This lesson you will be looking at the key language and discourse features of both personal and formal letters.
Task One:
Read the example of the personal letter which is taken from an exam response for Section B. Download the letters and using the comments tool, aim to comment on as many features as you can about the linguistic and structural choices the writer made. If you would like to have some prompts, use the next link. When you have finished, check your points against the explanations.
Personal Letter
Personal Letter with prompts
Personal Letter with explanations
When you have done this, look at how the student's commentary matches the structural and linguistic devices used and also links to meaning.
Task Two:
Read the letter from Kurt Vonnegut (author of Slaughterhouse 5). Comment on how the language and structure is used to reflect the letter genre.
Kurt Vonnegut Letter
Task Three:
This a very quick task. You might be asked to write a formal letter. Using the Framework below, complete the table to make a note of some of the key language features you would or would not find.
Formal Letter Framework Analysis
This link might give you some prompts: Writing a letter of complaint
Task Four: Text Adaptation Task Planning for next week
•Imagine
that you are Petra and you decide to tell your family about Juan. Write the
letter home where you explain the details of your life and relationship with
Juan.
•Write
your
letter, deciding to which member of your family it is addressed.
•You
should
adapt the source material, using your own words as far as possible, without using direct quotations from the original text.
•Your
letter
should be approximately 300 – 400 words in length.
Focus on these three areas of the
text:
Page 214 - 216 “This episode
began…to…I’ll be fine now”
Page 218 -219 “Back to bed…to…I
knew it was so”
Page 223 – 224 “ In the town…to
the end”
•Plan
the key content points you could include.
•Make
a note of the key linguistic and stylistic features you will need to use to
ensure you match the genre, audience and purpose of the text.
You will be given 1 hour next Friday to write a full response to the task and to write a commentary. You may bring your notes and your planning to use.
Extension Task:
What attitudes to gender and
masculinity are presented in the text? Find examples from the text to support
your ideas from 213 – 216.
Focus on:
•the
narrator’s thoughts
•the
reference to Manolo
•the
character of Juan
•the
response of the police
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