So here's a question for you that you may want to try and send to me.

''Your company employs an office cleaning service to clean its offices every evening.
Your company is dissatisfied with the service and you have been asked to write a letter to the office cleaning service''.

Write your letter to the office cleaning service
*explaining why you are writing
*describing ways in which the cleaning service is unsatisfactory
*saying what effect this has on clients visiting the office
*outlining what action you intend to take if the service does not improve

I'll give you a model answer and some tips in future bulletins...

BEC writing exams

In the BEC higher test , you have to answer to writing questions. Part 1 is a report on graph like a bar chart, a Pie Chart or describing a line graph. Mostly you describe what happened in the past but a few charts need you to forecast so you need specialist vocabulary here. We will discuss the vocabulary for these soon.

In part 2, you have a choice of either a letter, a report or a proposal and they should be around 200-250 words.

Examples of a letter we will look at soon will be a letter of Complaint or Apology.

Reports and proposals will be discussed separately.

The TOEIC ( Test of English for International Communication ) test measures the everyday English Language skills of people working in an International Business Environment. With over 4 million takers per year, the TOEIC test is the world’s leading test of English language proficiency in a workplace setting. The Dublin Business English Language Centre are specialists in preparing students for the TOEIC test. It is also a very useful exam to do before attempting the more demandng BEC exams.


Corporations from small businesses to multinationals rely on the TOEIC test to

• Recruit, promote and place employees
• Select participants for technical training conducted in English
• Implement a common standard of measurement across multiple corporate sites
• Document progress in English-language training programmes

English language programmes use the TOEIC test to

• Place students at the appropriate language learning level
• Demonstrate learning progress
• Evaluate programme effectiveness.

Individuals use the TOEIC test score results to:

• Apply for new positions
• Obtain credentials at the completion of training
• Track personal improvement in English

The exam take place every month and costs around €120 to do.

The Business English Cambridge exams are well known as a reliable indicator of a student's level of business English. They encompass the 4 skills of reading, writing, speaking and listening and we offer tuition at both Vantage ( upper Intermdiate ) and Advanced level here at the Dublin Business English Language Centre in Donnybrook, Dublin4. Classes for Individuals have just started and check the website for further details at www.dublinbusinessenglish.com