Reading and Writing Portfolio 5

Reading language school brochures

Which school? Writing formal and informal writing
Review requests; Present Simple
1 Read the website about language courses in England. Then complete the table.
If there is no information, write DS (doesn’t say).

school town name of lessons per hours per minimum age maximum number
course week week of students
The Select 1 Cambridge 2 DS 3 DS 4
School
Fluency First 5 Let’s talk 6 7 8 DS
College
9 10 English Express 11 12 13 14

A B C

The Select School of English:
Intensive English Plus
This course offers 15 hours of general
English lessons and four hours of one-to-
one classes* every week. The main course
develops grammar, vocabulary and skills
in a class of no more than 10 students. In
the one-to-one classes you can plan your
work with a teacher and work on areas
that are important to your studies or work.
Cambridge is a beautiful city and home of
one of the world’s most famous universities.
London is only 50 minutes by train.
Fluency First College:
Let’s Talk – communication
and special interests
The focus of Let’s Talk is on
communicating clearly in everyday
language. Every week there are 14
general language lessons and eight
special interest lessons. Subjects
include: business language, culture
and customs, language and the media
and literature.
Let’s Talk is available at our school
in the historical city of Bath.
Language Links: English Express
Brighton is often called ‘London by the
Sea’. There are so many things to do!
And London is only 55 minutes away on
the train.
• The school offers four-week courses
of 28 lessons per week (24 hours).
• There are 21 lessons of general
English and seven lessons that
develop skills.
• The maximum class size is 12 and the
minimum age of students is 17.

2 Paola, Emre, Daiki and Kiko are going to study English. Read about the kind of language school they would like.
Choose a school (A–C) for each person.

I’m a student at a I learned English We want a course

business college when I was for about a month.
in Milan, Italy. at school and We want to study
I want to learn now I want to in the same class
language that is use it again. I and we want to
important for think I’m pre- work really hard.
my degree. It’s intermediate We’d like to be in
not important level, but I need or near London
Paola Emre Daiki and Kiko
where I go in some extra because we
England. help. like going out.

*one-to-one classes = classes with one student and one teacher

72
3 Read Paola’s email to a language HELP WITH WRITING
school. Tick the thing she mentions. Formal and informal letters/emails
what she is studying at the moment 4 a Complete the table with these words/phrases.

her language level Dear Sir/Madam, All the best, Yours sincerely, Love, Kiko
Yours faithfully, Dear John, Dear Mr Austin,
the type of English she wants to study
the skills she wants to practise
formal informal
starting a letter/an email if you:

know the person’s name 1 2

information@ffcollege.co.uk
don’t know the person’s name 3 Dear Sir/Madam,
Paola Conte ending a letter/an email if you:

know the person’s name 4 5

Language courses
or 6 All the best,
Dear Sir/Madam, don’t know the person’s name 7

I am writing to you with reference

to your advertisement for courses b In formal writing, we use formal phrases. Match the
in Bath. words/ phrases in bold in the email to informal meanings 1–7.
I would be grateful if you could
send me further information about 1 Can you: Could you and
the course including: the minimum 2 Please can you:
age of students, the maximum
3 about:
number of students in a class and
the length of the lessons. At the 4 I like the idea of:
moment, I’m studying at a business
5 I also want:
college in Italy, so I am interested
in the special interest lesson of 6 more:
‘Business language’. Could you send 7 Please write back soon:
me some details on this course?
I would also like some information
5 a Imagine you are writing to a language school. Make notes.
about accommodation. Do students
stay at the school or with families?
Who are you writing to?
Finally, would you be able to send
me some brochures about the city
of Bath? What is your language level?
I look forward to hearing from
you soon. What information do you need?
Yours faithfully, Do you have any special
Paola Conte interests?

b Write a formal letter to a language school asking for information.

● Use your notes from 5a.
● Use the formal phrases from Paola’s letter.
● Read and check for mistakes.
● Give your letter to your teacher in your next class.

Tick the things you can do in English in the

Reading and Writing Progress Portfolio, p88.

73