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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Language level

B2 Upper intermediate

Topics

family and friends

travel and transport

How I tell important news to my old friends depends on the urgency of this news. Of course, if it's urgent, I prefer calling. It's the fastest way to communicate with others. Not the best way sometimes, though but, definitely, the most straight like an arrow. Well, when the phones were with wires, and we knew nothing about the internet, we hadn't more variants to tell the news (calls or letters, actually). But now, we have to consider where your friends can be right now. Maybe at an important meeting, driving or something. So, sometimes, texting is the better choice. You can announce to your friends you have something important and just wait a bit for their reaction. If they ready to talk - call them. That's how I act nowadays. I think it works pretty well.

I generally use text message and sometimes I call them. I don't like writing e-mail. I thin calling or messaging easier than e-mail.

I am using an email to catch up with my friends. I love using an email. It saves time and easy to track it down. Especially when you away it will give you more time to reply to it.

Personally I believe that to travel to different places must be a dreamed work for anybody. On the other hand the lack of time to comunicate with relatives and friends is a difficulty to overcome in order to mantein contact with them. In spite of the constant travelling Kath seems to enjoy her job on the way she expresses herself about it. To me it seems like a whirlwind to be in so many different countries in such a short period of time to oversee other people's performance at work. To me to figure out the time to comunicate with family and friends is easier than it would be for Kath altough my job is as demanding as hers.

Personally, I believe in a verbally way to inform importance news to my old friends for instance I can call them directly or make a video calling to them in social network sites. Beside, I am able to write mail or chat with my friends as well.

I think it would be more polite to inform an important news to our old friends through the phone call. As maybe they wouldn’t receive or even read the important chat/email that we wrote.

I think I would love to write a letter, for some reason I feel it is more especial, though I could send a message or make a call too.

I usually text my friends on What's app but if its pretty Important I call my friends to tell them the new news.

I usually use messenger to communicate with my friends. Sometimes I use phone to speak with them. I think using phone is more effective because we promptly get the response of person from other side.

I think the best way to keep old friendships is conversation by Social Media, such as Whatsapp, Facebook, Instagram etc. These platforms work all the time and people are always connected. So I think the response time is shorter than other ways.