SHS1 English Language · Semester 2 Week 11: Text Types and Purposes

Lesson notes

Learning Objectives

Indicator: 1.4.2.LI.1 - Compose an informal letter to a friend.

By the end of the lesson, learners can:

Identify and label the key parts of an informal letter (sender’s address, date, salutation, body, closing, and signature) with at least 80% accuracy.
Explain the differences between informal and formal letters, giving at least two reasons why a personal letter is written differently from an official one.
Compose a complete informal letter to a friend that includes all the required parts, uses a friendly and conversational tone, and addresses a given topic meaningfully.
Revise and edit their own letters for unity, coherence, and correct grammar, checking that each paragraph develops a single idea.
Peer-evaluate a partner’s letter using a simple checklist, offering constructive feedback on content, organisation, and tone.

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Curriculum details

Strand: Writing (Strand 4)
Sub-strand: Text Types and Purposes (4.2)
Content standard: 1.4.2.CS.2 - Apply writing skills to specific life situations. 1.4.2.LO.1 Utilize a process-oriented approach to craft descriptive, creative, informative and persuasive written compositions. 1.4.2.LO.2 Create email, memorandum, program agenda, application (job, services, etc.) acceptance letter and articles based on provided subjects using suitable formatting.
Indicator: 1.4.2.LI.1 - Compose an informal letter to a friend.
Suggested placement: Semester 2, Week 11 (Week 31 of the year)
Our suggestion, laid out in curriculum order across three terms of twelve weeks. NaCCA does not fix the week, so follow your school's scheme of learning.
Source document note: The official curriculum document has a fault in this entry, so the curriculum text above is transcribed exactly as printed:

indicator text - p.81: the code 1.4.2.LI.1 names 2 different indicators in this year. This document restarts learning-indicator numbering at LI.1 under every content standard, so a code identifies an indicator only together with its content standard - here 1.4.2.CS.2
Curriculum reference: NaCCA curriculum document, p. 81

Exemplars (from the NaCCA curriculum)

Group Work/Collaborative Learning:
- In mixed ability groups, learners examine sample essays (sample essays and passages from books, journals and the internet) to identify their features.
- Learners, in their groups, plan and develop non-linear narrative essays focusing on the elements of unity, coherence and paragraph completeness with appropriate transitional expressions.
- In the same or different mixed ability groups, learners compose essays in which events are not presented sequentially but rather mixed so that events are linked through flashbacks and other literary techniques such as suspense and foreshadowing to develop the plot of the narrative.
- In writing the story, learners may use first person, second person and third person (third-person omniscient or limited perspective) to represent the voice of the person telling the story (narrator). Revise and edit the writing for sense or meaning, and effect (emotional reaction). Proofread to self-correct or peer-edit. Publish or present in various media including ICT and on the various notice boards on the school's premises. Learners refer to books and the internet for examples of cohesive devices such as Time clauses, Conditional clauses, Purpose clauses, Reason clauses, Result clauses, Clauses of Concessive, etc. This search on the Internet will enhance their technology skills.
- Learners work collaboratively and employ appealing strategies to compose their concluding paragraphs. e.g. restating, by paraphrasing, the central idea of the entire essay and supporting ideas.
- Learners peer evaluate what they have written.
- Working in groups, learners acquire the value of contributing to a common goal.
- The following skills are also acquired: communication and collaboration, critical thinking and problem solving, innovation and creativity and Leadership and collaboration.
Teaching and Learning Resources:
- Sample essays and passages from books
- Journals and the Internet.
Assessment (1.4.2.AS.1). The document marks these depth-of-knowledge levels for this indicator: Level 2 Skills of conceptual understanding; Level 4 Extended critical thinking and reasoning.