Lesso Pla 20 Respodig to Complaits CLB Level(s): 5-6 CLB Skill(s): Speakig, Listeig Essetial Skill(s): Oral Commuicatio Objective(s) To be able to idetify implied ad explicit complaits To be able to respod appropriately to complaits Audiece Grammar/Laguage Focus appropriate toe for apologies prepositios that follow apologies idirect, passive costructio Vocabulary Vocabulary ad expressios related to apologizig, providig excuses ad explaatios ad offers to improve the situatio Learers who curretly face or will face situatios where they eed to respod to complaits Learers who would beefit from learig a expaded rage of appropriate apologies Learers who are reluctat to provide explaatios ad excuses Time Required 2 hours Materials Appedices 1.1, 1.2, 2.1 3.1 Audio Moologue 20.1.1_Eg.mp3 (Activity 1) Workplace Culture I the Caadia workplace: 1 Out of politeess, some complaits are ot always reported directly. The worker must ifer that there is a complait beig made. I respose to a complait, a explaatio is also a excuse. These should be used with cautio. Lesso Pla 20 Respodig to Complaits Cetre for Caadia Laguage Bechmarks, 2009 Workers at all levels are expected to take resposibility. Blamig others for mistakes, eve whe justified, does ot reflect well o the worker.
Learig Activities Warm Up 1. Demostrate two apologies, oe usig appropriate toe ad the other usig a isicere toe after actios such as bumpig ito a learer or pushig a learer s pe off their desk. 2. Ask learers to explai what happeed, helpig learers to idetify that i both cases you apologized but with a very differet toe. Activity 1: Listeig to Complaits 1. As a class, geerate a list of situatios where workers might eed to apologize at work. Aswers may iclude: Whe you make a mistake Whe you are iterruptig someoe Whe someoe makes a complait 2. Iform learers that today s class will cocetrate o apologizig i respose to complaits. 3. Distribute Appedix 1.1 ad ask learers to read the three scearios to themselves. Discuss to esure learers uderstad all three. 4. Play the voicemail message the work as a group to idetify which of the three scearios described accurately reflects the recorded message. (Aswer: sceario 2) Listeig Text (20.1.1_Eg.mp3) Hi Raj this is Pedro from Felix Fie Furiture. We received our latest order from you today. Um, order 2562 for your referece. Have a look at the order. You ll see we ordered more stock o eight products from your Moder Elegace lie. The real problem is that this is t the first time. We had problems with last moth s order ad we had problems i February too. I m ot sure what to say. You kow we ve bee loyal cliets of yours for years, but these problems are costig us moey. The time we should be spedig assemblig, we re spedig callig our customers about delays. 2 Lesso Pla 20 Respodig to Complaits Cetre for Caadia Laguage Bechmarks, 2009 There s a problem. The two drawer frots we ordered arrived scratched, ad istead of gettig brass roud hadles ad ickel cube hadles we got ickel roud hadles ad brass cube hadles. (icreasigly upset toe) That s problems with three of the eight items i the order! That s almost half the order!!
