Jose Is Frightened

Air France Response

2013-06-27T17:45:00.002+02:00

Our reference: 6430899001

Dear Mr Brown

Thank you for your letter received on 16^th May 2013, regarding your booking reference number 2VQW7R and your flights with us departing on 21^st December 2012 from Madrid to Hermosillo via Paris and Mexico City and returning on 6^th January 2013. Please accept our apologies for the inconvenience you and Ms Camarena Gomez were caused.

I am sorry to learn of the difficulties that you experienced with your missing baggage on your outbound journey.

I must advise you that the last carrier of your journey is responsible for the handling of your claim. As you reported your baggage with Aero Mexico under reference HMOAM31354, we kindly request you to contact them directly. They will be responsible for handling any claims in relation to this matter.

It is also with regret to learn that you baggage was also missing on your return home. Please accept my renewed apologies for the poor impression this may have caused since we consider the efficient handling of our customer's baggage to be of prime importance.

According to our liability under the Montreal Convention 1999, any expenses for delayed baggage should have been claimed in writing within 21 days from the date on which your baggage was returned to you. Nevertheless Air France, on a commercial basis, will allow 21 days from the date of return to your country of residence to make a claim.

I regret to inform you however since your claim was made outside of this timeframe I am unable to consider your claim. I am sorry for any disappointment this may cause.

In this regard I would respectfully refer you to your travel insurers for their review and consideration.

Turning to the matter you have raised in relation to the short connection times between your flights, I understand from your reservation that your flights booked using the minimum connection time at Paris airport.

I would like to assure you that, under usual conditions, the minimum connection time works well and allows our passengers to complete the connection procedures with sufficient time before the closure of the onward flight. I regret however that despite your inbound flight arriving as per schedule, you felt that the allocated time was no sufficient. That said, I am pleased that you did ultimately travel as planned.

Once again, please accept our renewed apologies for the poor impression gained on this occasion. We look forward to welcoming you on board in the near future, when we are confident we can fulfil all of your expectations that you have come to value in the past.

Yours sincerely

R. Machin (Mr.)

Customer Care Europe

The data and information contained in this message may be confidential and subject to professional secrecy and is intended for the exclusive use of the recipient at the address shown above. If you receive this message by mistake, we ask you not to copy, use or disclose it. Please notify this error to the sender immediately and delete this message from your system. Société Air France - Limited company with capital of 126,748,775 euros - Bobigny register of companies (France) 420 495 178 - 45, rue de Paris, 95 747 Roissy CDG CEDEX Koninklijke Luchtvaart Maatschappij N.V. (also known as KLM Royal Dutch Airlines) is registered in Amstelveen, The Netherlands, with registered number 33014286.

It really had an impact on me - Review

2013-03-14T14:39:00.001+01:00

' It really had an impact on me.'

Informal review

Today we are going to look at an informal review. The title for this review is 'It really had an impact on me'. Therefore from this title we can infer the following things:

The examiner is not seeking classical review structure, i.e. write 200 words about a modern adaptation of Brecht's Mother Courage.
Nor are they asking you to say 'I went to see a film in the cinema, it made me cry. Boo hoo hoo.'

Oh that´s lovely, How shocking! - Look at the following images and respond appropriately.

What we are looking for here is something which shows your own opinion, while demonstrating in a fairly journalistic style what you are talking about.

Basically some good adjectives, reasons why you feel this way and a little bit of history, culture, whatever, written in the passive.

Adjectives and explanations.

Before we take a look at this example from Vice Magazine lets revise some vocabulary from having an impact.

Vocabulary - Powerpoint and Pictures taken from Vice UK.

Explanations (contrasts, expanding your ideas)

Ok so now we have the impact part of the story, a few adjectives. Next it's important to back up our ideas. This is gut wrenching because ... Obviously the obvious contrast here is with European state hospitals, or we could point out similarities, for example:

The photos really had an impact on me because they effectively how much trust is placed in doctors, we really put our lives into their hands, though this isn't usually shown so bloodily in Europe, instead we consent to taking prescription drugs.

