Reading and vocabulary

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Gebruik daarom de context van de tekst om de betekenis van moeilijke woorden eruit te halen. Er zijn verschillende lees strategieën:

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studerend en zoekend lezen om de antwoorden te vinden.

Coronavirus: Spain sees record rise in unemployment amid virus

BBC News 2nd April 2020

Spain has lost almost 900,000 jobs since it imposed strict measures to fight the coronavirus, another sign of the economic impact of the outbreak in Europe's second worst-hit country.

March's figure is the highest monthly rise in unemployment ever recorded in the country, which already had one of the eurozone's highest jobless rates.

Spain banned all but essential outings and shut most businesses in mid-March.

It has marked another grim milestone as the number of dead passed 10,000.

Around the world, the number of confirmed infections is nearing one million with more than 47,000 deaths recorded, according to Johns Hopkins University, which tracks virus figures globally. Some 195,000 people have recovered.

What is the latest from Spain?

The data shows 898,822 people have now lost their jobs since the start of the lockdown, including about 550,000 temporary workers. Spain's official unemployment figure rose to 3.5 million, the highest level since April 2017.

"This is an absolutely unprecedented situation," Labour Minister Yolanda Díaz told a news conference. The tourism and construction sectors were the hardest hit.

The numbers come amid dire predictions about the possible economic impact of the measures imposed to fight the virus. A UN report estimated that up to 25 million jobs could be lost around the world as the result of the outbreak.

Meanwhile, 10,003 people in Spain have died from Covid-19 - the disease caused by the coronavirus - as 950 new deaths were recorded in the last 24 hours, another daily record, the health ministry said. The number of confirmed cases rose to 102,136.

Italy has the world's biggest death toll - 13,155 - and more than 110,000 confirmed cases. The country was the first in the West to impose stringent measures to curb the virus, and government has warned it could be hit by a "severe" recession following the outbreak.

What is happening elsewhere?

More than 5,000 people have died in the US, including a six-week-old baby, and officials warn as many as 240,000 people could die in the country even with the mitigation measures in place
Belgium's death toll has passed 1,000
In the UK, the Wimbledon tennis tournament has been cancelled for the first time since World War Two
British government officials vowed to ramp up testing within weeks, as the number of deaths in the UK saw its big daily increase - 563 - on Wednesday
Canada's Prime Minister Justin Trudeau has promised the largest economic programme in the country's history
The official death toll in Iran has passed 3,000

Film update Spain 2 April

Update state of affairs in Spain 2 April 2020

Map of Spain

Toets: Toets - Coronavirus in Spain

Start

Dealing with complaints

Dealing with an angry customer

Handling complaints

Read the text and answer the questions.

Fill in the answers in the textbox beneath the questions.

Causes of complaints

Even in the best-run shops there will be customers who are not completely satisfied and who will complain. Major causes of complaint are products not being in stock (when advertised), unsatisfactory performance of a product or unsatisfactory repair or service. Many complaints are easily resolved but there should be procedures to deal with them. Same customers are habitual complainers and may politely be encouraged to shop somewhere else.

Complaint-handling procedure

Minor complaints may be handled by the sales assistants, but customers will often appreciate the attention of a higher level of employee. In larger stores a customer service department will handle complaints.

Whatever the appropriate complaint-handling procedure, it should be clear to both employees and customers where to go to complain and who to speak to. Standard procedures should be adopted, and all employees should know about them.

Returns

A customer who returns merchandise which was found to be damaged or broken when it was unpacked is

obviously entitled to return it and demand a replacement or refund. Returns or refunds are normally offered

only on the production of a receipt but here common sense must prevail, for example, a customer who received an item as a gift will not have a receipt.

Some stores do not give refunds but offer credit notes instead. The customer can use the credit note at some later date to pay for articles he wants to buy from the same shop.

Product adjustments

Retailers can satisfy most complaints about damaged or unsuitable products by exchanging them, but complaints about poor quality of products should be handled very carefully, so that the store image is not damaged. Complaints about products not being in stock can be dealt with by agreeing to stock the product, explaining why the product is not stocked and offering an alternative or directing the customer to a store

which does stock that product.

Price adjustments

Since it is not always possible or practicable to exchange or adjust a product (for example, a refrigerator delivered to the customer's home), the retailer can often satisfy the customer by offering to reduce the price. A price reduction is often an effective way of showing the customer that the store is making a special effort to

correct a problem, and it is usually possible for the retailer to make a claim on the manufacturer.

The circular economy

Introduction

Lots of people are planning to buy no new clothes this year, favouring second-hand or making do with what they already have. However, sales at online fast fashion sites, trade is going well. Could you give up buying new clothes for a year? Would you do it over concerns with the environment? Georgina and Neil discuss this fashion and environment and teach you some useful items of vocabulary.

This week's question

Do you know how many items of clothing were sent to landfill in the UK in 2017? Was it…

a) 23 million items

b) 234 million items

c) 2.3 billion items

Listen to the programme to find out the answer.

Use the next film to listen as you read and learn more new words.

While listening you may use the audioscript PDF.

Remember the audio part is only for listening.

Vocabulary

pledging
publicly promising to do something (you can make a pledge to do something)

outsourced
given to another company to do, often because that company has the skills to do it or it can be done cheaper

undercuts
if a company undercuts another, it charges less to do a job than its competitor

stems from (something)
caused by or a result of something

illogical
unreasonable - not sensible, more driven by emotions than practical reason

backlash
strong negative reaction to what is happening

Could you give up fast fashion

Open bestand Could you give up fast fashion?