The Distance DELTA March 2013

Language Systems
Assessment 2
Skills: Writing
Lesson Plan: Helping learners write a semi-formal email of
enquiry

Kateryna Kirichenko
Contents
Lesson commentary ............................................................................................................................... - 3 -
Bibliography ................................................................................................................................................ - 4 -
Books: ..................................................................................................................................................... - 4 -
Lesson Plan ................................................................................................................................................. - 5 -
Individual learners’ profile ....................................................................................................................... - 10 -
Procedure ..................................................................................................................................................... 14
Appendices (Materials)................................................................................................................................. 16
Email 1 (formal) ........................................................................................................................................ 16
Email 2 (semi-formal) ............................................................................................................................... 16
Email 3 (informal) ..................................................................................................................................... 17
Checklist 1................................................................................................................................................. 18
Checklist 2................................................................................................................................................. 19
Flip chart page .......................................................................................................................................... 20
Lesson commentary

Writing emails can be challenging for English learners for many reasons. The writing process itself is a
challenge for many people, even in their own language. Writing emails can be also difficult because of
socio-cultural differences – different conventions, different stylistic expressions and often different
expectations from the reader.

For Omani students writing is the most difficult skill to master. Partly it is because of the cultural reasons
– Arabic culture has always been an oral culture. Partly it is because of the education system in Oman –
most students have been taught English by non-native teachers from Asia and therefore haven’t been
exposed to English conventions of genres.

Our course offers limited opportunities for the students to practice real-life writing skills. After discussing
this issue with the class we have decided to dedicate one hour in each lesson to writing skills.

I chose semi-formal email because it reflects the needs of my students. A lot of them expressed concerns
about choosing the level of formality needed in different situations. Some have told me about situations
in which badly written email prevented them from getting a better job or being promoted at work.

Email of enquiry is, in my opinion, one of the most common kinds of email. It is used both in professional
environments and for personal purposes. Semi-formal emails nowadays are the most common and are
used in a variety of contexts (Emmerson, 2003). This is why the focus of this lesson is writing semi-formal
email of enquiry.

In a professional world the practical purpose of the email is the most important (Frendo, 2005). As a
result, selecting appropriate content is an essential skill for a successful email writer. However, very often
it is a problem for many students. Often the reason is the socio-cultural differences. My Arab students
tend to include unnecessary and, sometimes, unrelated information to lead in to the topic, while in the
West it is considered a good practice to place topic sentence that states the purpose of the email at the
very beginning of it (Frendo, 2005).

The purpose in its turn implies the organisation of the email. By ordering and comparing three different
styles of emails the students will have a better awareness of the conventional layout of an English email.
It also encourages the students to notice stylistic and linguistic features of the text.

This activity requires the students to use their reading skills. A lot of my students in Oman do not have
good reading skills and often try to read word for word. While most of them are aware of what scanning
and skimming techniques are they rarely use them to enhance their learning. In this lesson they will be
encouraged to use both techniques to complete the task.

Another problem for many Arab students is reviewing their work. While some of them are familiar with
editing their work (e.g. correcting grammatical, spelling and punctuation mistakes) most of them rarely
pay attention to the content after they’ve finished their writing. As mentioned above and in my
background essay, in email writing content and organisation are often more important than grammatical
correctness (Frendo, 2005). This is why in this lesson I have separate checklists for reviewing and editing
and reviewing takes place first.

Word count: 531 words

Bibliography

Books:
Emmerson, P. (2003). Email English. Macmillan

Frendo, Evan 2003 how to Teach Business English, Longman Education Limited.
Lesson Plan

DATE 03.07.2013

TIME / LENGTH 60 minutes

LEVEL Pre-Intermediate 2

No. OF STUDENTS 12

CLASS PROFILE AND This is a group of adults ranging from 22 to 34 years old.

LEARNER NEEDS Most of the students are Omanis. Two students are from Iran and one
student is from the Philippines (Joseph). Joseph is the only one who doesn’t
speak Arabic.

