Formal letters

During the coming weeks, you will be writing a formal letter.

A formal letter sounds quite fancy; and in fact, it is. To write and talk English is not always about using slang, abbreviated words, or acronyms. You cannot write to the Queen of England and start your letter with “Yo McQueenie, Vicdawwg here”. Since you are moving up through the English courses, we need to practice and work with writing and talking formal English. Therefore, for the coming weeks, we will work with formal letters of different kinds. Formal letters could be quite short as well as go on for several pages. However, this time, I want you to write a letter containing 350 words (+- 10%). There will also be a small number of rules you have to follow when writing (they are listed below). Also, you will find a long list of varied topics, and you HAVE to choose one of them:

-        -  Write a letter to Hogwarts (Harry Potter) and complain that you invitational letter has to be lost in the mail and request a new one.

-        -  Write a letter to Elrond (Lord of the Rings) and demand entry to the “Fellowship of the Ring” and list the abilities and positives you will bring to the group.

-        -  Write a letter to “-A” (Pretty little Liars) and question why you have not be targeted by him/her.

-        -  Write a letter to President Snow (The Hunger Games) explaining why, even though you were drafted, cannot compete in the Hunger Games (and may the Odds be ever in your favour)

-        -  Write a letter to Darth Plagueis the Wise (Star Wars) and request to switch sides from Jedi to Sith, list up the dark deeds you have done in your life.

-        -  Write an angry letter to Scar (The Lion King), roleplaying as Simba, and list how upset you are over hearing that he cannot rule the Lionland.

-        -  Write a letter to the characters in “Friends”/”How I met your mother” nagging about how loud they are at the café/bar.

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As stated earlier, you HAVE to choose one of the following topics to write about. When writing, you have to follow these rules as well:

-         - No contractions. With this I mean; instead of writing “I’m, He’s, She’s, I’ll” you need to write “I am, He is, She is, I will”. Contractions are seen as being quite informal!

-         - Try to use as many “linking words” as you can. You will receive a list a several linking words. However, do not overuse them. Linking words will help you structure the text as well as adding to the formality.

-         - This part is two folded. First, try to vary your language, do not use the same word over and over and over and over and over. Second, try to use more “fancy-pantsy” words, can be quite hard to do. What you can do is to use synonyms for words (just make sure that it still makes sense).

Läroplanskopplingar

Centralt innehåll

• Teman, motiv, form och innehåll i film och skönlitteratur; författarskap och litterära epoker.
• Levnadsvillkor, attityder, värderingar, traditioner, samhällsfrågor samt kulturella, historiska, politiska och sociala förhållanden i olika sammanhang och delar av världen där engelska används.
• Samtida och äldre skönlitteratur, dikter, dramatik och sånger.
• Texter av olika slag och med olika syften, till exempel formella brev, populärvetenskapliga texter och recensioner.
• Hur struktur och sammanhang byggs upp samt hur attityder, perspektiv och stilnivå kommer till uttryck i talat och skrivet språk i olika genrer.
• Muntlig och skriftlig produktion och interaktion i olika situationer och med olika syften, där eleverna argumenterar, rapporterar, ansöker, resonerar, sammanfattar, kommenterar, värderar och motiverar sina åsikter.
• Bearbetning av språk och struktur i egna och andras muntliga och skriftliga framställningar, även i formella sammanhang. Anpassning till genre, situation och syfte.