The Mother Tongue, Book I: Lessons in Speaking, Reading and Writing English · Sec. 300 · Part 2: Part Second
85. A letter about apples
Goal: Your child plans a letter from notes and writes it in clear paragraphs.
You'll need
- The book, open to this lesson
- Paper and pencil (a notebook kept just for this book works well)
- An apple to look at
What's in the book
Section 300 asks for a letter to a friend in a country where no apples grow, telling all you know about apple trees and apples, with six notes to help: kinds of apples, how the tree looks, orchards in spring, apple picking, what apples are like, and their uses.
The lesson, step by step
Read the task and notes
Read Section 300 together. Your friend has never seen an apple! What would they need to know?
Talk through the notes
Go through the six notes aloud. For each, your child says two or three sentences. Look at a real apple for note 5: color, shape, skin, flesh, seeds, taste.
Group into paragraphs
Help your child group the notes into three paragraphs: the tree and orchard, the apple itself, and how we use apples.
Write the letter
Your child writes the letter: 10 to 15 sentences in three paragraphs, with all the parts of a letter.
Check it gently
Read it as if you had never seen an apple. Where you can't picture something, your child adds a detail. Then check that each paragraph sticks to its own topic.
What a good result looks like
Example (written for this guide, not from the book):
Dear Kofi,
You asked me about apples. An apple tree is not very tall, and its branches spread out wide like an umbrella. In May the orchards are covered with pink and white blossoms, and the air smells sweet.
An apple is round and about as big as your fist. Its skin may be red, green or yellow. Inside, the flesh is white and crisp, and in the middle are small brown seeds.
...
Afterwards
Mail the letter to a real pen pal or relative far away, if you have one.