Exercise 10 Communication activity

ГУМАНІТАРНИЙ ФАКУЛЬТЕТ

Кафедра “Іноземні мови”

МЕТОДИЧНІ ВКАЗІВКИ

до розмовної теми

“My speciality – Railway Traffic Operation”

з розвитку навичок професійного спілкування

для студентів 2 курсу факультету УПП

(англійська мова)

Харків 2009

Методичні вказівки до розмовної теми “My speciality – Railway Traffic Operation” з розвитку навичок професійного спілкування для студентів 2 курсу факультету УПП (англ. мова). - Х.: УкрДАЗТ, 2009

Видання підготовлено відповідно до програми навчальної дисципліни і є складовою частиною навчально-методичного комплексу дисципліни “Англійська мова”.

Методичні вказівки містять діалоги, що відображають ситуації професійного спілкування, та тексти, що послідовно знайомлять з реструктуризацією “Укрзалізниці” у контексті європейської інтеграції, створення міжнародних транспортних коридорів, виникнення нових форм та методів експлуатаційної роботи по вантажним міжнародним перевезенням. Система вправ забезпечує придбання міцних навичок у всіх видах мовної діяльності, формує уміння обговорити з колегами актуальні питання і висловити власну думку, скласти резюме і вести ділову документацію. Методичні вказівки вміщують також ряд вправ творчого характеру, які моделюють різні ситуації професійної діяльності спеціаліста у галузі управління перевезень.

Методичні вказівки рекомендовано для студентів 2 курсу факультету УПП.

Методичні вказівки розглянуто та рекомендовано до друку на засіданні кафедри “Іноземні мови” 28.01.2009, протокол № 6

Укладач:

доц. Донець С.М.

Рецензент:

к.ф.н., доцент Нешко С.І.,

Discussion point

Exercise 1. 1) Try to explain the choice of your speciality.

• What do you want to be? Why? How did you decide what to be?

• Was it always your ambition to do this?

• What do you have to do to get this job?

• Are you well-suited to your job? Why do you think so?

• What position would you like to get? Do you want to be an executive of a big company?

• Do you believe the future belongs to railways (rail operation engineers)?

• Can you work under pressure?

•

2) Which of the following are important to you in a job? Describe your dream job.

Long holidays, friendly colleagues, travelling time, competitive salary, pleasant working environment, regular bonus, good pension, prestigious company, opportunity for promotion, flexible hours, foreign travel, other perks (e.g. company car).

Exercise 2. Work in pairs. Make up questions with the given words and answer them.

1. Where (study, do, you)?

2. When (the Academy, was, founded)?

3. Why (you, choose, did, faculty, this)?

4. What subjects (do, study, students, senior, our, faculty, of)?

5. Which (subject, is, interesting, most, the, to, you)?

6. How many (are, faculties, there, our, in, Academy)?

7. What (does, specialists, train, Economics, faculty, Transport)?

8. When (enter, did, the, you, Academy)?

9. When (will, Academy, the, graduate, you, from)?

10. Where (the, graduates, work, do, our, Academy, of)?

11. Which (is, profession, demand, in, great, in, market, labour)?

Exercise 3. a) Write a list of general educational and special subjects delivered to junior and senior students of your faculty.

1) Any future engineer must get knowledge in such general educational subjects as...

2) Senior students of our faculty are delivered special courses in...

b) Make up a list of credit tests, course papers and exams during your first and second years.

c) Complete the sentences and explain your choice.

To my mind, the most interesting subject is..., because...

I am very good at..., that’s why my favourite subjects are...

I don’t like..., and I find... a very boring (dull) subject.

Exercise 4. a) Look at the jobs below and discuss the questions.

1) How important/useful do you think they are?

2) How much status do these jobs have in our country/abroad?

3) Approximately how much are people paid for these jobs in our country?

4) Do you think they should be paid more or less money? Why?

5) Which of the jobs would you like (hate) to do? Why?

b) Read the stories of four people discussing their jobs. Match each story to a job from the table above.

Well, the hours are very long and I have to work shifts, but I like my colleagues and I enjoy the variety of the work. You know, every day is different. I suppose the main reason I like the job is the contact with the patients. I like to feel I'm helping people, so that makes the job very rewarding. It's certainly not the pay – that's terrible.

