Put your pens down and cover the emails below with a book, piece of paper, etc.
Look at the first email when your teacher tells you to and race to find a mistake in it, putting up your hand when you think you have found something wrong. It must be an actual error, not something that is okay but could be improved. If what you say is not a mistake, you have to wait for the next email to try again but the other people/ groups can still try to guess what is wrong with it. You are not allowed to use a pen, but you need to remember what the mistakes are for later parts of the game.
When your teacher tells you all to look at the second email, search for another example of the mistake in the first email, plus one more different mistake, and raise your hand when you think that you have found both errors. As before, anyone people guessing wrongly will have to wait for other people to guess, i.e. they don’t get a second chance.
Do the same with the other emails one by one as your teacher tells you to, each time looking for examples of the same mistakes as all the other emails plus one more, up to six mistakes (five the same as the previous email plus one more) in Email 6.
When you have finished the race, go through all the emails again with a pen to correct all the mistakes, moving onto the next email whenever you are ready. If you get stuck, it may help to look at the next email, then find most of those mistakes in the previous one.
Emails with more and more errors to find and correct
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Email 1
Dear Dr Case,
Thanks for your class on Tuesday, it should really help me with the paper that I’m working on.
Please find last week’s homework attached. I’m afraid I couldn’t find any line graphs related to my research topic, so I had to choose something rather random. Please check my homework.
I look forward to hearing from you.
Best regards,
Hendrik
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Email 2
Dear Professor Case
Thanks again for answering my questions at the end of the class last week.
I have always had problems understanding that theory, but I now finally feel like I understand it.
Please find my essay attached.
I am sorry that I am sending it so late.
I just came back from Thailand yesterday and I was not able to send it earlier.
I was not really sure if I understood the instructions for the assignment, but in the attached essay I explained about the fundamental terms which appear in my research area.
Will you check if I’ve done the right thing?
I look forward to seeing you in the next class.
Best regards
Gregorio
Email 3
Dear Alex
I hope you are well and that last weekend’s conference went okay.
I’m sorry for missing the last class.
Would you please let me know the homework for this week?
I’ll try to email the previous homework before the next class.
Thanks.
All the best
Frederique
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Email 4
Dear Dr Alex,
Thanks for your quick reply.
I’m afraid I will have to miss today’s class due to another engagement.
Kindly tell me the homework for the next class.
I’m looking forward to hearing from you.
Regards,
Ignacio
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Email 5
Dear Professor Alex
I hope you are well and have been safe from the recent flu epidemic.
I’m writing because I’d like to come to your office and speak to you.
Please let me know as soon as possible when you are available.
Yours
Elizabeth
Email 6
To Dr Smith,
I just heard about the big storm in your country.
I hope your friends and family are all okay.
I’m writing to send you my homework, which I intended to turn in two weeks ago.
I would appreciate it very much if you could correct it.
I also heard from a classmate that we are going to have a test in the next class.
Would you give me some information about the test?
Sincerely,
Catherine
Go through the emails again to correct them (using symbols like arrows to change word order, crossing out and changing things, and adding words and sentences), then compare with the model answers below.
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Partial suggested answers – Kinds of errors
Email 1
One mistake – Command instead of a request
Email 2
Two mistakes – Command instead of a request and bad paragraphing (starting new lines inside paragraphs, like a poem or song)
Email 3
Three mistakes – Command instead of a request, starting new lines inside paragraphs, and not giving reasons when apologising
Email 4
Four mistakes – Command instead of a request, starting new lines inside paragraphs, not giving (specific) reasons, and an incorrect opening greeting
Email 5
Five mistakes – Command instead of a request, starting new lines inside paragraphs, not giving reasons, an incorrect opening greeting, and no closing line
Email 6
Six mistakes – Command instead of a request, starting new lines inside paragraphs, not giving reasons, an incorrect opening greeting, no closing line, and not dividing into paragraphs
Suggested answers – Corrected emails
Many other improved versions are possible, so please check if you made other changes.
Email 1
Dear Dr Case,
Thanks for your class on Tuesday, it should really help me with the paper that I’m working on.
Please find last week’s homework attached. I’m afraid I couldn’t find any line graphs related to my research topic, so I had to choose something rather random. Can you check if that’s okay?
I look forward to hearing from you.
Best regards,
Hendrik
Email 2
Dear Professor Case
Thanks again for answering my questions at the end of the class last week. I have always had problems understanding that theory, but I now finally feel like I understand it.
Please find my essay attached. I am sorry that I am sending it so late. I just came back from Thailand yesterday and I was not able to send it earlier.
I was not really sure if I understood the instructions for the assignment, but in the attached essay I explained about the fundamental terms which appear in my research area. Could you check if I’ve done the right thing?
I look forward to seeing you in the next class.
Best regards
Gregorio
Email 3
Dear Alex
I hope you are well and that last weekend’s conference went okay.
I’m sorry for missing the last class but I had influenza and was in bed all day. Could you please let me know the homework for this week? I’ll try to email the previous homework before the next class.
Thanks.
All the best
Frederique
Email 4
Dear Dr Case,
Thanks for your quick reply.
I’m afraid I will have to miss today’s class due to a job interview that I was not able to rearrange. Could you tell me the homework for the next class?
I’m looking forward to hearing from you.
Regards,
Ignacio
Email 5
Dear Professor Case
I hope you are well and have been safe from the recent flu epidemic.
I’m writing because I’d like to come to your office and speak to you, as I’m thinking about changing the topic of my dissertation and my supervisor said that you would be the best person to talk to about my new idea. I need to let my supervisor know as soon as possible what my new plan is, so could you possibly let me know when you are available in the next week or two?
I look forward to hearing from you.
Yours
Elizabeth
Email 6
Dear Dr Smith,
I just heard about the big storm in your country. I hope your friends and family are all okay.
I’m writing to send you my homework. I intended to turn it in two weeks ago, but I’m afraid my hard disk crashed and I lost all the data, meaning I had to start again from scratch. I would appreciate it very much if you could correct it.
I also heard from a classmate that we are going to have a test in the next class. I would be grateful if you give me some information about the test.
I look forward to hearing from you.
Sincerely,
Catherine
Brainstorming stage
Without looking above for now, brainstorm at least two suitable phrases into each gap below. Many phrases not above are also possible.
Opening greeting
Opening line
Talking about attachments
Enquiries/ Requests
Apologies/ Giving bad news
Closing line
Closing greeting
Look above for suitable phrases, brainstorm more, then compare your answers as a class or with a list of phrases.
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