English for department store staff

[Torsten]

Hi Ray,

Many thanks for creating the department store vocabulary list. Today I copied the English version of KS's department store structure so we can use it and add the items to it:

5th floor:
panorma terrace
restrooms
baby change
telephone
locker

4th floor:
multimedia
repair service
photo service
kid's fashion
toys
cellular radio

3rd floor:
housewares
glass&porcellain
fabrics/curtains
handicrafts
pillows/mattresses
singer shop
bathroom
electrical equipment
picture frames
wedding table
photo booth
packaging
DHL shipping
service center
financial services

2nd floor:
men's fashion
underwear
pyjamas
shoes
tailoring
XXL-shop
young fashion

1st floor:
women's fashion
lingerie
swimwear
hairdresser ryf
inscene
foot care
beauty treatments
beauty lounge
manicure

ground floor:
perfumes
jewelery
watches service
drugstore
umbrella
accessories
hosiery
confectionery
leather goods/millinery
stationery
books
ticket shop
travel agency

basement:
groceries
kitchen items
bargain center
illuminant
Mister Minit
tobaccos&magazines
photo booth
areaway to parking garage

By the way, I think there a couple of typos in the original and as well as some possible spelling inconsistencies.There also might be some words or expressions that are unusual to the native speaker's ear. In the original, the ground floor and basement are labeled with the German abbreviations (EG and UG).
_________________
Test Of English for International Communication
TOEIC Preparation & TOEIC Vocabulary

[Mister Micawber]

.
Some changes I'd make:

5th floor:
panorama terrace
baby changing area
telephones
lockers

4th floor:

children's fashions
cellular radio -- What is this?

3rd floor:

glass & porcelain
singer shop -- what is this?
bathroom accessories? Restrooms?
appliances
picture framing
bridal salon
gift wrapping
DHL shipping -- What is this?

2nd floor:

men's fashions
young fashions

1st floor:

women's fashions
hairdresser ryf -- What is 'ryf'?
inscene --What is this?
beauty treatment
manicures

Ground floor:

watch repair
umbrellas

Basement:

illuminant -- What is this? Lighting?
Mister Minit -- What is this? Shoe repair?
tobacco & magazines
access to car park
.
_________________
Native English teacher at Mister Micawber's

[Nomisyar]

Hello Torsten,

I have been doing well with the Karstadt group. We have been working with an ever expanding vocab list. It is a combination of all the relevant words known by all the groups. We have also practiced some simple mock dialogues between customer and salesperson.

We have focused on simple phrases... simple greeting phrases, and simple closing and farewell phrases. I think that being able to greet customers is key, being comfortable saying "how may I help you" instead of "what do you want" is important as is knowing how to direct someone to the cash desk. Because the groups are mixed, from different departments, it is difficult to give general phrases to deal with customers. We develop new vocabulary everyday and share what we know, and work on these greetings. Towards the end, we will work on more potential department specific queries.

Most people feel free to ask questions about their particular areas. Its an interesting challenge, but I feel the class is working well.

[Torsten]

Hi Ray,

Here below is some more vocabulary that we can incorporate into our training:

housewares

blenders
mixers
processors (choppers/grinders, food processor)
toasters + ovens
cookware (Cooks copper tri-ply 10-pc. set features cast stainless steel handles and flared rims for easy pouring. Stainless steel lids help lock in flavor. A layer of aluminum is sandwiched between a layer of copper and a layer of stainless steel for heat conductivity.
Set includes: covered saucepans, covered stockpot, covered saucepan, and 10" frypans. Dishwasher and oven safe. Cookware set is imported from China. This item is warranted by the manufacturer.)

kitchen tools (cake decorating set, mixing bowl, timer, gadget set)
electrics in color
electrics in stainless
flatware (knives, spoons, forks)

cutlery (Cooks stainless steel knife set features hollow handles that have an ergonomic shape for a lightweight, comfortable grip. High-carbon steel blades for durability. Set includes:

* 8" and 10" chef's knife
* 8" slicer
* 6" sandwich
* 3¼" and 3½" parer
* 6" carving fork
* kitchen shears
* 9" bread knife
* 6" boning
* eight 5" steak knives
* 8" sharpener
* 22-slot knife block)

dining + tabletop (dinnerware = cups, plates, etc.) + tablelinen, kitchen towels,
kitchen electrics (deep fryers,
specialty electrics
cookware
bakeware

kitchen tools
storage + organization
home care + cleaning
health + fitness
luggage
electronics
_________________
Test Of English for International Communication
TOEIC Preparation & TOEIC Vocabulary

[Kitosdad]

3rd. Floor .... singer shop.??????

If this is the sewing machine unit then Singer should be capitalised, assuming this is a Singer sewing machine outlet.

Also, electrics in COLOUR.
_________________
Englishman living in Germany.

[RimcMullen]

Please don't ‘correct’ American spellings or assume everyone should spell in British!

Most EFL learners around the world prefer the simplest and more phonetic (and less French ergo more English) spellings such as 'center over 'centre', program over 'programme' and color over 'colour'.

