Kareem Learn English Online Kareem Learn English Online

TP3-Kareem Fathy
intermediate level

Description

In this lesson, students learn about writing a covering letter in the context of applying for a job. The lesson is based on an ad made by an employment agency that contains different jobs and a sample of a cover letter.

Materials

Abc pre-teaching vocabulary matching activity
Abc employment agency ad
Abc a sample of a covering letter
Abc PowerPoint slides

Main Aims

  • To provide product writing practice of a covering letter in the context of applying for a job.

Subsidiary Aims

  • To provide clarification of formal vocabulary items in the context of applying for a job.

Procedure

Lead-in (3-4 minutes) • To set lesson context and engage students

Show the question "what's your dream job?" on the screen. tell the students about your own dream job which is working as a "filmmaker" ask the students to work in pairs and answer the question "what's your dream job?" Students talk in pairs for 2 minutes. get feedback by asking the students to give information about their partners.

pre-teaching vocabulary (4-5 minutes) • to provide the students with an understanding of some words that might be problematic in the exposure task.

give the student a matching activity that contains the words (employment agency, vacancy, qualified (for a job), recruiting, enclose and bilingual). with their definitions. ask the students to match the words with the definitions. monitor the students during the task. ask the students to check their answers in pairs. Feedback. As a preparation for the next stage, show the students the job ad made by the Horizons Unlimited employment agency and ask: would you like to apply for any of the jobs? get a show of hands for each one.

Exposure (8-10 minutes) • To provide a model of production expected in coming tasks through reading.

give the Ss a handout that contains a sample covering letter that needs to be: 1) completed using the addresses and dates. 2) reordered in a logical and correct order. monitor the students during the task. ask the Ss to check their answers in pairs. give feedback by giving the student a handout of the correct letter.

Genre analysis (8-10 minutes) • To highlight and clarify key features of the language used in a formal letter for coming productive tasks

show the students some formal and informal set phrases for opening and closing a letter and asks them which phrases are suitable for the covering letter and why? (the formal phrases) show the students the first paragraph of the letter written with contractions and asks them why is it wrong? (contractions are not used in a formal letter.) ask the students to look at the letter again and underline the formal words (the words they will not use writing for a friend for example). monitor the Ss during the task. ask the Ss to check their answers in pairs. give feedback by writing some of the answers which the students missed or correcting students' errors on the board but without mentioning the names of the students who made errors.

Writing task (10-12 minutes) • To provide an opportunity to practice target productive skill (writing a covering letter)

Ask the students to choose a job from the employment agency ad. Give the Ss 10 mins to write a covering letter for their application on the job they chose using the completed letter as a model. stick students' writing on the wall and have them read each other's letters discuss the letter with the applicant and decide whether s/he should get the job or not.

Feedback and Error Correction (4-5 minutes) • To provide feedback on students' production and use of language

Find any mistakes made by the students in the previous task. Write on the board three good examples of the students' writing. Write about three wrong language items produced by the Ss and correct them. Thank the Ss and end the lesson.

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