Learig Activities You eed to give me a call right away. Right ow it s uh Moday at 11:00. I m here util 1:00, the I have a meetig. I should be back at my desk by 2:30 at the latest. I ll have to work late to sort this out, which I m REALLY uhappy about. I ll probably be here util after 7:00 toight. The umber is (604) 557-5978. Call me. 5. Distribute Appedix 1.2. Ask learers to read the questios to themselves before you play the voicemail with the aswers. Play the voicemail as may times as required to get the details. Debrief resposes to the questios as a group, discussig learer resposes to questio 8. Activity 2: How to Respod to Complaits Part 1 1. Have learers work i groups of 3-4 to braistorm possible resposes for Raj. Ecourage learers to cosider what they might say i additio to providig a apology. 2. Debrief as a whole group. Make a list of learer resposes o the board i three ulabelled categories (you may eed a fourth category for greetigs). 3. Label the categories at the ed of the debriefig. For example: Apologies Explaatios ad Excuses Offers to improve the situatio I m really sorry about the mistakes. I m so sorry Pedro. We have had problems with our computers. We have ew staff. We will sed you the right products right away Although this wo t happe agai, I ca offer you a 10% discout I will persoally check your ext order Part 2 4. Add to the phrases used for apologizig if ecessary. For example: I apologize for I m sorry about I m upset to hear that 5. You may wish to teach or review the costructio of these phrases, for example the prepositios that follow differet apologies. Cetre for Caadia Laguage Bechmarks, 2009 3 Lesso Pla 20 Respodig to Complaits
Learig Activities 6. Review ad discuss how toe affects the apology. Provide cotrolled practice activities learers ca use i pairs to practise apologizig usig the expaded list of apologies. Part 3 7. Distribute Appedix 2.1. Have learers work with a parter to complete the activity before debriefig ad discussig as a group. Poit out that i this case explaatios are the same as excuses. If ay of the explaatios ad excuses suggested by learers i part 1 are iappropriate, revisit the list with the class to cross those off. 8. You may wish to provide a lesso o idirect, passive costructios. For example, the use of the parts were lost istead of Joe lost the parts as a way to ackowledge without assigig blame. Part 4 9. Lead a discussio about icludig a offer to improve the situatio. Get learers to recogize that differet listeers may iterpret these offers differetly. For example, some may iterpret the offer of a discout as a geerous gesture, whereas others may iterpret the same offer as a attempt by the speaker to miimize the problem. Part 5 10. Have learers work i pairs to practise leavig a message for Pedro i respose to his message. Learers should be ecouraged to provide costructive feedback o the resposes provided by their parters. Activity 3: Respodig to Complaits 1. Distribute Appedix 3.1. 2. Have learers work i pairs to aswer the questios at the top of the page i order to practise respodig to the complaits. 3. Debrief as a whole group by havig voluteers share their resposes oe situatio at a time. Additioal ad/or Exteded Learig Activities Have learers select a situatio described o Appedix 3.1 to respod to via e-mail. Have them write you a e-mail that eveig i respose to the complait. This ca lead to a lesso o respodig to complaits i writig. Reflective Evaluatio Cetre for Caadia Laguage Bechmarks, 2009 4 Lesso Pla 20 Respodig to Complaits
Learig Activities Circulate while learers are workig o Activity 3. Moitor productio to determie if learers: are able to idetify the complaits i the situatios described are able to respod appropriately to the complaits Debriefig/Wrap-up Review how to respod to complaits: apologize, the provide a explaatio, the offer a way to improve the situatio explai that takig resposibility, whether it was your ow fault or ot, is typically expected i the workplace poit out that, just like i the activity 3 situatios, sometimes the complait is ot obvious ad must be iferred Tell learers that we have to deal with complaits both i the workplace ad outside the workplace as well. Braistorm as a class additioal situatios where you might eed to respod to a complait. For example: A classmate complais that your task is takig too log, delayig his or her ow work. A eighbour complais that you are playig music too loudly. A housemate complais that you take too log i the shower, leavig isufficiet water for themselves. Cetre for Caadia Laguage Bechmarks, 2009 5 Lesso Pla 20 Respodig to Complaits
