Teacher Discussion Forums

Hey everyone, a little survey here.

I am team-teaching an adult class, pre-intermediate, and one of the teachers who is dealing with functional English spent an entire hour teaching the "International Word Alphabet" and told the students that is is generally used when spelling things over the phone. Consequently, when the students got to my listening/speaking class and were doing a phone exercise, I was amazed when they began spelling their names with these words. It even sounded funny to me, like a scene from a war film.

My question: Is this alphabet really used? I have never in my life used it, and if there is a confusion about one of my letters, I simply use a common English word that begins with that letter. How about the rest of you? Thanks in advance for your input on this folks!

peace,
revel.

Hee--I would have had the same reaction. I usually use, "a as in apple" "b as in boy." ...."f as in frank" and "s as in Sam"...etc. I don't know what the Army ones are.

I would say that it depends on the class and why they are learning. The international alphabet is not only military but is also used in airports and by police and emergency personnel. I think that using it could prevent culture specific references (f as in frank) that might otherwise confuse... all in all, I think it could be a good idea.

If in an emergency a student needs to transmit urgent information over the phone, they might find it easier to use memorised references instead of trying to think of words to stand in their place off the top of their head.

I think it often depends upon the background of the person, or the people around them. I had a few forces buddies, and picked it up, which turned out useful for 2way radio communication, especially when I had to deal wth the police.

I`ve heard a similar thing too...

I`ve heard people recommending sea-speak for individuals as a basic BASIC way of communicating.

EG. In English if you make a mistake when you are giving information there are hundreds of ways of saying it...

Sorry, that`s wrong
Sorry, I made a mistake
My bad
I meant
Hang on that`s not right

In sea-speak you ONLY say "MISTAKE."

Easy.