4) Tips

1. Write the date at the top right hand corner (day/month -BE - or month/day -AE)

2. Comma after name is not necessary, but begin after that with a CAPITAL letter

3. In the ending after the words “Take care”, “Yours”, etc. put a comma and your name.

4. Avoid being too direct. Be sincere about your thoughts and feelings.

5. Finish the letter with your first name.

6. Keep your language vivid, simple and clear.

7. Don’t write only the important things about you ~they like to read also about all sort of other things about you (and ask about how they are, also inoffensively joke or relevantly include one)

8. Never fax a private personal letter to another work number…

5) Sample

BLOCK 830,Tampines St. 82 #04-43 Singapore 520 830

Dear Hilfi, I am Marcus Rivera writing this letter. How’s your life? I am just enjoying my life studying and working hard just going to school to be a good student and playing well in my sport. How about you? How’s your life? Are you enjoying your life? I heard you had been smoking in public. As a friend I will strongly advice you to quit smoking and turn to a new life. Smoking can lead to harmful consequences. Smokers may have started smoking because their friends did or because it seemed cool But they keep on smoking because they became addicted. You can't stop smoking with cigarettes still around to tempt you. Even toss out that emergency pack you have stashed in the secret pocket of your backpack. Get rid of your ashtrays and lighters, too. I hope to hear from you soon! Yours truly, Marcus Rivera

6) Evaluation criteria

Task response, format, style, lexical range, grammar accuracy.

7) References

1. М.В.Терехова. A Guide to Informal Letter Writing. Retrieved August 22, 2010 from http://eng.1september.ru/articlef.php?ID=200701005

2. Eren. How to Write a Letter: writing personal & official letters & notes for all occasions. Retrieved August 9, 2010 from http://www.articlesbase.com/education-articles/letter-writing-write-formal-informal-letters-notes-146748.html

3. Writing an Informal Letter. SlideShare Inc. 2010. Retrieved August 9, 2010 from http://www.slideshare.net/MissKaur/writing-an-informal-letter

4. Letter-writing exercises. Retrieved August 9, 2010 from http://www.parapal-online.co.uk/exercises/favour.html

5. Useful Language. Retrieved August 8, 2010 from http://www.idiomcenter.com/expressions/informal-letters

6. Learn American slang expressions. Retrieved August 12, 2010 from http://www.englishdaily626.com/slang.php?083

8) Exercises

Exercise 1. Say the same in an informal language:

1) I have been extremely busy at work
2) Look forward to seeing you in summer
3) I apologize for being late
4) Give my best regards to your family
5) I wonder if you happen to know that…
6) It's beyond my understanding
7) Very easy
8) I was made a fool
9) We dislike each other
10) Way to go
11) stop criticizing, annoying or behaving in an unpleasant way to someone, or to stop saying sth that is not true
12) Very little or no chance that/of
13) No doubt

Exercise 2. Arrange the letter parts in a correct order:

A	Regards
B	It's been a while since we wrote, so I thought I'd drop you a line to bring you up to date with what's been happening here.
C	Anyway, I've got another form to fill in so I'll love you and leave you.
D	Hi Leo,
E	I suppose the most important thing is that Jane's job is more secure than we thought. At the beginning of the year, when she got the job, we thought it might only be for one semester, but we just found that she has a permanent contract of sorts. Obviously this is great, as it means we can relax a little. I still don't have what I really want work wise, but it will happen soon. You have to stay positive, don't you?
F	John
G	My parents are both fine, and I think they are really happy that we've moved back. For us, it's great to be so close to family again, an extra sense of comfort and security. We see my sister quite often as she's in London, although we're not that bothered about going into the city. So, what about you these days? Are you still stuck in that old job? Since I've been having so much trouble getting a job I understand your reluctance to change. There is nothing worse than filling in endless application forms, with no idea of what it will lead to.

Exercise 3. Choose the more appropriate variant:

Hi Leo,

It's (1) a long time/been a while since we wrote, so I thought I'd (2) drop you a line/write to you to (3) inform you about/ bring you up to date with what's been happening here.

I suppose the most important thing is that Jane's job is more secure than we thought. At the beginning of the year, when she got the job, we thought it might only be for one semester, but we just found that she has a permanent contract of (4) sorts/the kind. Obviously this is great, as it means we can relax a little. I still don't have what I really want (5) work wise/at my job, but it will happen soon. You have to stay positive, don't you?

My parents are both fine, and I think they are really happy that we've moved back. For us, it's great to be so close to family again, an extra sense of comfort and security. We see my sister quite often as she's in London, although we're not (6) that/very much bothered about going into the city. So, what about you these days? Are you still (7) having/stuck in that old job? Since I've been having so much trouble getting a job I understand your reluctance to change. There is nothing worse than filling in (8) endless /so many application forms, with no idea of what it will lead to.

Anyway, I've got another form to fill in so I'll love you and leave you.

Regards

John

Exercise 4. Identify a sentence which is rather formal and therefore does not fit into this informal letter:

(1) Hi Jen,

(2) I'm writing this letter because I really need your help. (3) You're the only person who knows me well enough to give me a reference for a course I want to do.

