Lesson 5

The lesson plan

1. Introduction to the lesson (2 min)

2. Lead-in (5 min)

3. Reading text (10 min)

4. E-mail etiquette explanation (10 min)

5. Writing practice (writing informal e-mails) (20 min)

6. Speaking practice (20 min)

7. Homework (5 min)

Introduction

As an introduction to this lesson for students a teacher may use the following passage:

E-mail is the simplest and most immediate function of the Internet for many people. E-mail is just a message that is composed, sent and read electronically. With regular mail you write out you message (letter or postcard) and drop it off at the post office. The postal service then delivers the message and the recipient reads it. E-mail operates basically the same way except that everything happens electronically. You compose your message using e-mail software, send it over the lines that connect the Internet’s networks and the recipient uses an e-mail program to read the message.

LEAD-IN

Ask students to discuss the following questions:

• What major problems are there with the e-mail? Are they opinions or facts? Would it be a problem for you?

• Is there etiquette for e-mail messages? What is it? What are the examples of this etiquette? What is the reason for the origin of e-mail etiquette?

Reading text

Ask students to read the text “USING EMAIL” paying attention to pronunciation and to tell in what way they use their e-mail service.

You may tell students the rules of emails writing.

Writing emails

Netiquette

There is no standard format as far as I know for netiquette – etiquette for the net. Netiquette is a new word. Etiquette is a system of social rules or polite behaviour relating to a particular group of people – in this case all the people who use the web for emails.

Snail mail

For letters, whose progress can be as slow as that of a snail when they are entrusted to the postal system, there are clearly defined conventions for opening and closing:

For formal letters when the name or sex of the recipient is not known:

OPENING: Dear Sir(s), Dear Madam or Dear Sir or Madam

CLOSING: Yours faithfully (In American English, sometimes: Yours truly,)

For the more formal style of letter when their name is known but you do not know them very well:

OPENING: Dear Mr Jenkins, Dear Ms Hopkins (or, if you know their marital status and know that they prefer to be addressed as Mrs or Miss: Dear Miss Hopwell, Dear Mrs Jenkinson)

CLOSING: Yours sincerely (In American English, sometimes: Sincerely Yours, Sincerely,

For informal letters to business contacts that you know well:

OPENING: Dear Tony, Dear Estelle

CLOSING: With best wishes or With kind regards followed by Yours sincerely or, sometimes, in public service Yours ever

For letters to friends or close family members:

OPENING: Dear Maggy, Dear Freddie

CLOSING: Yours, Your, Love, Lots of Love (Hugs and Kisses)

Emails

However, there are no standard formulas for starting or finishing emails. Only one thing is clear. Emails are invariably of an informal nature, so informal language tends to be the norm. To give you taste of netiquette, here are some highlights to consider:

1. Keep your message brief and to the point and make sure you clear up any spelling slips or grammatical gaffes before shipping it out.

2. Make sure the Subject lines of your message are detailed enough so they explain what your message is all about.

3. Don’t bother other people by sending them test messages. If you must test a program, send a message to yourself.

Starting emails

• Hi, Roger, Hello Roger, Dear Roger

These seem to represent an informal norm, as far as there is one.

• Roger, Dear Mr Woodham

These formats are used more in business correspondence. Note that using the given name alone, as above, is reminiscent of business memos among colleagues within the same organisation.

But there and other opening formulas:

• Good morning Sarah,

• Hey Ann,

• Hey you guys

Ending emails

• Best wishes, Regards, Best regards, Good wishes.

These seem to represent the informal norm, followed by the given name (David/Dave/etc) of the sender.

Sometimes, a pre-closing formula is used instead of or in addition to the standard closure, e.g.

• Let me know if you need more information,

Dave

Look forward to hearing from you.