EFL learners, especially in Germany, when given a choice, tend to agree with more modern and phonetic spellings over outdated and unphonetic French/Norman spellings which stubbornly linger on in British.

For example, think about the global preference (outside of former British colonies) of the phonetic ‘center’ over centre.

If you look around your neighborhood in Germany you will see that ca. 19 out every 20 commercial establishments, which incorporate ‘Center’ as part of the business name, spell it phonetically. To spell ‘Center’ as Centre is only phonetically correct in French.

Another way to check word-spelling preference (by country) is to use Google or any domestic search engine. If you search for 'colour' on google.de, 163 000 000 references will come up. 'Color' however has 901 000 000. This means that for every 2 times someone’s spells 'color' as 'colour', another 7 - 8 spell 'color' as 'color'.

Also keep in mind that we are teaching EFL learners to speak English not necessarily so that they can communicate with British English speakers - but to communicate with speakers of many different languages and backgrounds - the simplest and most phonetic form will naturally prevail.

There are already enough words in English, which are phonetically difficult for English language learners – where a choice exists to spell a word phonetically correctly, use it!

BTW - DHL shipping = courier delivery. (DHL is a courier company)

[Torsten]

Retail Sales Language Training – Session Structure

1) Warm-up
- alphabet (how to spell store items/articles and other retail sales vocabulary)
- NATO alphabet
- numbers and prices
- personal pronouns and be verb
- question words
- adjectives, comparative and superlative
- directions and prepositions of location and time
- measurements (American, British, European)

2) New grammar/vocabulary item/topic
- personal profile questions
- giving directions
- colors, materials, shapes
- describing departments and products
- describing product features and benefits
- how to greet customers
- how to ask specific questions
- how to offer alternatives
- how to respond to complaints

3) Role play situations
- finding a present/gift
- buying a kitchen appliance
- buying clothes, household goods, toys, jewelery, cosmetics, etc.
- returning a product and selecting alternatives/replacements
- offering additional/complimentary products and services
_________________
Test Of English for International Communication
TOEIC Preparation & TOEIC Vocabulary

[Ritter]

First class today on 24 Mar was OK
14 participants, I pretty much covered all the introductory stuff, i.e. introductions, spellings, pronouns, numbers, to be, question words and basics for customer dialogue.

Stefan

[L]

Hi guys,

The first class at Karstadt (Wed 25 March 2009) went well. I think they had a lot of fun. We covered numbers, the simple present forms of "to be", a couple of
question words and some basic phrases to be used with customers.

El Sambe

[Ritter]

Follow-up class on 31 Mar: revision, basic adjectives (incl. colours), comparatives
and like/would like. I asked each student to name the cheapest/most expensive product
in their dept and made them compare their products (eg. Rosenthal china is more expensive
than Kahla) I think they all liked this practical approach.

[L]

Wed March 1:
-Alphabet A-K: we did some drills and combinations with abbreviations of known organizations like KGB, FBI, CIA...
-Colors
-Numbers (1-100)
-Customer greetings, basic customer service phrases ("Can I help you?", "This way please! ", "What size/color please!" etc)
-Role plays between customer and sales associate

[Ritter]

3rd class on Apr 7th: have got/ haven't got, questions and answers:
- What have you got (on sale) in your dept ?
- Have you got (any) special offers ? We haven't got (any) nappies in our dept.
- How much is ...? Numbers and prices,
- a/an
- listening comprehension (excerpt from Headway A2)
all very keen and good class

[L]

Karstadt class Wed April 8 (11 participants):
-Reviews
-Customer greetings
-Dep. Store En/De vocabulary list with pictures (e.g. underwear, hat, coat, hanger, iron, amber ...), about 30 words. They found it very helpful!
-Numbers: we did simple math games (orally) where the first person would say a number and the next one would say that number plus 3, and we would then go around the table. They thought it was fun.

[L]

Karstadt class Tue April 14 (filling in for Stefan Ritter):
-Introductions
-Listen & Repeat (Cornelsen CD 1st rhythm): Dialogues customer/sales associate (e.g. -Do you have this blouse in a bigger size? -Here you are, "medium" should fit you!)
-Dep. Store En/De vocabulary list with pictures (different departments e.g. clothes, jewelry...)
-Role plays, polite expressions

[L]

Karstadt class Tue April 15:
-Dep. Store En/De vocabulary list with pictures
-Using the acquired vocabulary we improvised dialogues (customer/sales clerk), e.g. "Do you have this swimsuit in dark blue" "No sorry, but we have a light blue one"
-Adjectives: big, small, bright, dark, long, short, comfortable,uncomfortable, tight, loose, wide...
-Giving directions inside the store: "straight ahead", "go left, right", "behind", "in front of"...I had brought department store maps in English which students used in pairs to ask each other for directions.
I general we've applied the acquistion/production concept quite often in this class (e.g. learning new words or structures and using them in one-to-one or group workshops).