Skill Descriptors Caadia Laguage Bechmarks Skill(s) Speakig What the Perso Ca Do (Social Iteractio: Iterpersoal Competecies) Express or respod to apology, regrets ad excuses (CLB 6) What the Perso Ca Do (Suasio) Make a simple formal suggestio; provide a reaso (CLB 6) Listeig Performace Idicators (Social iteractio) Idetifies specific factual details ad iferred meaigs i video-ad audio-mediated listeig texts/discourse as required. (CLB 5 ad 6) Idetifies the emotioal state of the speaker (CLB 5). Essetial Skill(s) Oral commuicatio Fuctios Deals with mior coflict ad complaits. (ES 2) Leaves ad receives complex recorded messages. (ES 2) Iformatio Moderate rage of subject matter, familiar topics, usually oe mai issue. (ES 2) Deals mostly with facts but may also deal with emotios ad opiios. (ES 2) Less predictable cotext. (ES 2) What the Perso Ca Do (Suasio) Demostrate comprehesio of details ad speaker s purpose i suggestios, advice, ecouragemets ad requests. (CLB 6) The copyright holder gives permissio for users of the documet to make copies of selected pages for ot-for-sale educatioal purposes withi their orgaizatios. Copyig for other purposes without permissio is prohibited. Cetre for Caadia Laguage Bechmarks 803 200 Elgi Street Ottawa, ON K2P 1L5 Ph. (613) 230-7729 Fax: (613) 230-9305 ifo@laguage.ca Cetre for Caadia Laguage Bechmarks, 2009 6 Lesso Pla 20 Respodig to Complaits
Activity 1: Listeig to Complaits Appedix 1.1 Sceario 1: Pedro works for Felix Fie Furiture. He has called Raj because he is uhappy with the quality of the hadles he received today. This problem is causig Felix Fie Furiture to lose moey. The first order Pedro placed with Raj s compay was i February. Pedro wats Raj to call him before 1:00. Sceario 2: Pedro has called to complai about his most recet order. Pedro is uhappy because lately he has received damaged products ad products with mistakes. Pedro wats Raj to call him as soo as he gets the voicemail message. Sceario 3: Pedro has called Raj because he is uhappy that he has to work late toight. Pedro has bee orderig supplies from Raj s compay for years, but the problem ow is that the supplies cost more moey. Pedro wats Raj to call him after 7:00 toight. Cetre for Caadia Laguage Bechmarks 2009 Respodig to Complaits #20 Page 1 of 1
Activity 1: Listeig to Complaits Appedix 1.2 1. Who does Pedro work for? 2. What order umber is Pedro callig about? 3. How may products did Pedro order? 4. What is the problem with the drawer frots? 5. Istead of brass roud hadles, what did Pedro receive? 6. At what time will Pedro be leavig for his meetig? 7. What is Pedro s telephoe umber? 8. How does Pedro feel? Why? Cetre for Caadia Laguage Bechmarks 2009 Respodig to Complaits #20 Page 2 of 2
Activity 2: How to Respod to Complaits Appedix 2.1 The followig are possible excuses ad explaatios Raj ca provide to Pedro. Decide whether these are appropriate. Excuse / Explaatio Appropriate? Yes No 1. It was t my fault, it s the ew staff i shippig. 2. We have may ew staff members i shippig who are still i traiig. 3. We have chaged our computer systems ad some of the product codes have become mixed up. 4. The drawer frots were t scratched whe they left here. The shippig compay probably did it. 5. There is o excuse, but it looks like your order was recorded icorrectly. 6. We have bee havig problems with our old order system. 7. Alex must have etered the order icorrectly. He s always doig that! 8. It s because you wrote the wrog umber o the order form for the hadles. 9. We should have double-checked before we set you the products, but it looks the product umber ad descriptio o your order did t match. 10.It s our dumb computer program. It s old ad was t good quality whe it was ew. Cetre for Caadia Laguage Bechmarks 2009 Respodig to Complaits #20 Page 3 of 3
Activity 3: Respodig to Complaits Appedix 3.1 Respod to the followig situatios. For each situatio: 1. Idetify the complait. 2. Decide how to respod: i perso, o the phoe or by e-mail? 3. Decide what you would say Situatio 1 Your supervisor e-mails to complai that the ewsletter article you wrote is full of errors. She is upset because she has had to sped extra time fixig your mistakes. Situatio 2 A cliet writes a letter to tell you that they were dissatisfied with the service at your hotel. They iclude a list of thigs the hotel frot desk clerk said that isulted them. Situatio 3 I a casual coversatio, a co-worker i the ext office poits out that he ca hear every word of your phoe coversatios ad meetigs. He later adds that he does ot like to liste to the radio while workig because it distracts him. Situatio 4 A customer calls to complai that the product they purchased is defective. Situatio 5 A co-worker i a differet city calls to get clarificatio o a e-mail you set. They seem frustrated ad repeat that they still do ot kow what to do, despite your explaatios. Cetre for Caadia Laguage Bechmarks 2009 Respodig to Complaits #20 Page 4 of 4