Best wishes,

Dave

The text itself

There is also a trend, particularly in informal emails, to dispense with capitalisation, punctuation and to use shortened forms and shortened words as in text-messaging. This is a slightly extreme example, but you might one day get an email looking something like this:

• Hey babe

b4 u leave b'ham pls spk 2 NG & tell her we'll b @ r hse in sth ldn till nxt weds. Ta v much. C u soon. Luv ND

Translated into more standard English (the opening here is slightly old-fashioned), this would read:

• Dearest

Before you leave Birmingham, please speak to Angie and tell her we'll be at our house in South London until next Wednesday. Thanks very much.

See you soon.

Love,

Andy

Learning English BBC

E-mailers make use of symbols called smileys (or emoticons) which can be written using standard letters and signs.

:-) Your basic smiley. This is used to mean I’m happy.

;-) Winking smiley. I’m flirting or being ironic.

;-( Frowning smiley. I didn’t like something.

8-) I wear glasses.

:-| I’m indifferent.

:-{) I have a moustache.

:-~) I have a cold.

C=:^) Head cook, chef-de-cuisine.

Q:^) Soldier, man with beret, boy scout.

*:O) Clown face; I’m feeling like a buffon.

:^9 Licking the lips; very tasty or delicious.

WRITING PRACTICE (writing informal e-mails)

Ask students to write three informal e-mails and submit them for the class consideration. Choose several students and give them 10 minutes for preparation:

You have visited the Internet and explored there the most interesting places:

• sites for cooking

• free software sites

• sites for learning English

You are full of information and want to share this information with your best friends. Write three informal e-mail messages to your friends. You know who of your friends is interested in what. You should be able to arouse interest in them.

• Use an appropriate format and a chatty style. Try to use at least one smiley.

• Calling the sites in your e-mail messages, try to invent interesting names.

• Remember that e-mails should be brief.

In this task you can assess creative approach and usage of the section vocabulary and grammar.

GROUP DISCUSSION

Ask students to work in groups. Give them 15 minutes for preparation.

During last several decades minds of scientists in the sphere of information technologies are concerned with the “immortal” questions:

What are the advantages of IT?

and

What are the disadvantages of IT?

You are a participant of the 5th international conference on IT.

You should act in one of the following three roles:

1. a scientist who delivers a report about advantages of IT

2. a scientist who delivers a report about disadvantages of IT

3. an uninterested in IT person

Scientists should prepare reports for a conference and be able to convince their opponents.

An uninterested person should follow the arguments of scientific opponents and in the end represent pluses and minuses of IT.

In this task you can assess speaking skills and usage of vocabulary and grammar of the section.

Homework

Ask students to prepare a task.

ROLE OF COMPUTERS IN MODERN SOCIETY

This task will encourage students to research and report findings on how computers change the ways in which people live, work, and communicate with computer and its programs.

Introduction

Students are investigators representing the internet generation and are tasked with updating the world on the history of computer-based programs, their use, their benefits and potentially harmful effects on society. It seems that computer-based programs aid the community in functioning, working and communicating with one another. It seems that people are leaning to use more and more digital devices. Students should gather the information about the history of computer-based programs and functions using Internet resources.

Task

Each student will research the history and current use of computer-based programs. Further, after completing their research, students will be responsible for creating and delivering a 10-15 minutes presentation (or computerized) and report back to the class.

Presentation: Students will create some type of presentation to be done in front of the class. This can be done in PowerPoint and or with the use of handouts.

A presentation should include:

• Major components of the computer and how they work.

• Describe how computers change the ways in which people live, work, and communicate using computers.

• Finally, list some benefits and potential harmful effects computers may have on society.

Main Internet resources for a webquest:

http://www.computerhistory.org/

http://www.apple.com/

http://inventors.about.com/library/blcoindex.htm

http://www.hitmill.com/computers/computerhx1.html

Evaluation

The tasks are assessed from the point of view of how well the research was carried out and how effective their presentation was in terms of grammar, use of active vocabulary, speaking skills.

Conclusion

During their research, students should think of how the different generations have used communication tools and how current technology differs from the past. How do different generations differ with respect to the different modes of computers and communication used?