Dear teachers. I encounter Module 6 issues!

[Tansy]

In my individual task, I wrote 200 words as instructed. In this post, I write more than 200 words to express my concerns over the close-ended questions.

Overview: The conversation between Kit and David seems typical, but it actually reflects a lot of cultural confusion and misunderstanding. For example, Kit is trying to be very helpful and considerate, according to what he has learned from Thai culture, but David thinks that Kit is trying to sell him things.

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I strongly disagree! Kit works at a travel agency. Obviously he is trying to sell many tour options to David!

Task:
1. In England, people don’t say “Hello sir! Where are you going?” to a foreigner looking at a map, being lost. If they want to help somebody who has lost his way, they will say something like “Are you lost? Can I help you?” If the answer is “Yes.”, they are likely to say “Where do you want to go?” But in real situation, the lost foreigner will first say something like “Excuse me. How do I get to …(place name)…?

Being eager to sell tour options, Kit greets David intrusively. David can immediately sense that Kit is trying to sell him something. This setting demonstrates Kit’s lack of selling experience, not cultural confusion which leads to misunderstanding.

2. Working for a travel agency, Kit must try to sell tourists as many options as possible, otherwise he’ll lose his job.
A. Kit first sells an excursion to Bangkok attractions. David declines. No misunderstanding.
B. Being annoyed, David sarcastically comments that people here (in Bangkok) only seem to like sitting around and sleeping.
C. Kit tries to sell a tour to pubs and nightlife in Bangkok instead. David declines. No misunderstanding.
D. Kit relentlessly tries to sell a tour of temples. David, who wants to visit places of architectural interests, almost falls for it, but he finally declines. No misunderstanding.
E. Being annoyed at his failure in selling excursions, Kit sarcastically suggests taking a taxi, but David doesn’t care; he just points out that he prefers taking a river boat which is cheaper.
F. Wanting to be nasty, Kit scares David that he’ll be tired from walking. So, David teaches Kit a good lesson.

This setting does not demonstrate any cultural confusion or misunderstanding whatsoever! It demonstrates poor selling techniques. If Kit had approached David more tactfully, he would have sold all the tour options successfully.

Based on the setting, the close-ended questions are invalid and misleading. The conversation between Kit and David is more appropriate for 11302 English for Tourism.

I once witnessed excellent selling techniques on the Oriental Hotel Pier in Bangkok. A Thai guy, who sold paintings, smilingly greeted passing-by foreign tourists. Then, he engaged them in a fun and lively conversation without selling them anything. The tourists happily smiled and laughed throughout the conversation. In the end, they bought many paintings from him!

[Ananya]

Thank you for your interesting comments; it would be nice to have someone who thinks critically. However, let me make it clear that the scenario here is "Kit is trying to be very helpful." So, our judgement is based on this particular fact (or the so-called fact created for the task). For other circumstances, Kit could intend to do his job as you said. Probably he may have that in mind here too, but he really tries to be kind to a tourist whereas David, with his own prejudice, thinks Kit's only trying to sell him a tour. Your ideas could be true according to your perspective and I'd accept that. Thank you again for raising this issue. I've made a note of it and the committee will look into this at a meeting in the future.

[Tansy]

Thanks for your kind consideration, teacher.