Unit 1: Emails - Organising information

1. Dear Sir/Madam,
I am writing to inform you of where we are in the process of selling your house.
Further to our conversation, I confirm that the contract for the sale of your house has
been sent to the buyers. We expect the signed contract to be returned by the end of the
week.
After that, you will need to vacate the property and hand over the keys by Saturday
28th. Please do not hesitate to contact me if you have any questions regarding the sale
Yours sincerely.
Daniel Marston.
2. Hi Eleni,
Sorry to bother you, but I have a few questions about the upcoming conference on
Digital Marketing.
First of all, could you let me know how many of my colleagues are going to the
conference? Next, are we going by train or are we car-sharing, please? Finally, can
you tell me which workshops you would like me to prioritize, as there are several
scheduled for the same time.
I hope everything goes well, and that there will be information that we can apply to
our own operation.
Best wishes,
Amalia
3. Write a reply of about 80 words to the email in exercise 2.
Dear Amalia,
Thank you for your email regarding the upcoming conference on Digital Marketing.
Firstly, there are 6 colleagues attending the conference. So, you are all going by train.
My PA is booking the tickets this afternoon and they can be collected from the ticket
office at the central station.
As there are six people from this company going, most of the workshops can be
attended. I would like you to attend those which outline new marketing strategies,
please.
Please do not hesitate to contact me if you have any questions or need any help.
Yours sincerely,
Eleni
Unit 2: Formal and semi-formal emails
1. Dear Mr Kreuz,
We are delighted to announce that we are opening our new conference facilities on
28th February. The opening ceremony will be held in the main auditorium on the first
floor, at 5.30 p.m. As a preferred client, you and your partner are invited to attend.
The conference center was designed by Cora Bhatti in collaboration with Ashaf Tahir.
Dinner will be served at 7 p.m.
Please confirm your attendance by 1st February and remember to bring this invitation
with you to gain admittance to the venue.
We very much look forward to seeing you at this event.
Kind regards,
Luca Schmidt
2. Dear Mr Schmidt,
Thank you very much for the invitation to the opening ceremony for your new
conference facilities. I’m afraid that my wife and I will be unable to attend due to a
prior engagement.
I hope that you have a very successful opening and look forward to meeting you again
in the near future.
With regards,
Victor Kreuz.
3. Dear Mr Schmidt,
Thank you very much for the invitation to the opening ceremony for your new
conference facilities on 29th February. As a preferred client, my partner and I would
be honored to accept your invitation.
I hope that you have a very successful opening and look forward to seeing you in the
ceremony.
Kind regards,
Victor Kreuz
Unit 3: Covering letter
1. Dear Ms Arshad,
Re: Position of Sales Assistant
I am writing to apply for the vacancy of sales assistant as advertised on the Careers
website last week. Please find enclosed my curriculum vitae for your information. As
you will see from my CV, I have a first-class degree in Sales and feel that I would be a
suitable fit for your company. I have been working in a similar position for two years,
where I have developed my skills and expertise. I am a valued member of the sales
team. I work hard to make sure that I am fully up to date with current trends in the
sales sector and I consistently achieve my sales targets in my current position. I am
confident that my experience would be a(n) asset to your company. I would be
grateful to have the opportunity to attend an interview to find out more about the role
and demonstrate my skills.
2. Read the job advert and write a covering letter applying for the job in around 180
words.
Dear Ms Arshad,
I am writing to apply for the vacancy of Marketing Manager as advertised on your
website last week. Please find attached my CV for your information.
I hold a master’s degree in International Marketing and am looking for a chance to
work for a strong dynamic team like Surfing Technologies.
As you can see from my CV, I have been working in a similar position for two years,
where I have developed my skills and expertise. I divide my time between leading my
team at the main office and traveling to our key markets. I have very innovative ideas
to offer and a good track record of putting them into practice. I am a confident public
speaker and provide excellent presentations. I believe that the job you have advertised
would suit my skills and abilities. I am confident that my experience would be an asset
to your company.
I would very much appreciate the opportunity of an interview to find out more about
the position and to demonstrate how I can be of value to your company.
I look forward to hearing from you.
Thank you for taking the time to read my letter.
Yours sincerely,
Ha Luong
Unit 4: Reporting reasons and results
1. Report on Current Problems
Our retail company has faced considerable problems this year.
This report aims to outline the main ones.
Main problems and reasons
The main problem affect businesses across the country. Due to high unemployment,
people have less disposable income to spend.
As well as this, manufacturing costs have increased. This has led to a fall in profit
margins. Up until now we have tried not to pass on the additional costs to our
customers. However, we will have to raise our prices if we are to stay in business.
Instead we reduced our range of products, so we lost customers. If we have fewer
customers, our sales figures will fall even further. If we lose customers, we will need
to cut staff.
New government taxes are making it difficult for businesses, too. The new business
rates for properties have resulted in a number of shop closures up and down the
country.
A new discount chain began operations at the beginning of the year. As a result, sales
dropped because customers were lured away by cheaper prices.
Furthermore, the company has recently borrowed money from the banks, resulting in
increased monthly repayments and interest charges.
In order to survive in this very difficult situation, we will need to reduce costs. this
may include cutting salaries and possibly reducing the umber of employees.
2. Write a report extract of around 180 words outlining the problems your company
has at the moment.
Report on Current Problems
Our supermarket chain has faced some considerable problems this year. This report
aims to outline the main ones.
Main Problems and Reasons
Our sales figures have fallen considerably. Our current poor financial outlook is
mainly due to the national economic recession. New government policies and taxes
are making it difficult for businesses. Therefore, there will have to be some store
closures and, as a consequence, the loss of a number of jobs.
In addition, we are now faced with more and more competition from discount stores
which are offering consumers prices which we cannot compete with. This has led to a
loss of revenue. However, it is our belief that these customers will return once the
novelty of discounted food has worn off.
The third factor in the downturn is that unemployment levels have increased recently.
Technological advances have meant that there is less need for manual workers. As a
result, people have less Money to spend at our stores. This, in turn, has had an adverse
effect on our sales figures.
Unit 5: Letter of complaint
Letter of complaint
1. 44 Congress Road
Glasgow G3 8QT
31/01/2018

