certified 

Record of a three monthly report on the manager’s place of residence 

Signed and certified copies of all tax receipts 

Payment of the fee for approval of applications 

Signed and certified documents pertinent to the arrival of any dependents  

Originals must be kept by the individual managers, ready for presentation 

Or originals may also be kept at the office in case of an official inspection 

Receipts of residence and work permit slips retained by BOI officials 

After going abroad on business and then returning to Thailand 

It is required for said managers to present their re-entry permits upon arrival 

Or all previous visas and work permit rights will be automatically  

Revoked and cancelled and they will have to be applied for once again 

 

322

Some Contract and Agreement Language 

 

Now, therefore, the parties agree as follows : 

The borrower shall submit a receipt to the lender. 

The amount shall be paid in lump sum by … 

The loan shall bear interest at the rate of … 

Pre-payment by the borrower is not allowed. 

All payments should be made by the due date. 

The borrower will provide guarantees and warranties. 

The borrower is a registered company in good standing 

And has the requisite corporate power to own property. 

The loan has been authorized through the proper corporate proceedings 

And will not contravene any provisions of the law. 

This agreement is legal and binding under the law of Thailand 

The borrower guarantees there are no litigation proceedings against him. 

Default of any covenants will result in the loan being payable immediately. 

The borrower shall pay any withholding tax due  

Without offset or counterclaim against the lender 

This agreement shall be governed under the law of Thailand 

In witness thereof the parties have signed and set their seals 

On the day and year above written 

The guarantor hereby unconditionally and irrevocably guarantees … 

The guarantor’s liability shall in no way be impaired by … 

Change in liability of the borrower or guarantor … 

The guarantor also hereby agrees as follows … 

Full and prompt payment of the due amount 

The guarantor’s liability shall in no way be impaired, affected 

Or discharged by any of the following events …  

Insolvency or bankruptcy or liquidation 

Merger, acquisition, consolidation, involving … 

 

323

.Robert’s Rules of Order 

 

Many times, you will find yourself in a meeting which follows standard 

formal or informal rules of procedure. Familiarize yourself with this 

language so you will be ready to participate when the time comes. 

The Chairman begins : 

Ladies and gentlemen, may I have your attention please? 

I would now like to call the meeting to order. 

Please refer to your copy of the agenda. 

Do we all approve of following the said agenda? 

Are there any additions to the agenda?  

Shall we proceed with the agenda as it stands? No? 

Someone says: I move to add the topic of increasing annual bonuses. 

Chairman : Does anyone wish to second that motion? 

Another : I second that motion. 

Chairman : There is a motion on the floor to add the topic of annual 

bonuses to the agenda. Shall we put it to a vote or is there any further 

discussion on this point? If there is no discussion, we may now proceed. All 

those in favor, please raise your right hand.  All those who are against? All 

those who are abstaining? I see that the vote is passed. Would the secretary 

please make a note to that effect that the result of the vote was eleven in 

favor, four against and two abstentions? The motion is passed. 

The Chairman pauses and begins again : 

We may now proceed to the first item on the agenda, which was passed at 

the last general meeting. The first point concerns an increase in the 

registered capital of the company by two hundred million Baht. Does 

anyone want to comment on this issue? There is no discussion. I can then 

assume that all present understand the reasons for the increase in registered 

capital as outlined by the outgoing president at our last general meeting. If 

there are no further comments, may I then call to put the motion to a vote? 

No objections? Will all those in favor please raise your right hands? Against? 

Abstaining? I see that the vote is unanimous. Would the secretary please 

make a note to that effect? 

Now, that leaves us free to go onto the second item on the agenda, which 

concerns the appointment of an auditor to review the annual accounts…….  

 

324

Saying Geographical Names the English Way 

Every culture has its own way of saying the names of countries and places. Englishmen, for 

example, call “Koln,” in Germany, “Cologne.” If you are speaking to a person from an 

English speaking culture, don’t say the names the way you do in your own culture, because the 

names often change the sound so much that an Englishman would not recognize the way you 

say it here. Two examples are “Chicago” and “Korea.” Repeat them after you teacher.  

Australia Austria Argentina Angola 

Brazil Belgium Brunei 

Bangladesh 

Canada Cambodia  China 

Chile 

Denmark Dominica  Djibouti 

--- 

England Egypt Ecuador Ethiopia 

France Fiji Finland --- 

Greece Gibraltar 

Guatemala Ghana 

Hong Kong 

Holland 

Hungary 

Honduras 

India Indonesia  Iraq 

Iran 

Japan Jordan Jamaica Java 

Korea Kuwait Kenya Kashmir 

Laos Libya 

Luxembourg 

Liberia 

Myanmar Malaysia Morocco  Mexico 

Norway New 

Zeeland Namibia  Netherlands 

The Philippines 

Portugal 

Poland 

Pakistan 

Russia Romania Rwanda  --- 

Singapore Switzerland South 

Africa  Spain 

Turkey Tahiti  Tibet Tunesia 

United States 

Uruguay 

Uganda 

Uzbekistan 

Venezuela Viet 

Nam 

--- 

--- 

Whales West 

Indies 

Western 

Samoa   

Yugoslavia Yemen 

--- 

--- 

Zambia Zaire 

Zimbabwe --- 

You also need to know what country a foreigner is talking about when he is speaking to you.  

 

325

Job Interview Questions 

Often, those who will interview you for a job have already read your 

resume, and they know about your academic background. The reason they 

want to see you, in a personal interview, is so they can evaluate what kind of 

person you are, whether you will fit into the professional environment, and 

whether the quality of your English is up-to-standard. They can ask you 

anything they want, but the usual sort of questions are as follow : 

Why do you want to become an auditor (or whatever)? 

What makes you think you will be a good auditor? 

What personal qualities would make you an asset to the company? 

What do you know about our company? 

How did you find out about our company? 

Have you had any previous experience in this field? 

Do you like working on your own or in a team? 

Are you a responsible person? Give an example. 

Do you have a sense of discipline? Give an example. 

What do you want from the company? 

What sort of salary do you expect? 

Where do you see yourself in five years?  

Do you want to further your formal education? 

Did you contribute to student life at university? 

Tell us something about your family. 

What do you do in your free time? 

What kind of magazines do you like to read? 

How do you normally spend your weekends? 

What are your strong points? 

What are your weak points? 

Who is your role model and why? 

Whatever they ask you, start speaking right away. Do not show any 

hesitation or confusion. Be yourself and speak freely and openly andmaybe 

you will be exactly what they are looking for. They already have a certain 

profile in mind, and if you fit that profile, you will probably be accepted.  

 

326

Evaluating Your English 

 

Often, when you have passed the first job interview, the company will ask you 

come back for further interviews, for example, with your potential boss or 

department head, or even those with whom you would work in a team. If you 

get through that, and are put on a short-list, you may have to do a final 

interview with an expert in English who will make an impartial evaluation and 

submit it to the Human Resources Department. If this is going to be the 

deciding factor, it would be helpful for you to know more about how such an 

interview might be conducted. In this interview, the evaluator is only testing 

your command of English, so there is no way of know in advance what you 

may be asked, but he/she may listen to your answers and fill in a form 

something like the one below. The candidate with the best score gets the job. 

 

English Evaluation Sheet 

Name of candidate : ……………………………….. 

 

1  Skills evaluated 

excellent 

very 

good 

good fair  weak 

2 Loudness/clarity