For this task you have to write a formal response to an email, you will be given:

• an email,

• the reason why you received this email,

• you have 15 minutes total to read and respond

  • For the response you have to:

    • Use a formal tone

    • Maintain the exchange

    • Answer all the questions.

    • Ask for more information about things mentioned or relevant to the topic.

Scoring your email

Your score will be based on your performance on the task, this can be separated into 2 categories:

• What were you able to do

  • The exchange was maintained?

  • Did all the questions where answered and elaborated?

  • There was a question relating to the topic?

  • The formal tone used?

How you were able to do it

• The response is fully comprehensible?

• Did the use of the language showed sophistication?

• Is the response organized?

If you can answer with yes, it’s likely your score will be high, but there are some things you should keep in mind:

• A response with sophisticated language can fail to maintain an exchange.

• Maintaining an exchange doesn’t mean the reply is comprehensible.

  This thing can cause you to earn a low score.

  One of the best ways to see how you will be evaluated will be to put yourself in the shoes of the recipient, and ask yourself:

  • Does it answer all the concerns?

  • Is the tone appropriate?

If the answers are again yes, you are on the path to scoring a 5.

STRATEGIES FOR TASK 1: EMAIL REPLY

You can take this guideline to budget your time according to your own skills

• Read instructions and email

  • 2 to 3 minutes

    • Identify who sent the email and why.

    • Underline the questions to answer.

    • Make notes on what you can ask for more details or cultural references.

• Writing the reply

  • 8 to 10 minutes

    • Use the formal register.

    • Make use of the structure (greeting, opening, body, closing, goodbye).

    • Vary your vocabulary

    • Keep your ideas simple and clear.

    • Do not try to force the use of different tenses.

    • Draw a line over your mistakes and keep writing.

• After you finish

  • 2 to 5 minutes

    • Make sure you:

    • Addressed all the elements.

    • Used a variety of vocabulary.

    • Made your ideas clear and concise.

    • Used correct orthography, punctuation, and paragraphing.

WRITING YOUR EMAIL

The structure of an email is really important, a good email should be conformed by:

• Greeting: Should be appropriate for formal correspondence, for example

  • “Estimado(a) señor(a).“

  • “Buenos días, señor(a).“

• Opening: One or two sentences where you acknowledge receiving the message and convey feelings or emotions generated from reading the message, and you make a general comment, some examples of simple openings are:

  • “Le agradezco mucho por su mensaje.“

  • “Espero que todo esté bien con usted.“

• Body: This is the content of your response, answer the questions and elaborate, be creative but make sure the ideas are formal and include a question relevant to the context.

• Closing: one or two sentences in which you express gratitude, reiterate some information from the body and express interest in hearing back from this person, some examples are:

  • “Muchas gracias por su amable atención.“

  • “Quedo a la espera de su respuesta.“

  • “Quedo a su disposición para facilitarle cualquier otra información.“

• Goodbye: should be tone appropriate, for example:

  • “Le saluda cordialmente“

  • “Atentamente“

  • “Respetuosamente“

To ensure you are using formal language pay attention to the organization of thoughts, this is where you can use transitions, some recommended transitions are:

• To introduce an idea:

  • “Para Empezar“

  • “En primer Lugar“

• To add ideas

  • “Además“

  • “También“

• To contrast ideas

  • “En cambio“

  • “No obstante“

  • “Por otro lado“

  • “Sin embargo“

• To change topic

  • “Con respecto a“

  • “En cuanto a“

• To show effect

  • “Como resultado“

  • “Debido a lo anterior“

  • “Entonces“

  • “Por consiguiente“

  • “Por eso“

  • “Por esa razón“

• To give examples

  • “Por ejemplo“

  • “En particular“

• To finalize

  • “Finalmente“

  • “Para concluir“

You can easily use 4 to 5 of these in a simple response, this can help you organize thoughts and sound more sophisticated.