Friday, April 24, 2020

ICSE Letter Writing Formats Examples


In an earlier post I wrote about letter writing for English exams, the marking schemes etc. In the last post we saw the formats recommended by CBSE. In this post, we will see the formal and informal letters' formats that are recommended by ICSE Board.

Formal Letter ICSE Board


If you are looking for the marking scheme of formal letter writing in ICSE Board, click here

Marking Schemes for Formal Letter Writing in ICSE Board


ICSE recommends the following formats for formal letter: writing:

Formal letter format for ICSE Board
Formal Letter Format recommended by ICSE Board


Now let us see an example letter that I have picked up straight from the horse’s mouth – icse.org:

ICSE Formal Letter Sample
Sample for Formal Letter


ICSE also recommends the following format for formal letter writing. As you might notice, this is quite similar to the one recommended by CBSE.

Formal letter format for ICSE and CBSE Boards
Formal Letter Format recommended by ICSE Board

Let us see how to write the same letter in this format:

ICSE and CBSE Formal Letter Sample
Sample for Formal Letter ICSE Board


For marking scheme of formal letter writing, click here:

Marking Schemes of Formal Letter Writing in ICSE Board 

Informal Letter ICSE Board


If you are looking for the marking scheme of informal letter writing in ICSE Board, click here

Marking Schemes for Informal Letter Writing in ICSE Board


ICSE recommends the following format for informal letter writing. This is quite similar to the one recommended by CBSE:

ICSE and CBSE Boards Format for Informal Letter
Informal Letter Format Recommended by ICSE Board




Now let us see an example letter that I have picked up again from the same source – icse.org:

ICSE and CBSE Informal Letter Sample
Sample for Informal Letter in ICSE Board


ICSE also recommends the following format for informal letter writing:

ICSE and CBSE Format for Informal Letter
Informal Letter Format Recommended by ICSE Board


Let us see how to write the same letter in this format:

ICSE Informal Letter Sample
Sample for Informal Letter in ICSE Board

If you are looking for CBSE Board Letter Writing Formats and Example, click here

Formal and Informal Letter Writing Formats recommended by CBSE and samples


Practice Questions

Formal Letters

1. Write a letter to the Principal of your school complaining about increasing traffic in front of the school main gate and how it is imposing a big risk.
2. You are Sucheta, a member of the Literary Club Library. Write a letter to the adminstrative body of the library on its poor condition and suggest ways to improve it.
3. You are Arush, a resident of Shastri Nagar, Delhi. Recently a lot of trees in your locality have been chopped off in order to make pavements. Write a letter to the editor expressing your concern and asking her to bring it to the notice of the concerned authorities through write ups in her daily newspaper - The Watchdog.

Informal Letters

1. You are Sheetal from Malviya Nagar, Jaipur. Write a letter to your friend Dipika thanking her for the gift she sent you for your birthday.
2. You are Suraj from Andheri in Mumbai. Write a letter to your uncle in Simla inviting him and his son to stay with you for some day during the summer vacation. Tell him all the fun things that you are planning.


Ask for Worksheets for more questions on Letter Writing at crayonsler.edu@gmail.com

Saturday, April 18, 2020

Formal Letter and Informal Letter Format and Examples - CBSE


In my last post on Letter Writing, I discussed the reason for letter writing, how to write effective letters and also the marking schemes on letter writing in two of the major education boards of India. In this post, I will cover the formats of formal and informal letters and also provide with some examples.

If you are looking for the marking scheme of letter writing in CBSE Board, click here

Marking Schemes for Formal Letter Writing in CBSE Board


CBSE Board accepts the following format for Formal Letter Writing:

Formal Letters
Please take a look at the following format -

CBSE and ICSE Letter Writing format
CBSE Formal Letter Writing Format

In case, you do not understand any particular element in the above format, do write to me in the comment section below.

Now let us look at an example:

This is a question for Class 8 students studying in the CBSE Board -

Question: You are Sushil Kumar, a resident of C-16 Ajay Nagar. Write a letter to the Accounts Manager of Bank of India for opening a new savings account.

CBSE and ICSE Letter Writing
CBSE Sample Formal Letter




If you are looking for the marking scheme of letter writing in CBSE Board, click here

Marking Schemes for Informal Letter Writing in CBSE Board

For Informal Letter Writing, CBSE board recommends the following format:


CBSE and ICSE letter writing format and examples
CBSE Informal Letter Writing Format

Informal letters are written in more personal and friendly manner as you are writing it to a friend or someone you know personally. There is more scope of creative writing in this as you can add humor or other emotions while writing the body of the letter. Here's an example of informal letter:

Question: You are Rohit who lives in South Park Apartments in South Extension Delhi. Write a letter to your friend asking him about his trip to Kerala and also invite him for your parents' anniversary party.

