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Email enquiries disappearing text memory

A LESSON PLAN FOR ENGLISH LANGUAGE TEACHERS

Formal and informal making and responding to requests and enquiries model emails memorisation game, ending with brainstorming useful phrases for the beginning, middle and end.

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Lesson Plan Content:


Email enquiries disappearing text memory game

Work in groups of two to four people. Look at the text below that your teacher tells you to look at. The first person reads out the whole of the text, then takes away one word (by covering it, or by changing it to white if you are working on a computer).

The next person will then read the whole text, including the word that was just taken away, and choose one more word to cover or change to white.

Take turns reading out the whole text and taking away more words until the whole text has disappeared, until you give up, or until your teacher stops the game. You should always try to say exactly what is written in each square, even when other words would also be correct.

If you are doing this online (on Zoom, etc), one person should share their screen and take away the words that everyone chooses.

Useful language for saying which word you want to take away

“I want to delete…/ “I’m going to take away…”

“In the first/ second/ third/…th/ last + section/ paragraph”

“The first/ second/ third/ fourth/ …th word.”

“In the first/ second/ third/ fourth/ …th column.”

“In the first/ second/ third/ fourth/ …th row."

If your teacher tells you to, do the same with another text below.

Read through all the model emails and ask about anything you can’t understand, think could be a different word, etc.  

After the brainstorming stage below, test each other:

  • Choose one section and read phrases with words missing for your partner to complete
  • Choose one section and help your partner make suitable sentences by giving them key words, etc.
  • Choose one phrase for your partner to use in an example requests or enquiries email, or to use in a responding to requests or enquiries email
  • Choose one phrase for your partner to use in an email, listen to their email including that language, respond to what it says in an answer email, then continue the email exchange if necessary
  • Roleplay similar email exchanges, replying with whole emails until the exchange is finished

 

Email 1 – Formal enquiry

Dear

 

Sir

or

Madam,

---------------

 

I

 

am

writing

to

you

regarding

 

insurance

for

small

companies.

 

First,

 

I’d

like

to

know

what

 

size

companies

you

insure.

We

 

only

have

three

employees,

so

 

I

wonder

if

such

a

 

small

company

is

covered.

 

My

 

second

question

is

about

contract

 

length.

If

possible,

we

would

 

like

a

15-year

contract.

 

Lastly,

 

we

are

interested

in

policies

 

covering

reputation

risk.

Could

you

 

give

me

some

information

on

 

prices

for

such

policies?

 

I

 

look

forward

to

hearing

from

 

you

soon.

-----------

------------

 

Sincerely

 

yours,

Alex

Case

(Mr)


Email 2 – Formal positive reply

Dear

 

Mr

Case,

------------

-------------

 

Thank

 

you

very

much

for

your

 

interest

in

our

products.

Please

 

find

my

answers

below.

 

In

 

answer

to

your

first

question,

 

there

is

no

minimum

size.

 

We’d

be

very

happy

to

 

offer

your

company

insurance.

 

You

 

also

asked

about

contract

length.

 

I’m

afraid

fifteen

years

isn’t

 

possible,

but

we’d

be

happy

 

to

offer

you

ten.

 

Regarding

 

prices,

they’re

negotiable.

If

you

 

let

us

know

your

needs,

 

we’ll

make

a

quote.

 

We

 

are

looking

forward

to

hearing

 

from

you

soon.

-----------

 

Best

 

regards,

Harold

Beam

------------

 

 

Email 3 – Informal request

Hi

 

Gordon,

----------

----------

---------

 

How

 

are

you

doing?

Hope

you

 

had

a

good

trip.

 

I’m

 

writing

about

reorganisation

of

the

 

department.

Could

you

possibly

have

 

a

look

at

the

attached

 

plan

and

see

if

I’m

 

on

the

right

track?

 

Thanks.

 

All

the

best,

Dave

 

Email 4 – Informal negative reply 

Hi

 

Dave,

Really

nice

to

hear

 

from

you.

Congratulations

on

getting

 

the

project

leader

job.

 

Really

 

sorry

but

I’m

flying

to

 

Hawaii

for

my

honeymoon

tonight

 

so

I

won’t

have

time

 

to

look

at

it.

If

 

you

send

it

to

Sally,

 

she

can

probably

help.

 

Sorry

 

about

that.

Good

luck

with

 

the

project.

Best,

Gordon.

 


Brainstorming stage

Write as many phrases as you can below, look above for ideas, then brainstorm more.

Starting emails

Email opening greetings

 

 

 

 

 

Email opening lines

 

 

 

 

 

Body of emails

Enquiries

 

 

 

 

 

Responses to enquiries

 

 

 

 

 

Ending emails

Email closing lines

 

 

 

 

 

Email closing greetings

 

 

 

 

 

Different ways of writing your name at the end of an email

 

 

 

Compare your extra ideas as a class or with the list of phrases from page 368.


Cards to cover the disappearing text with

To save paper and photocopying, you can also use scrap paper to cover the squares,. Students will probably be able to see through plain white paper, so it is better to use coloured paper and/ or paper with print on it such as old photocopies.

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