(4) I saw an advert in a paper recently offering a free journalism course to successful applicants. (5) I sent in an article I wrote for the student newspaper, you know, the one about legalizing drugs? (6) Anyway, they were really impressed by it, but as the selection process is very competitive they require a reference as well. (7) I haven't given them your name yet, as I expect this would be the first reference you've been asked to give. (8) Is it OK if I send them your phone number? (9) I think they want to phone so they can have a proper conversation with you and really check me out.

(10) I know it's been a while but if you could do it'd really help me out. (11) I've got a new phone number, 09957 234 563, so you can get me on that, and my address is still the same.

Hope to hear from you soon.

Regards

Patrick

Exercise 5. Translate the Russian colloquialisms into English and use them in situations of your own:

#	Russian phrases	English equivalents
1	Молодец!
2	Чушь, ерунда
3	Шутить
4	Намереваться сделать;
5	Догнать, настичь, наверстать
6	Давай! Пошли!; 2) Кончай!, Брось!; и др
7	Закончить; попасть, оказаться
8	Не отставать; 2) продолжать; 3) поддерживать
9	Сообразить, выяснить, понять, разобраться
10	Подводить/подвести кого-либо
11	пристраститься к чему-либо
12	Держи(те)сь!; 2) подожди(те)!
13	Двигайся вперед; 2) Начинай! Действуй!

Exercise 6. What do we call them in colloquial English?

A coward; someone who is not daring or willing to take risks; a person with little self-confidence.
A loud advertising and promotion
An overly intellectual person with poor social skills; an unfashionable and unpopular person.
A social outcast or misfit; a strange person
A mean or unlikeable person
A person who has great wealth and power; a tycoon.
Someone who gives unwanted advice; someone who tries to run things even though they don't have the power or authority to do so.
One who sits in front of the television for long periods of time, with little or no physical activity
An informal network of gossip or unofficial news; an unnamed source of information
Letters sent through the post office; mail that is carried, as opposed to e-mail.
Something that is perfectly obvious; easy to do, requiring very little effort.
A large amount of money; very expensive or costly.
One who makes mistakes regularly; a failure.

Exercise 7. Choose the missing noun out of those listed in the box, to fill in the blanks:

snail mail, back seat driver, screw-up, jerk, no brainer, chicken, an arm and a leg, freak, nerd, hype, couch potato, fat cat,

1. I like him, even though he is a bit of a ______.

2. Stephan has no friends and spends all his time in the basement. What a ____!

3. My roommate is such a ________- last weekend he watched television for 14 hours straight!

4. Don't be a _______-go introduce yourself to the professor.

5. That ____ in Washington is going to keep pressuring Congress to pass the tax bill.

6. Tony is such a ______-- he stole my lunch money!

7. The new movie by Steven Spielberg is getting a lot of ______.

8. What's one plus two? That's a _________!

9. It can take a week to send a letter by _______.

10. My new Mercedes cost me ________!

11. Be careful when you're dealing with Charlie -- he's a real_________.

12. Rob is the worst _______I know - he's always telling me what to do.

Exercise 8. Match the phrases in the left column with their slang equivalents in the right:

Meaning	Slang equivalent
1. pass time idly; loaf with pleasure, be at ease.	A go bananas
2. be extremely tired; lack energy; be worn out from working too much	B be dressed to kill
3. wear fashionable clothing; be dressed in a most stylish and sophisticated way	C be burned out
4. become infatuated with somebody; develop intense feelings for someone; become romantically attached to sb; 2) be fooled; believe a false story	D hang out
5. spend time relaxing, doing nothing at all.	E blow it
6. lose or waste something; do very poorly or fail miserably	F veg out
7. be irrational and wild; lose control; be wildly enthusiastic about sth	G fall for sb
8. be addicted to sth; like something so as to need it every day.	H zone out
9. lose all concentration; slip out of normal consciousness, have nothing on one’s mind	I be hooked
10. find or catch someone doing something wrong	J be wishy washy
11. be indecisive or not reliable	K nail sb

Exercise 9. Insert the phrases in the right column of Exercise 8 in the correct grammatical form in

the blanks below. Some of them are used more than once:

1. I was completely _____ after working on a big project for three weeks straight.

2. I knew Joe would _____ when he found out he's not getting a raise this year.

3. Jimmy's father _____ him smoking cigarettes.

4. You didn't _____ that advertisement about making money on the Internet, did you?

5. Alaine _____ over the new shoes from Manolo Blahnik. I think she bought five pairs!

6. Don't _____ all your money in that one store--there are five more down the road.

7. After working on a document for four hours straight, I _____ in front of my computer screen.

8. Rosie was always _____ about our plans to get married, so I knew she would run away before our wedding day.

9. I think I ______ that cute guy I met last night.

10. You didn't study for your exam, so you _____.

11. I really like Holly, my new girlfriend. After just two dates, I'm ______!

12. Tina was ______ for her first date on Saturday night.

13. We'll leave soon. Just ______ for a minute.

14. After a long day at work, I usually just ______ in front of the TV.

15. I'm really ______ the hamburgers at Junior's.

Exercise 10. Write a letter to your friend describing the latest events at your school/university

Exercise 11. Write a letter to your parents asking for money.