Most of the students have been studying English for a long time (in school or
university). Six students have studied at the British Council before.

Most of the students are instrumentally motivated – they are learning to

improve their employability. Five of them are corporate students sponsored
by their companies.

They are a very enthusiastic class. In the needs analysis questionnaire the
majority of students wrote that they prefer speaking activities but all
admitted that they need to improve their writing. All students wrote that
they writing is the most difficult for them.

It is a mixed ability class. Ahmed, Hussein and Nasser have good writing
skills, while Mashaal, Hamood and Rafia struggle with writing assignments
and need a lot of guidance.

AIMS Main aim:

By the end of the lesson the students will have a better understanding of
how to select appropriate content, follow the established conventions of
the organisation of a semi-formal email and how to review and edit their
written work. They will have written a semi-formal email of enquiry using
these sub-skills.

Supporting Aims:

By the end of the lesson students will have used their scanning and
skimming skills by reading three different email (formal, semi-formal and
informal), organising them according to the conventions of email writing
and analysing the differences.

LANGUAGE ANALYSIS
In this lesson I will be focussing on the following features of genre and sub skills:
  selecting appropriate content
 following established conventions of the organisation of a semi-formal email
 reviewing and editing

Selecting appropriate content - when writing an email of enquiry the writer needs to take into account the
audience, the purpose and the desirable outcome (Frendo, 2005). In semi-formal email of enquiry the main
purpose of the email is to receive a reply with the information the writer needs. Therefore the students need
to be able to provide the reader with the information necessary for him/her to do so. Professional semi-
formal emails need to be concise and only contain information necessary.

How it will be approached in the lesson:

Students will be asked to analyse a sample email and decide what questions it poses/answers. When
preparing to write their own email they will need to brainstorm what key information will be included in the
email and why. This will be displayed on the IWB for their future reference.

Following established conventions of the organisation of a semi-formal email – when writing emails
(especially if it is a first time contact) it is important to follow established conventions to create a good first
impression. It is also expected by the reader and helps him/her understand what is required of him faster.

The organisation of English semi-formal email of enquiry:

 subject line: a short, one- sentence summary of the email.

Example: corporate business course enquiry.

 salutation - it is important to address the reader properly. If the writer doesn’t know the name of the
reader it should be Dear Sir/Madam, If the writer knows the reader’s name but doesn’t know him/her
well then it is Dear Mr/Ms and the surname: Dear Mr. Jones,. The salutation is usually followed by a
comma.
 opening – in the opening the writer needs to introduce himself, state the purpose of the email and
refer to where he got his/her contact information or to a previous conversation.

Example: My name is Ahmed Al Mamari. I’m a training manager in Gulf Recruitment Ltd., one of the leading
recruitment companies in Oman. I’m writing to ask about corporate business English courses you advertise on
your website (www.britishcouncil.oman.com).

 body of the email – this where the writer gives the full details necessary for the reader to write a
reply. This can include some background information, dates, places, number of people, etc. In emails
it is important to separate different points into separate paragraphs.

Example:

Our company provides recruitment services to people from all over the world and most of the communication
is in English. That’s why we’ve decided to provide English training for our staff.

There will be 64 people. We would prefer to have classes on our premises (Qurum Business centre, Al Nahda
Road) in the morning (between 7 and 9am) starting September 2013.

 closing statement - here the writer indicates what he expects to happen next.

Example: Please send me the details and estimated cost of the course. If you need further information, please
do not hesitate to contact me.

 sign off – it is important to use an appropriate sign off. This, again, will depend on how well you know
the recipient. Some of the most common sign off is Best regards,
  the name of the writer – here the writer give his full name. If the email is on behalf of a company the
position of the writer and the name of the company need to be stated, each in a new line

Example:

Ahmed Al Mamari

Training Manager
Gulf Recruitment, Ltd.

