Implementación del escenario

See you

_Tuttie-bye

See you later, alligator

Hello Goodbye Words that stand out

Who do you know? Organisation of care

Make an organisation chart of all the people who work in your clinical area Taking phone calls

2.1.b

Listen to what your colleagues actually say at work.

Notice which expression is used in each relationship and write it in the space under the relationships.

So the doctor might say to the nurse Morning, Sister

and the sister answer Good Morning, Dr Jones

Write down any new expressions you hear.

2

Language study unit

2.1.c

Write in the box below two or three experiences you have had at work in the UK where the conversation stopped much sooner than you expected. Who was speaking to whom? What was the exact relationship between the talkers? Did the conversation stop for a reason (e.g. the phone rang)? Where I was What happened

Who was there

Nurse to nurse Patient to doctor

Ward Manager to new nurse Nurse to patient just admitted

Nurse to doctor Nurse to patient who has been on the ward for a week

Doctor to nurse Patient to nurse

Stroking

Stroking is the art of saying just the right amount to a person in order to keep the relationship happy and functioning well.

Eric Berne in Games People Play says that the feeling you get of feeling happy and valued when someone says just the right thing is like someone stroking you. His actual words are …stroking… denote(s) any act implying recognition of another’s presence. You can imagine a contented cat being stroked if you like! (Berne, Eric (1964) Games People Play, Penguin )

Let’s go back to the neighbour situation. Imagine that you usually have a quick chat to your neighbour when you see them – maybe three or four turns like this:

This is an example of stroking. It helps to build up the relationship.

If, instead, you just said Hello and went on your way, you might seem rude, or your neighbour might think you were offended in some way.

If, on the other hand, you suddenly start a long conversation with 20 turns or more, your neighbour will look at you very strangely! Why is she suddenly talking to me so much? Does she want something?

You may find that the number and length of turns that people in Britain (and especially in hospitals) use is much smaller than in your own culture.

Now look at your answers to 2.1.c. Do you think that knowing about stroking will help you judge how long a conversation should be to be comfortable? It may take a while to build up your cultural map of stroking.

2

unit

Hi! Nice day, isn’t it?

Yes, lovely to get some sun for once

Did you ever find your cat?

Oh, yes, thank you, it came home last night

2.2

Words that stand out

Look at the following sentence heard on a busy ward:

We’ll try and get him to theatre today

There are eight words in the sentence (nine if you count we’llas two!) but some of them are said more strongly (or stressed) than the others.

To say the word more strongly we can: • make the word slightly louder • take more time for the vowel sound • lower or raise the pitch of the word

anything to make the word stand out from the others.

Try saying the sentence aloud. Which words are stressed in the sentence above? Why? You probably said the words try, get, theatre and today. Even here, theatreand today

will probably be stressed more:

Why do we stress these words? Because they carry the new information and this is what we want the listener to pay attention to.

2.2.a

Which words would you stress in the following sentences?

1 Have you spoken to the doctor?

2 It’s in the cupboard.

3 It’s in the cupboard on the right.

4 Would you like me to phone your wife?

Sometimes the new information can change. There’s a lot of difference between saying:

O

I’ve spoken to the doctor( stress on doctor) and

O

I’ve spoken to the doctor(stress on spoken)

Try saying the two sentences aloud. What is the difference in meaning between them? In the first one, by stressing doctor, you are saying that it was the doctor you spoke to, not the nurse or the receptionist. In the second one, by stressing spoken, you are saying that you have spoken to the doctor, but you haven’t seen him or her (maybe you spoke on the phone).

2

In the cartoon above which word or words would the father stress? Why? 2.2.b

Try saying the sentence below in different ways, each time stressing a different word. What do you mean in each case?

I’m not going to eat at Mc Dougals.

Match the meaning to the stress patterns below.

1

I’m

2 I’m

not

3 I’m not

going

4 I’m not going to

eat

5 I’m not going to eat at

Mc Dougals.

2

unit

It’s the women who wear