To unlock this lesson you must be a Study.com Member. I lived in Argentina for years, and the reverse culture shock around the lack of affectionate sign-offs in English was strong. ESL Writing Exercises: Activities, Worksheets, and Ideas! This ESL writing experience has to encompass fun and creativity too! You can then use that as the start of the … The worksheet then presents a variety of words and expressions that can be written in formal or informal style. Make sure it’s the not the same type of email they wrote when practicing structure. If writing to a friend or acquaintance, you can just use their name—or a silly nickname or last name, if that’s how you roll. Write the different forms of communication across the top of your white board or a large piece of paper. The worksheet then presents a variety of words and expressions that can be written in formal or informal style. Ask students to focus particularly on the how-to suggestions that go along with writing email. To teach or revise the rules of writing emails in English by studying the differences between formal letters, and informal and semi-formal email; Materials. (Download). This slideshow provides basic data about email messages. This lesson teaches useful words and expressions for writing emails in English. So, what difference can you focus on teaching? But before we jump into writing in-class messages, let’s look at the foundation for teaching a good email lesson. Over 83,000 lessons in all major subjects, {{courseNav.course.mDynamicIntFields.lessonCount}}, Teaching Paragraph Structure to ESL Students, Teaching ESL Students How to Write Newspaper Articles, How to Teach Essay Writing to ESL Students, ESL Intermediate Writing Activities & Exercises, ESL Describing Objects Activities & Games, ESL Describing & Writing a Process Activities, ESL Summary Writing Exercises & Activities, ESL Avoiding Plagiarism Games & Activities, Teaching ESL Students How to Write an Autobiography: Project & Examples, ESL Writing Exercises & Teaching Strategies, ESL Group Story Writing Games & Activities, Writing Prompts for ESL Elementary Students, Writing Prompts for Advanced ESL Students, Creative Writing Prompts for ESL Students, How To Write A Postcard Lesson Plan for ESL Students, Academic Subjects for English Language Learners, Biological and Biomedical Writing an Email of Feedback: Giving Feedback. Ask the students to do the second exercise which focuses on appropriate formulas for writing informal letters or emails. Dialogue Activities for ESL Students. Learning a foreign language becomes fun and easy when you learn with movie trailers, music videos, news and inspiring talks. This allows them a space to practice composing a natural-sounding English without feeling rushed or pressured. Click here to get a copy. After you’ve explained the basic outline and given examples, have students write a sample email as homework. They can start out with personal or professional, whichever best suits their needs. Show your students examples of two different emails. If your students are applying for work, it’s best to use: Repetition is the best strategy when getting students to practice this structure. You can also recommend that your students use some of these greetings and sign-offs common with personal emails. I like to use this quick writing activity if I know that students have studied the topic of the day before. It’s perfect for in-class activities, group projects and solo homework assignments. One should use good email etiquette, such as greetings, complete sentences and appropriate forms of address. Bookmark the permalink . Ask your students to order the rules according to their importance and justify their decision. If you haven’t already taught them conditionals, here are some ideas on how to teach and practice those bad boys. Depending on the type of activity, writing activities can be used: At the beginning of a lesson to pique students’ interest and generate excitement about the upcoming lesson. They analyze the ways of closing emails depending on the email addressees. Enrolling in a course lets you earn progress by passing quizzes and exams. Thanks for subscribing! The other will be personal and will include an example of a greeting and a sign-off. Come up with a set of situations for which your students might want to compose emails. As an extreme example, a modern Romeo and Juliet story can become a pretty funny writing exercise. ESL Worksheets and Activities for Kids: Teach kids? After all, no employer is going to appreciate an employee who can write a simple, but perfect email in half a day! © copyright 2003-2020 Study.com. As seen in the personal email: “Can I tell you I’m sorry for everything that I’ve done?” when Adele talks to her ex. Email English. A couple basic structures to emphasize are: Another important thing to note is how you refer to people in emails. In contrast, the present simple is generally utilized with people the speaker is emotionally intimate with. Make sure to provide the time and technology for this activity, either