Jul 31, 2011

License to Wed & Death at a Funeral: Letters of Complaints


Of course writing a letter fo complaint is not a grammar point, but I have been adding activities to practice the 4 skills, so this one is for writing. Letters of complaints are contextualized with very funny situations here. These scenes made this writing class much more interesting and meaningful.


I. Watch the movie segments from the movies License to Wed and Death at a Funeral. Both scenes are very funny, but they show consumers who are dissatisfied with the service they were provided with. When you watch the scene, make sure you observe what the problem was and how you would like the problem to be resolved.

License to Wed's Scene:




Death at the Funeral's Scene:




Imagine now that you are one of the characters from the segments you have just seen. Put yourself in his shoes and write a letter of complaint to the company who provided you with the service. Choose one of the scenes to complain. Follow the guidelines below:


  • An introduction that clearly identifies the subject of the complaint. In the first paragraph you should identify what the issue is and any relevant information that you believe is important. Be sure to include the following information if it's applicable to the situation: the date/time of the issue, location, name of person on duty, name of product, what the problem was, your account number, model number, price, warranty information and reference number. Be sure to stick with the facts and avoid putting emotions into your letter.
  • A body paragraph that (a) clearly and specifically explains the nature of the complaint, and (b) provides the reader with all of the information needed to provide an appropriate response. It should state what you would like done to resolve the situation. If you received poor service, you could request an apology or a coupon. If a product malfunctioned, you could request that you could exchange the product for a new one or request a refund.

  • A conclusion that clearly states what actions are needed to remedy the problem. The last paragraph should thank the reader for thoe time. You can also throw in some compliments about something you liked about their company's product or service. You should include your telephone number/e-mail address after your printed name so that they can contact you ASAP if necessary. Be sure to keep a copy of the letter for yourself and include photocopies of any relevant documents and enclose them with your letter.
MOVIE SEGMENT DOWNLOAD - LICENSE TO WED

MOVIE SEGMENT DOWNLOAD - DEATH AT A FUNERAL

WORKSHEET

6 comments:

AlexPup said...

One of the most exciting lessons you've got on the blog, Claudio. Gonna put it to test one of these days.

Claudio Azevedo said...

Thanks a lot! Let me know how it works, please. See you.

Veruska said...

Great teacher!!! tks.

kallymoral said...

Thanks a lot for sharing.

Paola Ruiz said...

Hi Claudio, just wondering why i cant download the videos anymore :-( it is so saaaaad beacuse we dont have internet in the classroom to play the videos online, so i had to downloaded them first.... but know it says that the videos are sort of protected and i cant download them :-( so sad

Claudio Azevedo said...

Dear Paola,
I'm sure it is the browser version you are using. Have you tried Explorer, Mozilla, google chrome? Besides, in this specific post there is a link written Movie Segment Download for each of the segments that you can download directly from my personal wiki. I can't see why it will not work this way. Have you tried it? It just takes a little longer, but you do not depend on any software or app to download the segments. Let me now if you maneged, please.