Aptis Writing Lesson

Creating Opportunity Worldwide Pro-ELT Teacher Training Materials

Aptis Preparation: Writing Emails PART A Put the following texts in order: (you can check your answers on the next page. Don’t look yet!) 1. Formal Email I was very disappointed to hear that our staff outing has been cancelled. It is very unfortunate that Mr. Smith is unavailable. I wonder if there is any way to still have the trip. Would it be possible to find another organiser? Perhaps you could make a general announcement calling for volunteers. I would even be happy to take on the responsibility myself. Best regards, Miss Simone De Beauvoir Dear Management, Please let me know if I can assist in any way as I would very much like the outing to go ahead. I know that everyone was very keen to visit the Cameron Highlands next week and I am sure that this will be a blow to staff morale. I am particularly unhappy with the cancellation because it is so rare I get the opportunity to socialise with my colleagues.

2. Informal Email Simone I dare say you’ve seen the news about our trip. It’s been cancelled. What a shame! I think the management should try to find another organiser a.s.a.p. I don’t suppose you’d volunteer, would you? Dear Jean-Paul, See you,

Contributed by: Justin Miller © The British Council, 2014 The British Council is the United Kingdom's international organisation for cultural relations and education opportunities. British Council Malaysia is a branch (995232-A) of the British Council, registered as a charity in England and Wales (209131) and Scotland (SC037733)


Model Texts Example Aptis Part 4 Question: You see the following message in your weekly memo at work: Dear Employees, Due to unforeseen events, the organiser for next week’s proposed trip to the tea plantation in the Cameron Highlands, Mr. Smith, has had to take leave. As a result the event has been cancelled. We are sorry for any inconvenience. The Management Formal Email Write a response to the management saying how you feel and suggesting alternatives. Aim for 150 words

Dear Management, I was very disappointed to hear that our staff outing has been cancelled. It is very unfortunate that Mr. Smith is unavailable. I know that everyone was very keen to visit the Cameron Highlands next week and I am sure that this will be a blow to staff morale. I am particularly unhappy with the cancellation because it is so rare I get the opportunity to socialise with my colleagues. I wonder if there is any way to still have the trip. Would it be possible to find another organiser? Perhaps you could make a general announcement calling for volunteers. I would even be happy to take on the responsibility myself. Please let me know if I can assist in any way as I would very much like the outing to go ahead. Best regards, Miss Simone De Beauvoir 140 words


Creating Opportunity Worldwide Pro-ELT Teacher Training Materials Informal Email Write a response of about 50 words to your friend saying how you feel and suggesting alternatives. Hello Jean-Paul, I dare say you’ve seen the news about our trip. It’s been cancelled. What a shame! I think the management should try to find another organiser a.s.a.p. I don’t suppose you’d volunteer, would you? Let me know if you’re interested. See you, Simone 45 words


Creating Opportunity Worldwide Pro-ELT Teacher Training Materials PART B Vocabularly B1. Find words in the formal email text that have similar meanings to the following: 1. 2. 3. 4. 5. 6. 7.

Not happy Enthusiastic Trip Fellow employees Unusual Help Unlucky

B2. What does the lexical chunk ‘a blow to staff morale’ mean? B3. Find the two words in the formal email that use the root ‘cancel’. Write these words down and say what part of speech each one is (e.g. preposition, adjective, etc.). PART C Look back at the email texts. The formal email has seven parts and the informal one has four parts. Can you give a name for each of these parts? Type them in the text boxes below in bold. The first one is done as an example Formal Email Opening Salutation


Creating Opportunity Worldwide Pro-ELT Teacher Training Materials Informal Email

Signature

PART D Useful Phrases Look at the two emails and see if you can find any useful phrases that will help you in the future. Type them into the appropriate text box from Part C. E.g. What a shame! – from the informal email. Now look at any other models you have for writing emails and see if you can find more useful phrases. You probably have a few model texts from your teacher. PART E Production First, you might like to remind yourself of the information in the ‘common errors’ PowerPoint, then, go to http://proelt.byethost7.com/ and choose one of the questions from there and write your own emails. Follow the instructions and post your answer online. There is no time limit but when you start reading the question you should start timing yourself to see how long you take.



ANSWERS PART B Vocabularly B1. Find words in the formal email text that have similar meanings to the following: 8. 9. 10. 11. 12. 13. 14.

Not happy disappointed, unhappy Enthusiastic keen Trip outing Fellow employees colleagues Unusual rare Help assist Unlucky unfortunate

B2. What does the lexical chunk ‘ a blow to staff morale’ mean? It is something that will make the staff feel unhappy and dissatisfied B3. Find the two words in the formal email that use the root ‘cancel’. Write these words down and say what part of speech each one is (e.g. preposition, adjective, etc.). ‘cancelled’ (verb); ‘cancellation’ (noun) PART C Look back at the email texts. The formal email has seven parts and the informal one has four parts. Can you give a name for each of these parts? Type them in the text boxes below in bold. The first one is done as an example Formal Email Opening Salutation

Reason for writing (or introduce topic or set context) Your feelings about the message

Suggesting an alternative

Closing line Final closing salutation Contributed by: Justin Miller © The British Council, 2014 The British Council is the United Kingdom's international organisation for cultural relations and education opportunities. British Council Malaysia is a branch (995232-A) of the British Council, registered as a charity in England and Wales (209131) and Scotland (SC037733)


Signature (full name and title)

Informal Email Opening salutation

Stating how you feel and suggesting an alternative

Closing salutation

Signature


Aptis Writing Lesson

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