I really enjoy my job, although there can be a lot of routine paperwork and I have to attend a lot of meetings. Preparing cases takes up a lot of my time, and can be very challenging. The best parts of the job are meeting clients and going to court. I work for a big international firm so there are good opportunities for promotion and I get to travel quite a lot, which is nice.-

What I particularly like is that it's a very flexible job. I can work from home some of the time. I find it exiting, meeting and interviewing different people. It's also very satisfying when you finish a long article and it's published. I've got a book coming out next year as well. One thing about working on a monthly magazine is that I have a lot of tight deadlines. That makes the job very stressful.

Some parts of the job are not very interesting, like filling shelves. Also, changing the window displays gets a bit repetitive. Really, it's dealing with people I like, on the phone and face to face. My boss is a lovely person but he's so badly organized. He usually gets me to deal with problem customers who want refunds, that kind of thing. Some people think I'm workaholic, and it’s true I do a lot of overtime, But I like to do a job well and I'm proud of my work. It's a big chain so I hope I'll become assistant manager next year if I move to another branch.

c) Add the missing letters to the adjectives describing the jobs.

Exercise 5. The words below are all to do with your speciality. Try to memorize them.

My Speciality

Hello, I’d like to introduce myself and the Academy I study at. I am a second-year student of the Ukrainian State Academy of Railway Transport. I am proud of my Academy because it has long history and rich traditions. Nowadays the Academy counts five faculties and offers training in about twenty specialities. It is the leading higher educational establishment which trains transport engineers for one of the most important branches of Ukraine’s national economy.

I've chosen the railway operation and management faculty. Founded in 1930, it is of the same age with the academy. Students of our faculty can specialize in the field of traffic control, commercial railway operation and management, international traffic operation, customs control, railway station and junction designing. I'll be an operation engineer in the field of international traffic operation. To my mind, it is one of the most interesting, useful and prestigious professions because railway transport plays a vital role in modern economies all over the world.

Modern railroad is a huge and complex system. To successfully govern and manage it, Ukraine needs a lot of qualified transport operators. The operating business comprises all the problems connected with the safe and efficient operation of trains, whether passenger or freight. The main objective of traffic control is to ensure a stable forwarding process at all stages, including stations, freight terminals, marshalling yards, signal and control centres, etc.

Any future engineer must get knowledge in general education and general engineering subjects such as foreign languages, theoretical mechanics, physics. Besides, senior students of our faculty are delivered special courses in organization of train movement, stations and junctions, rolling stock and designing of railways, mechanization and automation of loading and unloading works, organization of freight and commercial work, transport law, etc.

The sphere of activity of operation engineers is rather broad. The graduates of our department deal with a great variety of operations, among them: making up of trains and breaking up of consists, handling of freight, shunting operations at humps, preparations of train consists for departure and reception, organization of marshalling yard work, keeping record of all the operational data.

Compiling a time-table is one of the most complicated jobs in the operating business. Dispatches have to take into account a lot of things, exactly, summer or winter service, weekday or weekend schedules, express or slow commuter trains, regular or extra service, freight or passenger trains, etc.

The operation business also includes management of marshalling yard work. In classification yards loaded freight cars from all the country are sorted according to their final classification, and then joined to others to form a new train. Modern yards use computers and Automatic Car Identification system (ACI) to speed up the process of car classification. Electronic scanners read colour-coded identification labels on incoming cars and relay the information to yard computers that assign the cars to the proper track. Scanners do it three times faster than any car dispatcher.

Automation has become an important factor in railroad operation. An impressive example is Centralized Traffic Control, a system in which trains are controlled from a central point through remote operation of switches and signals. The operator sees each train on a large control panel and directs traffic on hundreds of miles of railroad track. From the terminal the operator pushes a button or moves a lever, actuating switches and signals miles away.

The most recent systems of automatic traffic operation do not need a wall-mounted train location panel; they display a graphic real-time diagram of the operating status of a train on a computer screen. The schedule diagram can be changed with a click of a mouse, which automatically adjusts the operations of all trains. Under fully automatic operation the dispatcher needs exercise manual control only in unusual situations, all train movements being set by electronic machines. Thus, due to computer technologies, high speed trains and their operation become more and more ''intelligent''.

