'Formal and informal language' tutor notes
The aim of the 'Formal and informal language' topic area is to help learners distinguish between the formal and informal language which they are likely to come across in daily life. It is important that they are able to recognise that different acquaintances and situations call for different kinds of language.
How does this tie in with the curriculums?
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England
SLc/E3.2 - use formal language and register when appropriate:
1. understand that spoken language has different registers, depending on the formality of the situation and on the relationship between the speakers
2. be able to shift registers for different familiar contexts and situations
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Wales
As England
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Northern Ireland
As England
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Scotland
See www.aloscotland.com for details of the Scottish curriculum.
Please note that the BBC is not responsible for the content of other websites.
In this Skillswise module you'll find...
Formal and informal language - games
There is 1 game in this section - 'Say What?'. Learners must listen to questions and choose the appropriate answer for the context. They will be presented with a question in either a job interview setting or a cafe scene with a friend, and must pick the answer with the appropriate level of formality for the situation. There is a choice to play the easy or the hard version of the game.
Please do tell us what you think of these games.
Formal and informal language - factsheets
There is one factsheet in this section. It explains how you need to change the way you speak to different people or in different situations. It goes on to give an example of informal language being used inappropriately in an interview for a job. It provides a list of informal words, paired with a more formal synonym. It finishes by drawing attention to certain features of informal language - shorter words, contractions, slang, based on Anglo-Saxon - and formal language, largely based on words of Latin, French or Greek origin.
Formal and informal language - worksheets
There are two printable worksheets with answersheets in this section. The first presents the learner with a list of formal words, asking for their informal equivalents, followed by the reverse: a list of informal words, where the learner is asked to write their formal synonyms. The second worksheet is a similar exercise, this time giving phrases rather than single words.
Worksheets are fairly easy to add, so if you have a good idea for a worksheet that practises ordering in other ways,
tell us about it!
Technical help:
To get the most out of this topic area you need the following 'plug-ins':
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Flash 7
The game in this topic section uses Flash 7. This is free to download and should only take a few minutes. You can follow the BBC WebWise instructions to download it to your machine.
Find out more.
If you don't have Flash 7 the same learning points are covered in the quiz, worksheets and factsheets.
Please note: the flash game in this section is quite graphical. Please allow about 1 minute for the game to download. Download times will vary according to your connection speed and how busy the network is.
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Adobe PDF documents
Note that you will need the free Adobe Acrobat software on your machine to view PDF documents.
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FlashPapers
We have provided the worksheets and factsheets as both PDF files and FlashPaper files. For screenreader users you should choose the FlashPaper version as these are designed to be screenreader accessible. If you don't need a screenreader it doesn't matter which type you use.
If you want to print the factsheets we recommend you use the PDF version provided. However, if you do want to print a FlashPaper, you must use the print button within the FlashPaper window (top right). Your internet browser can't tell what size to print these kind of documents, so if you use the print option in the 'file' menu it may print out completely the wrong size.
If you are new to the web, why not take a look at WebWise. You can try the WebWise online course or be shown the basics by our Computer Tutor. It's free and it will take you through everything you need to know to use the web successfully in your teaching. Get WebWise.
If you would like to get more help using Skillswise, check out the Help pages.
Taking it further:
With Skillswise:
Don't forget to check out the Skillswise Lesson plans and Teaching inspirations areas for more ideas about teaching formal and informal language:
Writing section (Especially the section on writing Christmas cards online at the bottom of this page) and Types of words
On the web:
Here are a few suggestions of other places on the web that you might find useful resources that you can adapt for teaching Formal and informal language.
Please note that the BBC is not responsible for the content of other websites.
Do you know of any great online resources for practising formal and informal language? Tell us about them!