in class or at the school library, so that all students can participate regardless of their online access at home. Students might feel safest if they start their English email relationships with others who are also just getting the hang of it. As seen in the email above: “Could you send them to me?” when referring to the budget. | 1 The best way is to just practice. While the two emails above are starkly different in tone, their structure is basically the same. Remote Learning: How School Districts Can Help Their Schools and Teachers, How to Use Study.com to Improve Your Grades, Study.com's Top Online Leadership Training Courses, Tech and Engineering - Questions & Answers, Health and Medicine - Questions & Answers, Working Scholars® Bringing Tuition-Free College to the Community, Following up with someone they met casually at an event, Asking a teacher questions about what happened in a missed class. In a business email, your ESL students will need to keep the language formal and conditional, without being too impersonal. No one likes getting those “Yeaaaah, if you could work on Saturday, that would be great” notes, even if they do help you remember your conditionals. When students know how to email, they feel confident reaching out to others digitally and maintaining both social and professional relationships online. Using their own knowledge of English grammar, students can then locate and correct any errors they come across in the email. can take anywhere. Get access risk-free for 30 days, To learn more, visit our Earning Credit Page. True False 2. attachment, read receipt, disclaimer, etc. Assign students partners, and have them exchange email addresses with one another. The format of an email, whether casual or formal, will take on the same basic structure. This ESL writing experience has to encompass fun and creativity too! We have several free ESL writing lessons on this page, including sample essays, sentence patterns, writing assignments, and more! This blog post is available as a convenient and portable PDF that you Level: Upper-Intermediate. You’ll find movie trailers, musical numbers from cinema and theater, news interviews, commercial jingles and much, much more. Aims. Teaching beginners to write in English can be a very difficult job. Ask students to focus particularly on the how-to suggestions that go along with writing email. Bring English immersion to your classroom! This formality with the conditional also shows up in other contexts, such as when you’re eating or going shopping. Welcome to ESL Printables, the website where English Language teachers exchange resources: ... Reading & Writing activities with 11 questions Level: intermediate Age: 14-17 Downloads: 364 : email from your penpal Level: advanced Age: 13-17 Downloads: 373 : Another activity using emails in pedagogical practices Level: intermediate Age: 10-17 Downloads: 358 : James´ e-mail Level: … 90 mins. When the chart is complete, keep it hanging on your classroom wall for future reference. Time. Do you want to teach English while traveling the world? Emails have a lot of potential for helping students explore their creativity as well. Students are given several emails. One of the characters, Strong Bad, used to answer emails by providing Dear Abby-esque advice or hilarious anecdotes. This is the last week of new content to help ESL students learn English writing. Writing skills practice: A more formal email – exercises Look at the exam question and email and do the exercises to practise and improve your writing skills. 168 lessons Students can invent characters and write emails in their voice. Worksheets: can be printed out for use in class. and career path that can help you find the school that's right for you. For … Not everything revolves around grammar and structure. When I worked as a tutor at my university writing center, I discovered the best way to have people catch their writing mistakes is for them to do it themselves. Words come with example sentences and definitions. But it’s a little more subtle when talking to coworkers or in other professional contexts. Create an account to start this course today. The vocabulary lists are all based around important topics. Expanding Descriptive Verb Use . Let them compare their lis… If they have time to practice outside of the classroom, you could even arrange a real pen pal for your students. Email Hi Ali, (a) Thanks for your email asking me about becoming a self-employed taxi driver in the UK. Email writing Worksheet 1 Formal letter, to be cut up into strips. Not sure what college you want to attend yet? Log in or sign up to add this lesson to a Custom Course. Part of learning to communicate in English is also learning how to follow social norms and practices related to communication, like writing emails. At the end of the week, have each pair review their correspondence together. ----- I would be grateful for any information you can give me and I look forward to hearing from you soon. I hope all is well and that you had a pleasant weekend. 