Re: Order #7991 50 laptops

Dear Sirs,
We ordered 50 laptops from your company on 1st February on the understanding that
they would be delivered by 1st March. You assured us that this could be arranged.
However, only 25 were delivered. We contacted you immediately by email. However,
you did not respond to our first or subsequent emails. We were unable to get through
to your customer service department although we tried on numerous occasions. We
lest messages to which you did not respond. We are very surprised by this as we are
long-standing customers of yours.
I must inform you that we will be withholding payment for the computers received
until we receive the rest of the order. We request that you deliver the outstanding
laptops immediately
We sincerely hope that this matter can be quickly resolved to our mutual satisfaction.
We look forward to your prompt response.
Alain DuPont
Purchasing Manager
2. Re: Order #1402 20 office chairs
Dear Sirs,
We ordered 20 office chairs from your company on 14th February on the
understanding that they would be delivered by 15th March. You assured us that this
could be arranged and we would have delivery on time.
However, today is 20th March and no chairs were delivered. We have contacted you
by email, but have not had a response yet. Also, we have been unable to get in contact
with customer service department. We have left messages to which we have yet to
receive a response. We are very surprised by this lack of response as we are long-
standing customers of yours. We are now requesting that the chairs be delivered
immediately or receive an explanation as to why this is not possible.
I must inform you that if you do not respond to this letter immediately, we will be
forced to cancel the order and an order will be placed with another supplier. We
sincerely hope that this situation can be resolved to our mutual satisfaction.
We look forward to your prompt response.
Purchasing manager.
Unit 6: Summarizing
2. The speaker said that she was the granddaughter of Silvana Medici, who had sadly
died before she was born. She said that her grandmother had been an amazing woman
who had begun her catering business way back in the 1950s as a means of earning
some extra cash for her children. Her husband had been injured in the war and had
died.
3. The speaker is the granddaughter of Silvana Medici, who sadly died before I was
born. Her grandmother began her catering business way back in the 1950s as a means
of earning some extra cash for her children. She was a cook in a wealthy household
before and during the war years, but by the 1950s, she had to find a way of earning a
living. She started making her own cakes, jams and preserves, and selling them to
local shops and local hotels. A man who owned large retail business was impressed
with the quality of her food. and made her an offer an interest-free loan. She accepted
and invested the money in new kitchen. Sales of her produce grew again and after a
year she was able to open her own shop. Now she has a chain of shops all over
northern Italy.

