[Editorial note: in the January issue of HLT , with Oxford University Press's permission, we published Section 3 of Letters, written by Nicky Burbidge, Sheila Levy, Peta Gray and Mario Rinvolucri. In this issue you have the 12 exercises from the last part of the book Letters out from the class.
Normally this slot in HLT is for forthcoming books, not for bits of hoary old ones!
I hope your students enjoy these exercises, though!]
Letters out from the class
This chapter offers you a number of new ways of getting students to write to people beyond the walls of their classroom. Using an international language internationally makes clear and obvious sense: many secondary school teachers have recognized this in setting up pen-pal relationships for their classes. In this kind of letter-writing it is natural for students to really want to get their texts as correct as possible. The teacher suddenly becomes a supportive corrector rather than a partly wanted, judgemental one. In contrast to chapter 3 'Letters across the classroom', where the emphasis is on helping the students to try and say things they can't yet easily say, the activities in this chapter foster a desire for accuracy and correctness.
Native speakers of English are the most obvious people to write to outside the classroom. If you are able to set up correspondences with several native speakers, then your students will receive genuine communications from a variety of people, each of whom writes in a characteristic way. The letters come in response to the things they have said and asked, and are so much more personal than coursebook texts. These correspondences can easily be given a cultural slant, with your students using the native speakers as sources for information on the life and institutions of their country.
However, native speakers are not the only correspondents we suggest in this chapter. Students studying in English-speaking environments usually write plenty of letters home in the mother tongue and also, of course, receive letters from home. Both these types of letter - or parts of them - can be translated and shared with the rest of the class. We have found that this kind of activity is only feasible in groups with plenty of trust, but when it does work, it produces an extraordinary reading climate. For example, Italian students are amazed to find that when Thai or Japanese mothers write to their daughters the voices are not that different from Italian ones. The exchangeof translated letters in the writing class is one of the most moving cultural understanding activities we have witnessed.
Students go sick and are absent from class for long periods, they leave the school, they move abroad, or, if they are studying English abroad, they return home. Each time a student leaves the class, this creates a letter-writing opportunity for the rest and eventually, of course, groups come to an end. Saying goodbye is not always easy, and doing so in writing is a way for both teachers and students to ease themselves out of the group situation, to think back over the work done together, and maybe say things they would not have been able to say face to face. If strong bonds have been forged during a course, teacher and students need ways to gain distance and perspective when the time comes to part company. The group of activities at the end of this chapter are specifically designed for use at the end of a course.
If you have access to the Internet, e-mail will really come into its own in many of the activities in this chapter. The whole correspondence process is speeded up enormously, and e-mail will appeal to those technologically-minded students who might find traditional letter-writing old-fashioned. See the Appendix on page 95.
For use at any time
4.1 Students write to a native speaker
LEVEL: Intermediate and above
TIME:
30-40 minutes in lesson 1
15-20 minutes in lesson 2
SKILLS: All
OUTLINE:
The students write to a native speaker of English you know and receive a reply.
PREPARATION:
Choose an English-speaking friend or relative. Make sure that they would enjoy receiving a batch of letters from your class, and would be willing to send a reply.
PROCEDURE:
Lesson 1
1. Ask a student who is good at drawing to produce a picture of your relative or friend on the board, following your instructions. Describe what the person is like, what they do, and their relationship to you.
2. Tell the students they are going to write a letter to this person and that the letters will be sent. Make it clear that this is not a role-play activity. If necessary, help them with the appropriate formulas for starting and finishing their letters. For example, they will want to address a grandmother differently from a teenager.
3. While the students are writing, make yourself available for help and correction. In this activity, students tend to want plenty of both.
4. When the students have finished their letters, ask them if they are happy for their classmates to read what they have written. If they are, get them to leave their letters on their desks. They can move round, reading each others' letters. Collect and send the letters.
Lesson 2
5. When your friend or relative replies, photocopy their letter and let each student have a copy. Allow time for reading and comments. Alternatively, you could read the letter out to them.
VARIATION:
Mario got his class to write to a nephew and the nephew's girl-friend. Some students wrote to him, some to her, and some to both.
