Formal email
Request, explain or recommend through audience-aware writing.
Write for the situation
Audience
a coordinator or decision-maker
Purpose
Request, explain or recommend
Register and tone
Polite and suitably formal; concise but developed
Avoid
Chatty greetings or an unclear requested action
Conventions that help the reader
A meaningful subject line; appropriate salutation; purpose stated early; focused paragraphs; suitable closing. These are adaptable guidance: task, audience and purpose decide the choices.
A flexible route through the text
- 1Subject and greeting
- 2Purpose and context
- 3Reasons and specific request
- 4Courteous close
Language to develop
Choose precise verbs and examples. Connect reasons and consequences, qualify claims when necessary and vary sentence forms without forcing unfamiliar language.
Planning question
What exactly are you asking the recipient to do?
Model extract · Social organization
This original teaching extract shows selected choices. It is shorter than a complete Paper 1 response and is not an IB-marked exemplar.
Subject: A pilot peer-mentoring programme
Dear Ms Patel,
I am writing to request approval for a small peer-mentoring pilot for new students. The proposed programme would pair volunteers with newcomers for four weekly meetings. Each pair would choose a shared school activity rather than rely on unstructured conversation. To protect participants, we would provide clear boundaries and an adult contact for concerns. Could the student-support team help us plan a training session and suitable meeting space?
Kind regards,
Alex
Read as a writer
Find evidence of the intended reader, purpose and register. Identify a convention that makes the text usable.
Explore the content
Underline an example, reason or practical detail. Explain what it contributes, then develop the next paragraph yourself.
Connect it to each core theme
Identities
Your school is considering a multilingual welcome project.
Write a formal email for a coordinator or decision-maker. Explain a specific concern, support it with relevant reasons and request a workable action.
Theme connection: how language choices shape belonging.
Planning focus: What exactly are you asking the recipient to do?
Plan this taskExperiences
Your school is considering a student exchange programme.
Write a formal email for a coordinator or decision-maker. Explain a specific concern, support it with relevant reasons and request a workable action.
Theme connection: what students gain from an unfamiliar experience.
Planning focus: What exactly are you asking the recipient to do?
Plan this taskHuman ingenuity
Your school is considering an AI-supported language-learning app.
Write a formal email for a coordinator or decision-maker. Explain a specific concern, support it with relevant reasons and request a workable action.
Theme connection: how technology helps learners and where its limits lie.
Planning focus: What exactly are you asking the recipient to do?
Plan this taskSocial organization
Your school is considering a school peer-mentoring programme.
Write a formal email for a coordinator or decision-maker. Explain a specific concern, support it with relevant reasons and request a workable action.
Theme connection: how a community can support newcomers.
Planning focus: What exactly are you asking the recipient to do?
Plan this taskSharing the planet
Your school is considering a student-led food-waste project.
Write a formal email for a coordinator or decision-maker. Explain a specific concern, support it with relevant reasons and request a workable action.
Theme connection: how individuals and institutions can reduce waste.
Planning focus: What exactly are you asking the recipient to do?
Plan this taskTeach, practise and refine
- Read a real example of this text type and identify its readership and purpose.
- Annotate the model extract, then discuss how a different audience would change its wording.
- Select a theme task. Plan all required actions before writing; develop examples rather than listing them.
- Draft independently, review audience and task coverage, then revise one paragraph.
Teacher language
What exactly are you asking the recipient to do?
Support without fixing every sentence
Offer an audience–purpose planning grid, a few useful connectors and oral rehearsal. Then remove the paragraph openings and ask for independent wording. Extend by developing an alternative viewpoint or a justified qualification.
Self-check
- Have I addressed every instruction?
- Do the reader, purpose, tone and conventions match?
- Does each main idea have a developed example or explanation?
- Have I checked verb forms, reference, spelling and punctuation?