English Learning Guide

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

Name: Cohort: Date:

Training program: Instructor:

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?

R/: personal information would be all kinds of information that allows to identify a person, such as
names and addresses
- What data corresponds to personal information?
R/: address, name, identity card or card, social security number
- How can you ask a person about their personal information?
R/: It depends on the environment if it is work or personal, because work would be under certain
parameters which personal information is requested for security, and personal information to know
more about it would be requested in a conversational way and it is asked not abruptly if not more chatty
- Share your answers with the rest of the class and practice asking and answering personal
information questions.

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

3. Skills practice: Do the following activities to practice the

learnt vocabulary and English structures.

3.1. Speaking practice

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Image taken from internet as an example. https://www.canva.com
Now, practice your oral skills and perform a small personal presentation in groups. Suppose
you are a new employee at a company and you will introduce yourself to the team. Switch
roles and get to know each other. Ask and answer questions about everybody in the group.
Share your business cards.

R/: JUAN FELIPE

What is your name?

- My name is Juan Felipe Carantonio Sierra.

What do you do in your free time ?

- I usually read, cook and sometimes I draw

Where do you live near?

- I live near an aqueduct

JUAN ESTEBAN

What is your name?

- My name is Juan Esteban Muñoz Chiguasuque

What do you do in your free time ?

- I usually do cleaning and I also skate

Where do you live near?

- I live near the San Cristóbal park

3.2. Listening practice

Before watching the video, discuss:
- What is communication?
R/: For me, communication is a way for living beings to transmit information or emotions to another
living being.
- How do we use communication at work? Give some examples.

Watch the video, make notes, and answer or complete the following statements:

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 English Learning Guide
Competency 1
Unit 1: Customer Service
Workshop 1
Centro de Servicios Financieros- CSF
- What is communication?
The act of exchanging thoughts, ideas, news, views and any other
information with another person or people, either verbally or non-verbally.
- Mention 3 ways of communication
Email_, Face to face __, Chat

- What does influence how people imagine you?

- They imagine the way of being of one from seeing the character, way of taking actions, and their way of
expressing themselves

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

R/: the form of informal or casual communication would be used with friends

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

R/: I would communicate with emojis and text with friends

3.3. Reading practice

Before Reading the text, discuss the following questions:
- Do you think it is necessary to have a communication code at work? Give examples.
I don’t think it’s necessary
- What can you say about formal and informal communication? Describe.
I think that these types of communication are necessary to know how to express yourself with
the different types of people that you meet in your life.

VOCABULARY
Identify the key words from the text. Look for their definition, pronunciation in English.
WORD / EXPRESSION DEFINITION
Interchange The action of interchanging people or things.
Role The function assumed or part played by a person or thing in a
particular situation
Organization An organized group of people with a particular purpose, such as a
business or a government department.
channels of communication A communication channel refers either to a physical transmission
medium such as a wire, or to a logical connection over a
multiplexed medium such as a radio channel in telecommunications
and computer networking
Verbal communication Verbal communication is oral communication with words that you
or others speak out loud.
Spoken communication The use of speech for informal exchange of views or ideas or
information etc
Written communication Written communication is any written message that two or more
people exchange

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

non-verbal communication Transfer of information from one person to another without the
use of words or spoken language
eye contact The state in which two people are aware of looking directly into
one another’s eyes
Workplace A place where people work, such as an office or factory.

Difference Between Formal and Informal Communication

[21]
March 27, 2015 By Surbhi S

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.

2
Text adapted from: https://keydifferences.com/difference-between-formal-and-informalcommunication.html
used by SENA for pedagogical purpose, exclusively.

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. There are four types of formal communication:
• Upward or Bottom-up: The information goes from subordinate to superior authority.
• Downward or Top-down: The goes from superior to subordinate.

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 English Learning Guide
Competency 1
Unit 1: Customer Service
Workshop 1
Centro de Servicios Financieros- CSF
• Horizontal or Lateral: The communication between
two employees of different departments working at
the same level.
• Crosswise or Diagonal: The communication between the employees of two different
departments working at different levels.

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.
There are four types of informal communication:
• Single Strand Chain: The communication in which one person tells something to another,
who again says something to some other person and the process goes on.
• Cluster Chain: The communication in which one person tells something to some of its most
trusted people, and then they tells them to their trustworthy friends and the
communication continues.
• Probability Chain: The communication happens when a person randomly chooses some
persons to pass on the information which is of little interest but not important.
• Gossip Chain: The communication starts when a person tells something to a group of
people, and then they pass on the information to some more people and in this way the
information is passed on to everyone.

Key Differences
1. Formal communication is also known by the name of official communication. Informal
Communication is also known by the name of grapevine.
2. In formal communication, the information must follow a chain of command. Conversely,
the informal communication moves freely in any direction.
3. In formal communication, full secrecy is maintained, but in the case of informal
communication maintenance of secrecy is a very tough task.
4. Formal communication is written, whereas Informal communication is oral.
5. Formal communication is time-consuming as opposed to Informal communication, which is
rapid and quick.
6. Formal communication is more reliable than Informal communication.
7. Formal communication is designed by the organization. Informal communication starts
itself due to the urge of ‘human to talk’.
8. In formal communication, the documentary evidence is always available. Informal
communication supporting documents are not available.

According to the text:

- Answer your instructor´s comprehension questions and share your answers.

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 English Learning Guide
Competency 1
Unit 1: Customer Service
Workshop 1
Centro de Servicios Financieros- CSF
- Establish a comparison chart between formal and informal
communication. Work in pairs

FORMAL COMMUNICATION INFORMAL COMMUNICATION

-Formal communication is also known by the - Informal Communication is also known by

name of official communication. the name of grapevine.

-Formal communication is written, whereas -In formal communication, the information

Informal communication is oral.
-Formal communication is time-consuming as
opposed to Informal communication, which is
rapid and quick.
must follow a chain of command. Conversely,
the informal communication moves freely in
any direction.
In formal communication, full secrecy is
maintained, but in the case of informal
communication maintenance of secrecy is a
very tough task.

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. 3

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!

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 English Learning Guide
Competency 1
Unit 1: Customer Service
Workshop 1
Centro de Servicios Financieros- CSF
R/:Hello, my name is José Luis, I work in a pastry
shop, I have a great team where you can see María
Fernanda, who is in charge of decoration, in the kitchen, I, Carlos and Valentina, where we are in
charge of making and creating the different desserts and wonders you can see.

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

3
Image taken from internet as an example. https://mx.depositphotos.com/127312238/stock-illustrationset-of-
business-people-office.html

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