WEEK 11: COMPLAINING (Isabel Martínez Puche)

Browse the Net and find out charts where phrasal verbs are illustrated and upload one of them to your blog. 

Find a text on the Net where a complaint is stated and underline expressions to complain.

Dear Sir/Madam,

I am writing today to complain of the poor service I received from your company on June 12, 2016. I was visited by a representative of That Awful Company, Mr. Madman, at my home on that day.

Mr. Madman was one hour late for his appointment and offered nothing by way of apology when he arrived at noon. Your representative did not remove his muddy shoes upon entering my house, and consequently left a trail of dirt in the hallway. Mr. Madman then proceeded to present a range of products to me that I had specifically told his assistant by telephone I was not interested in. I repeatedly tried to ask your representative about the products that were of interest to me, but he refused to deal with my questions. We ended our meeting after 25 minutes without either of us having accomplished anything.

I am most annoyed that I wasted a morning (and half a day's vacation) waiting for Mr. Madman to show up. My impression of That Awful Company has been tarnished, and I am now concerned about how my existing business is being managed by your firm. Furthermore, Mr. Madman's inability to remove his muddy shoes has meant that I have had to engage the services, and incur the expense, of a professional carpet cleaner.

I trust this is not the way That Awful Company wishes to conduct business with valued customers—I have been with you since the company was founded and have never encountered such treatment before. I would welcome the opportunity to discuss matters further and to learn of how you propose to prevent a similar situation from recurring. I look forward to hearing from you.
https://www.scribendi.com/advice/example_complaint_letter.en.html
 

WEEK 10: UNDER THE WEATHER WITH THE WEATHER (Isabel Martínez Puche)

Find out on the Internet 2 pieces of news about weather issues, and highlight the vocabulary related to the weather. Upload this to your blog.

Earthquake Strikes in Oaxaca State, Mexico, Stirring Fear

MEXICO CITY — A 7.2-magnitude earthquake struck Mexico’s southern Pacific Coast on Friday, according to the United States Geological Survey.

The initial 7.2-magnitude shock was followed 57 minutes later by a magnitude-5.8 aftershock.

The epicenter of Friday’s earthquake was between those of a magnitude-8.2 quake on Sept. 8 and the 7.1-magnitude quake on Sept. 19. But from a geological standpoint, all three occurred in the same general area — a so-called subduction zone, where one piece of the earth’s crust, in this case the Cocos Plate, is slowly sliding under another, the North American.

https://www.nytimes.com/2018/02/16/world/americas/earthquake-mexico.html?rref=collection%2Ftimestopic%2FEarthquakes&action=click&contentCollection=science&region=stream&module=stream_unit&version=latest&contentPlacement=9&pgtype=collection

Floods Leave Paris Contemplating a Wetter Future

The Seine River overflowed its banks again in Paris and several nearby cities this week, a mere 18 months after reaching its highest level since 1982.

Thirteen of France’s 96 administrative departments had flood alerts as of Friday, in what the monitoring body Météo-France says is the country’s wettest winter since 1959.

Although some experts said it was hard to determine whether global warming was behind the current flood, others warned that a worrying pattern was emerging.

“Because of climate change, we can expect floods in the Seine basin to be at least as frequent as they are right now,” said Florence Habets, a senior researcher at the C.N.R.S., France’s national center for scientific research. “No matter what we say, the more we reduce our greenhouse gas emissions, the more we reduce our impact on droughts and floods.”

https://www.nytimes.com/2018/01/26/world/europe/france-paris-floods.html?rref=collection%2Ftimestopic%2FFloods&action=click&contentCollection=timestopics&region=stream&module=stream_unit&version=latest&contentPlacement=5&pgtype=collection

WEEK 9: NATURAL WONDERS (Isabel Martínez Puche)

Browse the Net and upload a descriptive text of a well-known place, and underline all the expressions used for describing the place. Add other sentences by yourself to improve the text selected.

Italy has some famous cities. One of them is Rome. It is a very historical city. If you visit Rome, you will have plenty of chances to see all sorts of great sights.

Rome can be traced through its mythology when it was founded on . It was said that  twins of Romulus and Remus has founded the city in 753 BC, on the date of April 21st. This  corresponds fairly closely to archeological evidence, which shows farming communities in the area. As the Catholic Church grew, Rome became more and more important in both religion and politics.

Rome was one of the central leading cities in the Renaissance. It is seen when visitors walk through the streets and see the various buildings. The style was profoundly affected by the work of the artists of the time. Visitors can see evidence of all sorts of artistic influences, such as the Baroque palaces, the huge squares and obelisks, and other structures throughout the city.

Rome is well known for its architecture. The colosseum is one sample of famous Roman structures. It was once a grand, ground-breaking amphitheatre, and was at the forefront of architectural advancements in 70 AD. Since then it has fallen apart slightly, but it still an astounding and imposing structure.

Modern Rome is a very busy place to go. It is considered a cultural center for the region, and offers all the arts in various forms. It has a thriving music scene, with several major concert halls. Rome puts out a lot of movies every year, more so than any other region of Italy. It is home to Cinecittà studios, the biggest facility in Europe.

https://freeenglishcourse.info/example-descriptive-text-city-of-rome/