WEBVTT 00:00.960 --> 00:07.740 Look everybody welcome to our series of lectures on the task one general letter. 00:07.740 --> 00:12.990 There have been several requests that I put together a lecture series that covers the general letter 00:12.990 --> 00:14.850 for the exam. 00:14.910 --> 00:23.130 There are students who are studying the Heils exam too for immigration purposes or they are trying to 00:23.130 --> 00:27.460 get their licensing done and then they need Dial's exam to prove their English level. 00:27.870 --> 00:34.320 Or sometimes people are doing it for a job in their own country where they need some type of proof of 00:34.320 --> 00:41.100 their English level so I put together this series of lectures that are going to teach you how to do 00:41.110 --> 00:47.080 the general letter exactly it were broken down into three different sections in the first section. 00:47.080 --> 00:54.000 One to cover the theory of how you do the general letter and then in the second section 1 and go through 00:54.150 --> 01:01.230 three or four examples that demonstrate the application of the theory and then in the third section 01:01.290 --> 01:10.470 I am going to do two letters life two or three letters life where I'm going to pull up the question 01:11.460 --> 01:18.060 and then write the question live and explain it to you part bipartisan going through it and hopefully 01:18.060 --> 01:26.220 by the time we reach the end you'll be all set for being able to do a great job on the child's general 01:26.220 --> 01:26.730 letter. 01:26.730 --> 01:27.810 Task one. 01:27.810 --> 01:30.160 All right so let's get started. 01:30.720 --> 01:35.820 So you already know the basic requirements but for some people of this is your first time going to go 01:35.820 --> 01:37.950 through a very very quickly. 01:38.070 --> 01:44.180 You have to you're going to get asked a question and you have to respond to a letter request. 01:44.610 --> 01:50.910 You have 20 minutes to write it and you have to write a minimum of 150 words. 01:50.960 --> 01:54.720 Now if you know the Eilerts exam you know they give you both parts at the same time. 01:54.720 --> 02:01.200 Task 1 and task to really for tasks the one you're supposed that you're supposed to spend 20 minutes 02:01.280 --> 02:05.340 in for task two you're supposed to spend 40 minutes. 02:06.000 --> 02:12.260 As you know the task the both the writing tasks for the aisles exam are handwritten. 02:12.750 --> 02:16.800 So sometimes people ask me What if I have bad handwriting. 02:16.890 --> 02:19.060 What are my handwriting doesn't look good. 02:19.600 --> 02:25.890 Whatever you know and the simple answer to that is if you have bad handwriting you need to improve your 02:25.890 --> 02:26.770 handwriting. 02:27.060 --> 02:29.030 Right you need to make your handwriting better. 02:29.040 --> 02:31.220 That's something you have to work on. 02:31.830 --> 02:39.300 That's a difference with the Tofel exam which is an exam that is explained that is done is done all 02:39.300 --> 02:40.050 on the computer. 02:40.110 --> 02:41.620 So it's all typing. 02:41.700 --> 02:47.930 So you have to make sure that your writing is clear if the grader can't make out what you're writing. 02:47.940 --> 02:50.100 They're not going to interpret for you. 02:50.370 --> 02:55.060 So I hope that answers that question for you guys about if I have bad handwriting What do I do. 02:55.120 --> 02:57.330 Write better you practice it. 02:57.330 --> 03:01.160 You can get better at doing it. 03:01.260 --> 03:05.730 Basically you're going to have several different types of completion requests. 03:05.730 --> 03:06.930 Right. 03:06.930 --> 03:13.080 Sometimes I might ask you to gather information explain what you need or want it might be some type 03:13.080 --> 03:15.930 of very personal correspondence with a friend. 03:16.050 --> 03:20.710 They might as you don't suppress your viewpoint or your complaining about something. 03:20.730 --> 03:27.850 So these are the these are the basic type of request that you're going to have. 03:27.890 --> 03:33.240 Now let's look at the different types of communications that you have for the general letter. 03:33.300 --> 03:37.140 There are three basic types of communications right. 03:37.350 --> 03:39.430 You have the formal format. 03:39.480 --> 03:39.780 Right. 03:39.780 --> 03:47.250 This is normally a formal request a formal letter request like it says here for this one here you've 03:47.250 --> 03:50.950 recently read an advertisement about the equipment that she bought a few days ago. 03:50.950 --> 03:54.890 However the information in the advertisement was wrong. 03:55.080 --> 04:01.080 Write a letter to the manufacturer and say what was the advertisement you read what information was 04:01.080 --> 04:01.750 wrong. 04:01.820 --> 04:04.710 What should they mean what should the manufacturer do about the problem. 04:04.710 --> 04:12.310 You see this is a formal letter you're writing a formal complaint letter here. 04:12.420 --> 04:13.950 There's something wrong. 04:13.950 --> 04:21.190 They want you to write a letter improperly complain with the right tone of voice with the right language. 