SENA

CENTRO DE SERVICIOS FINANCIEROS – CSF

ENGLISH LEARNING GUIDE
UNIT 1: CUSTOMER SERVICE
WORKSHOP 1

Name: Date:

Training program: Instructor:

INTRODUCTIONS AND BASIC PERSONAL INFORMATION

(FORMAL/INFORMAL COMMUNICATION)

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

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.

1. Work in groups and discuss the following questions:

- What do you understand for personal information?
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- What data corresponds to personal information?
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- How can you ask a person about their personal information?
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- 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

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 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.
3.2. Listening practice
Before watching the video, discuss:
- What is communication?
- How do we use communication at work? Give some examples.

Watch the video, make notes, and answer or complete the following statements: Video 1
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=SrMTRgcHBI4
- What is communication?
- Mention 3 ways of communication
_____________________________, _______________________________, _____________________________
- What does influence how people imagine you?
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- Who can you communicate with in a casual or informal way?
_____________________________, ______________________________, ______________________________
- Texting Abbreviation, Emoji, and being silly is fine to communicate with _____________________,
__________________________________________________________________________________________.

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.

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- What can you say about formal and informal communication? Describe.
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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

Non-verbal communication

Eye contact

Workplace
 Employees

Duties

Hierarchical

Command

Network

Requests

Reports

Bottom-up

Top-down

Strand Chain

Cluster Chain

Gossip Chain

Secrecy

Time-consuming

Reliable

Supporting

Available

Difference Between Formal and Informal Communication

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.

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.
∙ 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

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.
- Establish a comparison chart between formal and informal communication.
 FORMAL COMMUNICATION INFORMAL COMMUNICATION

- Make a graphic illustration of the 4 types of in/formal communication. Use mind maps models and share it
with the rest of the class.

FORMAL COMMUNICATION INFORMAL COMMUNICATION

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=egtyq2ccCIA&t=34s
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 Jason, 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!

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