New developments in information technologies and the Internet have changed the world and the way of presenting passenger information. Electronic smart card ticketing and booking tickets on the Internet have become a regular thing for passengers.

Automated control systems are used for collecting, transmitting and processing data on goods traffic management, rolling stock data, for recording rolling stock data, the consist and position of trains, for monitoring wagon stocks in marshalling yards and other calculations. High technologies greatly contribute to the safety and efficiency, which are the priorities in traffic operation.

One of the most important tasks for the modern railway is to bring it into line with unified European and world operation standards and practices to compete effectively with other modes of transport. Railway interoperability is the necessity in the modern world which is often called “a global village“. For the railways this means ensuring the technical compatibility of equipment, signaling and operation systems within, first of all, the European Union. Ukraine is a transit country on the cross-roads between Europe and Asia and an important part of international transport corridors running through its territory. So the country will also have to ''europeanise'' and adapt its infrastructure to the demands of global transportation market.

The graduates of our faculty are in great demand in the increasingly competitive labour market. In the field of train movement control they work as shunting and section dispatchers, chief locomotive dispatchers, wagon duty dispatches. They also work in the field of passenger traffic as station masters or chiefs of division departments or superintendents of different services as well. There is also such sphere of activity for operation engineer as freight traffic and commercial services. Commercial directors are responsible for the business policy, transportation charging and operating costs according to the category of traffic.

Exercise 7. Work in pairs. Ask your student-mate:

1) what faculty he studies at; 2) what speciality he's chosen and why; 3)what aspects the operation business comprises; 4)what specialities his faculty offers; 5)what special courses the senior students are delivered; 6)what engineering problems operation engineers deal with; 7)where computers find wide application and why they make the work of railwaymen easier; 8)what other technological achievements are adopted on Ukrainian railways; 9)what position the operation engineer can take in the field of organisation of train movement; 10) what his position may be in the field of passenger traffic or freight traffic service; 11) what commercial directors are responsible for; 12) why railway interoperability has become a necessity in the modern world; 13) if our graduates are in great demand on the labour market.

Give full answers to the questions.

Exercise 8. Complete the following sentences.

1. I study at....

2. I specialize in...

3....faculty is one of the oldest in our Academy.

4. Our faculty offers training in the following specialities....

5. There are... faculties in our Academy which train specialists in... specialities.

6. Operation engineers deal with...

7. The main objective of the operation business is...

8. Senior students are delivered special courses on...

9. Modern classification yards use …

10. The sphere of activity of operation engineer is...

11. The graduates of our faculty work in the field of…

12. Railway interoperability means …

13. High technologies contribute to …

14. I’ve chosen this speciality because...

15. The most recent innovations for passengers are…

16. Centralized Traffic Control is …

17. I’m proud of my Academy because...

18. It is important to “europeanise“ our railway and its infrastructure because …

Exercise 9. Imagine that you are a lecturer of a special department. You are to deliver an introductory lecture on different aspects of traffic operation work. Make up short theses of the lecture. Present them to the listeners.

Exercise 10 Communication activity

Look through the following conversational formulas and try to memorize them. Practise these expressions in your own flashes of conversation.

• How've you been? (How are you?)

• For all I know

• I'll be in touch

• Excuse my curiosity

• It depends

• By the way

• Any time you like

• So nice to see you

• It's been a long time (Haven't seen you for ages)

Now role play the following dialogue. Two friends (the former student of the Academy, now - an operation engineer and a fifth-year student of the Operation and Management faculty) meet quite accidentally in a cafe.

Maxim (Max): Why, Oleg! So nice to see you. It's been a long time.

Oleg: Hi, Max! Haven't seen you for ages. How've you been?

Max: Just fine. And how are things with you? For all I know, you graduated last year, didn't you?

Oleg: Right. Now I work at Osnova marshalling yard.

Max: Really? Do tell me more about it! What's your position there?

Oleg: I'm just a beginner, you know. Work as a trainee shunting dispatcher for the time being.

Max: And how do you like your job there? What do you deal with?

Oleg: Well, well, so many questions at once!

Max: Excuse my curiosity. I am graduating this year, so it's time to look for a job. I am interested in opportunities.