How it will be approached in the lesson:

The students will be asked to put in order three cut-up emails (formal/semi-formal and informal). After they
finish they will be asked to identify different parts and discuss the organisation of an email with a focus on
semi-formal one. They will take notes in a template checklist provided for their reference when writing their
own emails. Before writing they will be asked to refer back to the checklist.

reviewing and editing

 reviewing - students need to be able to review their writing. When reviewing the focus is on the
content and organisation. Here the students need to check that their emails’ content is relevant, all
necessary information is included; the purpose of the email and the writer’s expectations of what
should happen next are clearly stated. They need to make sure that the email follows the established
conventions and that the information is organised in paragraphs accordingly. At this stage the text
may be rearranged or re-written to remove ambiguity or additional parts may be added to make sure
it is understandable.
 editing – at this stage the students check the spelling, punctuation, and grammatical accuracy in their
writing according to general rules and rules specific to writing emails (commas after salutation and
sign off; capitalisation of salutation e.g. Dear Sir/Madam, Dear Mr. Jones)

How it will be approached in the lesson:

After finishing their writing the students will be asked to work in pairs and review read each other’s emails -
check if all the questions they have written in planning stage are answered; the organisation follows the
conventional according to their checklists. They can provide suggestions as to how to improve the emails. The
teacher needs to make is clear that they are not to worry about the linguistic features of the emails at this
stage.

After they have finished this they will be asked to check each other’s emails for punctuation, spelling and
grammar and edit the emails accordingly. It is assumed that the students know the general rules for
punctuation (capitalisation, use of commas and full stops). During the planning stage the teacher will ask the
students to write in simple, short sentences to make the emails easy to read so there shouldn’t be any
complex grammar for the students to deal with. Attention to the use of punctuation specific to email writing
(commas after salutation and sign off) will be drawn to during the analysis of the organisation of email.

Supporting skills:

scanning and skimming – to put the three emails in order the students will need to use their scanning and
skimming skills. They will need to use skimming to get the general idea about the topic of email which will
help them to put them in order. Scanning will be used to separate the three emails from each other. To do
this the students will need to look for stylistic features and expressions particular to each style.

During the analysis the students will again need to scan the texts for particular features of the genre.
Bibliography

Emmerson, Paul 2003 Email English Macmillan

Fresno, Evan 2003 how to Teach Business English Longman Education Limited.

TIMETABLE FIT This is the ninth lesson of the 48 hour course (one lesson is 3 hours).

This class follows New Cutting Edge textbook (Modules 6-8).

Writing isn’t a separate part of the course. However, after identifying it as a particular
weakness for this class, I have decided to dedicate one hour every lesson to practicing
writing skills. We have written an informal email and discussed the stylistic features of
it. In the last two lessons we practiced cohesive devices (conjunctions and referential
pronouns). During feedback session the students looked at punctuation and
paragraphing.

In the next lesson we will have a feedback session in which the students will look at the
marked (using correction code) emails, analyse their mistakes and correct them.

By the end of the course we will have looked at other types of semi-formal emails such
as internal emails and email of complaint (the students identifies these as the ones
they need most).

 the students have written informal emails in class and are familiar with the
genre
 they have enough vocabulary to complete the email (the previous unit was on
holidays with related vocabulary focus)
 they have a need for writing semi-formal emails both at work and in their
ASSUMPTIONS everyday lives
 the topic of email (enquiry about travel agent services) is relevant to students’
needs as lot of them often travel abroad. Also most features and skills are
easily transferable to other contexts
 the students know the basic rules of punctuation (the use of full stops and
capitalisation) and can apply them in their writing

