Letter of Complaint (Paz NA2)

TASK Read the instructions carefully and write a letter of complaint of 120-150 words.

                                                                                               Carretera a los Olivos, 41

                                                                                               35300, Santa Brígida

                                                                                               25th February, 2016

Av. Tirajana, 25

35100 Playa del Inglés

Las Palmas de Gran Canaria

Dear Mr. James Redston,

I am writing to complain about the meal I was served. Despite reading a positive review on the website, I went to eat to your British restaurant in Gran Canaria. A friend had recommended it to me as a good place to go for a romantic dinner in my holiday. It was the last day in the south of the island and I wanted to go somewhere special. When I phoned to reserve a table I specifically asked if we could eat gluten free food because my husband is celiac. The person I spoke to assured me it would not be a problem.

However, when we arrived at the restaurant, the menu had not gluten free food. When I informed the waiter that I had specifically requested food for celiac, he said that he did not know nothing about that.

They brought gluten-free food from another of their restaurants. Although the food was fine, the service was slow and the waiting staff unfriendly. When I was presented with the bill, I noticed that a 15% service charge had been included. I mentioned that I had been unhappy with the service and politely asked for the service charge to be removed. When the waiter refused, I demanded to see the manager but was told that he was away. I doubt very much if I will ever eat at this restaurant again.

Of course, I hope that the list of allergens will be included in your menu. I look forward to hearing from you.

Yours sincerely

Paz

Travel Essay by Helena A (NA2)

Business has always been a reason to move to unknown lands, to search for treasures and mineral or to trade spices and fabrics.

The travel boom started with the Industrial Revolution mainly when people started to get some better rights, higher salaries and days for rest. During a long period, travel as a hobby was limited to the rich, but the travel sector started to grow faster and develop different methods of transport after the steam ships. The concept of travel changed in the nineteenth century. Firstly, people traveled to visit their family by train or ship but then appear the plane as a business. The plane was the second boom. With commercial flights, came tourism as we know it now.

Nowadays the most common method of transport continues to be the plane. It is a global business. It is because the relation between price and time is quite competitive. On the one hand, airlines have been reducing their costs, removing free food for four or less hours flights, keeping sits just in one position and introduce more rows… and also, they apply logistic strategies on their aircraft fleets, for example to share some with other companies or some strategic stops to fill the plane. On the other hand, with a plane you can cross half the world in 10 hours. This helps to save time, and time is money. That is the reason people prefer to pay a little bit more.

Although the conditions on the planes are getting worse for the costumers while the airlines are increasing their profits, we continue to fly. We haven’t any other option, have we?

The Cliffs of Doneen (for St Patrick's Day, March 17)

The Cliffs of Doneen

You may travel far far from your own native home,
Far away o'er the mountains, far a-way o'er the foam,
But of all the fine places that I've ever seen
Sure there's none to compare with the cliffs of Doneen. 

Take a view o'er the mountains, fine sights you'll see there
You'll see the high rocky mountains o'er the west coast of Clare
Oh the town af Kilkee and Kilrush can be seen
From the high rocky slopes of the cliffs of Doneen. 

 

It's a nice place to be on a fine summer's day
Watching all the wild flowers that ne'er do decay
Oh the hares and lofty pheasants are plain to be seen
Making homes for their young round the cliffs of Doneen. 

Fare thee well to Doneen, fare thee well for a while
And to all the kind people I'm leaving behind
To the streams and the meadows where late I have been
And the high rocky slopes round the cliffs of Doneen.

Improving Listening Skills and Vocabulary Development with BBC

If you are interested in improving your English listening skills and also keeping up with international news, here is a resource that will serve both purposes: 


http://www.bbc.co.uk/learningenglish


Thank you for Corina (NI1) for sending me this link. 

BOOKS and CINEMA

My mother used to tell her five children that if a person has a book, they have a friend. That maxim came to mind when I read this thoughtful (anonymous) essay by a NI1 student.

BOOKS and CINEMA

I’ve always loved reading and watching films. I began to read when I was a child… I used to visit my aunts and in their house, exactly in the living-room there was a cupboard where they had a magazine collection called Reader’s Digest. Do you know it? I often borrowed them.

I remember that they had a lot of romantic novels and I quickly read it but there was one special issue. I cried so much that my mother was worried and she told me: “I don’t understand how you cry but you continue reading!!!”. It’s very easy: I lived in the book! I was into the story or the story was in me. Who knows!

It was a fabulous experience because I could spend some time and not know what was happening around me. That was how I began to love books. Now, I spend some time in the bookshop touching, choosing and also smelling books.

On the other hand, I also love watching films. I like 50s American films with stars such as Ingrid Bergman, Bette Davis, Montgomery Cliff, Paul Newman, Audrey and Katherine Hepburn, among others. Now I often go to Monopol Cinema because it offers very interesting films, original version European films with subtitles and I enjoy watching Juliette Binoche, Christiane Thomas, Gabriel Byre and Tim Robbins.

While I’m writing these words I can see that I like classic and modern styles. I think that finally it’s important, it’s specially important reading, watching and listening to everything that makes us feel, everything that offers us opportunities, possibilities to live better lives.

Animal Voices

Animal voices

pig = oink, grunt 

cow = moo

donkey = bray

horse = neigh

dog = bark, growl 

cat = meow, purr

chicken = cheep 

duck = quack 

goat = bleat 

sheep = baa 

turkey = gobble

Strong adjectives (from Unit 2)

Strong adjectives (from Unit 2)
sad = miserable   /  pretty = gorgeous

big = enormous   / hungry = starving

cold = freezing   / hot = boiling

dirty = filthy   / funny = hilarious

sure = positive   / surprised = amazed

bad = awful    /  tired = exhausted

angry = furious   / afraid = terrified, petrified

small = tiny

NI1 Speaking Test January 2016

MONOLOGUES
 

1) How do you spend your weekends?

 

 

2) What is your idea of a perfect holiday?

 

 

3) Do you come from a big family? Describe it.

 

 

4) What kind of food don´t you like?

 

 

5) Have you ever been to an English-speaking country?

 

 

6) What did you want to be when you were a child?

 

 

7) What do you use the Internet for?

 

 

8) What kind of things annoy you in a restaurant?

 

 

9) Can you remember the first time you traveled by plane?
 

 

 

10) What music do you like listening to in the car?

 

 

 

 

DIALOGUES
 

 

 

1) The restaurant (customer and waiter/waitress)

 

  

 

2) Fruit and vegetable market (customer andvendor)

 

 

3) Old friends meet on the street (catching up)

 

 

4) Interview with pop star (star and journalist)

 

 

5) The cold and flu ( doctor and  patient)