For many students, their English email inbox and/ or outbox mainly consist of group emails such as memos from head office and reminders of new policies. However, materials to teach emailing tend to concentrate on individual communication like making arrangements with clients. In addition, it is difficult to make the topic of group emails fun and communicative, given how most group emails receive no replies. This article gives some ideas for stimulating and communicative practice of emailing to groups of people. In all of the activities, students can either write the emails or say what they would write (starting by saying “Dear all”, etc). For over 350 pages of photocopiable materials to teach writing these and other kinds of emails, see https://www.usingenglish.com/e-books/teaching-emailing/.
Replying to group emails activities
The easiest way of making practising group emailing more communicative is to ask students to respond to them. For example, one person can create an email announcing a new policy, and another student can respond with questions about that announcement. This can be made more fun by the person who writes the original group email trying to create one that is almost impossible to respond to such as an email thanking everyone, and someone else still trying to come up with a realistic reply.
This can also be done by giving the students group emails to try to respond to, in which case you can then test them on the language of that original group email. For example, students can compete or work together to think of a suitable response to an email from the teacher announcing roadworks outside the office, then they can work together to complete a gapped version of the original email.
Group emails jigsaw activities
Students use the topics, language, formality, etc to put together group emails that have been split in some way. The emails can be split at each paragraph, mid-paragraph, mid-sentence or even mid-word, with the last of those being easiest to complete but also focussing most on the language used. This is more challenging and interesting if two or more emails are split and then mixed up. For example, students could be told to split the cards into an informal group email within the team and a more formal group email to the whole company (using the different topics to help), then to put the two emails into order.
It can also be good to give students a mix of group emails and individual emails to divide up and put in order, especially if you want to contrast the two kinds of email and/ or to transition from one topic to the other.
Group emails coin games
A coin can be used as a fun way of adding variety to the group emails that students create, with systems like:
- Heads = Write a group email to the three relevant people/ Tails = Write personal emails to each of the three people (varying the content as little or as much as seems suitable)
- Heads = Write a formal group email/ Tails = Write an informal group email
- Heads = Write a group email to a small group of people/ Tails = Write a group email to a large group of people
- Heads = Write a group email starting with opening greeting 1 (e.g. “Hi guys”)/ Write a group email starting with opening greeting 2 (e.g. “To whom it may concern”)
- Heads = Write a group email starting with opening line 1 (e.g. “Just a quick update on…”)/ Tails = Write a group email starting with opening line 2 (e.g. “Thanks for all your help with…”)
- Heads = Write a group email about one topic/ Tails = Write a group email about two or more topics
- Heads = Write a group email reminding people/ Tails = Write a group email announcing something new
- Heads = Write a group email that you think won’t get a reply/ Tails = Write a group email that you think will get a reply
- Heads = Write a group email that you think will get a positive reply/ Tails = Write an email that you think will get a negative reply
- Heads = Write a group email that ends with closing line 1 (e.g. “Sorry about that”)/ Tails = Write a group email that ends with closing line 2 (e.g. “If you have any questions or concerns about this, please do not hesitate to contact me”)
- Heads = Read or listen to the group email and send a positive reply/ Tails = Read or listen to the group email and send a negative reply
Group emails dice activities
A dice is another good way of adding variety to group emailing practice. A dice can decide things like:
- who to email (“1 = your section, 2 = your department, 3 = your branch, 4 = your region, 5 = the whole company, 6 = free choice”)
- what level of formality (“1 = very formal, 2 = formal, 3 = medium-formality, 4 = casual, 5 = very casual/ very friendly, 6 = free choice)
- what function of email (“1 = giving instructions, 2 = reminder, 3 = announcing something new, 4 = giving good news, 5 = giving bad news, 6 = free choice”)
Group email cooperative writing activities
Students can work together to write one group email. This can be done by them taking turns writing words, sentences, lines or paragraphs. For example, each student writes a group email opening greeting and passes the document to the next student, who writes the opening line, etc.
This can be made more fun by them covering most of what has been written before, kind of like the game “consequences”. When the email is finished, the next person can read through everything and check how much sense it makes, if the email has one clear function, if the formality is consistent, etc.
Group email language competitions
Give out a worksheet or cards with typical words for group emails like “sorry”, “pleased”, “know” and “make sure”, then groups of students compete to use as many of those words as they write group emails on the given topic(s) (travel claims, fire drills, etc).