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B: Case Study Part One
Problem: You are head of a team of salespeople for a large company. A new salesperson, Ethan, has joined your team. As part of their job, salespeople in your team take clients out for lunch so it is important that they know how to behave. At a lunch with other salespeople in your team, you notice that Ethan has bad table manners.
Questions: 1. How important is it that Ethan improve his table manners? Why do you think this?
                   2. What could you do to help improve his table manners?
                   3. How would you do this?

Reading Activities

A: Finding The Main Idea
Find the answers to these questions in Part One of the article.
1. According to today's article, how important is it to have good table manners in business dining?
2. What should you do with your napkin when you are eating?
3. When eating with others at a restaurant, when should you begin eating?

Part One

Modern Etiquette: Tips for dining for business success

LONDON, Mon May 17, (Reuters) - We all indulge in less-than-perfect behavior in private but dining politely should be second nature - or should at least appear to be - if you are seeking to impress the boss or potential client.

Here are some top tips to ensure social -- and business -- success at the table:

* To start, your napkin should be spread out on your lap, never tucked it into the neck of your shirt even if you want to protect your Salvatore Ferragamo tie. Sit up straight and make sure your elbows aren't encroaching on your neighbor's space. Do not rest your elbows on the table or lean on them when eating.

If you are served a meal that is already on the plate, wait until everyone round the table has been served before starting. When group dining, offer side dishes around the table and hold them for the person next to you.
(Continued.../)

B: Understanding Vocabulary in Context
Find these words in Part Two of today's article and match them with their meanings.

Words: Meanings:

1. To overindulge is...
2. Cutlery is...
3. To smack your chops is...
4. To ask for a top-up is... i. to drink too much so that you become drunk.
ii. to make a loud noise with your lips.
iii. to tell someone you would like them to add more drink to your glass (which already has some drink in it).
iv. the things you use to pick up your food such as a fork and a spoon when eating.

Part Two

Modern Etiquette: Tips for dining for business success

* (Continued.../) Cutlery should be rested on the plate/bowl between bites. Never gesture with your cutlery, and don't scrape or clatter it noisily. Equally, it is bad manners to clank your utensils loudly against your teeth.

Depending on the formality of the occasion, there will be varying amounts of cutlery on the table. The layout should always be the same - fork to the left, knives and spoons to the right. Work from the outside inwards, course by course. Pudding utensils usually sit above the place setting.

* Eat at a relaxed pace and try to match your fellow diners. Keep your mouth closed and noise to a minimum. Never smack your chops. Talking while there is food in your mouth should be avoided at all costs - even when you have a conversational gem up your sleeve.

* Don't drink your wine too fast or ask for a top-up unless you are in very familiar company. Don't overindulge - there's nothing worse than a drunken diner, particularly at a business dinner.
(Continued.../)

Glossary: gesture - a movement of the body especially the hand or head which is meant to mean something, pudding - a sweet food eaten at the end of the meal

C: Reading For Meaning
1. Read Part Three of the article by yourself. Think about what the parts of the article highlighted in italics mean.
2. Work in pairs. Show your partner what you think the phrases mean. (You could pretend that things on your desk are your cutlery and use them to show your partner what you mean!)

Part Three

Modern Etiquette: Tips for dining for business success

(Continued.../) * Handling tricky foods?
Break bread rolls into [small] bite-sized] pieces. Break off a new piece for each mouthful, rather than dividing the roll into chunks in advance. Butter is placed on the edge of your side plate. Each piece [of bread], or mouthful, is individually buttered.

Soup bowls should be tilted away from you and the soup spoon pushed from the front to back to catch a mouthful. Tip the soup into your mouth from the side of the spoon; don't try eating with your spoon at 90 degrees to your mouth. Leave your spoon in the bowl, not on the side plate, when you have finished.

Squash peas onto the back of your fork rather than scooping them up from an upturned fork...

Traditionally, spaghetti should be eaten with a fork only. Twist a small bundle of spaghetti around your fork by twirling it clockwise against the dish. Never make slurping noises but don't worry too much about [one or two pieces of spaghetti] hanging from your mouth: it's authentic.

To eat a whole fish on the bone, work down one side of the spine at a time, from head to tail, then lift the entire bone up and gently ease the flesh out from beneath. Small bones should be removed from the mouth with fingers and placed on the side of the plate.

Cheese on a communal board should be cut with the cheese knife provided. Round cheese must be treated like a cake: cut triangular [pieces]. Never, ever cut the nose off a triangular wedge (such as Brie), cut slivers length ways instead. When you have finished, place your knife and fork together - with the tines facing upwards - bottom-center on your plate. When you leave the table place your napkin, unfolded, beside your plate. Don't forget to compliment the chef.

Glossary: slurping - making a loud noise with your lips as you eat or drink, authentic - true or genuine, tines - prongs of a fork

D: Case Study Part Two
You have sent Ethan to a coach for lessons on business dining. He has returned and says that his table manners are now polite. However, his coach says he needs more lessons. The coach sends you a report on Ethan's table manners.
Read part of it and decide which things that Ethan is now doing are polite and which are impolite according to today's article. Then write a conclusion for the report: Does Ethan need more lessons?

