Greetings And Introductions

Part One: The Wrong Desk

This practical airport adventure is inspired by the 2004 film The Terminal.

Elena Petrova walks into Westbridge Airport with a blue suitcase and a paper map. The bright departure board clicks above her. She is not taking a flight today. She is a participant in a professional travel course, and the class starts near Gate 14. Elena sees a desk with a sign: COURSE REGISTRATION. She smiles and puts her suitcase beside it. “Good morning,” she says. “I’m Elena.”

The administrator looks at his form. His badge says SAMIR HADDAD. “Good morning. What is your first name?” he asks. “My first name is Elena.” Samir writes Helen. Elena looks at the form and points to the first letter. “No, I’m not Helen. I’m Elena—E-L-E-N-A.” Samir laughs softly. His pen makes a quick blue line. “Elena. Is that correct?” “Yes, that’s correct,” she says.

Part Two: Letters On the Move

Samir turns the form around. “What is your surname?” he asks. “My surname is Petrova.” A suitcase wheel rattles across the floor, and Samir cannot hear the middle letters. “Sorry. How do you spell your surname?” Elena speaks slowly: “P-E-T-R-O-V-A.” Samir writes every letter. Then he asks, “What is your company name?” Elena answers, “My company is North-Star Travel.” “How do you spell that?” “North, hyphen, Star. N-O-R-T-H, hyphen, S-T-A-R.”

A strong airport announcement fills the hall. Samir hears “North Star Table” and writes it on the form. Elena sees the words and covers a smile with her hand. “No, not table. Travel—T-R-A-V-E-L.” Samir draws one line through table. “This airport is testing my spelling today,” he says. Elena taps the correct company name with one finger. “North-Star Travel. Yes, that’s correct.”

Part Three: The Email Adventure

Only one empty box remains on the form. “What is your email address?” Samir asks. Elena takes a card from her coat pocket. It smells faintly of coffee. “It’s elena dot petrova at north-star dot com.” Samir writes [email protected] without the hyphen. Elena checks the screen. “There is a hyphen between north and star,” she says. “North hyphen star.” Samir adds the small line. “Can you confirm it?”

Elena reads the address again, but the departure board suddenly clicks and changes. Her course room is now beside Gate 22, not Gate 14. She hears, “Final registration in five minutes.” She looks at the long corridor, then at the unfinished form. She does not run away. She points to each part of the address and says it clearly: “Elena—dot—Petrova—at—north—hyphen—star—dot—com.” Samir reads it back. Elena says, “Yes, that’s correct.”

Samir presses PRINT. The printer hums, but the badge says HELEN TABLE. Elena and Samir stare at it. Then they both laugh. Elena takes a black pen and writes ELENA PETROVA above the wrong words in large, clear letters. Samir stamps the form and lifts Elena’s suitcase. Together they hurry through the warm, busy hall. At Gate 22, Elena shows the corrected badge to the teacher. The teacher smiles and opens the classroom door. Behind Elena, her blue suitcase rolls over the floor, and her name shines in fresh black ink.

Personal Information Review

My Professional Introduction Card

Create a real or invented card with a greeting, first name, surname, company, course or organization, email address, and one name that people sometimes say incorrectly. Prepare these four sentences: Hello. I’m ___. My surname is ___. My company or course is ___. Protect private information by using invented details when needed.