Making an Appointment

Hello English learners! Welcome to another great lesson with EnglishPod! My name is Marco.

And I’m Erica.

So, Erica, how are you today?

I’m doing pretty well and I think we’ve got a good lesson today, a really helpful lesson.

What are we talking about today?

We have an elementary lesson about making an appointment.

Alright, making an appointment. Yeah, that’s really helpful. I guess you have to make appointments for the doctor or…

At work, maybe.

At work. Personal.

Or with your friends.

Yeah.

Yeah, so, this is language that you can use everyday to make appointments.

Great, well, so, why don’t we take a look at our “vocabulary preview”? Voice: Vocabulary preview.

We only have one word today which you need to know to understand this dialogue and it is financial adviser.

Financial adviser.

Financial adviser.

So, what is a financial adviser?

A financial adviser is a person who gives suggestions or recommendations about investing money, someone who wants you to put money in the stock market.

Okay, great. I guess we’re ready now to listen to our dialogue for the first time and as always it’s gonna be at a normal speed, but you don’t have to worry about it, because…

We’ll come back and teach you all the important words.

Well, I guess Ms. McNealy does not want to speak to any financial adviser.

Hehe. Yeah, I guess she doesn’t really wanna invest in the stock market, ha?

Or maybe she just gets too many phone calls from them.

Yeah, yeah.

Yeah.

If you have money, I guess you’ll get phone calls from people like that.

I guess we don’t have that problem, hey?

Hehe. No, we don’t. Okay, let’s start with our “language takeaway” for today. Voice: Language takeaway.

So, four words today. The first one is available.

Available.

Available.

Available.

Meaning…

That you’re not busy.

That you’re free.

You’re free, you’re not busy. [NOTE: available can also mean that you’re not married or you’re not in a relationship, i.e. available for darting; for example, I’m gonna go out with that girl, she is available]

Exactly! Let’s move to our next word – double check.

Double check.

Double check.

Double check.

I think we’ve got some examples of this phrase. Voice: Example one.

Do you have the tickets?

I think so, but let me just double check. Voice: Example two.

I thought I sent that e-mail already, but let me double check.

Okay, so, double check basically means to check something twice.

Exactly, to check it again.

Check it again, okay. Our third word for language takeaway today is scheduled.

Scheduled.

Scheduled.

Scheduled.

S-C-H-E-D-U-L-E-D.

Scheduled.

Scheduled. So, when you have something scheduled, it means that you have something…

Planned.

Planned, right?

Yeah, or booked at that time.

Booked at that time.

Yeah, we’ve got a lunch scheduled this afternoon, don’t we?

Yes, we do!

Alright.

A great lunch, looking forward to it. And our last word for today is booked solid.

Booked solid.

Booked solid.

B-O-O-K-E-D, booked solid.

So, we have some great examples on how you can use this great phrase booked solid and you can understand what it means. Voice: Example one.

I can’t get a hotel room; they’re booked solid until after the New Year. [NOTE: you can also say “they are fully booked”] Voice: Example two.

I’m sorry, there are no seats available on this flight; we’re booked solid over the Christmas holidays. Voice: Example three.

Sorry, I can’t meet with you today, I’m booked solid.

Okay, great, so, booked solid basically is…

You have no free time, no available time.

Right.

So, you’ve got appointments scheduled all day.

All day, great.

Uhu.

So, with this in mind, now we can listen to our dialogue a second time. This time it’s gonna be slow, so, we can…

Understand a little bit better. DIALOGUE, SECOND TIME (slow)

Okay, so, now it’s a little bit more clear and with this we can start with “putting it together”. Voice: Putting it together.

There’re some great examples in this dialogue of phrases you can use when you need to schedule an appointment and we’re gonna look at those today. In the dialogue we hard Julianne asked about making an appointment and she said this. Phrase 1: I’m calling to arrange an appointment with Ms. McNealy; I’m calling to arrange an appointment with Ms. McNealy.

So, this is a great way to schedule an appointment…

Uhu.

To ask for some time from somebody else.

Yeah, and we have some more examples of this phase. Voice: Example one.

Please book an appointment for next week. Voice: Example two.

Please schedule an appointment for next week.

Great, so, after that, when you’re scheduling an appointment, you need to suggest a day when maybe that person has time.

Yes, let’s listen to what they said in the dialogue. Phrase 2: How’s Thursday? Does she have any time available then? How’s Thursday? Does she have any time available then?

You say, well, “how’s Thursday” or “how’s Tuesday?

Uhu.

And maybe that person doesn’t have time that day, so, they’ll say something like this. Phrase 3: Can she do Tuesday? Can she do Tuesday?

Okay, Erica, so, if I wanna have a meeting with you, I would say “how’s Monday sound? or “how’s Monday?”

M-m-monday is no good.

Oh, how’s…

I’m busy all day.

How’s Tuesday?

Sorry, Tuesday is no good either.

Hehe. What about Wednesday?

Okay, Wednesday works.

Alright, great.

Wednesday’s perfect.

Okay, s… great, so, we have a meeting on Wednesday.

Okay, they are… those are some great phrases, hey, for scheduling an appointment?

Yeah, they’re really good. Okay, so, now we can listen to our dialogue a third time and we’re ready to understand everything that we’ve just talked about.

The language in this dialogue is really useful, isn’t it, Marco?

Yeah, it’s from an everyday situation. You always have to make appointments at some point.

Yes! And like we said earlier, it’s language you can use when you need to talk about work, with your boss, maybe.

Right.

Or, uh, when you need to do daily things like go to the doctor.

Uhu.

Or even when you’re planning something with your friends.

Right.

Yep, you can use this in all those situations.

In all situations.

Aha.

Great, well, we’re out of time now, but I hope you enjoyed our lesson and found it useful. And if you have any questions or comments, please go to our website at englishpod.com, where we’ll be there to answer everything.

Yes, we will. So, thanks for listening guys and until next time…

Bye!

Good bye!