Feedback: Formal letters -reference

• Engels
• Middelbare school
• vwo
• Leerjaar 3

Writing Assessment... UNIT ONE

The Formal Letter/Email

How did you do?

How could you do better next time?

How to write a character reference: Would  your friend make a good holiday rep? 

Top Tip:

Always make a plan before writing, this is important for the organisation of points. 

It might seem time consuming but it can save time as it stops you running out of ideas halfway through writing.

Did you.....?

Start with a formal opening convention:

If you did not know the name of the person were writing to, then you should have used:

Dear Sir or Madam,

To whom it may concern,

If you used the name of the person you wrote to, then did you use

Dear Mr. Skywalker, (or Mr Skywalker,)

Dear Mrs. Corrigan,(or Mrs Corrigan)

?

Did you organise your paragraphs?

1. How long have you known your friend for?
2. Mention his previous experience relevant to the job.
3. Mention his good points, use descriptive adjectives to describe his character: 
4. include other information RELEVANT to his application

What sort of things might a holiday rep have to do?

• Promote excursions/ 
• act as a guide .
• Translate.
• Deal with difficult customers.
• meet people at the airport

Skills

• First aid
• Good at languages (speaks another language)
• Good communication skills
• Local knowledge
• Good organisational skills

Personal qualities

• Tact
• patience
• energy
• a sense of humour
• conscientious

Layout (organisation)

As a general rule, your first paragraph could be used as an introduction. 

Add as many paragraphs as content points you have to deal with. 

In the final paragraph, you should express what you expect to be done as a result of your letter.

Use 'Topic Sentences'

Example: One of the most important jobs that XXXXX has had so far, is as a local tourist guide in our local town. In this job he clearly showed that he understood the importance of dealing with visitors to our area. 

Did you use concluding sentences?

In my opinion XXXX  would make an excellent holiday representative for your company.

I have no hesitation in recommending XXXXX to Travel International.

I highly recommend XXXX  as a travel representative for Travel International.

Did you use the correct closing conventions?

Yours faithfully - If you started your letter with- Dear Sir or Madam / To whom it may concern.

Yours sincerely - If you know the name of the person you are writing to.

Yours truly - can be used in both situations

Closing Conventions

Yours faithfully - If you started your letter with- Dear Sir or Madam / To whom it may concern.

Yours sincerely - If you know the name of the person you are writing to.

Yours truly - can be used in both situations

Bloopers in the writing task

To whom it may concern, (perfect) 

*Hello, my name is Luke Skywalker ........

*Too informal / Is this relevant? Your name is at the bottom of the letter. 

*XXX is on TTO ( XXX studies in the bi-lingual education stream, so his English is excellent, furthermore, he has his Cambridge First Certificate ) 

*not very clear

Best wishes (use "Yours faithfully" if you started with "To whom it may concern," )

Let's look at how Cambridge grade your written work. 

Content: 

Known them since .....?

Sociable and outgoing

Speaks good English, French and Spanish

Good knowledge of other European countries

Spent last summer working abroad

Communicative achievement:

Formal tone

Opening/closing convention

interesting ideas communicated clearly

Organisation: 

Good layout

Good organisation: P1: Intro/ P2: skills / P3: Character / P4: conclusion

Linking words?

Language

Grammar: Present Perfect???

Vocabulary

Errors

How did you do????

Not very well

Reasonably alright

I am pleased with my Formal Written Task Assessment

I did very well

What do I need to do to improve in my next written assessment task?