04:21.240 --> 04:22.020 Right. 04:22.080 --> 04:23.940 So you have a formal letter. 04:24.390 --> 04:29.720 You also have what's called a semi formal format. 04:30.510 --> 04:38.570 In all honesty I really like to think of it between this formal and informal semi-formal as a rule is 04:38.580 --> 04:41.590 a little bit in-between. 04:41.970 --> 04:49.140 But when you're talking about semi formal you are talking basically about a letter where you might be 04:49.140 --> 04:52.430 writing to your manager at your company. 04:52.500 --> 04:57.950 So as you know or you might be writing to a friend about a business opportunity. 04:58.080 --> 05:06.860 So it's something that is semi formal in nature but really semi formal is really basically formal with 05:06.870 --> 05:14.400 maybe only a little bit of informal language here and there but it's basically a formal formal setting. 05:15.250 --> 05:16.810 OK. 05:17.250 --> 05:26.460 Now you then you have the informal format the informal format and with the informal format you're dealing 05:26.550 --> 05:28.940 with a letter to a friend. 05:29.000 --> 05:29.450 Right. 05:29.460 --> 05:35.040 They usually are asking you to write a friend like here write a letter to a friend telling him or her 05:35.040 --> 05:40.590 that you're going back to your hometown and you want to give him or her some furniture please say while 05:40.590 --> 05:45.150 you thought about him or her describe different insurance adjust the way for him to get him or her to 05:45.150 --> 05:46.380 get it. 05:46.380 --> 05:48.650 This is the informal format. 05:49.140 --> 05:57.900 I would say from my experience that the majority of the time it is going to be a formal letter formal 05:57.900 --> 06:05.550 semi-formal letter but really is is probably close to balanced but I think that those are that's what 06:05.550 --> 06:09.340 they ask more of than not. 06:09.820 --> 06:10.190 OK. 06:10.200 --> 06:15.390 But we're going to cover everything because really when you sit down to take that exam you can get either 06:15.390 --> 06:23.750 three formats formal informal or in formal semi formal or informal. 06:24.570 --> 06:28.920 In terms of just some general information that you need to know when you're taking the general letter. 06:28.950 --> 06:31.100 Just some general information. 06:31.710 --> 06:35.200 There are always three parts to the letter requests. 06:35.280 --> 06:36.160 Three parts. 06:36.290 --> 06:39.020 Look here look right here. 06:39.150 --> 06:42.350 These are the three parts while you thought about him or her. 06:42.390 --> 06:43.610 That's part one. 06:43.920 --> 06:48.510 Describe the furniture that's part to suggest a way for him or her to get it. 06:48.520 --> 06:49.970 There's part three. 06:50.250 --> 06:55.560 You're always going to have at least three parts that you have to respond to when it comes to the general 06:55.560 --> 06:56.630 letter. 06:57.250 --> 06:57.670 All right. 06:57.730 --> 07:08.040 Yes very important that you do exactly what they ask you to do that you answer exactly the question 07:08.070 --> 07:10.690 they want you to answer. 07:10.710 --> 07:15.030 You can't there's no there's no room for interpretation. 07:15.180 --> 07:20.720 There are not multiple interpretations of what you're suppose or how you're supposed to respond. 07:20.730 --> 07:26.280 Respond exactly to what they are asking you to respond to. 07:26.280 --> 07:32.640 I've seen so many examples of students who are really outside the box of the question. 07:32.640 --> 07:38.670 They go off on a tangent and start talking about something else or doing something else and they go 07:38.670 --> 07:45.270 off and they go off in the wrong direction in terms of workout. 07:45.510 --> 07:52.560 You've got to make sure you're over 150 but understand they're riding a whole lot more doesn't mean 07:52.560 --> 07:55.320 you're going to get a better score. 07:55.320 --> 08:03.120 People there write really good task one essays usually end up around like two usually up around 225 08:03.930 --> 08:05.230 around there. 08:05.310 --> 08:09.180 You know sometimes a little bit more but the minimum is 150. 08:09.180 --> 08:16.350 You can do a great job at 175 depending on if you're doing a lot of compound complex sentences in terms 08:16.350 --> 08:18.220 of your sentence structures. 08:18.600 --> 08:21.230 And there's no need to address. 08:21.630 --> 08:25.410 Now how many parts. 08:26.010 --> 08:35.130 This is what's important because I see so many students that try to write the general letter one big 08:35.130 --> 08:35.940 paragraph. 08:35.940 --> 08:41.160 Big mistake big mistake you're not going to get a great score. 08:41.190 --> 08:42.000 Right. 08:42.090 --> 08:42.890 Big mistake. 08:42.900 --> 08:51.450 So how many parts will look here on the screen right here and you'll see there are five parts. 08:51.450 --> 08:57.760 You have an introduction which is one of the two sentences the point. 08:57.800 --> 09:00.390 Water part one two to three sentences. 09:00.390 --> 09:07.050 Point two or part two two to three sentences point three or part three two to three sentences in a one 09:07.050 --> 09:07.970 sentence conclusion. 