30-day money back guarantee. attachment, read receipt, disclaimer, etc. The conditional structures will be your students’ friends when crafting an email. Students will be able to add them to their own vocabulary lists, and even see how the words are used in other videos. This exercise looks at both the structure and the vocabulary you should use when you give feedback to somebody by email. Level: Upper-Intermediate. You need some basic background knowledge first, such as basic grammar and vocabulary, but once you know this, just practice. While the structure between the personal and professional emails is slightly similar, their tones are miles apart. Tips and activities for teaching writing. That way, if they don’t catch their errors, their classmates probably will. How to Write a Business Report for English Learners. What the Flip is a Flipped ESL Classroom? As an ESL teacher, this makes it easy to transition between email lessons and vocabulary, while also reviewing and reinforcing the same grammar. Living in an age of smartphones, where we’re constantly connected by WhatsApp, Skype and other quick-to-use technologies, you may wonder why instructing about the art of emails should be a priority in your classroom. To prepare for this exercise, assemble and print some samples of emails and provide students with photocopied packets to read in advance. This lesson focuses on how to write an email in English. This site has a vocabulary sectionto help you learn useful words to use when writing. Learning to communicate in English involves learning more than just vocabulary; students also need to learn about social norms and practices. How to Write a Business Email of Rejection. study Introducing Phrasal Verbs to ESL Students. For instance, students might notice that emails use informal forms of address, short sentences and emojis, or little images that represent emotions or ideas. Reading and writing emails. One will be professional and include an example of a greeting, sign-off and common phrase. Visit the Academic Subjects for English Language Learners page to learn more. FluentU brings language learning to life with real-world videos. Working Nine to Five. There are also flashcards for you to download and print to help you, in the voc… Not only does this make learning grammar fun and more effective, it also teaches students how to talk like a native English speaker. Then show them the infographic discussing basic rules of email writing etiquette, see what you have already mentioned. Most would expect it to happen in a few minutes. We hate SPAM and promise to keep your email address safe, Sign up for our weekly blog newsletter for a chance to win a free FluentU Plus subscription (value $240), Get regular language learning tips, resources and updates, starting with the "Complete Guide to Foreign Language Immersion" e-book. flashcard set, {{courseNav.course.topics.length}} chapters | Again, highlight the similarity in the structures, then prompt your students to tell you the similarities and differences they notice between the two emails. Now that we’ve looked at greetings and sign-offs to express tone, let’s look at how the conditional structure and names can help your ESL learners. When using the conditional vs. present simple, the conditional is usually employed when addressing a more formal audience. Have your students compare and contrast the emails and speculate on the impact they would have on their recipients. 1. To give your learners an opportunity to practice tone differences, have them write two short emails. An email from a friend, on the other hand, could spark warm, fuzzy feelings or excitement over future plans. And while emails may be less prolific than they were in the ’90s and early 2000s thanks to popular messenger apps, they’re still everywhere in the business, job applications and the social world. Intermediate and above. Writing is perhaps the most difficult and tedious areas of the communicative approach to teach for several reasons. Practise how to write an informal email in this writing and grammar exercise. 's' : ''}}. Download lesson plan 75k pdf. Close filters. Emphasize this format to your students to help ease them into writing. You don't have to include all the points mentioned in the question. Choose the correct words or phrases to write an informal email to a friend. That’s why email writing is a key ingredient to effective communication. IGCSE ESL Exercise 5 Birthday Party is a good example of an informal email which has the appropriate content and language to gain a high mark in this part of the exam. If you liked this post, something tells me that you'll love FluentU, the best way to teach English with real-world videos. This is a good opportunity to talk about formal and informal language. Transform your students’ feelings of dread and uncertainty around emails to something that’s no big deal. 6 chapters | I trust you as a superstar creative educator to spin emails into an expanded opportunity for teaching points and play. Writing We found 23 activities for you. Check out this activity