What features can you remember that help persuade

What features can you remember that help persuade someone to do or think things?

Lets see if we can spot any in these letters.

Dear Sir I am writing to seek help in ridding my locality of a terrible pest. The Troll that lives under the bridge near my home is causing my family great distress. Firstly, every time my sensitive wife trip-trots over the bridge, he leaps out and makes her jump out of her skin. He then rolls about laughing until green, slimy tears roll down his cheeks and he tumbles back into his den. Is this the behaviour of a reasonable citizen? I fear that if there are more incidents like this, my wife’s heart will miss a beat and she will require expensive veterinary care. In addition, when my vulnerable young kid skips down to the stream’s edge for a refreshing sip of water, the hideous creature threatens to eat him. This is traumatising my son, causing him to have horrific nightmares. He is so nervous about approaching the river bank that there is a real possibility he will become dehydrated. Furthermore, this monster’s appalling behaviour is bringing down the value of land in this locality. Soon all the well-behaved, polite goats, who pay all their council tax on time, will be compelled to find fresh pastures. Surely you don’t want this part of the countryside to be seen as a no-go area for respectable families. I trust that you and your team of exterminators will be quick in acting to rid our beautiful valley of the delinquent Troll who takes such pleasure in terrorising my peace-loving family. Yours faithfully B. B. G. Gruff

We are going to learn how to write a persuasive letter. I have spoken to Mrs Wallace and she thinks, like me, that we should get rid of Golden time. Your challenge after this series of lessons is to write a persuasive letter to convince us not to get rid of golden time.

Letter Writing Formal & Informal Letters

How to write a letter �Writing a letter can be easy if you follow a few simple rules. �Take your time and think carefully about WHO you are writing to.

Correct addresses: Your address (right) Their address (left - but only if it is an official letter, not personal) Date Dear Sir or Madam ( or their actual name…Jim, Anne, Mr. Jones, Miss. Peters, etc. . ) Indent the first word under ‘Madam’

�Why are you writing to them. . . ”I am writing to you to because…. . ” �Explain who YOU are…. �Be polite! “I hope you don’t mind me writing to you but I had tell you about. . ” �Be strong (If it is a letter of complaint) e. g. . ” I must inform you that I am not happy with…. ”

�You can have more than one paragraph �If it is a persuasive letter, then take 1 or 2 points of persuasion for each paragraph �Don’t make one enormous paragraphit looks boring! �Use connectives (firstly, secondly, next, …) � State each point, then back it up eg. I believe Italy will win the World Cup because they have extreme talent and have greater fitness.

�Offer your own opinion on things. eg. I firmly believe that custard is the finest food because it is smooth yet refined �Use any planning sheet you have to tick off each point you are making. �Use facts to back up your arguments eg. In a recent school survey, 94% of boys would like Kylie as their girlfriend.

�This is a concluding paragraph eg. To sum up, I would say that… �Give an overall view of the letter. eg. What I am trying to say to you is that I would dearly love you to come and stay with us.

�If you know them personally - Yours sincerely �If you don’t know them - Yours faithfully

INFORMAL LETTER STRUCTURE Street Your address Town POSTCODE Informal greeting Day, 00 th Month, 0000 Hey Joe, Opening paragraph Polite introduction – ‘How are you? I am fine. ’ Next paragraph New topic… Final paragraph Conclusion of letter – ‘ I hope to hear from you soon’. Lots of love, Your name or signature Date Bob Appropriate ending – from, love, etc.

FORMAL LETTER STRUCTURE Street Town Recipient’s name and address Name or polite greeting Name POSTCOD E 00 th Month 0000 Final paragraph Signature Writer’s name Date Street Town POSTCOD E Dear Sir / Madam, Introduction Main paragraphs Writer’s address Explain why you are writing Main point of the letter… Conclusion of letter – ‘Thank you for your cooperation. ’ Yours faithfully J. Clay Mr. J. Clay Formal ending – use ‘yours sincerely’ if recipient’s name is known

Question Time: (have a look at you letter hand out) 1. What is the role of the first paragraph? 2. What are they trying to convince their headteacher to do? 3. Can you find any features of a letter? What are they? 4. Can you tell me what the writer of the letter has done in the third paragraph to try and convince their headteacher? 5. Is this a formal or an informal letter? How do you know? 6. What persuasive feature is the writer using in this phrase? more cost effective, practical and achievement boosting home clothes. 1. What persuasive feature is this section using? This is important as the more comfortable we feel, the better we are able to concentrate on the work we are doing. If we are constantly fiddling with stiff collars, itchy trousers and uncomfortable shoes, this distracts us from the task in hand.

