An email from a friend

Read an email from a friend you haven't heard from for a long time to practise and improve your reading skills.

Do the preparation task first. Then read the text and do the exercises.

Preparation

Reading text

Hi!

I've been meaning to write for ages and finally today I'm actually doing something about it. Not that I'm trying to make excuses for myself, it's been really hard to sit down and write, as I've been moving around so much. Since we last saw each other I've unpacked my bags in four different cities. This job has turned out to be more of a whirlwind than I expected, but it's all good!

I went from London to Prague to set up a new regional office there. You know I'd always wanted to go, but maybe I was imagining Prague in spring when I used to talk about that. Winter was really hard, with minus 15 degrees in the mornings and dark really early in the evening. But at least it was blue skies and white snow and not days on end of grey skies and rain, like at home. It's tough being away from home over Christmas, though, and Skype on Christmas Day wasn't really the same as being with everyone.

From there I was on another three-month mission to oversee the set-up of the office in New York. Loved, loved, loved New York! It's like being in one big TV show, as everywhere looks just a little bit familiar. I did every tourist thing you can think of when I wasn't working, and must have spent most of my salary on eating out. It was really hard to leave for the next job, especially as I kind of met someone (!) More about Michael later ...

So then I was posted to LA, which felt like a whole other country compared with the East Coast. I could definitely get used to that kind of outdoor, beach lifestyle, but I didn't spend as much time getting to know California as I could have because I was flying back to see Michael every other weekend. He came to see me when he could, but his job means he's often working at weekends, so he couldn't make the flight very often. Those three months flew by and then I was off again, to Frankfurt, which is where I am now. And … so is Michael! He got a month off work and we're trying to work out how we can be in the same place at the same time for a while. We figure the first step in that direction is getting married, which is also why I wanted to write – I can't get married without my oldest friend there! The wedding's going to be at home in London in September and I hope you can come!

Anyway, tell me all your news and I promise not to leave it so long this time!

Lots of love,

Kath

Task 1

Matching_MjMyMTk=.xml

Task 2

MultipleChoice_MjMyMjA=.xml

Discussion

What form of communication would you use to tell old friends important news?

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Worksheet110.84 KB

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Language level

B2 Upper intermediate

Topics

family and friends

travel and transport

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WhatsApp is the thing for me. I find it to be the most reliable form of both informal and formal communication. It's far more convenient than doing emails. I can be assured of my messages being delivered, read or not read by the recipient because it's kind of commonly used for keeping in touch with friends and family. Guys often tend to spend days on end with this app anywhere and at anytime just to feel the presence of their loved ones. Subsequently, a significant message from me to any of my friends wouldn't go unnoticed if delivered through WhatsApp!

I like to write longer e-mails, not just short messages - sometimes I feel a little bit old-school in my (late 30s) generation. However, it works well with some of my friends or family members older than me.

Actually it depends on what is the news I would like to telling, but often I prefer to use a text by WhatsApp to communicate with my friend, but if it’s an important news I use phone call that will be more fast to get her reaction.

For me, i prefare to comunicate on social media applications like Facebook, Whats App, and Twitter. These apps provide incredible tools which make the comunication between the people is more easy.

In Brazil, we are used to tell important news by phone. We think letters or text messages are very impersonal and without emotion.

I prefer use text for communicating with my friend to tell my old friend important news. I use a lots of social media application such as whats-app or telegram for this. due to importance of the news it can be using of sms for instant announcing

the best communication to give them very important news is to call and quote them somewhere If it was not such important news, I would communicate it by phone

Nowadays,we are used to communicating with each other by Facebook or WhatsApp .social media became the bisc method of communication. Especiall they are devolped in such a whirlwind way .on the other hand we lost a very humanitarian face to face touch . I think this is the most crucial price we should pay per using such modern widspread technology.

Today is different than 10 years ago, we can communicate with our family wherever they are. Now days we can use whatsapp video calls to talk with our family, also facebook and instagram.

Technology has changed the world ,it turned it into a global village where people could interact so easily with each other anytime and anywhere,and I just use the magic of Facebook, Instagram , Gmail and a lot of other means of communication in order to tell my old friends the important news .