weektask 39

• Engels
• Middelbare school
• vwo
• Leerjaar 6

weektask 39

Focus on writing:

(part of test week 1 letter of complaint)

Read the letter on the next slide
and assess, look at

1. structure
   2. register: is it formal (enough)?
   3. grammar and vocabulary
   4. opening and closure

Dear Madam/Sir,

I am writing this letter to inform you about the poor customer service that we received when we went to your hospital. I went to the hospital with my daughter because her … were going to be removed on that day. When we came to the desk of the employee of the customer service, the employee was really rude especially against my daughter.

My daughter had an appointment on the same day to remove her tonsils. We made the appointment together with the same doctor we had an appointment with today. Unfortunately when we arrived at the desk of the customer service, the employee behind the desk was really rude. All she did was ask our data with a monotone voice. She said that we did have an appointment but for a double hip surgery which was not necessary at all. When we asked to call the doctor she refused and she was not helpful at all. In the end she even used the F word, then I decided to take my daughter away from the desk.

I really urge you to reconsider fire that employee and hire a employee who understands his profession. What I expect from you as a hospital is a new date of surgery for my daughter as soon as possible, I would like to see that no costs will be involved there. I also want a reply from you or the employee as excuse for the rude behaviour.

Yours sincerely,

(naam van vrouw)

Dear Sir/Madam,

I am writing this letter to inform you about the poor customer service that we received when we went to your hospital. I went to the hospital with my daughter because her tonsils were going to be removed on that day. When we came to the desk of the employee of the customer service, the employee was really rude especially against my daughter.

My daughter had an appointment on the same day to remove her tonsils. We made the appointment together with the same doctor we had an appointment with today. Unfortunately when we arrived at the desk of the customer service, the employee behind the desk was really rude. All she did was ask our data with a monotone voice. She said that we did have an appointment but for a double hip surgery which wasn't necessary at all. When we asked to call the doctor she refused and she was not helpful at all. In the end she even used the F word, then I decided to take my daughter away from the desk.

I really urge you to reconsider fire that employee and hire a employee who understands his profession. What I expect from you as a hospital is a new date of surgery for my daughter as soon as possible, I would like to see that no costs will be involved there. I also want a reply from you or the employee as excuse for the rude behaviour.

Yours sincerely,

Elisa Johnson

After reading the previous letter, what can you say about
1.structure
2. register: is it formal (enough)?
3. grammar and vocabulary
4. opening and closure

20 of the most ridiculous complaints made by holidaymakers

1. A tourist at a top African game lodge overlooking a waterhole, who spotted a visibly aroused elephant, complained that the sight of this rampant beast ruined his honeymoon by making him feel "inadequate".

2. A woman threatened to call police after claiming that she’d been locked in by staff. When in fact, she had mistaken the “do not disturb” sign on the back of the door as a warning to remain in the room.

3. "The beach was too sandy." 

4. A guest at a Novotel in Australia complained his soup was too thick and strong. He was inadvertently slurping the gravy at the time. 

5. "Topless sunbathing on the beach should be banned. The holiday was ruined as my husband spent all day looking at other women."

6. "We bought 'Ray-Ban' sunglasses for five euros (£4.50/US$6.50) from a street trader, only to find out they were fake."

7. "No-one told us there would be fish in the sea. The children were startled."

8. "It took us nine hours to fly home from Jamaica to England it only took the Americans three hours to get home." 

9. "My fiancé and I booked a twin-bedded room but we were placed in a double-bedded room. We now hold you responsible for the fact that I find myself pregnant. This would not have happened if you had put us in the room that we booked."

10. "I compared the size of our one-bedroom apartment to our friends' three-bedroom apartment and ours was significantly smaller."

11. "The brochure stated: 'No hairdressers at the accommodation'. We're trainee hairdressers - will we be OK staying here?"

12. "There are too many Spanish people. The receptionist speaks Spanish. The food is Spanish. Too many foreigners." 

13. "We found the sand was not like the sand in the brochure. Your brochure shows the sand as yellow but it was white." 

14. "We had to queue outside with no air conditioning." 

15. "It is your duty as a tour operator to advise us of noisy or unruly guests before we travel." 

16. "I was bitten by a mosquito - no-one said they could bite."

17. "I think it should be explained in the brochure that the local store does not sell proper biscuits like custard creams or ginger nuts."

18. "It's lazy of the local shopkeepers to close in the afternoons. I often needed to buy things during 'siesta' time - this should be banned." 

19. "On my holiday to Goa in India, I was disgusted to find that almost every restaurant served curry. I don't like spicy food at all." 

20. "We booked an excursion to a water park but no-one told us we had to bring our swimming costumes and towels."

Write a letter of complaint (next slide)

You paid for a holiday overseas, but it didn't meet the brochure description at all, e.g. the beautiful swimming pool turned out to look like the picture below.... 

Write your letter of complaint.

Focus on grammar Inversion

Focus on translation

1. Nauwelijks was ze bekomen van de schok, toen een aankondiging werd gedaan.

2. Nooit eerder zag ze zo’n hoog gebouw. Als ze het niet met haar eigen ogen had gezien, zou ze het nooit hebben geloofd.

Translation sentence 1 and 2

1. Nauwelijks was ze bekomen van de schok, toen een aankondiging werd gedaan.

Hardly had she recovered from the shock, when a second announcement was made.

2. Nooit eerder zag ze zo’n hoog gebouw. Als ze het niet met haar eigen ogen had gezien, zou ze het nooit hebben geloofd.       Never before had she seen such a tall building. If she hadn’t seen it with her own (two) eyes, she would never have believed it.

Stappenplan vertalen:

1. Bevat de zin een conditional? Zo ja welke en kies afhankelijk daarvan de tense.

2. Geen conditional? In welke tijd spelen de gebeurtenissen zich af? Was de ene misschien al voorbij, voor de andere begon enz. Zijn er signaalwoorden van tijd?

3. Begint de zin met een ontkenning als nauwelijks/hardly, nooit eerder/never before enz à inversion.

4. Zijn er bijzinnen? Defining/non-defining? Wel komma’s of geen komma’s?

5. Zinsvolgorde (plaats voor tijd)

6. Lees je vertaling door. Heb je alles vertaald?

1. Het kind, dat ongelofelijk luid om zijn moeder aan het huilen was, was van de trap afgevallen, had zijn been gebroken en was naar het ziekenhuis gebracht.

2. Men is altijd van mening geweest dat de uitgebreide herstelwerkzaamheden aan de snelweg de grootste oorzaak waren van de files.

3. Men beweerde in de tachtiger jaren dat het dumpen van gevaarlijk afval niet erg schadelijk was voor de landbouw.

4. Het gebruik van zonne-energie is de laatste jaren flink gestegen, dankzij maatregelen van de overheid.

5. Nooit eerder besteedde hij zoveel aandacht aan zijn huiswerk als de avond voor zijn examen.

6. Als ik een fotograaf zou zijn, dan zou ik de prachtige stad Parijs vaak in de lente willen fotograferen.

Focus on reading

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Optional: If you want to improve your reading skills, start reading via ReadTheory.org (AND do invite your teacher!)

ReadTheory

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Invite your teacher ([e-mail] or [e-mail]) in the space provided.

Click the invitation button.

Do you need more or other material or additional instruction, please write down below. Be specific.

Up to you

Study grammar hand out 1,2 and 3
Study exam vocabulary
Study hand out "Letter of complaint"