Objectivity (or semi-objectivity)

A review in English makes heavy use of the passive and reported speech. You will also need to demonstrate an effective control of narrative tenses to tell a story.

So here you can find a fake transcript of the interview. That I made up solely for this exercise.

What I would like you to do is transform the transcript into a journalistic piece, using adjectives to describe how it impacted on you and using the best bits of the interview for quotations.

Similar review

Before we go lets look at some student reviews. Here is one by my student Jose about Sevilla's fine arts museum.

Sevilla fine art museum review.

and Maria´s modest and understated review of

Journey to the past.

Examples

Check out Sara's excellent work based on this lesson. Street Doctor's in India.

More plane pain - corrections

2013-03-12T22:00:00.000+01:00

Here are a few mistakes from the letters of complaint. Can you try and rewrite these sentences to make them better. Clues are register (formal - informal, particularly the passive) and using adjectives to simplify.

We had problems in both flights. These problems were the same in both flights we think it may not be a coincidence
I am writing to you to complain about an extremely disappointing situation I had to suffer when I travelled with your flight company last Christmas holiday.
Nevertheless, the worst thing was when the aircraft landed in Mexico and I found out that your company had lost my luggage.
I became completely worried and angry when I found out that both of my suitcases were nowhere to be seen after having landed at the airport for the first time. Unfortunately, it happened exactly the same two weeks later in the last flight I took.
Furthermore, despite having notified my!! this to the person in charge of this sort of problems, I did not receive my bags until several days later; which I find totally unacceptable

Chat up

2013-03-06T19:32:00.001+01:00

Chat up: this phrasal verb means talking flirtatiously or seductively with someone.

Why do you want to study First Certificate?

2013-03-05T10:24:00.001+01:00

Why do you want to study the FCE exam? and why now? The Access exam is in May and the FCE is next year. You will have to do a TON of homework, including one composition a week. Is it worth it?

Well lets see.

I would like you to write a Discursive Essay of 150 words discussing the advantages and disadvantages of doing Access this year. Include:

Advantages and why they make you want to do the exam
Disadvantages and why they make you feel it would be better to do the exam latter.
A conclusion.

You must refer to what you know about the exam and what you think you would find difficult about it. For example, I think I will find the writing difficult because writing things like a letter of complaint is for a very formal adult environment and I am 15 and only used to writing on Twitter.

Can you post your response on the blog. If you don't know how follow the guide or email me.

http://joseisfrightened.blogspot.com.es/2012/05/how-to-post-in-blog.html

13/03/13 - OK, so you have given me some writings, some good ideas, but lets look at style. You should be writing in an essay style - what is this? Well there are two ways to write an essay. One follow this guide:

Joseisfrightened Guide to writing an essay.

Or get someone else to do it, South Park style.

Maria -

I think this exam is going to be very important for my future, that’s
why I want to do it.
The advantages are:
-if I pass Access exam and I have First Certificate, I finish studying
English and I would spend my time doing other things.
-If I have that title, I’m sure I would find a better job.
The disadvantages are:
- I think I will find the grammar difficult because I’m not very good
at it. The same with the oral, because I always get so nervous when
something is important.
-Being one more year studying for FCE means one more year without
studying in the afternoons because of the English classes. That would
carry fail more subjects at the high school. [WHAT! Totally unclear rewrite]
In conclusion i should make an effort to pass the access and the first
to have more facilities in the future.

Have a look at Maria's effort? There are some obvious mistakes highlighted in colours, see the writing guide, but there are more general mistakes.

Mario, Pilar, Rosa, Ana, Tereayki, and Lucy. First of all send me your work. Then I want you to comment on each others work using the comments box below. Thanks.

Pain Plane

2013-03-05T10:06:00.002+01:00

Pain on the plane.

