Date: November 30, 2010
Subject: English
Subject Focus: Writing a Business Letter
Theme: “A taste of the Caribbean”
Grade: Grade 8 Form 2 (12-13 years)
Duration: 80 minutes
Language Strands: reading, writing, speaking, listening
Objectives:
By the end of this lesson, students should be able to:
Ø read an article about the Caribbean islands in order to write a business letter to a tourist bureau from one of the Caribbean islands to seek information.
Ø determine the purpose of the letter, that is, to seek information about a Caribbean island and one of its towns
Ø show an awareness of audience by the way they address their letters
Ø become familiar with business letter format: the return address, inside address, greeting, body and complimentary closing
Ø write a formal business letter, using the standard block- style format that is accepted by most businesses
Pre - requisites:
Students should already know:
The format of a friendly letter
How to use capitalization and punctuation appropriately
Lesson Context:
At some point in the students’ lives, they almost certainly are going to have to write business letters. One’s ability to write a business letter is one of the most important aspects of any business. Even now, writing remains the number one method of communication in the world. Written communication demands a lot of attention and care. It is therefore vital for students to keep their writing free of spelling and grammatical errors. One way to ensure that this happens is by engaging in reading and reading widely. Even though most computers come with a spell and grammar check, it is necessary to not let your skills in writing lapse. Each writer needs to understand that today’s readers demand clear and concise information. Good business letters should use a plain English style of writing. It is a flexible and efficient writing practice that enables readers to understand everything in one reading. This style blends in clear expressions and efficient structures. The ability for one to put down words onto paper that not only communicate, but also motivate, is a valuable skill in writing business letters. Students need to see that reading and writing are essential at all levels, and in almost every role imaginable. As they read and write, it is hoped that they will also learn to appreciate the Caribbean even more.
Content:
The most commonly used form of written communication is the letter. For both social and business purposes, the ability to write letters is an important accomplishment. For effective communication you need to know the essentials of letter writing. These include certain definite principles laid down by convention and certain innovations that have been made to conform to changes in society and in business organizations.
The three general principles on which business letters are based are:
Clarity: this ensures that the content is clearly expressed and that there is no ambiguity.
Conciseness: all irrelevant and uninteresting details which interfere with effective communication must be excluded
Courtesy: in all business letters, you must be polite and courteous in tone. Abusive language, irony and sarcasm, are objectionable.
Strategies:
Group work
Think- Pair- Share
Materials:
Caribbean Islands book (includes addresses)
Computers
Paper
Overhead projector
Introduction:
Students will individually brainstorm and read the article “Caribbean islands: Caribbean people” in order to decide which Caribbean country and more particularly which town in that country they would like to find information about. Students could also refer to a map of the Caribbean after reading or they can choose to discuss with a friend to decide. After each student has made a decision, the teacher will pick a town to demonstrate to the whole class how to look up its address in the book they will be provided with - alphabetical order. There will be four of the books available so that the students can find the addresses and the email addresses of the corresponding tourist bureau so that their letters could be emailed to them. The students will divide into four groups and each student will have a chance to find the address of their chosen town.
Development:
Instructional Procedures
The students will then meet again as a whole class. At this time the students will review by giving the teacher the parts of the friendly letter format. The students will list these one by one on the board. After reviewing what they already know about this format, students will be told how to write a business letter. This will be done on the board beside the friendly letter format. The students will be shown that the return address stays the same, but in the business letter, before the greeting they must put the address of the person they are writing to. Students will also be shown that the body and the complimentary closing are the same. As we establish the business letter format on the board, the students should take notes to refer to when doing their writing. Additionally, students will be given a checklist to use when writing their letters, to make sure they have all the parts.
A class discussion will ensue in order for the students to identify the audience they we will be writing to and the purpose. Since students have already written friendly letters, students and teacher will discuss that we are writing to a different audience (a tourist bureau of a town in a Caribbean country) so students must use a more formal style of communication. In this letter students will be asking the tourist bureau to send them information on their town and they will need to give reasons why they want the information. This will all need to be done in a formal way. The closings used in a friendly letter format will be listed and the class will then come up with closings from a business letter together.
Students will pay attention while the teacher demonstrates on the overhead how to write a business letter. Teacher will use a town that no one else has picked just to show them how it should be done. The students will share their ideas as the teacher demonstrates. The role of the teacher is to model how to express their ideas in a formal way. We will stop to a point where a Daily Oral Language (DOL) can be done, such as in the case of writing an address. The teacher will put it on the board and the class will work together to find capitalization and punctuation in it. As the class finds where to apply each capital letter or punctuation mark, the rule for each will be written on the board. The students should also take notes on the rules to refer to when writing.
After the demonstration, the students will individually begin by brainstorming what they will write. They will then write their own business letter to a tourist bureau of their chosen town to request information about the country after they have decided. They will go back to the article to read about their selected country so that they will be better able to seek relevant information from the tourist bureau.
Lesson and Activities:
Students will be guided on how to find the address of the bureau and the respective email address. After the students have found these addresses the class will assist the teacher in demonstrating the format of a business letter compared to a friendly letter. The students will draft their letter paper to begin with. It will be folded in squares like a book. On each section, the students will write a part of the letter. After students have written their first draft, the students will work in pairs to edit each other’s work using the checklist and their notes. Students will then type their letters using the computer so that they could be emailed to the tourist bureau of the selected town.
Note: If the students know the letters will be emailed, they will put much more effort in it. They know it is being read by someone other than the teacher for something other than a grade.
Adaptions and Extensions:
The slower learners will be given a sheet of paper that has the letter format marked on it so as to guide them to know where to put what. Extra time will be set aside for students who type slowly. During this extra time, the faster students can go to the reading learning corner in the resource room and read books and magazines that will be available about the Caribbean island and their towns. Reading is never considered a waste of time. Some advanced students may choose to write to two towns or to write to the mayor of a town instead of the tourist bureau.
Conclusion:
At least two students will volunteer to read their letters to the class before they are e-mailed and students will be given the opportunity to ask questions about any misconceptions or problems they encountered whiles writing the letter. Afterwards students will volunteer to list the various parts of the business letter and its format.
Evaluation and Assessment:
The students letters will be evaluated by using a checklist of the parts of a letter as well as for the DOL’s which were discussed in class dealing with grammar and punctuation. The checklist will be given to the students before they write so they know what is expected of them. The evaluations and the comments will be given on a comment sheet in the students writing folder. The teacher will do evaluation of the letter by checking off what the students know about on the checklist From this same checklist, the teacher will be able to evaluate herself. The teacher will use this after the lesson has been completed to determine whether each demonstration was appropriate. The teacher will then be able to see how she got through to the students with this lesson by looking over their checklist as a whole class. If the majority got points taken off in a similar place, the teacher should try a new lesson style here next time or even reteach that skill next class time. The checklist will be the key for both evaluations.
Checklist for evaluating students’ letters
| CATEGORY | YES | NO |
| The purpose of the letter is present | | |
| The letter is addressed to the correct person | | |
| The student has requested a date that he/she wants a response for the desired information | | |
| spellings, capitalization and punctuations checked | | |
| The content is clearly expressed | | |
| Irrelevant and uninteresting details are excluded | | |
| The student is polite and courteous in tone | | |
| The student used the correct format | | |
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