Gail D. Inumerable Language Teacher Gr.

5 School Year 2016-2017

Pens and Keys: A Lesson on Writing Personal Letters and E-mails

On the Ground

Being in the teaching profession has become more than a job for six years. It feels like a
commitmentto keep moving forward or even pause for a while if someones being left behind.
People may think that teaching English to students who already use the language in most of
their daily activities is easy, but in reality, it is a challenge to correct misconceptions and to form
new habits in language use. In designing activities, I always have this question in mind How
will I make sure that the students use the language the proper way in conveying their
messages?

The Ladder

The theme of the third module is Applying Grammatical Structures and Conventions in
Correspondence. The leaners will apply grammatical knowledge in adverbs, prepositional
phrases, clauses, conjunctions, and kinds of sentences according to structure in writing
personal letters and e-mails.
In designing the activities, both face-to-face and online activities are included. Nearpod,
Kahoot, and Quizziz provide interactive learning activities. On the other hand, Name Selector,
Spin Da Wheel, and Google Classroom are apps and platform that make face-to-face learning
more engaging. Truly, technology helps in designing learning activities that keep language
learners motivated.

At the Top

The activities in writing personal letters and e-mails are executed via Nearpod.
Screenshots of the flow are provided below.

Online Station Rotation is used in letter writing. The first is teacher led.

Here is the sequence of activities:

a. Review (Analysis of Sentence Structures in Two Personal Letters)

b. Video Presentation and Discussion of Parts and Kinds of Letters

c. Answering of an Online Exercise

d. Writing of each Part (Guided Practice)

e. Reflection through a Drawing Activity

The second and third stations are online.

Here is the flow of activities:

Station 2

a. Three letter writing prompts are given.

b. The students will type their letters on their MLDs

c. Some outputs will be shared.

Station 3

a. The students will read a letter. They will respond to it.

b. Wrap up activity: final reflection on letter writing

The activities in writing e-mails are also designed via Nearpod. It is a combination of teacher led
and independent online activities.

Here is the flow of activities:

a. Reacting on a quotation

b. Discussion of the dos and donts in writing an e-mail

c. Video presentation

d. Online quiz

e. Guided e-mail writing following a prompt

f. Reflection
GRASPS

As a response to the Lasallian Mission of promoting relevant and progressive learning to

transform the society, the School Counseling Office introduced the Career Week program that
enables the students to be goal-directed towards their career paths. One of the activities that
has helped students be acquainted with different work fields was the recently held Alternative
Learning Experience in Kidzania. To sustain motivation towards their ambition, a letter writing
activity, entitled, Dear Idol, I Want To Be You, has been launched. Your counselor tasked you
to write a personal letter to a person in your chosen field of work whom you have always
admired. Tell him/her the experiences that you had in Kidzania that made you realize that you
want to pursue that field too. You may also include questions that you have always wanted to
ask. Before sending the letter, your counselor and your Language teacher, will check on the
following: content/focus, grammar, organization, letter format and mechanics.

Sample Performance Tasks

Looking back

I truly considered these lessons in writing personal letters and e-mails the best because I
saw how their skills were applied in both written and electronic forms of communication. I just
hope that they would always remember how careful they should be in using the language
especially when conveying their messages through a different channel. Maybe next time, writing
business letters could also be introduced to them.

With the designed activities via Nearpod, it just shows that technology can be a helpful
aid in executing the tasks in the classroom. It really doesnt replace the teacher, but it makes the
activities more engaging and interactive.