Acknowledgements: This idea came from John Barnett.
4.2 Political letters
LEVEL: Intermediate and above
TIME:
5 minutes in lesson 1 plus homework
40-50 minutes in lesson 2
SKILLS: Writing, reading and motivated rewriting
OUTLINE:
At a time of political watershed, students write letters to the leading people involved.
PREPARATION:
None.
PROCEDURE:
Lesson 1
1. On a day when your students will probably have seen a lot of TV and newspaper coverage of a major political change, ask them, for homework, to write short letters to one or more of the politicians involved. Examples might include a farewell letter to an outgoing leader and a letter of welcome to an incoming one. Tell them that the letters will actually be sent to the addressees.
Lesson 2
2. Group the students in sixes to read each other's letters and to react to their contents. Get the students correcting each other's mistakes and go round helping where you are needed.
3. Tell the students to produce fair copies of their letters.
4. Give the students envelopes so that they can send their letters.
5. If any of the students receive a reply, invite them to share it with the rest of the class.
VARIATION:
Ask the students to write letters to people involved in major events in the world of sport.
Acknowledgements: We learnt this technique from Gerry Kenny who used it at the time of the inauguration of President Clinton and the retire- Ment of President Bush. Gerry writes: 'The discussion thatsurrounded the writing and reading was astonishingly rich. The beauty of the activity came from the moment of the changeover, the feeling that really new things were in the offing.'
4.3 Letters to an author
LEVEL: Intermediate and above
TIME:
5 minutes in lesson 1 plus homework
40-50 minutes in lesson 2
15-30 minut4es in lesson 3
SKILLS: Mainly reading and writing
OUTLINE:
Students read a poem, story, or diary extract and write a letter to the author giving their reactions.
PREPARATION:
1. Choose an English-speaking writer who might like to receive letters from your students. You could choose a published author and contact them through their publisher, but you stand a better chance of receiving a reply if you choose an unknown poet, story-writer or diarist who writes inEnglish. It might be interesting, for example, to ask a teenagewriter, or perhaps an older person who is willing to share their diary from many years ago.
2. Copy a text by the chosen author for the group. Prepare a covering letter to the author explaining that your students have read a text of theirs and written them a letter. Suggest that the students would love to receive a reply!
PROCEDURE:
Lesson 1
1. Give out the text and ask the students to read it for home-work. You could use more than one short text.
Lesson 2
2. Give the students some personal background about the author and ask them to react to the text or texts by writing the author a letter. Make it clear that you will send the letters to the writer, unless, having written theirs, an individual student decides it should not be sent. Be available to help with language problems. Collect the letters and send them off with your covering letter.
Lesson 3
3. If you receive an answer from the author, ask the students to reread the original text. Give them copies of the author's letter and help with any comprehension problems.
VARIATION 1:
Use the material presented and generated in this activity with another group of students. First give the students the author's answer and ask them to guess what sort of text it refers to. Then give them some of the first group's letters and ask them the same question. Finally give them the text itself to read.
VARIATION 2:
Ask the students to write to the author of their English Coursebook.
COMMENTS:
This activity works because an author is an obvious person to talk to about their writing and because many authors are thirsty for reader response, expecially if they are unpublished.
Examples The two letters below were written by lower-intermediate students, one Swiss and one Japanese, in response to a one-page, surrealistic story about a boss.
Dear Gerry,
I am a Swiss girl studying English in M's class at the Cambridge Academy. Today, in class, I read one of your stories, 'You are the boss, boss'. I think thisis a funny story, but a bit strange. I couildn't understand a lot of it, notbecause of the language but because of the meaning. I have the feeling that the story could be continued, continued, continued… I have the feeling of a reallystupid boss. Was that the idea of Boss you wanted to give us with this story? Anyway, I enjoyed it because I like strange things.
Do you often write such strange stories? Is this your hobby? I am looking forward to hear from you. See you.
A.
Gerry Kenny's answer to the students starts:
Dear Friends,
There can be very few unpublished authors who can boast or even dream of receiving the quantities of fanmail I recently received from all of you. Thank you very, very much.
