Week 3: Listening / reading H2 B1

Week 3

• Idiom of the week
•  Listening H2 Conversations - B1 Discussions
• Reading H2 Letters and Emails - B1 Personal and business correspondence
• Werken aan de opdrachten

Idiom of the week!

What do you think the idiom is about:

''Add insult to injury''

Idiom of the week!

''Add insult to injury''

Meaning:

Do something to make a bad situation worse

Example:

Learning she failed her test on the same day as her best friend moved away added insult to injury.

Listening H2 B1

In conversations, opinions are often asked for and shared. Brits and Americans often do this in a less direct way than the Dutch. You can notice this in several ways:

Listening H2 B1

Speakers of English say things more politely by using modals. They prefer words as would, could, should and might in questions and suggestions. For instance: I would appreciate it if; I don’t think we should; or, You might want to think about 

the consequences. Dutch speakers will be a lot more

definitive and direct about things.

Listening H2 B1

In English, if someone is looking for support or confirmation, they often stick a short question to the end of the sentence. That's the same as Dutch ‘toch?’, ‘niet dan?’ or‘hè?’ at the end of a sentence. 

For instance: Netflix is not really expensive, is it? or 

Aimée has got a great job, hasn’t she? These questions 

are called tag questions.

Listening H2 B1

The words think, guess and reckon are often used to indicate someone's opinion. 

You will often hear expressions such as I guess ..., ... don’t you think? and ... do you reckon?

Reading H2 B1

The letter conventions for a business letter or e-mail are different from those for a personal letter. The language used is formal and the format often looks different because it must

conform to a company's corporate identity.

Business letters

• Letter of enquiry : a request for information about a product or service.
• Confirmation letter: a confirmation of an order or an appointment.
• Letter or e-mail of complaint: A complaint should always be taken seriously, even if it is not justified. It is not always easy to assess how urgent the complaint is. You can pay attention to words like very and highly, which reinforce the complaint. A phrase like at once indicates    that the writer expects you to deal with the complaint immediately.

Business letters

Aan de slag!

• Listening H2 B1 Discussions

Ex. 1,2,3,4

• Listening health: 2 Insurance

• Reading H2 B1 Personal and business correspondence

Ex. 1,2,3,4

• Reading health: 2 Dear Ryan