Lab · Spoken English: Zero to Fluent

Lab: your first day at a new college

Labbeginner· about 1 hour· 4 steps

The brief

It is your first day at a new college or institute. You spell your name at the admission desk, greet teachers at the right time of day, introduce yourself to the class and get a cup of tea at the canteen, politely. You write each script, say it aloud and record it on your phone.

Why it matters

These are the first English sentences anyone hears from you: at an admission desk, a bank counter, a new office or a call with a courier company. A clear name, a correct greeting and a short introduction make a good first impression in every college, office and interview in India.

Skills you practise

spelling a name letter by letter
greetings for the time of day
a five-sentence self-introduction
please, thank you, sorry and excuse me

You need

A phone with a voice recorder app (most phones have one built in)
A quiet place for 10 minutes at a time

What you will have at the end

Your first-day.txt script and four short voice recordings: spelling, greetings, introduction and the canteen dialogue.

How it is marked (rubric, 100 points)

Complete scriptsAll four parts of first-day.txt are filled in with your own real details.	30
Correct EnglishNo "Myself...", no "belonging to", the right greeting for each time, and polite requests.	30
Clear speakingLetters and words are clear, with pauses at full stops; a listener could write your name from the recording.	25
Self-reviewYou listened to every recording and re-recorded at least one part to make it better.	15

0/4 steps done

Step 1 of 4

Spell your name and city at the admission desk

You have recorded yourself saying your full name and your city, each spelled letter by letter.

Fill in part 1 of first-day.txt with your real name and city. Say the letter names, not the sounds: A is "ay", H is "aych", W is "double-you". Pause a little between letters so the listener can write them down. For two same letters together, say "double": Anna is "A, double N, A". Record yourself, then listen back with the script closed and check that you could write the name from the recording.

Clerk: Could you spell your name, please?
Me: Sure. My name is Kavita Shah. K-A-V-I-T-A, Kavita. S-H-A-H, Shah.
Me: I am from Nashik. N-A-S-H-I-K.
Clerk: Thank you.

A model answer at the admission desk.

I said my full name and then spelled my first name letter by letter
I said my city and spelled it letter by letter
I said letter names (H as "aych", W as "double-you"), not sounds
I paused between letters, and I could write my name down from my own recording
I said "My name is..." or "I am...", not "Myself..."

Your notes: first-day.txt

Write down each command you ran. It goes into your project summary.