It is not easy to answer all of the questions you ask in your letters, nor do I believe it to be appropriate. People say thata single question can generate a multitude of answers, but the question can also generate many further questions. This is a story for people who like asking questions…
4.4 You don't know me but...
LEVEL: Elementary and above (This activity is best for one-to-one teaching situations or for very small groups.)
TIME:
5 minutes in lesson 1
30 minutes in lesson 2
15 minutes in lesson 3
SKILLS: All, and translation
OUTLINE:
The student translates into English a letter they have recently received from someone they know well. The teacher writes in English to this person in consultation with the student, who then translates the teacher's letter into the language of the original letter.
PREPARATION:
None.
PROCEDURE:
Lesson 1
1 Ask the student to translate into English all or part of a personal letter they have recently received. Make it clear thatthey need not translate anything that they are unwilling to share with you.
Lesson 2
2. Go through the content of the translated letter with your student, encouraging explanation of the background and gettingan idea of the writer.
3. Tell your student that you are now going to write to the person whose letter they have translated for you. You will send the letter only if your student wants it sent. Start writing straight away: 'Dear X, You don't know me, but…' Involve the student as much as you can in the writing.
4. Ask the student to edit your letter for homework and totranslate it into the language spoken by the writer of the originalletter.
Lesson 2
5. Ask the student where they had difficulties in translating your letter and help them sort these out. Send the letter, but only if the student is happy for you to do so.
VARIATION:
1. Ask the student to imagine that their parents or employer have written to you asking for an evaluation of their work on the course.
2. Tell your student you will write your report as a letter, but that they must tell you what they want you to say in it. Make it clear to the student that this letter will not be sent. Keep checking with the student that what you have written really expresses their ideas, but make sure that you use your own words and style.
3. Keep the letter for a week and then ask the student to translate it for homework. Setting the letter aside allows the student to return to it and re-evaluate what they think about their progress.
4.5 Home
LEVEL: Elementary and above (For use with classes in English-speaking countries.)
TIME:
5 minutes in lessons 1 to 4, plus homework after lessons 1and 3
30-45 minutes in lesson 5
SKILLS: All, and translation
OUTLINE:
Students translate parts of letters they have written home or which people at home have written to them. The class read the translations.
PREPARATION:
None.
PROCEDURE:
Lesson 1
1 For homework, ask the students to translate parts of letters they have written to people at home or which people at home have written to them. Explain that they should only choose content they are happy to share with the rest of the class.
Lesson 2
2. Take in the translated texts and correct them before the next class.
Lesson 3
3. Return the corrected texts to their writers and ask them, forhomework, to copy out correct versions.
Lesson 4
4. Collect in the fair copies. Photocopy them for the group.
Lesson 5
5. Give the copies to their owners to share with the rest of the group. The students read the texts and ask the translators about any language or cultural problems.
COMMENTS:
We have found that students read the translated texts with great care. We have also found that the translators are keen to in-corporate the corrections into their fair copies. Who wants their grandfather speaking bad English to the group? The activity works best when there is an atmosphere of mutual trust in the group.
4.6 Translating postcards
LEVEL: Elementary to intermediate (For use with classes in English-speaking countries.)
TIME:
5 minutes in lesson 1 plus homework
20-40 minutes in lesson 2
SKILLS:
All, and translation
OUTLINE:
Students write postcards in their own language to people back home. They produce literal translations of the texts and idiomatic ones.
PREPARATION:
None.
PROCEDURE:
Lesson 1
1. Ask the students to think of four people at home they have not contacted since coming abroad, but who they wouldlike to contact. Then ask them, for homework, to choose a postcard for each of these people and to write full messages to them in their mother tongue. Tell them that after the next lesson the cards can be sent to their addresses. Ask the students to bring the cards, and bilingual dictionaries, to the next lesson.
Lesson 2
2. Ask the students to choose the most interesting message of the four and to make a literal translation of it into English, keeping the word order of the mother-tongue version. They should choose a text they do not mind sharing with the rest of the class.
