Casino Reading Skills Casino Reading Skills Participant Manual: Edition 1.0 Casino Reading Skills: Essential Skills for the Gaming Industry Produced By: The Canadian Gaming Centre of Excellence (An operating division of The Manitoba Lotteries Corporation) 983 St. James Street Winnipeg, Manitoba R3H 0X2 (204) 957-2504 ext. 8498 e-mail: [email protected] Contact: Judith Hayes, Director Dayna Hinkel, Business Development Officer © 2010 Canadian Gaming Centre of Excellence (CGCE). All rights reserved. All material in this manual is the property of the CGCE. This publication, or any part thereof, may be used free of charge and permission is granted to reproduce for personal or educational use only. Commercial copying or selling is prohibited. In all cases this copyright notice must remain intact. Special Thanks: The Canadian Gaming Centre of Excellence would like to acknowledge the assistance of the following organizations and individuals in producing this manual: Aseneskak Casino Judy Goodridge, Chief Operating Officer Eleanor Gabriel, Human Resources Delores Lavallee, Manager, Human Resources Atlantic Lottery Corporation Alison Stultz, Director Organizational Development British Columbia Lottery Corporation Mitch Romanchook, Manager Technical Services Talent Management – Human Resources Canadian Gaming Association Paul Burns, Vice President of Public Affairs Casino Rama Debra Pratt, Chief People Officer Century Casino & Hotel Nicole Jofre, Human Resources Great Canadian Gaming Corporation Sally Hart, Executive Director Human Resources Brenda Fearman, Director Human Resources Vonn Parker, Director Human Resources Mo-Jean Lai, Director Training & Development Gary Moore, Regional Manager Human Resources Grey Eagle Casino Carrie Manitopyes, Human Resources Manager Manitoba Lotteries Corporation Judith Hayes, Director Employee Services & Organizational Development Dayna Hinkel, Business Development Officer Barb Celic, Training Specialist Manitoba Tourism Education Council Shannon Fontaine, Chief Executive Officer Niagra Casinos Tammy Sweeny, Director Employee Programs Ontario Lottery and Gaming Corporation Priscilla Fraser, Senior Manager Training & Development Anne Gervais, Director HR Gaming & Office of Player Protection Paragon Gaming Brent Fleming, Vice-President Human Resources & Organizational Development Sandra Riedlinger, Regional Learning & Development Specialist Saskatchewan Gaming Corporation: Nadine Milne, Manager Learning & Development Saskatchewan Indian Gaming Authority Tammy Vermette, Director of Learning & Development Jason Chickosis, Learning & Development Consultant Ari Avivi, Learning & Development Consultant Trevor Smith, Learning & Development Consultant Pat Brooks, Learning & Development Consultant Table of Contents ► Introduction ► How to Use this Manual ► Facilitator’s Guide ► Foundations: 1. Scanning for Information 2. Building your Vocabulary 3. Reading to Remember 4. Reading Memos, Emails and Bulletins 5. Reading Casino Manuals, Handbooks and Procedures ► Job Families: 1. Bank 2. Customer Services/Administration 3. Food and Beverage Services 4. Housekeeping and Grounds 5. Maintenance and Facilities 6. Retail 7. Security 8. Slots/Electronic Gaming/Bingo 9. Table Games 10. Uniforms 11. Warehouse Casino Reading Skills H ow to Use This Manual Reading in your World The busy Casino environment is in constant change. A huge amount of information is transmitted every hour at all levels throughout the property to keep everything running smoothly. Whatever your job, reading will be part of it. Information can come to you in many forms: − Instructional manuals − Policies and Procedures − Memos, messages and emails − Bulletins and reminders posted on walls or bulletin boards − Hand-written notes and logs When the information reaches you, you must be prepared to read, understand and respond quickly and appropriately. In the following manual you will learn how to: − Scan quickly to find the information you want − Skim quickly to choose what you need to read − Improve comprehension − Build your reading skills − Read bulletins, memos, email and postings − Read manuals and handbooks − These skills not only save time, they help us to focus. HOW TO USE THIS MANUAL: READING SKILLS 1 of 11 Organization The workbook is organized into two main sections to be as user-friendly as possible. Scanning for Information 1. Foundations Foundation Section This is a review of Reading functions related to general Gaming occupations Scanning for Information and is organized by Reading strategies. Topics include: − Scanning for Information − Building your Vocabulary − Reading to Remember − Reading Memos, Emails, and Bulletins − Reading Casino Manuals, Handbooks and Procedure Each Foundation section is organized as follows: Title