LESSON 3 

"Nothing is particularly hard if you divide it up into small jobs."
- Henry Ford

TITLE:

Business Letter Writing

9, 10, 11, 12

ENGLISH/LANGUAGE ARTS
MATHEMATICS
VOCATIONAL/TECHNICAL SKILLS

The student will identify at least two standard business letter formats (block and modified block).
The student will draft interview questions to gain specific information needed from experts in the field.
The student will draft interview questions needed to gain specific information from college/training institution admission counselors.
The student will draft and prepare two business letters using proper format. The content should request specific career/training information and a scheduled time to conduct interviews with individuals in training or involved with the specific workplace.

90 minute class period

• Business Letters and Formats, Training Institution, and Field Expert handouts
• Letter Evaluation forms for evaluation
• 3 1/2 - inch floppy disks
• Writing utensil and paper

One computer with internet access for each student with Microsoft Office and printer.

Verify that the School Acceptable Computer Usage form is on file.
Schedule computer lab.
Teacher should be familiar with the site Business Letters.
Teacher needs to be familiar with Microsoft Word.  If not, the teacher may need to complete a tutorial.
Once each of the two business letters has been evaluated by the teacher and revised, students are to personally mail or e-mail each letter to the appropriate business expert or training institution.

1.  Review the handout Business Letters and Formats.
2.  Review content of Business Letters.
3.  Draft interview questions to gain specific information needed from the chosen college/training institution admission counselor (for ideas refer to training institution handout).
4.  Prepare a standard business letter, using either the block or modified block style, addressed to the chosen college/training institution admission counselor incorporating the interview questions.
5.  Draft interview questions needed to gain specific information from an expert in the chosen occupational field (for ideas refer to field expert handout).
6. Prepare a standard business letter, using either block or modified block style, addressed to the chosen occupational field expert incorporating the appropriate questions.
7.  When the business letters are completed, submit a copy of each letter to the teacher, both on disk and a printout.  Each letter will be graded using the Letter Evaluation form.
8.  When corrections and revisions are complete, students are to mail or e-mail both letters to the appropriate addresses.

Modifications will be made for those individuals with IEP's in coordination with the Special Education Department.

• Additional letters to more than one expert in the field may be submitted.
• In order to gain information about college student life, letters or e-mails may be sent to students enrolled in the chosen college, even though they may not be involved in the chosen field of study.
• If students discover they need tutorials in ACT test prep, they may visit the Websites Act, Inc. and TestU.
• To obtain college scholarship information, students may contact FastWeb.

Each letter will be graded by the teacher using the Letter Evaluation form.

English/Language Arts:  11.38, 11.60, 11.61, 11.69, 11.76, 11.94, 11.96
Mathematics:  None Listed
Vocational/Technical Skills:  BCA 9, BCA 10, BCA 12, BCA 13, BCA 15, BCA 16

English/Language Arts:

• Writing
1. Uses the general skills and strategies of the writing process.
2. Uses stylistic and rhetorical aspects of writing.
3. Uses grammatical and mechanical conventions in written compositions.
• Reading
7. Uses reading skills and strategies to understand and interpret a variety of informational texts.
• Viewing
9. Uses viewing skills and strategies to understand and interpret visual media.

Mathematics:  None listed.

Vocational/Technical Skills:  None listed.

• Business and Marketing
• Engineering and Technical
• Fine Arts and Humanities
• Health and Human Services
• Science and Natural Resources

Business Letters
Critique of Business Letters
Human Resources Consulting (Elements of Language.  New York:  Holt, Rinehart, and Winston. 2000. textbook online.
Crellin, David and Kathleen Lampert. English 11.  Boston:  Houghton Mifflin.  1996, p.1026, 1027.
Levitt, Julie.  Your Career. Boston:  South-Western Educational Publishing, 2000.

Cheri Chenoweth
Beth Moore
Jane Byrd

South Harrison High School