3.Ask them to make an idiomatic translation of the same text as well. Be available to help them produce authentic 'postcard English'.
4. Ask the students, in turn, to read out both their literal and their idiomatic translations. They pick out instances ofwhere the two differ greatly, or where they are very similar. They also pick out expressions in English that they like. Askthe students to tell the group a bit about the people they havewritten to.
5. The original postcards are posted.
COMMENTS:
This is a powerful language-awareness activity for a low-level international class. In particular, it helps the speakers of Indo-European languages to realize the contrastive difficulties faced by speakers of other language groups when learning English.
4.7 Unsent letters
LEVEL: Intermediate and above
TIME:
30-50 minutes
SKILLS: Reading and writing
OUTLINE:
Students write to people they would not normally write to, or letters they would enjoy writing but would probably not actually send.
PREPARATION:
None.
PROCEDURE:
Lesson 1
1. Tell the students that they are going to write to someone that they would never send a letter to. Give them some of the ideas below, and invite them to add their own suggestions.
Write a letter:
- to someone who bugs you
- to someone you have hurt or offended
- to an ex-boyfriend, ex-girlfriend, or ex-friend
- to an unborn child
- to an examiner
- to a burglar who has 'done' your house
- to a person who helped you without knowing it
- to the present owner of the house you used to live in
- to a famous historical figure
2. Ask them to choose an idea and to write their letters.
3. When people finish writing, ask them to share their letters with other students, if they are willing to do so.
Here are a couple of sample letters.
Dear Thieves/Burglars
First of all thank you for not having woken me up last night when you came; I'd had such a bad week that I really needed to sleep.
Thank you, too, for having taken all the knick-knacks lying on the sideboard:we couldn't find a way of getting rid of them! (Next time could you take the ones of my mother-in-law in the hall!)
What about the money…its true we have always more than we need.
And, after all, you couldn't steal as much as our government do:
I was very sad to see you have drunk the bad wine I had reserve for myfamily-in-law; why didn't you drink one of my delicious Bourgognes from mycellar?
Please could you be kind enough to check the list of stolen property I've enclosed? My insurance is so expensive that I don't want to miss this opportunity of making them pay up.
Looking forward to hearing from you.
V.
My dearest Niece,
I am very pleased to see you. I have been looking forward to seeing you for a long time
And at last we could meet each other.
When I saw you in hospital I couldn't say anything. You were sleeping with your fists tight...and your hands were so little…
COMMENTS:
Your role in the writing class:
- You can write your own unsent letter and so be unavailable for correction. For some students this will feel like a threat removed, and, for others, help denied.
- You can tell the students you are available to give help and correction as and when they ask for it.
- You can use teacher prerogative and go round behind students to correct over their shoulders.
- You can retire to a quiet place in the room and simply observe people at work writing.
4.8 Phrasal verb chain letter
LEVEL: Intermediate to advanced (For use in pre-exam periods.)
TIME:
40-50 minutes in lesson 1 plus homework
20-30 minutes in lesson 2
SKILLS: All
OUTLINE:
The students read a chain letter and react to it. They then start a chain letter to teach phrasal verbs to other students in the school.
PREPARATION:
Make one copy of Worksheet 4.8A (chain letter) and one Copy of Worksheet 4.8B (student letter) for each student.
PROCEDURE:
Lesson 1
1. Ask the students to imagine that this morning they received two letters. The first one they opened was a letter they had been waiting for and were happy to receive. Ask them to describe briefly to their neighbour who it was from and what it was about.
2. Tell them that they did not recognize the handwriting on the envelope of the second letter. They opened it. It was not signed. Hand out the chain letter.
3. Ask the students for their reactions.
4. Ask the students to work in groups of four and to discuss whether they have ever received a chain letter, what sort it was, and what they did about it. Ask them what they would do if they received a letter like this one, and why they think anyone would start such a chain?
5. Hand out the student letter and ask them to read it. Tell them that for homework they are to each write a similar letter which will be sent to three students from other classes in the school. Ask them to write up on the board the names of the three school-mates they intend to write to so that you do not get a situation where many of your students are writing to the same people. Ask them to bring their chain letters to the next class.
