11th Day : 31/05/2014 "HAVE / GET SOMETHING DONE" AND "HOW TO MAKE A COMPLAINT".

11th day

In the first part of the class, the teacher explained the structure “have/ get something done”.

Most of us did not know it.

- “Have/ get something done” is used to express something done by another person or even ourselves with some difficulty, in a passive voice.      

                  

Example:

I cut my hair. (I cut it myself)

I had /got my hair cut (someone else cut it)

The structure is easy, but we must know very well the past participle of the verbs.

Have/get	Object	Past participle	Traducción
I had	my nails	polished.	Me hice (pintaron) las uñas.
I need to have	my car	painted	Necesito pintar mi coche.
They are having	the school	repaired.	Están arreglando el colegio.
She had	her carpet	cleaned.	Ella mandó a limpiar la alfombra.
Where did you have	that photograph	taken?	¿Dónde te tomaron esa foto?
They had	an extra room	built.	Les hicieron una habitación adicional.

We use “get something done” construction in a more informal context.

This construction is more commonly used to express some difficulty when doing something.

Example:

She always gets the job done on time.

The differences between “have” and “get something done” are that “have” is slightly more formal than “get”.

We did many activities about this and practice this structure.

After, we started to make a complaint.

Then I include a list of related words with the complaint forms:

• Complain: reclamar

• Complaint: reclamación

• Complaint form: hoja de reclamación

• Faulty goods: producto defectuoso

• Consumer rights: derechos del consumidor

• Damaged product: producto dañado

• Satisfactory quality: calidad satisfactoria

• Product description: descripción del producto

• Product label: etiqueta del producto

• Safe: Seguridad

• Client: cliente

• Store: tienda

• Poor service: mal servicio

Writing a letter of complaint is something most people have to do at some point in their lives. Whether you're dissatisfied with a company's product or service, it is usually possible to resolve the issue with a polite letter of complaint.

Writing a complaint letter should not be complicated. All you need to do is clearly state the facts and politely request a resolution.

When we make a complaint, it should be:

• Concise letters can be understood quickly.
• Authoritative letters - letters that are well written and professionally presented - have more credibility and are taken more seriously.
• Factual letters enable the reader to see immediately the relevant details, dates, requirements, etc., and to justify action to resolve the complaint.
• Constructive letters - with positive statements, suggesting positive actions - encourage action and quicker decisions.
• Friendly letters - with a considerate, cooperative and complimentary tone - are prioritised because the reader responds positively to the writer and wants to help.

This is a link to check vocabulary on how to make a complaint. Take a look.

http://www.bbc.co.uk/worldservice/learningenglish/radio/specials/1331_howto_feedback/page2.shtml

The teacher told us about “Resilience”. The resilience is the capacity to recover quickly from a problem. It’s an important and necessary skill to improve customer service.

In this programme, we take a closer look at the language of complaining.

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=iJVWKhkgnLs&list=PL04ADDD41294CD937

At the end of the class we saw another chapter of  sitcom of "The Office", and then we had to answer some questions related with it. We learnt many new words.