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WRITING WORKSHOP
Procedural Texts: Business Letters
Learning Targets
• Produce clear and coherent writing in which the development, organization, and style are appropriate to task, purpose, and audience.
• With some guidance and support from peers and adults, develop and strengthen writing as needed by planning, revising, editing, rewriting, or trying a new approach, focusing on how well purpose and audience have been addressed.
• Demonstrate command of the conventions of standard English grammar and usage when writing or speaking.
• Demonstrate command of the conventions of standard English capitalization, punctuation, and spelling when writing.
• Use knowledge of language and its conventions when writing, speaking, reading, or listening.
• Engage effectively in a range of collaborative discussions (one on one, in groups, and teacher-led) with diverse partners on grade 8 topics, texts, and issues, building on others’ ideas and expressing your own clearly.
Writing a Business Letter
Letters can be used for a variety of purposes ranging from conveying information to maintaining personal relationships. Letters can be either formal or informal. Much like other modes of writing, there are established conventions and processes for writing letters.
To complete this workshop on writing a business letter, you will work with your teacher and with your classmates to construct two model letters. You will then use these models to write your own letter.
ACTIVITY 1
Discovering the Elements of a Business Letter
Before Reading
1. Discussion: Business letters are often used to make requests of various kinds. A business letter may be written to inquire about employment, to request information, or complain about a product. Discuss a time when you or someone you know has sent a formal letter to a company or business and received something in return.
During Reading
2. The following business letter sample represents a formal letter sent as an offer of services from one company to another. The common elements of a formal or business letter are
• Date
• Sender’s address
• Inside address (the address of the recipient) • Salutation
• Body
• Closing
• Signature
As you read this letter with your class, mark each element with the appropriate label from the list above. In addition, highlight the purpose of the letter and the details of the request.
LEARNING STRATEGIES
Activate Prior Knowledge, Shared Reading,
Marking the Text, Think- Pair-Share, Graphic Organizer, Summarizing, Brainstorming, Drafting, Sharing and Responding
ACADEMIC VOCABULARY
A business letter is a formal communication from one party to another. Business
letters are written for many purposes, such as requesting information or action from another party, ordering products from
a supplier, replying to a request, or expressing an opinion. Business letters produce a permanent written record and may be taken more seriously by the recipient than other forms of communication.
Writing Workshop 10 • Procedural Texts: Business Letters 1
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