Gujarat Research Society’s

JASUDBEN M.L.SCHOOL, KHAR

ENGLISH LANGUAGE : GUIDELINES FOR ALL TEACHERS

(27TH SEPTEMBER, 2010)

In order to bring about clarity and uniformity in the language paper from Std. IV to Std. X,
the following guidelines are being provided:

THE LETTER FORMAT:

The marking for the letter will be out of 10 marks, instead of 15 for all classes. The
distribution of marks is being attached to this note.

Sender’s address

• Four lines
• No numbers – only name of the building
• No contractions
• The city is important, but not the East / West.
• Hyphen and the pin code compulsory
• ‘th’ on the line

Receiver’s address (Formal)

• Designation
• Organisation / Company
• Area
• City - pincode
• A line must be left between the receiver’s address and the salutation.

Salutation – close to the margin ( aligned to the receiver’s address) – Dear Mother /
Father / Grandmother / Grandfather/ siblings and cousins to be addressed by name.
Uncle / Uncle Fred / Aunt / Aunt Polly / no Indian terms to be used.

The receiver’s address and the salutation must be aligned.

Three paragraphs – alignment compulsory – introductory paragraph to begin below the

comma after the salutation.

Introduction – 2-3 sentences reflecting the topic – give few options for opening lines –
encourage them to come out with their own creative lines.

Body – 5 points from different perspectives – where, when, what……

Give precise information in short sentences.

Conclusion – 2-3 sentences - mention topic once again but framing it differently – do not
use terms like ‘in conclusion’ – ‘thus’, ‘in the end’……

Subscription / Leave taking

Friendly letter – Yours lovingly, / Yours affectionately,

Formal letter – Yours truly, / Yours faithfully,

Tone – The tone in the informal letter can be chatty.

The formal letter needs to be crisp, neutral, fact or information oriented.
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ESSAY

Points to be kept in mind

Creativity
• We need to trigger off their creativity
• let them be given conventional topic
• ask them to go off on a tangent
• make it as incredible as possible
• encourage a twist in the essay
• dramatic beginning and end ( teachers to help them by giving examples)
• help to set the tone of the essay
• NO DREAM SEQUENCES!

Eg: War – conventional topic – but they can write about the war between the heart and
the head or RBC vs WBC….
Eg: Dogs can fly
Rusty – an incredible love story

Structure

• First 5 minutes must be given to think

• make a Mind-map / Essay plan
• 5 paragraphs – can be more but not less - paragraphs must not exceed 9 -10
sentences
• the sentences must be short
• alignment must be maintained – opening indentation must be closer to the middle
of the page
• train them to locate central ideas of each paragraph from their text books. This
would help them to understand how paragraphs are formed.
• do not leave lines between paragraphs –
• In an Argumentative essay child must take a stand in the first paragraph.

Enhancement / embellishment / ornamentation:

Encourage them to use Quotes but they must be authentic / not made on the spot by
themselves / must quote correctly – use idioms, similes, metaphors, etc……

Analytical or dramatic conclusion

The child must not make the ending obvious. It should end naturally or with a cliff-hanger.
A sudden twist always helps to make the essay come alive.