[originaltext]M: So what practical things would you recommend for someone who’s

M: So what practical things would you recommend for someone who’s coming into this country and who really knows nothing about these styles that you’re talking about?
W: Well, if they’re in an English language learning situation, I think it’s really helpful for them to realize that the other people that are there learning with them may come from different styles, so not to make judgments about them as "Oh, you’re rude. " or "You’re inconsiderate. " or "You’re just very quiet and you never say anything." Because these things may not be someone’s true personality. They may just be the conversation style that they’re accustomed to.
M: Yeah.
W: (6) So, awareness, I think, is the number one thing. (7) It also helps if the instructors point these things out to people, because it’s not something that most of us are going to reflect on in our own lives, thinking about, well, how do I interact in a conversation? I don’t know what I do; I just do it.
M: You’re saying that the basketball model tends to be maybe more the traditional style in the US classroom. But is that always the case?
W: (8) You know, the dynamic of each class is different. For example, in the MBA schools, the students are expected to do a lot of project work, so the professors may not be as involved in directing classroom interaction. There may be a lot of times when the students are working amongst themselves. (9)I would imagine in teacher-led classes that this dynamic is much more apparent. I personally remember an instructor. I can’t remember where this professor was from, but the topic of the class just seemed to change constantly, as if, you know, "And now we’re going to talk about something completely different. " It made for a challenging time in taking notes.
M: And then there are the challenges of everyday language. Even a common way that Americans avoid confusion when spelling a name out loud can be confusing if you’re not familiar with it.
W: I remember a physician who had very good written English. He was used to writing papers and he could even present them very well because he had presented them at international conferences. But when he went to set up phone service, and (10) he was telling them "My last name starts with T." and they would say "T like table?" he said "No, I’m not a table. I don’t need a table. It’s T." And he didn’t understand that they were using this strategy, this device of associating, you know, the first letter of your name with a common object so that we make sure that we write a T instead of a D.
M: OK, that’s all for our interview. Thanks for coming, Susan. Goodbye.
W: My pleasure. Goodbye.
This is the end of Part Two of the interview. Questions 6 to 10 are based on what you have just heard.
6. What does Susan think is the number one thing for someone in an English language learning situation?
7. According to Susan, why should the instructors point out the differences between conversation styles?
8. Why does Susan mention the MBA schools?
9. What can we know about Susan’s opinion of teacher-led classes?
10. What do Americans mean by saying "T like table?" in the example?