So we have been looking at the perfect letter of complaint. We have taken a recent example that happened to me, a flight in which I lost my luggage on a trip to Mexico, and students from the Access and CAE courses have attempted to write a good letter using this presentation. Click below.

Letter of complaint presentation

So how have they done? Well first of all what do you think. Click below to see some examples.

Access Course

Here are some examples from the Access course.

One, Two, Three, Four, Five

Which is the best and why? Have a look at your classmates work and post the answer below.

CAE course

One, Two, Three, Four, Five, Six

Video about call back

2013-03-04T18:58:00.001+01:00

Call back: This phrasal verb means to return a call; for example, if a friends call you and you call your friend later, you're calling back your friend.

Access Posting videos

2013-03-04T09:33:00.002+01:00

Hey

Tere, Mario, Maria, Jose, Antonio, Ana, Rosa, Pilar and Lucy

You've now found your video, for tonight's homework add it to the blog following this guide. Ok?

http://joseisfrightened.blogspot.com.es/2012/05/how-to-post-in-blog.html

Thanks

Break Down by Jose

2013-02-27T20:11:00.001+01:00

Letter of Complaint

2013-02-21T18:48:00.000+01:00

I am going to post all your letters of complaint here. Once you have looked at the mistakes send them to me again and I will repost them.

Letter of complaint - Lost Luggage, Air France

Maripaz
Judith
Teresa (Radish) )

Knock Down

2013-02-21T17:15:00.000+01:00

How to knock down a building. What else collocates with the phrasal verb knock down?

Jokes

2013-02-21T16:55:00.001+01:00

First of all have a quick look at the vocab. in the picture. Notice that where the bit is between the horse´s teeth. Ok you noticed? When can you also use the word bit:Also what shape is the horse´s face long, round or short? So you know that a lot of horsemeat has been found in beef, particularly beef burgers recently. Well Check out these two jokes on that subject: 'I had a beefburger last night and I´ve still got a bit between my teeth.' A cow walks into a bar and the barman says to it "why the long face?"

Pretty good right?

Harlem Shake

2013-02-20T20:39:00.000+01:00

What is a Harlem Shake?

Burst Out Laghing

2013-02-20T18:17:00.002+01:00

Burst Out - To start doing something suddenly or strongly.

In this case

BURST

OUT

LAUGHING

Access Exam.

2013-02-20T09:49:00.001+01:00

Dear Alicia, Macarena, Maripaz, Manuel, Teresa (Radish), Judith.

Congratulations you have decided to take the access exam this year. The most important thing about Access is You Must Keep Up to Date with your Work. Really I can't emphasize enough HOW important is is to do the work every week. You can't just say:

I didn't do the homework because I didn't come last class.

From now on all Access work will be posted on the blog. You must post your work in the comments section below, before the due date or it won't get marked.

To remind you of this please follow me on Twitter https://twitter.com/#%21/frightenedjose and I will remind you about new homework and tweet information that can help you in the exam.

So the first task is to type up the perfect letter of complaint. and post it at the bottom of the page.

Good luck.

Also you will soon be joined by Mario, Cristina, Maria (of the Eagle), Juan Diego, Teresa (Tere Aki), Maria (fighter) and Lucy.

Letters of Complaint - We fight for you!

2013-02-06T12:08:00.001+01:00

Letters of Complaint.

I have a new idea. For letters of complaint we could offer, via this website, the chance to write letters of complaint for people as an exercise in class. We can write on their behalf, and if we are good we could even charge for writing them. As a start lets take up my complaint against Orange and see how it goes.

Look at the link here:

https://docs.google.com/file/d/0BwproD7VOJpLcHM5MEdDem5DY2c/edit

Also if you have any complaints put them below in the comments section, lets use our time in English class doubly productively by learning English and complaining to companies.

Oh there is one minor problem, the Orange letter needs translating into Spanish. Could you do a paragraph each?

Writing a reference

2012-12-18T15:34:00.000+01:00

A reference should always be formal. In fact the write as formally as you possibly can because you are trying to make every little detail seem important and noteworthy.

