Teaching Yourself And Your Family What To Say When Travelling: Greeting, Goodbye and Thank You

 In the UK as a child I was taught to say, 'How are you?' and to reply 'Very well thank you. How are you?'

When I was teaching, I was shocked to be visited by a Korean pupil who replied to, 'How are you?' with the one line reply, 'Fine.' 

To me that sounded American. Very casual.

He did not say thank you. Nor did he ask how I was.

I don't think I mentioned the correct form of greeting during the lesson. Now, if it were to happen again, I would certainly do so.

Teaching Children

Sometimes you learn by teaching others.

Childhood Spoken Thank You

I remember when I was a child leaving a jolly birthday party my mother would stand over me, shouting,

“Say ‘Thank you’.”

“Say, ‘Thank you for having me!’ ”

Children often copy their parents, relatives and teachers. When teaching children to be confident, you can train them to copy you.

For example, as a parent collecting a child at a party, you could say to the host/ess, “Thank you, Mrs Lee, for having Johnny. I am sure you enjoyed it, didn’t you Johnny?””

Johnny, on cue, can reply, copying your words (which you both practised earlier in the day), “Yes, thank you, Mrs Lee. I enjoyed it very much.”

I sometimes get out of car and think, “I said, See you next Saturday,” but I forgot to say thank you for the ride,”. I have two solutions. Firstly, thank the person when you get into the car. Instead of only leaving thank for the rushed goodbye.

Secondly, always say, “Goodbye and thank you.”

What if the other person asks, “Thank me for what?”

You can at least answer, “Thank you for being such good company, or, “For listening,” or, “For  waiting so patiently,” ‘For supporting us,” or, ‘For your lovely smile!”

Ideally, in advance of the day, rehearse saying your greeting and goodbye. 

Welcoming A Speaker

Make sure you list everything the audience would want to know. Don’t say, ‘This speaker needs no introduction.” Everybody deserves to hear praise to encourage them to start. There’s always somebody in the audience who does not know the speaker, or had forgotten. The speaker can be sent a form to fill in with their introduction. 

Thanking A Speaker

At Writers’ Summer School I used to watch the chairperson making notes throughout the speaker’s speech, preparing for a heartfelt and detailed thank you. I f you make notes throughout the speech, you can remind everybody of the salient points and find a positive adjective for every type of remark.

For example. Make notes like this, one word heading in capitals letters so it is easy to read, example underneath.

INFORMATION
For example:

Useful Information. Information on how to write a best-selling book. And start by outlining the synopsis.

PERSONAL STORY
For example, a general description and a specific story recalled.

Fascinating story about her challenging childhood. And life in Libya.

CALL TO ACTION

End with a call to action relating the speaker to the audience, such as: you can join her for coffee in the bar; buy her book at half price; get her email to you can write to her later with your queries, thank her personally. See her again this time next week/month/year.

Most problems can be solved in small chunks.
At Toastmasters many people were struggling with the new system of Pathways. Mr Pho said he spent five minutes a day on Pathways.

The same applies to learning the tube stations or streets in a new city.

The same applies to learning a new language.

The same applies to teaching children to adapt to a new country. Make a game of it. Make it a challenge. Make it fun. Who can learn more words from another language? Polite forms?

About the author

Angela Lansbury is a travel writer and photographer, author and speaker. She teaches English and other languages and trains speakers.