International Negotiations

International Negotiations Trainer’s Notes © Cambridge University Press 2012

www.cambridge.org/elt/internationalnegotiations

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36

Professional English

International 

Negotiations

Trainer’s Notes

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Extension activity

If you think trainees may have problems with word order for questions, when you go 

through the answers to exercise 3, write the questions on the board using the following 

table. Use the table to show how most (but not all) questions in English follow the 

same pattern.

Question word

Auxiliary verb Subject

Main verb Rest of question

How

do

you

feel

about the revised 

delivery schedule?

What assurances

can

you

give

us that our order will 

be given priority?

... what progress

have

we

made

so far?

How well

do

the product 

specifications

meet

your requirements?

How flexible

can

you

be

on the unit price?

–

May

I

ask

why a letter of 

credit wouldn’t be 

acceptable?

In what 

circumstances

might

you

be

prepared to 

consider including 

maintenance?

... how

would

that

change

things?

4 

Trainees discuss the questions in pairs and then share their ideas with the class. Trainees then 

compare their ideas with those in the commentary on page 66.

5 

 1.17 

Go through the questions with the class. Then play the recording. Trainees discuss 

the questions in pairs before feeding back to the class. Finally, trainees read the commentary 

on page 66 to compare it with their ideas, and discuss any differences with the class.

Extension activity

Write the following words and phrases on the board. Elicit from the class which of the 

three extracts they refer to, and what was said in the commentary about each of them.

deadlock

give away her own position

giving a straight answer

hostile

overdo

pins her down

rigid

Answers

•  Extract 1: The questions are very rigid and closed; there is a hostile atmosphere; the 

negotiation has reached deadlock.

•  Extract 2: The questioner pins her opponent down by asking a closed question.

•  Extract 3: Answering a question with another question allows the questioner to avoid 

giving away her own position; however, it is important not to overdo this because it 

may give the impression you’re avoiding giving a straight answer.