Eg. Scanning for Information Teaching Tips: Introduction Some jobs that need these skills ost of the reading we do is selective. We “navigate” documents include: − by finding the sections that interest us and answer our questions. Provide tips to help trainers conduct training on the skills in the section. Bank Senior Cashier Navigating a document is like looking up a name in a phone book. Bank Supervisor/Shift Manager M Banquet Supervisor/Shift Manager We don’t start to read the phonebook from page one! We make use of the Bartender organization of the document (in this case, alphabetical order) to allow us to Beverage Server Bingo Caller/Checker scan most of the entries and focus on the one name and number that we need. Bingo Cashier Bingo Supervisor These are included in many, but not all, of the Foundations sections. Bingo Volunteer Coordinator Imagine you are trying to find a face in a crowd or one Box Person (Craps) Casino Bank Cashier/Clerk particular photo in an album. Your eyes scan quickly Casino Gaming Technincian back and forth over the faces, but you don’t focus on Casino Host/Player Services Representative any of them except the one you are looking for. When Chef Cook we are reading a newspaper or magazine, we do the Countroom Cashier same. Our eyes move quickly down the page, picking Countroom Supervisor/Shift Manager Dealer out the headlines and the specific words that interest us. In this section, you will Dining Room Cashier learn how to scan reading material to decide what parts of it are important to Dining Room Supervisor/Shift Manager Executive Host you. Facility Supervisor/Shift Manager Facility Technician Introduction: Food and Beverage Host Scanning means rapidly looking through a lot of text to find the specific Guest Services Representative Guest Services Supervisor/Shift Manager information you are looking for. Scanning is very useful for finding a name, Housekeeping Attendant date or fact without taking time to read every word. You probably already use Housekeeping Supervisor/Shift Manager Investigative Security Officer scanning every day. When you look up a recipe in the index of a cookbook, Kitchen Helper search for an electrician in the yellow pages or find an office number in a Maintenance Technician − Pit Manager/Pit Boss Lists the skills to be covered in this section and the job families that building directory, you are using this skill. Poker Manager Promotions & Event Planner Receiver Retail Cashier Retail Supervisor/Shift Manager Security Officer Security Supervisor/Shift Manager Senior Clerk Typist most commonly use these skills. Server Shuttle Bus Driver Slot (Electronic Gaming) Floor Supervisor/Shift Manager Slot Attendant/Electronic Gaming Attendant Surveillance Supervisor/Shift Manager Surveillance Technician Switchboard Operator Table Games Inspector Table Games Supervisor/Shift Manager Table Games Trainer Technical Support Supervisor Uniform Supervisor/Shift Manager Uniform Technician Valet Attendant Skill 1: Eg. Scan to Find the Information you Need Warehouse Clerk Warehouse Supervisor/Shift Manager SCANNING FOR INFORMATION 3 of 25 − Tell Me: Describes the skill, and how to use it. − Show Me: Shows how to use the skill, using examples. − Let Me Try: Provides exercises for the learner to practice the skills. SOMETHING TO CONSIDER How to scan: 1 − Don’t try to read every word. Instead, let your eyes move quickly down the page until you find what you are looking for. Skill 2: Etc. − Use clues on the page, such as headings and titles, to help you. Some documents use colour to help you go directly to the pages you want. − Many texts use alphabetical order. Think of everyday reading materials, such as the phone book and indices to books and catalogues. − In a dictionary or phone book, use the ‘header’ words to help you scan. You can find these in bold type at the top of each page. Skill 1: Scanning an Alphabetically-Ordered Check My Answers: List − Provides answers for all the Let Me Trys. Nowadays, we use computer and Internet tools to find information simply by typing the key words. The computer does the work for us! However, good readers still need these navigational skills to find the information they want: − Searching by alphabetical order − Determining key words − Scanning When we scan an alphabetically-ordered list, our eyes move down the list until we find the first letter of our key word. Then we scan more slowly to find the word itself. Key Words When we search for information on the Internet or in our local system, we type the key words into boxes and the computer does the searching for us. 4 of 25 SCANNING FOR INFORMATION 2 of 11 HOW TO USE THIS MANUAL: READING SKILLS 2. Job Family The Job Family sections are practice questions organized according to specific