The first thing students need to be able to do is to identify the two kinds of language. One nice game for this is giving each student one card with “Formal” on it and another with “Informal” on it. They listen to phrases the teacher reads out like “Wassup?” and “I hope th...
Once students have discussed differences between the two styles, introduce the topic of differences in email and letter writing in English by giving them the first worksheet asking students to discuss differences between formal and informal phrases used in correspondence. Discuss worksheet as a class t...
Because I wanted to formally assess my new students’ writing skills, I didn’t give them much direction beyond “please don’t answer these questions like you would a worksheet.” This gave me a chance to see if they could separate ideas into paragraphs. I also wanted to make the point ...