Lesson 2
6 Check the students' letters and get them to correct any mistakes. Ask them to make fair copies of the letters and then collect these in.
7. Photocopy the letters and send them to their addressees.
COMMENTS:
Our intention in this unit is to lead the student from the nasti-ness of the anonymous chain letter to the constructive, and humorous, use of the same mechanism to teach English.
Worksheet 4.8A
With love all things are possible. This paper has been sent to you for luck. The original is in New England. It has been round the world nine times. The luck has now been sent to you. You will have good luck within four days of receiving this letter provided you in turn send it on. This is no joke. You will receive good luck in the mail. SEND NO MONEY. Send copies to people you think need good luck. Do not send money as fate has no price. Do not keep this letter. It must leave your hands in 96 hours.
An RAF officer received $470,000. Jos Elliot received $40,000 and lost it because he broke the chain. While in the Philippines, Gene Laloin lost his wife 6 days after receiving the letter. He had failed to circulate the letter, however, before her death he received $7,755,00. Please send copies and see what happens and see what happens in four days.
The chain came from Venezuela and was written by St Anthony de Group, a missionary from South America, said the copies must tour the world. You must take 20 copies and send them to friends and associates. After a few days you will get a surprise. This is true even if you are not superstitious.
Do note the following, Constantine Dics received the chain in 1983. He asked his secretary to make 20 copies and sent them out. A few days later he won a lottery of $20,000,000. Carlos Daddit, an office employee, received a letter and forgot it was to leave his hands in 96 hours. He lost his job. Later, after finding the letter, he mailed 20 copies, a few days later he got a better job. Dolan Fairchild received the letter. Not believing, he threw it away. Nine days later he died. In 1987, the letter received by a woman in California was faded and barely readable. She promised herself that she would retype the letter and send it out but put it aside to do later. She was plagued with various problems, including expensive car repairs. The letter did not leave her hands in 96 hours. She finally retyped the letter as promised and got a new car.
Remember - send no money!!!
Do not ignore this.
St Jude - it works.
WORKSHEET 4.8 B
Dear
With love all things are possible. It is even possible to learn such things as phrasal verbs! Do not break the chain!
Try these:
1 . TO PUT THROUGH: a person on the other end of the telephone line will give you the person you want to speak to, e.g. 'She put me through to the manager.'
2. TO PUT SOMETHING OFF is to postpone or delay something, e.g. 'She put off my appointment till next Friday.'
3. TO MAKE UP is to imagine or invent something which is not true, e.g. 'She made up a story.'
Your task now is to choose three more phrasal verbs and prepare explanations for them. Write the verbs and their explanations into a letter EXACTLY LIKE THIS ONE and send the letter to three other people in our school.
Be careful: do not break the chain.
Send the letter out in the next 24 hours, otherwise you will not do well in your exams.
Think about your success in the exams: DO NOT IGNORE THIS!
4.9 Remember us?
LEVEL: Intermediate and above
TIME:
30 minutes
SKILLS: Writing
OUTLINE:
Students write letters to a person who has left the class.
PREPARATION:
None.
PROCEDURE:
If a member of the class is absent for some time, or leaves before the end of the course, ask the other students in the class each to write a letter to him or her. Collect in the lettersand send them.
When your friend or relative replies, photocopy their letter and let each student have a copy. Allow time for reading and comments. Alternatively, you could read the letter out to them.
COMMENTS:
1. Whenever we have tried this, we have found that the letter writing seemed to meet a need in the students left behind. In most cases, two or three weeks passed and the student replied to his or her ex-classmates - see the example letter.
2. Some teachers working in language schools regard short-stay students who join and then leave a course as a nuisance. Using techniques like the one described above, we have found that these students offer their peers plenty of communicative opportunities.
Example
This writer was responding to 12 letters from her former classmates. Her letter was seven pages long. It started like this:
Dear Everybody,
Don't you remember this expression? When I write it I have in mind our class, Mario giving us his letters to everybody. But it might be different for you because you are still there with him. Lucky you!