Oleg: I see. Actually, there are a lot of things in my responsibility, such as making up of trains and breaking up of consists; shunting operations at hump, reception and departure of trains.

Max: How long does your working day last?

Oleg: It depends. I begin to work at eight sharp and at 5 p.m. my working day is over. But sometimes there is urgent work to do and we stay overtime.

Max: Do you often go on business trips?

Oleg: Rather. Our employees go to various cities and towns in this country and abroad.

Max: Have you been abroad already?

Oleg: Not yet. But there's a chance to go on a business trip soon. We are going to share experience and learn new technologies in operation business. By the way, how's your English?

Max: Not bad. And why?

Oleg: I really need some business English. What I mean is just practising the language in real situations. Could you help me a bit with conversational English?

Max: Sure. Any time you like.

Oleg: Thanks a lot. I'll be in touch.

Exercise 11. Make up your own dialogues based on the one above. For ideas:

1. You and your group-mate are the graduates of the Kharkov Academy of Railway Transport. You meet by chance after a year and discuss your life and job.

Don't forget to ask each other: a) where you work; b) what your position is; c) whether you like your job; d) how long you work there; e) how long your working day lasts; f) what you deal with; g) what you are responsible for; h) whether you go on business trips.

2. A representative of Osnova marshalling yard comes to the Academy to invite the graduates and offer them different jobs. Ask him as many questions as you only can about your future work.

Exercise 12. Look through the text analyzing one of the most important aspects of operation work.

MARSHALLING YARDS

A freight train usually consists of cars moving to a number of different destinations. Somewhere along the route, the cars must be sorted out and transferred to the trains going to the proper terminals. This is done in classification or marshalling yards.

Most large classification yards have a hump, over which the cars are pushed. All wagons are fitted with automatic coupling and uncoupling, and uncoupling takes place on the approach side of the hump. Then cars are routed into a classification track corresponding to the destination and formed into batches. These batches are on-dispatched by trains, and each train can pick up one or several batches. The humping speed of a car is controlled both by the retarders and automatically by an electronic computer which takes into account such factors as weight, speed, rolling friction of a car, the size of the cuts. The average size of a wagon cut is six four-axle wagons

The layout and equipment of the marshalling yard should have as its chief aim the rapid manipulation of wagons. The ideal layout comprises three groups os sidings for reception, sorting and departure respectively. The locomotive depots, repair shops and other facilities should be placed in the central position of the yard. The modem electronic yard is usually equipped with a local radio network, telephone, teleprinter and pneumatic tube communication circuits. Television is used to scan trains entering or leaving the yard. In a modern hump yard it is usual to classify a train and have the cars moving in outbound trains in less than two hours.

Exercise 13. Translate the following word combinations with the common element "train".

Departure train consists, extra train, split-up train, non-scheduled train, train service, commuter train, centralized train control system, train arrival, train repair depot, train transfer operations, the train data storage file, train monitoring, train crew, national long-distance train, train movement monitoring.

Exercise 14. Work in pairs. Agree or disagree with the following statements. Use the conversational formulas below. To be more convincing, give some additional information from the text above.

• Yes, you are quite right. Are you sure that's right?

• Yes, it's true. Well, let me see.

• I agree with you here. I'm afraid you are mistaken.

• Do you really think so? I can't agree with you here.

1.The cars which roll down the hump by gravity are routed into the main line.

2.Flat and gravitation yards are the most advanced types of marshalling yards.

3.The car speed is controlled by means of retarders.

4.Humping speed can be controlled only by means of mechanical devices.

5.The ideal layout of a marshalling yard comprises two groups of sidings.

6.A train is usually classified for 5-6 hours.

7.Uncoupling takes place on the approach side of the hump.

8.The average size of a wagon cut is six four-axle wagons.

Exercise 15. Imagine that you are an operation engineer from Great Britain. You are interested in marshalling yard work here. Prepare 5-6 questions to ask Ukrainian colleagues about the layout, operational procedure and switching operations at the hump and yard.

Exercise 16. Role play the following dialogue. A group of probation students from the Ukrainian Academy of Railway Transport under the supervision of their tutor come to the Traffic Control Centre of the Kharkov railway terminus.

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