Email Essentials

This slideshow introduces how to write a formal email with proper netiquette in a school context. After the introduction, a quiz of examples is included (with a bonus of guessing which movie/book the email is based on). For each example, students are asked to determine if the email is acceptable or unacceptable (and be prepared to explain why). Answers are given after the quiz slides. Following the quiz, basic email functions are introduced, including the use of the Subject line and the Address lines (To/CC/BCC).

Suggested Extension Activity:

A useful follow-up assignment is having students practice writing an email in this formal style in class. There are two ways I have done this: 1.) Send the full class an email (via BCC) with the assignment that they reply to the email in the proper format. 2.) Have the students write an email on paper or type an email as a document using the formal style. Interest can be added here with the choice of prompts for the email, in which students may be asked to write as themselves or to write in character. Two ideas I have used in the past: 1.) Students may be asked to compose a formal email to their past self (such as their pre-pandemic self). 2.) Students may be asked to choose a fairy tale scenario from a list of prompts and write a formal email in character.