English for Cabin Crew Trainer's Guide - Heinle

UNIT
LEAD IN Speaking
2 Case study
Write, The fi ght for the overheads on the board. Ask students
what they think this refers to. Ask, Do you think this is a
problem? What do you do to help?
EXERCISE 1 Reading
Ask students to read the text quickly and fi nd answers to the questions.
Let students discuss the answers in pairs before discussing in open class.
Answers
1 the growing problems of storing hand-baggage in the overhead lockers
as passengers board the aircraft
2 Yes. If there is no space for their bags in the overhead lockers or under
the seat in front of them, their bags will be off-loaded and put in the
hold.
EXERCISE 2 Reading
Give students time to read through the questions. Then ask them to
read the second paragraph, fi nd answers and discuss them in pairs. Get
feedback in open class at the end.
Answers
1 people become angry; fl ight attendants are stressed because they can’t
perform their proper duties
2 store small items under seats, leave space for others, free the aisles
3 safety duties: checking equipment and passengers’ behaviour/needs
Vocabulary in context
Write the following words on the board and ask students to match them
to synonyms in the text: not relaxed (stressed); large and of an awkward
shape (bulky); taken off the plane (off-loaded); place where cargo is
carried (hold); putting away (stowing); moving on the runway (taxiing).
EXERCISE 3 Speaking
The aim here is to get students talking about their personal experiences.
Give students time to read through the questions and think of responses.
Ask them to discuss their responses in pairs or small groups. After a few
minutes, get one student from each pair or group to briefl y summarize
the main points of their discussion.
Pre-teaching vocabulary
Check the following key adjectives: cheerful (happy and friendly);
life-threatening (may result in death); diverted (when the destination is
changed during the fl ight); tip (piece of advice).
EXERCISE 4 and 5 Listening
Give students time to read the situation and questions in exercise 4. Play
the recording. Students listen, take notes, then discuss their answers in
pairs. Get feedback in open class at the end.
Follow the same procedure for exercise 5.
Answers
1 The business traveller who is serious, passengers going on holiday,
maybe fl ying for the fi rst time, who are excited and nervous;
passengers travelling to visit family and friends. All have different
feelings.
2 He was an elderly man with an obviously serious medical condition.
Shon had to decide whether to allow him to travel or not. He wanted
to travel. He was taken off the plane by paramedics, and a possibly
serious medical incident was avoided.
3 to do the job with the most professional and highest standard possible
Her tips: drink plenty of water, carry a little pot of moisturizer for
the lips. For women, take a new bottle of nail varnish; for men,
moisturizer
CD1 Track 2.9
1 Did you enjoy welcoming passengers?
S: One of the most exciting parts of the day for me at the beginning of a fl ight
was the welcoming of passengers because it was the opportunity you’d have
to give a really cheerful welcome to all the different types of passengers
that you’d be carrying on that fl ight and the preparation and the team work
between the crew in preparation of greeting passengers was always very
exciting and when people come on board there are all sorts of emotions
coming with that. You’ve got the business traveller who has, you know, a
frequency of travel and therefore tends to adopt a more serious approach.
You’ve got the holiday maker who is very excited or a little nervous – you
know, particularly with infrequent travellers – people who’ve never fl own
before and then you’ve got those people who are travelling to visit family
and friends and they’ve got different emotions again and I always saw the
welcoming part as my opportunity to really welcome people on board in a
positive and cheerful way showing them that, you know, they were in my safe
hands really, or our safe hands as a team, collectively.
2 Did you ever experience any problems when welcoming passengers?
S: There was one time I remember. We were leaving Toronto and an elderly
gentleman boarded the aircraft and as he boarded I said, you know, welcome
on board sir, and he barely could speak, he could barely walk, although he
had no assistance and he wasn’t with anybody. I showed him to his seat, but
it became very apparent very quickly, like within 30 seconds to a minute, that
this gentleman wasn’t very well and I wasn’t happy to take him all the way to
London. He looked as though he was seriously ill. I called the paramedics who
boarded the aircraft and unfortunately they had to take this gentleman off
which I know he didn’t thank me for because he just wanted to get home, but
it turned out that he had a serious medical condition that would have been
life-threatening and it would have meant the fl ight being diverted at great
cost to the airline and at great time and expense to the rest of the passengers
on board. As the senior crew member on board that day, which I was, it was
between myself and the paramedics and I was guided really on that decision by
the paramedics – I mean I had really laid out, you know, the point that I was
unhappy to take the passenger if he was sick and it was when the paramedics
looked at him without any investigation they recognized that he was seriously
ill, so the decision was between the two of us, but ultimately the paramedics.
3 Do you have any tips for a new fl ight attendant?
S: Anyone who is starting out their career as a fl ight attendant – I would say do
your job with the most professional and high standard that you could possibly
have. And a little tip, I think, for anyone fl ying in the air is to keep drinking
plenty of water because obviously the aircraft can be fairly dehydrating and
always, always carry a little pot of moisturizer for your lips because your
lips tend to suffer quite a lot up in the air, so that would be my tip. Oh,
and defi nitely for the ladies, a new bottle of nail varnish. For the male fl ight
attendants, again moisturizer is key and drink lots of water because unless
you have experience of continually working in a dehydrated cabin, you have
no idea what it’s like to dehydrate which you really will do, so lots of water,
drink lots of that and keep a little pack of moisturizer with you.
EXERCISE 6 Speaking
Ask students to work in pairs or small groups to discuss the solutions.
Get feedback in open class and encourage students with interesting ideas
to share with the class.
ROUND UP
Revise vocabulary from the unit by asking students to write
words and phrases connected with the industry under the
following headings:
What's on a boarding pass / Objects in a cabin / Safety instructions
Ask students to work in pairs to write all the words and phrases they
know, or to search the unit to fi nd words and phrases to write.
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