to help our students out with this: Fluency ESL Writing Activity. Then, ask them to share their work with the class, and give classmates a chance to critique and comment on each other's work. Writing emails. It will look like this: Next, you can give your ESL learners concrete examples of the email in a professional vs. personal context. Popular articles like this. Setup for ESL Writing Activities Before students are able to write emails, they should be exposed to a wide variety of what emails in English look like. Get the unbiased info you need to find the right school. I guarantee you that they’ll make comments along the lines of, “Wait, that sounded awkward,” or “Oh, I meant to put would, not will” and other similar aha moments. Your students should have examples of the professional and personal style written. Lesson plan: guide for teacher on procedure. Display a few emails on your Smart board or an easel, and talk through students' observations with them. Select a subject to preview related courses: An alternative to this activity is to pair students up with more experienced or native English speakers as their email pen pals. Services. Pair up your students, and provide each partnership with a sample scenario. Below are some simple activities that you can implement in your writing classes to help students develop the skill of email writing. Press Here To Send. You can utilize an email writing activity to help your students build confidence … I’m writing because Sandra requested the budget numbers for fall quarter 2017. Then, have students come up with 'how to' ideas for each mode of communication. imaginable degree, area of just create an account. Emails have a lot of potential for helping students explore their creativity as well. Then the book you’re going to love is this one over on Amazon: ESL Writing Activities, Games & Teaching Tips. On FluentU, all the videos are sorted by skill level and are carefully annotated for students. When teaching language differences with the business email, you should emphasize to your ESL learners that they should go for friendly, but more neutral in professional settings. It's a fun alternative to traditional ESL writing activities, and the benefits of using music in language study have been scientifically proven. This language is put into … It’s Just Business: 4 Great Business Activities You Can Do With Your ESL Class; How to Use Email Writing in the ESL Classroom; Dramatically improve the way you teach: check out our writing resources. If you liked these fun activities, you’ll love using FluentU in your classroom. It must be corrected to would instead of will. Download: Anyone can earn Sprinkle Excitement in the Classroom with These 8 ESL Spelling Games, 5 ESL Listening Exercises to Sharpen Your Students’ Ears, How to Teach 100 ESL Vocabulary Words in One Lesson, 5 Ways to Find Great ESL Teaching Materials on a Budget, 7 Best ESL Textbooks for Teaching Students Both Young and Old, 10 Creative Ways to Use Popular Movies in Fun ESL Lessons, Teaching English with Music: 4 Effective Ways to Use Music in the ESL Classroom, 7 Irresistibly Fun ESL Video Activities to Teach Listening Comprehension. Students analyze how requests are made in emails … Let students know these greetings are commonly used between friends. ESL Writing Activities. All rights reserved. Now that we’ve looked at tips for language and structure, how should you implement actually actively practicing email in the classroom? Email practice. Students should focus on responding to one another and trying out some of the characteristics and components they noticed in their email packets. Start by having students brainstorm about the different modes of communication. Start with the Talking Points to see how often your students exchange business emails, who they write to, and whether there are certain things they pay special attention to when writing a business email. Blended Learning | What is Blended Learning? first two years of college and save thousands off your degree. If you have several emails written for different reasons or with different levels of formality mixed up together, students can get an idea of how they differ as they separate the texts and put them into order. Study.com has thousands of articles about every Emailing can often be a scary task for your students, especially in a new, strange language that they don’t feel very confident about yet. Log in here for access. Usually, when in an already-established office setting, these will work: Job applications and cover letters have their own set of rules. Sometimes Habib has to write emails as part of his job as a self-employed taxi driver. So, if they wrote a personal email for the previous activity, ask your student to write a professional one for this exercise. Standard Lesson Plan Format for ESL Teachers. This exercise helps students think about how emails are similar to and different from other forms of communication. This should be a quick exercise that can be done in class. credit-by-exam regardless of age or education level.