Writing a business letter
low-intermediate level
Description
Materials
Main Aims
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Writing: To provide product writing practice of a letter in the context of business format.
Subsidiary Aims
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Vocabulary: provide clarification, review and practice of business style in the context of complaint.
Procedure (46-60 minutes)
* Show Ss the slide of the Lead-in Photo on OHP. * Discuss with Ss how they can describe the feeling of people appeared in the photo and what reasons might be behind those feelings. * Ask Ss in-pairs to think about 5 reasons for writing a business letter. * give Ss a chance to brainstorm and then discuss their outcomes and list down the reasons on board.
* Give Ss the Business Letter HO. * Write on board some gist and detailed questions as a purpose for reading the letter, ex: - Is this the first contact between the sender and the receiver? - What is the relationship between the sender and receiver? - What is the purpose (reason) of sending this letter? - What type of business letter is this? * Ask Ss to read the letter individually and silently. * In-pairs Ss answer Qs on board. * Get response from whole class for the questions on board.
* Refer Ss to the Business letter HO to discuss and analyse the letter through asking CCQs regarding: - style (formal/informal) - letter components - number of paragraphs and the purpose of each - connecting words and expressions used * Divide the class into 4 groups. # Task (1): * Give each group 8 colored labeling tags and the worksheet of labeling HO. * Ask Ss to use each colored tag to label the correct part of the letter (give Ss 3 min. for this task) * Ask Ss to exchange their worksheets together for peer correction. * Give the whole class Feedback on board. # Task (2): * Set a race between the four groups on the gap-fill worksheet. * Ask Ss to match the questions about each part of the business letter with the correct definition. * After having a winner group, give the whole class Feedback on board. * Give Ss an example of a complaint business letter with components clarification as a reference of business letter format.
* In groups of three each ask Ss to choose blindly one of the situations in the box. * Explain to Ss that the picked situation is an introduction part from a business letter. * What teams have to do is to brainstorm and create the rest components of the compliant business letter that fits to complete the scenario of this situation. * Inform Ss that they have 15 minutes to finish writing their letters. * Ask Ss to pay attention to the formality format of their letters. * Let Ss write the letters, working collaboratively. * Monitor Ss' progress and give any necessary help.
* Each team assigns one presenter to show their business letter on OHP for the class. * Ask the rest of Ss to listen carefully to the presenters and take notes about what they might see as error in writing a formal business letter. * After presentations, run a discussion with Ss giving error correction and feedback.