ANTICIPATED Problems

PROBLEMS 1. Problem: students focus on spelling and grammar more than on the context
AND and spend too much time on it.
Solution: Explain that they need to focus on content first. They will focus on
SOLUTIONS
accuracy during the editing stage. Set a clear time limit. Make sure that the
students understand that they need to include all necessary information they
have decided on in the previous stage.
2. Problem: students are struggling to understand the differences between
formal and semi-formal emails.
Solution: exemplify, compare emails. Discuss the reader – familiarity, status
3. Problem: some students have never written any emails in English and don’t
see the need for it.
Solution: give examples of situations when it is needed (applications, travel
agencies, work-related) to demonstrate the relevance.
4. Problem: students are not sure how to revise the content
Solution: give them the criteria (a checklist), explain how to use it. When
looking at examples discuss the organisation of the email and the use of
 paragraphs. Keep the questions that need to be answered on IWB for their
reference.
5. Problem: Weaker students over rely on the stronger students in group
discussions and peer-checking.
Solution: divide the class according to their learning styles, strength and
weaknesses. Put the quieter students together to ensure that there isn’t one
dominating student who doesn’t let others speak up.
6. Problem : Students have difficulty understanding some of the words in the
emails (especially the formal one) and try to look them up or ask the teacher
for explanations.
Solution: Tell the students what at the moment we are not going to focus on
separate words. The focus is on the layout. Tell them that they can look the
words up at home or after the lesson.

MATERIALS  three example emails (formal, semi-formal, informal) cut up

 semi-formal email full text
AND AIDS
 checklist
(see  email template
 checklist for reviewing editing
Appendices
Individual learners’ profile

Name Reasons for

m/ ag Other comments (e.g. behaviour, learning
learning Strengths Weaknesses
f e preferences)
English

1. Rafia Inaccurate in writing. Often Very motivated and hardworking, analytical

To improve Good range of vocabulary for produces “spaghetti writing” learner. Risk taker. Communicative learner who
f 26
employability this level. which is difficult to works best in small groups. Has been asking
understand numerous questions about writing.

2. Mashaal She has a limited range of

Work Doesn’t like writing and is often resistant to
Often has interesting ideas. vocabulary. Her writing is
write. Finished quickly without proofreading her
f 28 (sponsored by Has positive attitude to often grammatically
work. Works better in pairs or small groups then
her company) learning. inaccurate and sometimes
on her own.
difficult to understand.

3. Nasser Doesn’t use cohesive devices

Good at forming
grammatically accurate
Work, likes
m 22 sentences. Organises his
languages
writing well using paragraphs
to separate ideas.
in his writing and therefore
his writing is often more of a
list of sentences. Often uses
expressions translated from
Arabic which makes them
stylistically inappropriate.
Very thoughtful, analytical learner. Needs time
to take in new information but always asks
questions and integrates new structures into his
speech quickly. Likes writing and often helps
others.
4. Nasr Work
Has a problem with
(sponsored by Good range of vocabulary for Needs time to process new information. Likes
grammatical accuracy and
m 26 his this level. Often has good collaborative writing and often asks for a copy of
forming sentences. Doesn’t
company),wants ideas for the content. what we have produced to look at at home.
use paragraphs in his writing.
to study abroad

5. Suzan One of the strongest students in the class.

She likes English Needs to improve accuracy of
Works very well in small groups. Often is the
and hopes to Has a wide range of her written work. Doesn’t
f 27 centre of the group who organizes others.
become a vocabulary and uses it well. use paragraphs. Often her
Prefers collaborative writing because she finds it
translator writing lacks cohesion.
difficult to generate ideas.

6. Hamood Has limited vocabulary. Often Quiet, authority-oriented learner. Needs a lot of
Can express his ideas well on translates directly from encouragement. Works well when paired up
familiar topics. Arabic. Writing is often
m 30 Work with students who have similar learning style.
Has a positive attitude to grammatically inaccurate.
Doesn’t use paragraphs to Needs English for his work where he has to
learning.
organise his ideas. communicate with foreigners.

