英语写作 Personal Letter

Lecture 6

1.

Teaching task

: Personal Letter writing

2.

Teaching target and object:

(1) Enable the students to know the differences between notes and letters

(3) Enable the students to write different kinds of personal letters mainly letters of invitation

and

reply;

letters

of

thanks;

letters

of

congratulations;

letters

of

apologies

and

explanations; letters of condolence and sympathy.

(4)

Enable students to know the correct format , content and the language used in personal

letters

3.

Teaching focus

:

(1)

The differences between notes and personal letters

(2)

How to write a letter of invitation and reply

(3)

How to write a letter of thanks

(4)

How to write a letter of apologies and explanation

(5)

How to write a letter of condolence and sympathy

4.

Teaching method

: free writing--

–

commentary --

–

discussion---guided writing---commentary

–

-comparison with the samples---summery

5.

Teaching procedures:

(1)

Greeting

(2)

Let students know the teaching tasks, target and teaching focus..

(4)

The

idioms

of

the

day:

look

forward;

getting

to

know;

make

it;

at

your

disposal;

drop by; in the neighborhood

(3)

Explain the idioms of the day and ask the students to use them in their own sentences.

Look forward

:

expect : e.g. I am looking forward to your reply.

Getting to know

: starting to know: e.g. We are getting to know each other.

Make

it

:

to

come

:

e.g.

I

am

sorry

but

Joe

and

I

won

’

t

be

able

to

make

it

to

your

barbeque this weekend.

Thank you for the invitation and I hope we

’

ll be able to

make

it

for the next gathering.

At your disposal:

be available (formal but a good idiom): e.g. If there is anything at all

that I can do to help, please don

’

t hesitate to give me a call. I am

at your disposal

.

Drop by

: visit but not according to an appointment: e.g. Yesterday I

dropped by

to see

a friend .

In

the

neighborhood:

e.g.

Sometimes

we

can

meet

our

acquaintances

in

our

neighborhood.

(4) The quotation of the day:

“

The man who has made up his

mind to win will never say

“impossible”

. ( Napoleon Bonaparte)

(5) Discuss with the class the personal letters

Do you often write letters?

For what purposes do you often write letters?

Do

you

often

write

letters

to

promote

friendship?

(say,

to

invite

someone;

to

thank

someone;

to

congratulate

someone;

to

make

apologies

and

explanation;

to

express

condolence and sympathy)

1

(6)

Ask the students to write a personal letter of about 70-80 words to anyone they want to in any

way think appropriate. within 10 minutes.

(7)

Broadcast

two

or

three

students

’

personal

letters

to

the

class

so

that

we

can

make

detailed

comments.

( 8) Show the students a sample letter of thanks:

The Metallurgy Dept.

University of Liverpool

Liverpool LR5 6 KI

England

15 November, 2004

Dear Mr. Rallinen,

I

must

write

and

thank

you

for

your

kindness

to

you

on

my

visit

to

the

Tampella

factory

earlier

this

month.

I

am

very

grateful

for

the

time

you

spent

answering

my

questions,

and

the

trouble

you

went

to,

to

make

my

stay

in

Tampella

as

interesting

as

possible. I can assure you those two days were the highlight of my trip to Finland.

Yours very sincerely,

George R. Finlay

(9) Discuss the format, the semantic elements, the language used in a personal letters:

The format of a personal letter is a bit similar with notes.

Every well- constructed personal letter is made up of five essential parts:

A.

The heading: your address and the date

( where and when)

B.

The salutation: your complimentary greetings

(to whom)

C.

The body : your purpose, information about yourself

(what and why)

D.

The complimentary close: your complimentary good bye

E.

The signature

(who)

So the semantic structure of personal letter should be as follows:

Heading

^salutation

^body

(purpose

and

information)^

complimentary

close

^

signature

Heading:

The heading is the sender

’

s address and the date of writing the letter. It

always goes in the top right-hand corner. Start writing about in the center so that

the longest line reaches your right margin.

Notes:

a.

The order of the address is as follows: number of house, name of street, town

of city, area, country. Never write your name above your address.

b.

Pay special attention to the punctuation of the address. Notice that there is a

comma

after

each

line

and a

full

stop

after

the

last

one.

This

style

is

called

closed punctuation and is favored by many British people. However, modern

practice tends to omit the punctuation at the end of each entry. This style is

called open punctuation and is favored by many American people.

c.

The names of cities should be written out completely except those abbreviated

forms are accepted such as N.Y (New York) N.J.(New Jersey).

d.

The name of the country can be left out of the address when you are writing

2