The Voicemail With Three Repairs
Marama is an NCEA Level 2 Spanish student staying with a family in Cuernavaca. On Thursday evening she listens once to a voicemail from her host mother, Sra. Flores, about a Saturday trip to Tepoztlán. Marama's notes read: 'bus 9:00; return 5:30; no food; just family.' The recording, however, contains these fragments: «Salimos a las ocho y media, ¿me oyes? A las ocho y media, no a las nueve...»; «...volvemos sobre las seis, quizá seis y cuarto»; «Lleva tu almuerzo, porque el puesto de comida estará cerrado»; «Mi sobrino Diego viene con nosotros, así que seremos cinco en el coche». There is also a repair: «Perdón, el autobús sale de la plaza, no de la estación». Marama must reply to the host mother by message before 9 p.m. and decide what to pack. She cannot replay the audio. She remembers the general topic but is unsure which details were corrected.
1. Which details in Marama's notes are unsafe, and what evidence from the message should replace them? Explain at least three corrections.
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Unsafe notes and replacements
- Bus time: '9:00' is wrong. The speaker says «a las ocho y media» and explicitly repairs «no a las nueve». The repetition plus the negator is stronger evidence than Marama's first guess.
- Return time: '5:30' is not supported. «sobre las seis, quizá seis y cuarto» gives an approximate return around 6:00–6:15, not 5:30. 'Quizá' signals uncertainty, so she should not write a precise 5:30.
- Food: 'no food' is wrong. «Lleva tu almuerzo» is a direct instruction; the reason is that the food stall will be closed.
- Meeting point: the bus leaves from «la plaza», not «la estación». The repair marker «Perdón» shows the speaker is correcting an earlier assumption.
- People: 'just family' is wrong. Diego, the cousin, is coming, and «seremos cinco en el coche» gives a total of five.
Marama should update the note before replying; otherwise she risks arriving at the wrong place and without lunch.
2. Write the message Marama could send (40–60 words in Spanish). She must confirm the corrected plan and ask one clarifying question. Then explain two language choices.
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Possible message:
«Hola, señora Flores: gracias por el mensaje. Entonces, ¿salimos a las ocho y media de la plaza y volvemos sobre las seis? Llevaré mi almuerzo. ¿Diego viene con nosotros, verdad? Si hay algún cambio, avíseme, por favor. Hasta el sábado.»
Why these choices work:
- The question «¿salimos...?» checks the corrected time and meeting point without repeating the wrong detail as a fact.
- «Llevaré» confirms what she will pack and uses the future appropriately for a plan.
- «avíseme» is a formal imperative suitable for the host mother, and «verdad?» invites confirmation politely rather than sounding like an accusation.