English Learning Guide

Competency 1
Unit 1: Customer Service
Workshop 1
Centro de Servicios Financieros- CSF

Name: Lisa Marloy Sánchez Bustos Cohort: 2246855 Date: 22/10/21

Training program: Ingles

Instructor: YEISON ALEXANDER CRUZ
FORERO
INTRODUCTIONS AND BASIC PERSONAL INFORMATION
(IN/FORMAL COMMUNICATION)

This workshop attempts to help you improve your basic interaction with others at your
workplace, sharing personal information, identifying formal and informal
communication, and asking and giving information on phone calls your coworkers and
you will learn about customer service and how to interact with others at your workplace.

Objective: From the development of these activities, you will be able to introduce
yourself and other people using formal and informal communication at work.

1. Work in groups and discuss the following questions:

- What do you understand for personal information?

RTA// When we talk about personal data we refer to all that information associated with a person and that
allows their identification. For example, your identity document, place of birth, marital status, age, place of
residence, academic, work, or professional history.

- What data corresponds to personal information? RTA//

The provisions on data protection establish types of data according to the greater or lesser degree of
acceptability of the disclosure:
● Public Data:
It is the data that the law or the Political Constitution determines as such, as well as all those that are not
semi-private or private.
● Semi-private data:
It is the data that is not intimate, reserved, or public in nature and whose knowledge or disclosure may
interest not only its owner but also a certain sector or group of people.
● Private Data:
It is the data that due to its intimate or reserved nature is only relevant for the owner of the information.
● Sensitive Data:
It is the data that affects the privacy of the owner or whose improper use can generate discrimination against
him.

- How can you ask a person about their personal information? RTA// different
questions can be asked such as:
Names
Activities
Marital status / relationships
Family
Age
Contact information
- Share your answers with the rest of the class and practice asking and
answering personal informationquestions.

2. Create a business card using your personal information. Use the image as an example. Take
into account:
- Name of the company
- Full name
- Position in the company
- Contact information

3. Skills practice: Do the following activities to practice the learnt vocabulary and English structures.

3.1. Speaking practice

Now, practice your oral skills and perform a small personal presentation in groups.
Suppose you are in a convention for your work and you meet new people. Ask and
answer questions to know each other. Share your business cards
3.2. Listening practice
Before watching the video, discuss:
- What is communication?
RTA// Communication is the exchange of information between two or more participants in order to transmit or
receive different information or opinions.

- How do we use communication at work? Give some examples.

 RTA//
 Commitment around a corporate objective.
 Promotion of work-life balance to increase motivation.
 Take advantage of data to generate curiosity and introduce new tools.
 Training and communication through games.
 Generate corporate culture in a new headquarters.

Watch the video, make notes, and answer or complete the following
statements: - What is communication?
RTA// Communication is the conscious action of exchanging
information between two or more participants in order to transmit or
receive different information or opinions.

- Mention 3 ways of communication

Visual comunication, Auditory communication and Tactile communication

- What does influence how people imagine you?

RTA// The power of our beliefs and expectations influences the people around us. The concept that we have of
ourselves has been created influenced by the perspectives and images that others have had and have. In our
childhood we grew up influenced by our parents.

- Who can you communicate with in a casual or informal way?

RTA// This type of communication is based on personal or informal relationships such as friends, colleagues,
family, club members, etc. Therefore, they are free from the conventional rules that are generally maintained
by companies, institutes, public entities, among others.

- Texting Abbreviation, Emoji, and being silly is fine to communicate with.

RTA// No, it's not okay

3.3.Reading practice
3.3.1 Before Reading the text, discuss the following questions:
- Do you think it is necessary to have a communication code at work? Give
examples. What can you say about formal and informal communication?
Describe.

