Mediation Email: Rescheduling a Bristol School Visit
You are Lena, a 17-year-old student at a Gymnasium in Bremen. Your English course has partnered with a sixth form in Bristol. The Bristol group is due to visit on 2 May, but your school is closed on 1 May for a public holiday and on 2 May for a bridge day. The Bristol teacher, Ms Patel, has already booked a ferry for 2 May and emails to confirm the programme; she also asks whether two vegan students can be catered for. Your teacher asks you to reply in English in 100–120 words. You must explain the closure without sounding as if the Bristol group is to blame, offer two alternative dates (8 or 15 May), confirm that vegan lunches are possible with ten days’ notice, and keep the partnership positive. The reply must be formal but friendly; no exclamation marks; no passive-aggressive phrasing.
1. Identify two register choices you would make in the first two sentences and justify each with reference to the reader and purpose.
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Register choices: first, 'Dear Ms Patel' rather than 'Hi' - the reader is a teacher in a partner institution and the purpose is institutional mediation, so formal address signals respect without being cold. Second, 'I am writing to clarify the timetable for your visit' - a declarative purpose statement is more helpful than 'Sorry, but there is a problem', because it frames the message as information-sharing rather than complaint. Reasoning: the exam rewards audience awareness and purpose, not merely correct grammar. The greeting and first sentence do the relational work before the bad news. Avoid 'We regret to inform you' if it sounds like a rejection letter; 'I am afraid' is a useful hedge but only once.
2. Draft the opening sentence and the sentence offering alternatives. Explain how your wording avoids blame.
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Opening: 'Dear Ms Patel, Thank you for your email and for organising the ferry; I am writing to clarify the timetable for your visit on 2 May.' Alternatives: 'Would it be possible to move the visit to either 8 or 15 May? Either date would allow us to welcome you properly, and we can confirm a vegan lunch for two if we have ten days’ notice.' Reasoning: 'Would it be possible' is a conventional polite request, not a demand; 'either date' presents choice; 'allow us to welcome you properly' turns the closure into a shared quality issue rather than an accusation. The ferry is acknowledged first, so the reader does not feel that their effort is ignored. The vegan detail is placed after the dates because it is a secondary logistical point.
3. A classmate suggests writing: 'Unfortunately, your ferry booking is a problem.' Explain why this is risky and propose a revision.
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'Unfortunately, your ferry booking is a problem' is risky because 'your' assigns fault and 'is a problem' presents the booking as the obstacle, when the obstacle is the school calendar. It also invites defensiveness before alternatives are offered. Revision: 'The ferry booking may need adjusting because the school is closed on 2 May; could we consider 8 or 15 May instead?' This keeps the booking as a practical item to revise, not a mistake. The modal 'may need' avoids overstating certainty, and the question invites collaboration. In the exam, this is a register and mediation judgement: the goal is to solve the timetable, not to win an argument about whose fault the clash is.