Letter of complaint II

• Engels
• Middelbare school
• havo
• Leerjaar 4

Basic rules

• We take our jackets off
• We put our bags on the ground
• We put our laptops on the table
• We do our work when we should
• We are silent during explanations and raise our hands for questions
• Our phone is in the "phone-tas" 
• We don't eat, drink, or chew gum in class
• Join the lesson using your own real name. 

Letter of complaint

Castor college

H4

How do you feel today?

😒🙁😐🙂😃

Learning Objective

• Understand the purpose and structure of a letter of complaint.
• Provide constructive feedback to improve the clarity, persuasiveness, and overall quality of a peer's letter of complaint.

Introduce the learning objective and emphasize that students will be able to write a letter of complaint after the lesson.

What do you already know about writing a letter of complaint?

Formal

•  You should always be polite and respectful, even if you complain. A useful way to achieve it, especially in formal letters is to use ‘modal verbs’, i.e., would, could or should.
• Do not use any contractions ( he's -> he is  I 'd -> I would)
• Do not use street language, slang or any other forms of informal language.

What is a letter of complaint?

A complaint letter is a letter written to concerned authorities if we are not satisfied with the service provided by them. These letters are usually formal in nature. 

Sometimes when we order a product and it is received defective then we write the letter to the related person or company, complaining about the product

Lay-out of a letter of complaint

Salutation

Dear Sir/ Madam 

Dear Manager 

If you do not know the name of the person you are writing to, use this. It is always advisable to try to find out a name.

Dear Ms Jenkins

Dear Mr Brown

If you know the name, use the title (Mr  or Ms) and the surname only. 

 

The Introductory Paragraph

You should identify what the issue is and any relevant information that you believe is important. Include more details if it’s applicable to the situation.

example:

I want to express my strong dissatisfaction with the service I received during a visit to your restaurant on…

The body

You can extend your thoughts and feelings further. Yet, be sure to stick with the facts and avoid putting emotions into your letter.

Include the time of the issue, location, people involved and what the problem was.

Any complaint should be supported with a justification:

Complaint: I still haven’t t received the goods.

Justification: I sent you a cheque three weeks ago.

The closing paragraph

Write how you want this problem to be solved. You can also throw in some compliments about something you liked about their company’s product or service.

Yours faithfully

{You name}

 “Yours sincerely” or “Yours faithfully”?

“Yours sincerely” is typically employed in English when the recipient is addressed by name (e.g. “Dear John”) and is known to the sender to some degree, whereas “Yours faithfully” is used when the recipient is not addressed by name (i.e., the recipient is addressed by a phrase such as “Dear Sir/Madam”)

Linking words

 TIP: Remember about “linking” in the letter!

Between paragraphs:

Firstly, I had booked table […]

Then, the waiter brought us the wrong starters […]

To make the matter worse, the cake was stale […]

Within a paragraph:

My wife and I will not […]; however, […]

In spite of the fact that […], the waiter brought the wrong starters.

Peer Review (15 minutes)

1. Exchange letters with a partner and provide feedback
2. Read the Letter of Complaint: Carefully read through your peer's letter of complaint. Take note of the content, structure, grammar, and vocabulary of the letter.
   
3. Use the Rubric: Refer to the provided rubric to guide your evaluation. Assess each criterion based on your observations of the letter.
   
4. Provide Constructive Feedback: Offer specific and constructive feedback on areas where the letter can be improved. 
5. Be Respectful and Supportive

Have students exchange letters with a partner and provide feedback on the structure and content of the letter.

Write down 3 things you learned in this lesson.

Have students enter three things they learned in this lesson. With this they can indicate their own learning efficiency of this lesson.

Write down 2 things you want to know more about.

Here, students enter two things they would like to know more about. This not only increases involvement, but also gives them more ownership.

Ask 1 question about something you haven't quite understood yet.

The students indicate here (in question form) with which part of the material they still have difficulty. For the teacher, this not only provides insight into the extent to which the students understand/master the material, but also a good starting point for the next lesson.