Dear Mr Smith, Having been a pupil at Spring Primary for the last seven years, I feel it is now my duty to relate to you the feelings of your students towards wearing a school uniform. It has long been felt by myself, and my peers, that wearing a school uniform is an outdated and impractical notion, which we no longer feel is necessary. By writing this letter, I hope to convince you that this is the case, and begin negotiations on changing this rule. My reasons for not wearing uniform are as follows: To begin with, a recent survey conducted by the school council identified that an overwhelming majority of 79% of pupils would prefer to wear their own clothes to school. As a Head Teacher, it is your duty to listen to and consider any opinions of your students and to negotiate with them. As the school council are an elected body of students from all the classes in the school, it is important that you take heed of any information they discover about the wants and needs of the pupils. Secondly, myself and my peers feel more comfortable and at ease in our own clothes. This is important as the more comfortable we feel, the better we are able to concentrate on the work we are doing. If we are constantly fiddling with stiff collars, itchy trousers and uncomfortable shoes, this distracts us from the task in hand. Moreover, this distracts us from learning. Therefore, wearing our own clothes would improve and lengthen our learning time and ultimately impact and improve our achievement in school. (The school’s position on the league tables would rocket – and OFSTED would see that the Leaders and Teachers in school are working hard and getting results)! Finally, our parents would also benefit from the move to not wearing school uniform. Gone will be the excuses of not wearing uniform as our parents did not get it washed in time! Wearing our own clothes would mean there would be no lack of options. Parents would no longer have the mad Sunday rush of getting our uniforms washed and ironed in time for Monday. It would also reduce the amount that our parents have to pay towards clothing us. Good quality school uniform that lasts does not come cheap! Indeed – the money saved could be put towards school fund to buy new books, or stationary resources for our home, so we are able to effectively complete our homework. As you can see, there are compelling arguments as to why the children of Spring Primary school should be able to abandon their uniforms in favour of more cost effective, practical and achievement boosting home clothes. Please consider the points I have raised in this letter carefully. My fellow students and I look forward to hearing your response Yours sincerely, School Council

What’s the point of a persuasive letter? �Who would it get sent to? �Who would send it? �Why would they send it? �What might it be about? �What would make somebody take notice of it?

We are going to look at a letter which was written to persuade. First, let’s read through it together… �Who is it being sent to? �Who is it being sent from? �Why are they sending it? �What is it about? �Why would the recipient take notice of it?

Dear Mr Smith, Having been a pupil at Spring Primary for the last seven years, I feel it is now my duty to relate to you the feelings of your students towards wearing a school uniform. It has long been felt by myself, and my peers, that wearing a school uniform is an outdated and impractical notion, which we no longer feel is necessary. By writing this letter, I hope to convince you that this is the case, and begin negotiations on changing this rule. My reasons for not wearing uniform are as follows: To begin with, a recent survey conducted by the school council identified that an overwhelming majority of 79% of pupils would prefer to wear their own clothes to school. As a Head Teacher, it is your duty to listen to and consider any opinions of your students and to negotiate with them. As the school council are an elected body of students from all the classes in the school, it is important that you take heed of any information they discover about the wants and needs of the pupils. Secondly, myself and my peers feel more comfortable and at ease in our own clothes. This is important as the more comfortable we feel, the better we are able to concentrate on the work we are doing. If we are constantly fiddling with stiff collars, itchy trousers and uncomfortable shoes, this distracts us from the task in hand. Moreover, this distracts us from learning. Therefore, wearing our own clothes would improve and lengthen our learning time and ultimately impact and improve our achievement in school. (The school’s position on the league tables would rocket – and OFSTED would see that the Leaders and Teachers in school are working hard and getting results)! Finally, our parents would also benefit from the move to not wearing school uniform. Gone will be the excuses of not wearing uniform as our parents did not get it washed in time! Wearing our own clothes would mean there would be no lack of options. Parents would no longer have the mad Sunday rush of getting our uniforms washed and ironed in time for Monday. It would also reduce the amount that our parents have to pay towards clothing us. Good quality school uniform that lasts does not come cheap! Indeed – the money saved could be put towards school fund to buy new books, or stationary resources for our home, so we are able to effectively complete our homework. As you can see, there are compelling arguments as to why the children of Spring Primary school should be able to abandon their uniforms in favour of more cost effective, practical and achievement boosting home clothes. Please consider the points I have raised in this letter carefully. My fellow students and I look forward to hearing your response Yours sincerely, School Council