Post-Reading Activities
You may do one or more of these.

A: Check Your Guesses
Find the answers to questions 1. and 2. of Pre-Reading Activity A in this excerpt from an article about manners.

(...Continued...) A few other etiquette tips:
- It's appropriate to discuss business only after coffee is served at
breakfast or once food has been ordered at lunch. Shop talk should in most
cases be avoided at dinner.

Never exchange business cards while dining.
- The bill is paid by the person or company benefiting most from a business
association.

B: Extra Reading
Find the answers to these questions in another article.
1. Who conducted the survey?
2. How many business executives were polled?
3. Which meal do most European executives think is best for making business deals?
4. Which meal or meals do Italians prefer for business deals?
5. Where do Germans prefer to meet?

Poll Reveals Business Secrets Of Power Lunchers

ATLANTA, Friday March 19 (Reuters) - Most European executives like to make their deals over lunch but Italians prefer a power breakfast or dinner and Germans don't want to mix food and business at all.

Those are some of the findings of the annual European Business Monitor Survey commissioned by Atlanta-based shipping company United Parcel Service, released Wednesday.

It polled 1,508 executives, more than half of whom thought lunch was the best time to do business. Most Germans in the survey thought an airport or a conference center was the best venue..

More than 61 percent of the executives predicted their companies would opt for more flexible work schedules over the next five years.

Thirty-nine percent of French executives predicted their firms would go to four-day work weeks, and 53 percent of British executives thought telecommuting would become common.

The survey found that corporate optimism had faded. Fifty-seven percent of the European executives forecast last year that business would improve, while this year only 44 percent believed there were better times ahead.

The survey, conducted by Harris Research, had a margin of error of plus or minus five percent.

C: Have A Meal!
Organize a lunch with others in your class. Demonstrate your most polite manners.

TEACHERS' NOTES AND ANSWER KEY

Please note: This lesson focusses on polite table manners as described by Jo Bryant. Allow students from different cultures opportunities to say what is polite in their cultures and whether any of the rules differ from the ones described here.

Reading Activities

A: Finding The Main Idea - Answers
1. In order to impress your boss or someone who may end up being a client, 2. spread it out in your lap. Never tuck it into the neck of your shirt, 3. you should wait until everyone at your table has been served.

B: Understanding Vocabulary in Context - Answers
1. i, 2. iv, 3. ii, 4. iii.

C: Reading For Meaning - Notes
Students are trying to read and understand the instructions for polite dining in Part Three. Once they have spent a little time reading alone, they work in pairs with another student and discuss what they think the instructions mean. They focus on the parts of the text that are in italics.
To make this part of the activity more enjoyable and also to help them in working out the meaning of the instructions, you could provide some cutlery and bowls so they can demonstrate what they mean to their partners. You could even have everyone practicing eating spaghetti together. If this is too ambitious, pens or pencils can double as a fork and knife and a book could double as a plate or bowl.

D: Case Study Part Two - Notes
Students need to remember what they have read from the article and decide which things Ethan is doing politely and which things that he are doing are rude. They then write a conclusion to the report by the trainer.
Answers will vary for the conclusion but students will probably agree that according to today's article, Ethan still needs more lessons from the trainer.

D: Case Study Part Two - Suggested Answers
Ethan was served a bowl of soup. Ethan took his napkin and placed it on his lap. (polite) He then began eating while the waiter was serving me my bowl of soup (rude). There was a bowl of bread rolls on the table and Ethan offered them to me (polite) and took one himself. Ethan broke off pieces of a bread roll and put them on a side plate (polite). He ate them one at a time (polite) while drinking his soup.
We were then served bowls of spaghetti and the waiter also put several other small dishes on the table in front of us. One dish contained Parmesan cheese and Ethan served himself to some of this. I was unable to reach it because he placed it too far away from me (rude).
Ethan ate the spaghetti with a fork and a spoon (rude) and sometimes made loud noises as he ate as he tried to suck the pasta into his mouth (rude). Ethan made interesting conversation and told several funny stories in a loud voice (rude). At times he waved his fork and spoon around when saying something funny (rude) and then laughed with his mouth full of food (rude).
At the end of the meal, Ethan placed his fork and spoon together on the plate (polite) and asked the waiter to thank the chef for an excellent meal (polite).

Post-Reading Activities

B: Extra Reading - Answers
1. Harris Research, 2. 1,508 executives, 3. lunch, 4. power breakfast or dinner, 5. an airport or a conference center.

Words:		Meanings:
1. To overindulge is... 2. Cutlery is... 3. To smack your chops is... 4. To ask for a top-up is...		i. to drink too much so that you become drunk. ii. to make a loud noise with your lips. iii. to tell someone you would like them to add more drink to your glass (which already has some drink in it). iv. the things you use to pick up your food such as a fork and a spoon when eating.