7. Hussain Has difficulties organising his

ideas and often writes Communicative learner. Very talkative, enjoys
Work
Often has good ideas for the everything in one paragraph. group work. Tends to take over in the group but
(sponsored by
content. Produces Has limited range of at the same time listens to others and helps his
m 25 his company),
grammatically accurate formulaic expressions and teammates. He was the first to ask for more
wants to study
sentences. often “invents” his own writing practice, especially for work and
abroad
which are often style- academic purposes.
inappropriate.
8. Mohammed
Good at producing simple
sentences Has very positive
m Work
attitude to learning and works
sentences directly translated
hard.
Has a problem with spelling.
Doesn’t use paragraphs.
Very risk averse; never participates in open class
Sentences are often not
discussions but listens carefully. Never
connected. Often uses
volunteers but often gives good answers when
called on. Authority-oriented learner.
from Arabic which make no
sense in English.

9. Ahmed Writes in print handwriting

Very good range of
vocabulary. Grammatically
m 26 Work
accurate. Has a range of good
idiomatic expressions.
with no capital letters.
Doesn’t tolerate any vagueness and often asks
Doesn’t organise his writing
irrelevant questions. Needs to be reminded to
into paragraphs. Uses
focus on the task in hand.
conjunctions but often
wrongly.

10. Joseph Uses a lot of old-fashioned, Works very well in pair/group work.
Very good range of formal expressions in Communicative learner, risk taker.
Work, future
m 33 vocabulary. Uses paragraphs informal writing. Sentences As an expat working for an international
study
in his writing. are not connected within company he needs English for work and social
paragraphs. life.

11. Khalfan work Needs to improve his Analytical learner. Quiet in class but works well
He is very good at writing.
(sponsored by grammatical accuracy and in pairs/small groups. Likes to have time to work
m 26 Uses paragraphs and links his
his company) , expand his vocabulary to things out for himself. Has an urgent need to
sentences.
likes languages avoid repetitions improve his writing for work purposes.
12. Ali Limited range of vocabulary.
Good at producing simple
work Doesn’t organise his writing. Good participation. Works well in pairs/small
sentences. Often has good
m 34 (sponsored by Often produces unconnected groups. Analytical learner – needs explicit
ideas when generating
his company) strings of sentences that lack explanations.
content.
cohesion.
Procedure
Inter- Time
Stage and Aim Procedure
action

Lead in
 to activate schemata Ask the students how often they write emails and in what situations. Elicit email of enquiry. Who do they
 to set up context write these to? Why? Give them a checklist – ask them to fill in the first row – purpose of emails 2-3 min
t-ss
 to provide students with a written
record for future reference
Text-Based presentation (reading)
Organisation of an email Give each group of three students, three cut-up emails (formal/informal/semi-formal. Ask them to put
 to provide students with a model them in order.
 to encourage students to use 15 min
scanning and skimming skills
When they’ve finished ask them to name the parts of the email (subject line, greeting/opening, body - ss-ss
 to check students understanding of
paragraphs, closing/sign off). Check with the whole class. Fill in the checklist (layout and examples)
the differences between different
styles
 to promote noticing In further activities we will focus on the semi-formal one.
 to provide students with a context
for meaningful interaction
Selecting appropriate content
 to encourage students to analyse Ask the students what questions the emails answer/pose (what the writer wants to know). Write a few
the example text in terms of questions up on the board (choose the ones that are more general and applicable to different topics, e.g. 10 min
content What is the writer’s name? Why is he writing the email? What does he want to happen next? ) Elicit the
 to focus students on the relevance rest. ss-ss
of the information
 to draw students attention to Discuss the relevance of the information included in the emails. Is there anything extra?
sentence structure used in emails to
ensure that the message is clear?? Draw the students’ attention to the sentences – they are all short and simple, easy to understand.