Now, with your partner… 1. What points are being made? Colour each one 2. 3. 4. 5. green. Are there any arguments? Colour them blue. What does the writer want to achieve? Colour it yellow. Why is it important to them? Colour it red. What are the persuasive words? Colour them purple.

Dear Mrs Wallace, I am writing to you to propose that we ban playtimes from Brabin’s Endowed to benefit both the children and staff greatly. Firstly, the most important reason for children being at school is to be educated. If children are outside playing, they are losing valuable time to be developing their maths and literacy skills, which as I am sure you agree are extremely important. Secondly, the number of injuries that occur during playtimes are much greater than those caused in the classroom. To ensure that children are safe, and do not hurt themselves, we should keep them in the classroom, calmly learning so that they do not have the opportunity to run around and hurt themselves, or indeed others. Finally, when children go out to play, they need to be supervised. As a teacher, I talk a lot, and I need a rest and a cup of tea to soothe my throat. I also like being able to speak to other staff to share my best practice and gain advice. If I am on the playground supervising these sessions, I not only run the risk of getting hurt myself, but I also become extremely lonely and feel somewhat isolated and thirsty. As a result of all of these reasons, I believe that it better for all, yourself, the children, and the staff of Brabin’s Endowed if playtimes were banned. Thank you for your consideration of this matter and I look forward to hearing your response. Yours sincerely, Mr Pearse

school In my opinion, children at primary school do not need a playtime. The most important reason for this is that playtimes waste work time. The children need to spend more time on their English or Maths. work. Children are at school to be educated. In addition to this, playtimes are too dangerous. Most injuries to children at school happen during playtime. Very few injuries happen in the classroom Finally, playtimes are bad for teachers. Many teachers are too old to run around and so they get too cold outside. Also, they have to miss out on having a cup of tea and a chat with other teachers. Therefore, I believe it would be best if playtimes were banned.

Reasons given for Banning Playtimes �Wastes work time �Too dangerous �Teachers get cold and lonely !

Do you want to lose your playtimes? You need to create your reasons for NOT banning playtimes. Now, decide on your 3 main reasons and put them in to your bubbles.

Think back to the letter I sent… Firstly, the most important reason for children being at school is to be educated. If children are outside playing, they are losing valuable time to be developing their maths and literacy skills, which as I am sure you agree are extremely important. What explanations have I given for my first reason?

Think back to the letter I sent… Secondly, the number of injuries that occur during playtimes are much greater than those caused in the classroom. To ensure that children are safe, and do not hurt themselves, we should keep them in the classroom, calmly learning so that they do not have the opportunity to run around and hurt themselves, or indeed others. What explanations have I given for my second reason?

Think back to the letter I sent… Finally, when children go out to play, they need to be supervised. As a teacher, I talk a lot, and I need a rest and a cup of tea to soothe my throat. I also like being able to speak to other staff to share my best practice and gain advice. If I am on the playground supervising these sessions, I not only run the risk of getting hurt myself, but I also become extremely lonely and feel somewhat isolated and thirsty. What explanations have I given for my final reason?

Your Explanations

Think back to the letter I sent… Have a look at the introduction to my letter… I am writing to you to propose that we ban playtimes from All Saints Junior School to benefit both the children and staff greatly. What information have I included? Now, put the details you will include in bullet points

Think back to the letter I sent… Have a look at the summary or conclusion to my letter… As a result of all of these reasons, I believe that it better for all, yourself, the children, and the staff of Your School if playtimes were banned. Thank you for your consideration of this matter and I look forward to hearing your response. What information have I included? Now, put the details you will include in bullet points

https: //www. bbc. co. uk/teach/class-clipsvideo/how-to-write-a-persuasivetext/zkcfbdm