I have to agree with Bymon here... (Shock, horror!!
) but it is important for crew to have a good understanding not just of words but the context of English... it's all well and good for crew to memorise/know the standard phraseologies etc, but when things go to sh!t, many revert to their native tongue...
The other problem you encounter is personal bias/interpretation of what is being said. Prime case that story Rowena told of the Korean crew girl not knowing for 6 months what a loo was, so hence no lav checks.
I'm not sure how much depth of training is given to communication during ab-initio, but in my opinion there can never be enough. What Person A says, and thinks they mean, can mean something totally different to Person B.
For example, the Air Canada DC-9 lav fire..... an F/A told the Capt they didn't think it was 'too serious', however I'm sure a pilot looking at it would have a very different point of view.
During my studies I wrote a thesis regarding communication between CC and flight deck; it's amazing how many occurences from simple misunderstandings of speech happen, and how potentially serious they could be.
E.g the Trident in Staines where the Capt said "Put it in", meaning the altitude, but the F/O interpreted it to mean the slats/flaps.... result: plane stalls, crashes into field killing everyone on board.
Try this one from everyday life:
Scenario: Woman overhears her two friends talking about her new dress:
"What an ugly dress, i wonder that she wore it".
Woman gets huffy and doesn't speak to her friends for a week.
What was actually said: "What a lovely dress, I wonder where she bought it?"
Anyway, enough of my lecturing.... back to the open day....!
These days I just tell myself, that they must have seen something in those selected that I just couldn't see today. Trying to figure it all out will just send you bananas!! Go along again, focus on meeting like-minded people and have some fun, it will put a smile on your face that's sure to get you noticed!!!
Good luck!!