Task set-up
 to encourage students to think
about appropriate content for a
particular situation
 to check students’ understanding
and provide further clarification
Give the topic of the email. Discuss in what situation it would be relevant (context), who will be the
reader (audience), what information do they need to include (content). Give the students and few
t-ss
minutes to brainstorm and make a list of key points to include in the email. As a whole class discuss and
put them up on the board. 5-10 min
ss-ss
Show a flip chart page with the website of a travel agency, leave for the students to decide on the
content.
Writing practice
 to provide the students with an
opportunity to practise skills leaned Students write the email using their checklists and a template provided. Teacher monitors interactively, ss
previously 10 min
helping individual students/pairs
 to check students’ understanding of
the writing sub skills and their
ability to apply them
Reviewing and editing
When the students finish they read each other emails and review their emails focussing on content and
 to encourage collaborative learning,
organisation of the email. Make it explicit that they are not to focus on grammatical features at this
peer checking and peer teaching
stage. The students need to makes sure that all information necessary is included and that everything
 to practice reviewing and editing ss-ss 10 min
that is not relevant needs is removed.
skills
 to further check students’ Ask the students to look at punctuation, spelling and grammar of their emails. They help each other to
understanding and their ability to correct their emails.
apply writing sub skills
Appendices (Materials)

Email 1 (formal)
Subject: corporate business English courses

Dear Sir/Madam,

My name is Ahmed Al Mamari and I am a training manager in Gulf Recruitment, Ltd. Our company
specialises in international recruitment. I’m writing to enquire about your corporate business English
courses advertised on your website (www.britishcouncil.oman.com).

As a leading recruitment company, we pride ourselves on providing services to people from different
countries with different backgrounds. To do this more effectively, we have decided to provide business
English training for our staff.

The estimated number of employees to attend the course is 64. Their command of English language
differs significantly. Due to the busy schedule of our employees, we would like the classes to take place
on our premises (Qurum Business centre, Al Nahda Road) in the morning (between 7 and 9am) starting
September 2013.

I would greatly appreciate if you could provide me with more detailed information about the courses
and estimated cost at your earliest convenience.

Yours faithfully,

Ahmed Al Mamari

Training Manager
Gulf Recruitment, Ltd.

Email 2 (semi-formal)
Subject: corporate business English courses enquiry

Dear Mr Jones,

My name’s Ahmed Al Mamari. I’m a training manager in Gulf Recruitment Ltd., one of the leading
recruitment companies in Oman. I’m writing to ask about corporate business English courses you
advertise on your website (www.britishcouncil.oman.com).

Our company provides recruitment services to people from all over the world and most of the
communication is in English. That’s why we’ve decided to provide English training for our staff.

There will be 64 people. We would prefer to have classes on our premises (Qurum Business centre, Al
Nahda Road) in the morning (between 7 and 9am) starting September 2013.

Please send me the details and estimated cost of the course. If you need further information, I would be
glad to provide it for you.
I look forward to hearing from you.

Best regards,

Ahmed Al Mamari

Training Manager
Gulf Recruitment, Ltd.

Email 3 (informal)
Subject: a business course for our employees.

Hi Richard,

My name’s Ahmed. I’m a training manager in Gulf Recruitment Ltd, probably the biggest recruitment
company in Oman. I want to ask you about corporate business English courses (I saw your ad on
(www.britishcouncil.oman.com).

We have a lot of international clients. You can see that it’s really important for us that all our employees
speak good English. So we’ve decided to train them. Do you think BC can do it?

We have 64 people, some of them speak very little English . We are all busy here so it would be better
if we could do it in our company’s building (Qurum Business centre, Al Nahda Road). Morning would be
the best time for us (between 7 and 9 am). We want the course to start in September 2013. Hope it’s ok
for you.

Can you send us more info on this and how much it might be?

If you need more details, let me know.

Thanks,

Ahmed
Checklist 1

Example (if any)

Purpose of a
semi-formal
email of enquiry

1. 1.

2. 2.

3. 3.
Organisation of
the email 4. 4.

5. 5.

6. 6.

7. 7.

deciding what to
write
Checklist 2

Reviewing yes/no
Did I introduce myself?
Did I state the purpose of the email?
Did I provide all details necessary?
Did I answer all the questions?
Did I say what I would like to happen next?
Did I use an appropriate sign off?
Did I write my full name?
Is my email easy to read and understand?
Editing Did I use correct punctuation:
 capital letters,
 commas ,
 full stops?
Did I spell words correctly?
Are my sentences correct?
Flip chart page