Did you want to kill me? I broke in tears reading your letters, your are lovely. Actually you are too lovely for my sensitive heart.
At first, please let me apologize for my last Friday in England. I didn't forget what you had told me about the pub but it was impossible…
For use at the end of the course.
4.10 Students' home addresses
LEVEL: All (For use with classes in English-speaking countries.)
TIME:
5-10 minutes in lesson 1
20-40 minutes in lesson 2
SKILLS: Speaking and listening
OUTLINE:
Students tell each other everything they know about their first name (s), family name (s), and home addresses.
PREPARATION:
For lesson 2, make one copy of the address list for each student.
PROCEDURE:
Lesson 1
1. Near the end of the course, ask your class to prepare an address list, including fax and phone numbers.
Lesson 2
2. In the last lesson, give each student a copy of the address list. Ask each student in turn to tell the group all they can about their first name (s), family name (s), and address. You need to get the process going by asking the first person a few questions like these:
- Who chose your first name?
- Does it mean something in your language?
- Does your family name have a meaning in your language?
- Do any of the words in your address refer to the history or geography of your country?
- Do any of the words in your address have a meaning? (Think of a Swiss address like Steinweg 4, Unter dem Berg, Eichdorf. It is interesting for non-German speakers in the class to discover. That the address means 4 Stoneway, Below the Mountain, OakVillage.
- How do postal codes work in your country?
- Which digits in your phone number are the country and regional codes?
In short, ask questions that uncover all the postal, administrative, historical, semantic, and poetic information buried in international addresses.
COMMENTS:
Exchanging information about their home addresses is a gentle way for students to prepare to say goodbye to each other. But although the activity offers a gentle context, it may trigger strong emotions.
VARIATION:
Do the activity outlined above on the second day of a short course to help students get to know each other better. There is a peculiar power in doing 'goodbye' activities at the start of a short course.
Acknowledgements: This activity was triggered by a conversation with John Morgan.
4.11 Homeward bound
LEVEL: Elementary and above (For use with classes in English-speaking countries.)
TIME:
20-40 minutes
SKILLS: Writing, listening, and reading
OUTLINE:
At the end of their course, the students write to the group from a time-point one month ahead. The teacher sends these letters to their home addresses to reach them in a month's time.
PREPARATION:
None.
PROCEDURE:
1. Ask each student to write down their home address and phone number.
2. Ask them to close their eyes and imagine approaching the place where they live. Ask them to imagine the light, the colours, and the shapes of things. Can they hear the typical sounds of the area and smell the typical smells? Ask them to notice if it is hot or cold, damp or dry.
Ask them to move into the house and notice the familiar sights, smells, sounds, and feelings. They notice the presence of the people in the house, how they greet them and what the feelings are.
Ask the students to prepare to come back into the room and then to open their eyes.
3. Write up a date one month from now on the board. Dictate this, or a similar, letter opening:
Dear Group in Room...,
A month has passed since the end of our course together. I can't believe that just four weeks ago we were all together in Room...
4. Ask the students to continue this letter to the group written from a time-point one month from now. Suggest that they maywant to give the group news of 'what they have been doing' over the month.
5. Ask the students to leave their letters on the desks and then to go round reading each other's.
6. Collect in the letters and addresses and explain that you will send each student their letter to their home address, to reach them in a month's time.
4.12 Post-course letter
LEVEL: Elementary and above
TIME:
As long as you want to take.
SKILLS: Reading
OUTLINE:
You write a 'Dear Everybody' letter to your students after the end of the course as a final farewell.
PREPARATION:
None.
PROCEDURE:
1. A couple of days after the end of the course, write yourstudents a 'Dear Everybody' letter recalling strikingmoments from the time spent together.
2. Photocopy your letter and send it by post to each student, or if you and your students have the facilities, fax or e-mail it.
COMMENTS:
With some classes it can be a real wrench saying goodbye at the end of a long course. There is a different sort of wrench to ending a short, intensive course on which people have gotto know each other very fast and quite deeply. Writing a post-course letter allows you to distance yourself from the students and so to help them to distance themselves from you. Student response to such letters is usually extremely warm.
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