ASSIGNMENT # 10 Letter of Concern

LETTER WRITING GRADE 12


There is a strong likelihood that in your life you will want to express a concern to someone through the medium of a letter or e-mail. In order to present your ideas effectively, your diction and tone is extremely important. You want to make certain that your target audience will consider your ideas. If the tone of your correspondence is overly aggressive, sarcastic or not specific, your letter may be ineffectual.

Consider the following strategies:

• Introduce yourself.
• Summarize the situation of concern.
• Consider pointing out that you are aware of the other person’s point of view and the difficulties that person may be dealing with.

*STATE YOUR CONCERNS IN THE AFFIRMATIVE NOT THE NEGATIVE-in other words, emphasize the behavior you want rather than the behavior you do not want.
• Avoid language that will make the reader angry.
• Avoid referring to second hand accounts.
• Offer solutions.
• Request some sort of response


Assignment

You have attended a number of your son or daughter’s athletic team practices and games and you have noted the following behaviors from the coach, Mr. Kleats. Write a letter that expresses your concerns and what you would like done. You may make up details to provide examples. Address the letter to Mr. Kleats @ Central High School 123 Main Street, Sportstown, British Columbia, V2A 1W3.

• The coach often arrives late
• Practices are disorganized
• Some team members receive very little playing time
• The coach often yells at players
• Too much emphasis is placed on winning

USE PROPER FORMAL BUSINESS LETTER FORMAT

123 Main Street

Penticton, British Columbia,

V2A 3W1

May 16, 2011

R. Van Camp

English Teacher

120 Geen Avenue,

Penticton, British Columbia

V2A 3W1

Dear Mr. Van Camp:

Paragraph 1

Paragraph 2

Sincerely,

Signature

Your name typed

ASSIGNMENT # 9 A Moral Dilemma

Gunter Grass is a 92 year old man who lives in your village of 1000 people.

His wife died six years ago, but he has three children and many grandchildren. He is as healthy as one could expect a 92 year old man to be.

From 1962 to 1998 he served as mayor of the village. He would no doubt have been re-elected, but he chose to retire due to his age.

He has been a model citizen and has built a profitable factory where many people in the village enjoy working. Employees are well paid.

Over the years he has donated very large sums of money to various charities. As well there are a number of families who, for various reasons, are unable to make ends meet. Each month, Mr. Grass makes sure they have enough money to cover their expenses. These families would surely become destitute without his aid.


The current mayor has come across irrefutable evidence that, from 1939- 1945, Gunter Grass was the commandant of a Nazi concentration camp in Poland. He directly oversaw the deaths of an estimated 15,000 people. The mayor is asking your advice.


Write a letter to the mayor in which you outline in detail four or five reasons for your decision to expose Grass' secret or your decision to get rid of the evidence. You should discuss the impact of your decision on Gunter, on the village, on the victims of the concentration camp and on society.

ASSIGNMENT # 8 Writing with dialogue

Sunday, October 10, 2010
ASSIGNMENT # 8 Writing with Dialogue





In this blog assignment you will practice writing dialogue, conversation. It's important to be aware of a few basic rules. Whenever you have a new speaker, make sure you indent 5 spaces. There are 4 ways to introduce dialogue. Indicating who is speaking can be done at the beginning, the end or the middle of the dialogue.

1. Mr. Van Camp exclaimed, "Writing dialogue is fun!"

2. "Writing dialogue is fun," stated Mr. Van Camp

3. "Writing dialogue," remarked Mr. Van Camp, "is fun."

4. "Writing dialogue is fun."



Note that sometimes, as in example 4, you do not need to indicate who said something because you have shown that it is the other speaker by indenting.


Write a dialogue based on a conversation that you might imagine the people in the above pictures might have. The dialogue should be interactive rather than just a long story on the part of one of the characters.

Use each of the above methods at least twice. Take note that I have NOT used the word "said" in my example. I want you to choose words that more precisely convey the manner in which each character is speaking. Make certain that your punctuation is precise, but not only will you be marked on punctuation, I also want you to develop the two characters. Through their dialogue, I want you to convey their personalities.