Phone Skills for Everyday Calls | Appointments, Voicemail + Menus

Phone Skills for Everyday Calls: a functional reading and math set for high school life skills, special education, and transition programs. Appointments, phone menus, a late bus, and calling in sick. Plan what to say before you dial.

Why I made this: Many young adults would rather text than call, and then a dentist office or an attendance line leaves them no choice. The calls themselves are short and follow a pattern. When students have read a script, gone through a phone menu, and planned their words, picking up the phone gets much easier. This set sticks to everyday personal calls, not calls on the job.

How it is different from my Calling In Sick, Texting + Emailing the Boss resource: that one is about work. This set is everyday personal calls: a dentist office, a bus line phone menu, and a school attendance line. No workplace calls are in it.

What's included:

• A teacher page: why I made it, how to use both levels, and the skills covered

• Words to know: 10 key words, each with a picture

• 3 pages of practice documents: a dental appointment card with office hours and a call script, a bus line phone menu with a text alert, and a school attendance line with two sample voicemails. All businesses, names, and numbers are made up.

• 12 Level A questions, each with a picture and three answer choices

• The same 12 questions at Level B, with open answers and room to show the math

• A real-life task: write scripts for three everyday calls and practice them with a partner checklist

• An answer key that shows where to find each answer

How I use it: Read through the practice documents together, then give each student the level that fits. Both levels ask the same questions, so the whole class can check answers together. I use the real-life task as a wrap-up or right before a community outing.

Skills covered: reading an appointment card and office hours; figuring a cancel-by time; following a phone menu; reading a text alert and adjusting a time; knowing what to say when calling in sick to school; leaving a clear voicemail; asking someone to repeat information.

Part of the Functional Life Skills series: every set uses the same layout (words, real-looking documents, two levels of the same questions, and a real-life task), so students know the routine when you move to the next set.

Pairs well with:

• Job Skills Communication: Calling In Sick, Texting + Emailing the Boss (the work side of phone calls)

• Transition Planning Phone Map: Who Do I Call? (for families planning who to call after high school)

Who it is for: high school life skills and special education classes, transition programs for ages 18 to 21, and adult education. Grades 9 to 12 and adult transition.

What you download: one printable PDF, 11 pages, US Letter. Answer key included.

From the author of The Transition Map (Jeremy D. Gooch), available in paperback and Kindle.

Written by Jeremy D. Gooch, a teacher with 20+ years in education. All businesses, names, and numbers are made up.