09:09.350 --> 09:15.080 Also you'll see there are the time brackets that you need to be able to write each party and so you 09:15.080 --> 09:22.070 can finish on time is very important that you are working under the pressure of a clock when you're 09:22.070 --> 09:29.210 writing that is extremely important if you're not doing that you are doing it incorrectly. 09:29.630 --> 09:31.120 But there are five parts. 09:31.120 --> 09:33.920 I mean means there five paragraphs. 09:33.950 --> 09:39.610 They're short but they're five parts right. 09:39.610 --> 09:40.730 Here's an example. 09:40.740 --> 09:44.310 I just like I talk to you about the before part is part. 09:44.350 --> 09:52.300 Point one point two point three in addition to point one point one point two and point three before 09:52.300 --> 09:54.000 that you have an introduction. 09:54.070 --> 09:55.950 After that you have a conclusion. 09:56.470 --> 09:57.190 Right. 09:57.190 --> 10:00.970 Those are the five parts. 10:00.970 --> 10:08.080 Now one thing that's so important for students to do that I don't think you guys really understand you 10:08.080 --> 10:18.730 need to do an outline before you start writing it is so helpful to have an outline and know what you're 10:18.730 --> 10:20.600 going to talk about. 10:20.680 --> 10:25.550 The ideas are going to discuss before you start writing. 10:25.810 --> 10:31.740 It makes your writing more organized and it allows you to write faster. 10:31.790 --> 10:39.400 Right so your outline is you're basically are generating the ideas you're going to talk about for part 10:39.400 --> 10:40.210 1. 10:40.240 --> 10:44.890 Generating the ideas you're going to talk about for part to generating the ideas you're going to talk 10:44.890 --> 10:46.610 about for part 3. 10:47.260 --> 10:49.100 Here's an example of an outline. 10:49.360 --> 10:51.020 Here's our question. 10:51.130 --> 10:55.720 Write a letter to your friend about your plans to go out with him or her and another friend on a small 10:55.720 --> 10:56.730 picnic. 10:56.770 --> 11:02.480 Include the following in your letter where you plan to go what arrangements you already made. 11:02.500 --> 11:05.380 What help you need from your friend with this picnic. 11:05.680 --> 11:09.960 Here's an outline part 1 where you plan to go. 11:09.970 --> 11:12.560 Yellowstone National Park part 2. 11:12.580 --> 11:13.660 Arrangements are made. 11:13.660 --> 11:14.530 Check the weather. 11:14.530 --> 11:16.780 Call call call for the entry fee. 11:16.780 --> 11:20.170 Reserve the place or the food part number 3. 11:20.560 --> 11:21.610 What help do I need. 11:21.610 --> 11:24.160 Blankest drinks music driving. 11:24.240 --> 11:29.780 I have gone ahead and I've outlined the ideas I want to talk about for each part. 11:30.430 --> 11:32.800 That's very important right. 11:32.830 --> 11:36.940 That is very very important. 11:37.000 --> 11:44.590 The reason why if you are your brain your when you're writing your brain is going through two different 11:44.590 --> 11:44.890 things. 11:44.900 --> 11:52.000 For most of you most of you don't outline and you try to think of ideas and you try to write at the 11:52.000 --> 11:54.250 same time. 11:54.310 --> 11:59.530 That means that you're putting too much effort energy into thinking about what you want to say and not 11:59.530 --> 12:06.260 how you want to say it how you want to see it is what gets you a good score. 12:06.880 --> 12:12.550 But if you're thinking about what you want to say while you're writing you're not focused on how you 12:12.550 --> 12:18.340 want to say it how you want to say it goes towards the vocabulary choice is the synonym language you 12:18.340 --> 12:19.270 choose. 12:19.270 --> 12:24.630 The sentence structures the grammar the spelling the structure right. 12:24.920 --> 12:34.050 So outlining gets the ideas out of your head gets them on paper you know allows for you to focus on 12:34.470 --> 12:37.860 how you want to see it while you're writing. 12:38.760 --> 12:41.360 Here's another example of an outline. 12:41.670 --> 12:42.870 The same thing you see. 12:42.870 --> 12:45.350 Part 1 part 2 and part 3. 12:45.450 --> 12:49.770 It addresses part one part two in part three in the question. 12:49.770 --> 12:51.340 This is an outline. 12:51.600 --> 13:01.280 You should be able to do an outline in one minute practice outlining is something that you practice. 13:01.370 --> 13:04.650 So a review of the structure. 13:04.850 --> 13:08.250 Excuse me we have here. 13:08.630 --> 13:13.790 You know our introduction point one point 2.3 our conclusion right. 13:13.790 --> 13:16.290 That's our basic structure. 13:16.490 --> 13:19.050 So thank you very much. 13:19.070 --> 13:26.390 This is the conclusion of part 1 of the introduction to writing the general letter. 13:26.390 --> 13:27.610 Task number one. 13:28.070 --> 13:35.140 And I look forward to joining you on the not joining you on the next lecture for part 2. 13:35.450 --> 13:35.770 All right. 13:35.780 --> 13:37.550 So I'll talk to you soon. 13:37.550 --> 13:38.310 Take care.