First of all you should consider what type of job the person is applying for and all details should be relevant to the job. Do not talk about hobbies unless they are relevant to the job.

Similarly all work experience should be related to the job that the person is applying for. Make sure everything refers back to the first paragraph i.e. 'x would make an excellent candidate for the job because ...'

Here are some examples: One: 1

Informal Letter

2012-12-18T15:26:00.004+01:00

An informal letter is probably the easiest part of the writing exam. However you have to make your writing seem natural and spend the last 10 minutes checking that their are no errors like gerund or infinitive and singular, plural forms.

So make sure you practice using lots of natural phrases, idioms, in emails before the exam.

Here are some examples of informal letters.1

Information Sheets

2012-12-13T15:59:00.001+01:00

An Information Sheet can be formal or informal. It depends on the context. If it is for a job interview as these are it should use formal language when discussing the the interactions with the interviewer but can use a more informal tone to discuss the readers feelings. i.e. Greet your interviewer with a formal handshake. Don´t be nervous. Relax! Here is an example. https://docs.google.com/document/d/1cuJ0SdG_0kBeJfXEB_CPtFos2HCDwneOxf0L2UAr9n8/edit

Question Tags continued, with listening.

2012-09-21T13:54:00.000+02:00

Presentation from Thursday 20th September.

Listen to the clips in the videos (but only from the time on the videos i.e. listen from 1 minute to 1:05 minutes).

Say what those parts of the videos have in common.

Go back and write down what Amy Winehouse, The Pusscat Dolls and Whitney Houston say.

Follow the instructions in the presentation.

Question Tags

2012-09-21T13:41:00.001+02:00

An introductory presentation to talk about holidays using question tags.

5000

2012-06-20T13:51:00.000+02:00


Thank you to everyone for visiting we've now had only 5000 visitors.

From FCE to CAE

2012-06-15T16:32:00.003+02:00

The following is a presentation by the Eli Director of Studies Elspeth Pollock on the gap between FCE and CAE. It is not my own work I´m simply putting it up here for the students Jesus, Paula and Jose who missed a class the other week.

2012-06-10T22:05:00.001+02:00

Dear Carmen,

I am extremely happy to give David a reference, having worked as his Line Manager for the past two summers: first in his capacity as a teacher and then as a Course Director/Teaching Coordinator for our summer course for 14 – 17 year olds for international students.

In 2010, David exceeded all expectations as a teacher and provided the students with varied and interesting classes, adapting his teaching methods to take in to account student needs and learning styles. David also assisted other teachers in planning their classes and developing their teaching skills. Additionally, David demonstrated that he was a team player and excelled in building relationships with staff in order to provide the best possible environment for the students and assisted with welfare issues. After managing David in his role as a teacher, I personally recommended David to be promoted to Course Director the following year and this suggestion was very much welcomed by my colleagues as he had gained a reputation among staff in multiple summer schools for his excellent work.

In his next role as Course Director/Teaching Coordinator, David proved himself to be an excellent leader and innovator, overcoming staff and student behavioural issues with the utmost professionalism and discretion. David understands the educational and emotional needs of students studying a foreign language and is able to guide and manage his staff with ease. In this multi-faceted role, David once again outdid himself by adapting procedures and implementing working methods which were efficient and beneficial to students and staff alike. He also provided the school with useful feedback which we have used to plan our course this year.

We have offered David the temporary position of Course Director for one of our largest summer centres this year with students as young as 11 years old, as we know him to be an adaptable and efficient leader, capable of thinking on his feet and ensuring the wellbeing and satisfaction of staff and students alike.

If you would like me to answer any further questions about David, I would be very happy to give you more information. I believe that he would be a huge asset to your team as a Director of Studies.

Kind regards,

Jessica

Good Luck

2012-06-08T22:31:00.001+02:00

Good luck to everyone tomorrow. I know that you're going to do a really great exam!