The speaker’s grandmother began a catering business in the 1950s, because she
needed money for her children as her husband had died of an injury sustained in the
war. Before the war, she had worked as a cook in people’s houses, but after the war,
there were fewer jobs and servants. She needed to earn money and needed a job to
support her children. She decided to use her culinary skills and began her business by
making popular cakes, preserves, and later desserts. Local shops and hotels started to
make regular orders, then soon enough a retailer offered her a job. She accepted and
never looked back.
Unit 7: Making recommendations
1. Formal
2. Report on cross-cultural issues in the workflow of our Dublin - Dubai project.
It has become obvious that there are issues in the workflow of our Dublin-Dubai
project. These have apparently been caused by cross - cultural differences between the
colleagues working on the project in the two offices. The project is very important to
our company and if it fails, no doubt our profits will be adversely affected in the next
quarter. It is therefore essential that the cross-cultural teams begin to work together by
understanding how their cultures differ.
We advise you to try to engage the staff together in an activity away from the project
which they are collaborating on. We hope that this will ease tensions between the
parties and also allow them to learn about and appreciate their different cultural
approaches.
Our recommendation would be to organize a day of team-building activities through
an external company. This would take the teams off site and engage them in a sporting
or leisure activity in which they all have to work together towards a common goal. We
suggest that this is organized without delay to avoid any further misunderstandings.
3. Issue of cross-cultural disagreements
Staff unable to agree on workflow methods - projects delayed
Recommendation
Suggest/Advise
• pair staff from different cultures to work together
• arrange cross-cultural training
• appoint a member of staff with a cross-cultural background to
oversee the project
Recently, it has become obvious that there are cross-cultural differences in some of
our overseas teams, causing misunderstandings and affecting workflow and deadlines.
In some of our offices we have collages working from several different cultures. They
generally only visit the overseas office for a short period so there isn’t enough time for
them to become fully familiar with each other’s methods of working, which re often
influenced by their cultural background.
We advise you to try to pair staff together from different cultures to work closely on
projects. We hope that this will enable them to get to know their colleagues and
understand their different cultural approaches. We would also recommend that your
arrange cross-cultural training as soon as possible. This can be resourced outside the
company and there are many training providers which specialize in this.
It is essential that everyone tries to work together to overcome this issue for that
reason we recommend you put theses steps into effect immediately. If these
recommendations do not have the desired effect, we suggest that you appoint a
member of staff with a cross-cultural background to oversee any projects affected. He
or she can then implement a suitable cross-cultural workflow.
Unit 8: Informing of a decision
1. To: Santiago Sanchez
From: All managers
Subject: Meeting decision

Dear Colleagues,
This is to inform you of our decisions arrived at in yesterday’s meeting about our
future international structure and its leadership.
There we reached a consensus regarding the establishment of a new international
division. This will closely supervise the operations in our foreign locations. Senior
management will report to myself, the CEO, to begin with. We will monitor the
international division closely at first, but we hope that, in time, the senior managers
will gain autonomy.
Secondly, we agreed to appoint Adnan al-Haroun as Senior Manager of this new
division. He will be responsible for overseeing operations in our international markets.
When these expand, we will open subsidiary offices in the foreign locations to which
we export.
The final decisions made at the meeting was to confirm the appointment of our new
Export Manager, Daniela Marquez. She will replace Henry Smythe, who, as you
know, is retiring next month.
We will announce these decisions at a press conference on Friday.
I would like to take this opportunity to congratulate you all on our success.
Kind regards,
Santiago
2. From: Juan Blunt CEO
To: All managers
Subject: Board meeting decision

Dear colleagues,
This is to inform you of the decisions made at in yesterday’s board meeting about our
future export department and its future.
First of all, we agreed to open more overseas offices in the countries we export to.
This should take the pressure off our Export Manger. We made this decision because
of our rapid growth in this area. The offices will initially be staffed by managers in our
headquarters until we can recruit local managers who are familiar with the various
locations
Secondly, we finally reached a consensus regarding the training programs we need to
implement. We have decided that all senior managers should be given language
courses as needed in the languages they will be liaising in. We would ideally like to
appoint native speakers of the language, but for the moment we are limited in what we
can do. As this a matter of urgency, training will start next month
The final decisions made at the meeting was to appoint new Consul Martinez as
National Sales Manager to take over from Mr Branch who is leaving the company
next month.
We will announce these decisions at a press conference on Friday,
I would like to take this opportunity to congratulate you all on our success
Kind regards
Juan