VOCABULARY
Identify the key words from the text. Look for their definition, pronunciation in English.
WORD / EXPRESSION DEFINITION

Interchange

Role

Organization

channels of communication

Verbal communication

Spoken communication

Written communication
Reports

Bottom-up

Top-down

Strand Chain

Cluster Chain

Gossip Chain

secrecy

time-consuming

reliable

Supporting

Available

non-verbal communication

eye contact

Workplace
GC-F -005 V. 01

Duties

Hierarchical

Command

Network

Requests
 Difference Between Formal and Informal Communication

Someone said correctly “The very attempt of, not to

speak, speaks a lot.” Communication plays a crucial role in
our life, as
people interchange their ideas, information, feelings, and
opinions by communicating. Formal communication
passes through predefined channels of communication all
over the organization. On the contrary, Informal flows in
every direction, i.e. it moves freely in the organization.
Communication can be verbal – spoken or written, or non-
verbal i.e. using sign language,
body movements, facial expressions, gestures, eye contact or even with the tone of voice.
In an organization, there are two channels of communication – formal communication and
informal communication. People often confuse between these two channels, so here we present
this article that explains the difference between formal and informal communication network.

Definition of Formal Communication: communication in which the flow of information is already

defined. The communication follows a hierarchical chain of command established by the
organization. This type of communication is used exclusively in the workplace, and the
employees follow it while performing their duties. Some examples are: Requests, commands,
orders, reports etc.
Definition of Informal Communication: Communication does not follow any pre-defined channel
for the transmission of information. This type of communication moves freely in all directions,
and it is very quick and rapid. This type of communication is very natural as people interact with
each other about their professional life, personal life, and other matter. Some examples are:
Sharing of feelings, casual discussion, gossips, etc.

3.3.2 According to the text:

- Answer your instructor ś comprehension questions and share your answers.
- Establish a comparison chart between formal and informal communication.
Write 3 differences between each other.

FORMAL COMMUNICATION INFORMAL COMMUNICATION

Formal communication is a communication system
that is based on officially designated channels and
systems. In an organizational setting, formal
communication is described as sending and receiving
official documents, letters, memos, reports, policy or
procedure manuals, among others.
EXAMPLE
- If you have any questions, do not hesitate to
contact me
- I hope you take my candidacy into account
- Excuse me, could you tell me what time it is?
Informal communication refers to the exchange of
information in an unofficial way. It is free from all
organizational formalities. The authorities or leaders
of the organization may gather information that is
difficult to obtain through formal communication.
EXAMPLE
-The manager calls an employee into his office and
talks to him about matters related to the official job.
Rumor has it that the employee will be promoted to
a higher position, ignoring the promotion of other
employees.
 -The employees of a company have come to know the
amount of annual profits through the accounting
department. One of the employees within the
company spreads the rumor that the profits will be
very high.
-Due to late supply and shortage of raw materials,
work in a factory has been interrupted for a few days.
The workers spread the rumor of a possible closure of
the company.

Make a graphic illustration of the 2 examples of in/formal communication. Use images and describe your
example briefly. Work in pairs

FORMAL COMMUNICATION INFORMAL COMMUNICATION

3.4. Writing Practice

Let’s suppose that you are part of a design team. Write a short paragraph, saying who the members of your
team are. Use the following text as a model.

Hello, My name is Kevin Galindo. I am a graphic

designer at Draw your Dreams Corporation.
These are the members of my team. On my
right, Blanca and Jeisson, they are the
copywriters for the new products on the
production department. On my left, you can see
Rosa, Julian, and Miriam. They are the sales
representatives of the company.
And I am the one in the middle of the picture.
We are a great team with lots of ideas for our customers!

Now, try your own text. Use a picture to have more ideas!
________________________________________________________________________________
Hello, My name is Daniel Bustos. I am a psychologist in a foundation for abandoned children and elderly, the
foundation is called NUTRYDAR and they are my team. Maria is the nutritionist of these people, where she is in
charge of giving a good diet. Lorena and Jeison are the doctors. Erick is the foundation's lawyer, he helps us in
all the legal part of each process and Alison is the foundation's director, she makes sure that everything is
working perfectly and ensures that the people who are there have the best attention.
Extension activities: the extension activities will help you improve your performance in the topics.
You need to reach at least five hours of practice on your own.
- For further information, listening practice, pronunciation, and more about this, check the link
below to a YouTube video: https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=egtyq2ccCIA
- Based on your instructor’s orientation, explore the following website and practice the English
structures. Do at least 2 activities from each topic studied in class and deliver them to your
instructor: http://www.esl-lounge.com/student/grammar-guides/grammar-beginner.php