H5Formal Writing - Language & Writing Style

• Engels
• Middelbare school
• havo, vwo
• Leerjaar 4,5

Welcome class H5B

Welcome to English class

School rules:

- No phones in class

- You use your laptop, charged, for LessonUp

- No charging in class

- Respect each other, yourself, your teacher

- Stick to agreements/rules we have made

- Be ready to talk if you don't stick to agreements. 

Programme this year:

• Formal letter writing
• Listening & watching (CITO)
• Speaking: oral exam
• Reading: final exam HAVO (CITO)

Lesson materials

• Teacher handouts, booklet formal writing
  
• Signal words list Examenbundel last year
  
• Examenbundel: you can order it now if you want, but the school orders it later this year.
• CITO listening and reading exams
• BBC, CNN, news
  
• Stepping Stones, Follow Up
  
• Holmwoods
  

The goal of this lesson:

to learn the do's and don'ts of Formal Writing

Check pre-existing knowledge

Dear Sir/Madam,

Your address

recipient's adress

The date

Introduce yourself + reason of writing

Explanation of the situation

Conclusion

Closing sentence

Your name

signature

1

   2

  3

  4

   5

   6

   7

  8

   9

   10

Example

This is how it should look 

<<---------

Check your letters. What can be better?

Check your own letters and the feedback.
What can be done better?
Make a top 3 and type it here:

What is ALWAYS the correct opening greeting if you DO NOT know who will read your letter?

How do you end a formal letter?

1. Greetings,
2. Yours sincerely,
3. Sincerely,
4. Yours faithfully,

How do we start paragraph 1?

1. Hello! My name is ...
2. I'm writing to ....
3. I am writing to ...
4. Good day Sir.

Which one is correct?

1. I am a sixteen-year-old boy/girl
2. I am a boy/girl and I am fourteen
3. I am a fourteen years old boy/girl
4. I am 14 and a boy/girl

Which one is correct

1. The reason I write you is...
2. The reason I am writing to you is...
3. The reason i am writing you is
4. The reason i write you is...

How do translate 'havo' in British English?

1. Pre-University Education
2. Higher General Secondary Education
3. Pre- College education
4. havo

How do you say 'ik zit op het Corderius College'

1. I sit on Corderius
2. I am on Corderius
3. I am at Corderius
4. I go to Corderius College

Mind the following!

In a formal letter all words MUST be written in full

So do not use:  isn’t, it’s of won’t, but:

is not, it is en will not. Gonna and wanna  are a definite NO GO!

For names of magazines or newspapers, use quotation marks. The ‘Telegraaf’.

DOs

1. Use paragraphs (and use blank lines to clearly separate them)
2. Use signal words and the appropriate tenses, wherever necessary
3. Use a difficult grammar item every now and then (passive, relative clauses)
4. At the end, check your work!
   
5. Make it neat.

Don'ts

1.  DON'T forget about the lay-out
2.  DON'T use abbreviations / contractions (like I'll, didn't)
3.  DON'T use the first translation you find in a dictionary without checking. 
4. DON'T forget any content elements 
5. DON'T use swear words or street language 
6. DON'T use WhatsApp language (gonna, kinda, u, ur, w8, like ... you know, etc.) 

Frequent mistakes

Capital Letters:

When you talk about "ik", "i" is wrong, it is always “I” 

Days of the week, months: Monday, Tuesday, August, October

Frequent mistakes

Word Order

Wrong:  

In my opinion is it great to live in New York.

Right: 

In my opinion it is great to live in New York

FORMAL

INFORMAL

Long sentences

Short sentences

Active voice

Passive voice

Email

Application letter

No contractions

0

Take your handout

Let's check p. 11-12

Correcting a weak formal letter

Type all the mistakes you could find:

Categories:

A - Conventions (address, date, layout, contractions)

B - Language (spelling, grammar, words)

C - Content (all points mentioned in assignment)

D - Style (expressions, word variation, coherence)

--------------------------------------- +

21 points

Let's discuss the mistakes in the letter on p. 10-11 together.

Quote from your teacher:

"Mistakes in real life are OK. In a formal letter, they are deadly."

Which grade would YOU give this letter?

Turn your phones off

Take your laptop out

Read the text in the next slide

Do you think the poster board is a good idea for this school?

Why (not)?

www.insidehighered.com

How much did you miss from last class, do you think, because you were on your phone and/or talking?

What do you remember
from the last English class?

personality traits that will get you hired?

• Use adverbs and adjectives to make your writing come alive

https:

Most of those heroes have spend half there lifes trying to be ordinary people. (3)

Ones they where traveling threw South America whit some friends when too of them were kidnaped. (6)

Those lady’s were trying to get some potato's, tomato's and loafs of bread for free. (4)

Their are five books about wit here; this one is a lot funnyer then the other once, don’t you think so too? (4)

To do now:

- See the example letter

- Write the first draft of a letter of complaint to a company selling camping items: your new tent leaked on vacation and you want a new one.

- Make up the name and address of the company yourself.