CBSE and ICSE Letter Writing
CBSE Sample Informal Letter


If you are looking for ICSE Board Letter Writing Formats and Example, click here

Letter Writing Formats recommended by ICSE and Samples


Now that you have the format and one example each of Formal and Informal Letters preferred in CBSE, it is time to practice some letter writing. Here are some questions that you can practice at home and send it to me on this email id - crayonsler.edu@gmail.com.

Formal Letters Practice Questions

  1. The drains in your locality are overflowing. This is leading to a lot of discomfort of the residents. This is also a health hazard. Write a letter to the local district officer to look into the issue.
  2. As the President of the Residents Welfare Association, you have decided to arrange food for the daily wage workers in your surroundings during the Covid-19 pandemic. However, for that you need to book the main playground as the area where all the food items will be accumulated. Write a letter to the concerned body of authority seeking permission.
  3. The traffic in your neighborhood has increased a lot over the years. There are 2 schools and some pre-schools in your locality and it is the young students whose lives are most at stake. Write a letter to the Area MLA to look into the matter.

Informal Letters Practice Questions


  1. You are Radhika who lives in Andheri Mumbai. Write a letter to your friend Mehak in Delhi about your plans for visit to Delhi in the winter vacation and ask her if she could meet you during your visit.
  2. You are Abigail who has recently shifted to a new city. Write a letter to your friend back in Mumbai telling her about this new city and how you find it.
  3. You are Sabaa who has a little sister studying in hostel. Her exams are about to start. Write a letter to her to wish her good luck and also how to best utilize her time for preparations.



Ask for Worksheets for more questions on Letter Writing at crayonsler.edu@gmail.com

Remember, the more you practice letter writing, the better you will get at this. In another post I have covered the formats of formal letter writing and informal letter writing recommended by ICSE Board. And there you can also find more practice questions. 

Friday, April 10, 2020

Formal and Informal Letter Writing

Often my students ask me, ‘Ma’am, why do we have to write letters, we can send emails and WhatsApp messages’ It is one of those challenging questions to which no matter how convincing I try to sound, my students have to come up with a counter response or question outsmarting my answers because you know you cannot really win any argument with Gen-Z.

Even though we are living in a digital age that makes handwritten letters and messages so old-fashioned, yet letter writing still has a very substantial role to play in many different ways and that is the reason that various education boards in India are still including it in their course curriculum.
Letter Writing for CBSE Board and ICSE Board
Formal and Informal Letters

Why Should We Learn Letter Writing?

  1. To start with, letter writing forms the base of any kind of mail communication (whether hand-written or email). We use the same format even in emails to an extent. So for example, when they are learning how to write the subject of the letter (which should ideally be 4 -5 words long), it will prove useful when these kids write emails in future. They will know how to write meaningful and precise subjects to their emails.
  2. Letter writing enhances communication skills and mailing etiquette. They infuse a sense of discipline while differentiating between formal and informal letter writing. It also encourages good manners that a person ought to know while beginning or ending a conversation with someone.
  3. Letter writing serves an important tool in learning creative writing. Whether you are asking someone to take any action based on your letter or narrating any incident or event, letters help bring out the writer in you.
  4. Hand writing is another component of hand-written letters that gets improved. If reading a letter becomes a challenge then that can be annoying to the reader and has the potential to create a bad impression of the writer. For example, I have a student who forgets to strike off the head of the letter ‘t’ and that ends up looking like an ‘l’. This leads to a lot of confusion as took becomes look and take becomes lake... So one day when he tried to write ‘she took the pain’... instead it read as ‘she look the pain’. And though it ended up on a hilarious note in the class, yet if he were to write that in a real letter to someone, it could have ended up in a mess.


How to Write Effective Impressive Letters


Formal Letter Writing and Informal Letter Writing
Letter Writing
  1. Whether formal or informal, the first thing that one needs is the purpose of writing the letter. Sometimes the purpose of informal letters can be written just to stay in touch or ask about well being of the other person. But when we are thinking in terms of school education, the students are usually given a situation, so that becomes the purpose of the letter. So it is very important to understand the purpose of the letter and frame the body of the letter accordingly.
  2. The format is yet another critical component of letter writing. Both informal and formal letters have a particular format and one needs to maintain that in order to make the correct impression.
  3. In order to make sense, one has to have a coherent flow of sentences. You need to write in a logical and systematic sequence if you don’t want to confuse the reader.
  4. The correct choice of words and a decent vocabulary is important to get your message across with clarity. So it is better if you brush up on your knowledge of words once in a while.
  5. In formal letters, it is important that you don't beat about the bush and come straight to the point. 
  6. It is also important to be precise yet not miss out on important information required by the reader, especially if the reader is asked to take any action based on the letter.



If you are looking for CBSE Board Letter Writing Formats and Example, click here

Formal and Informal Letter Writing Formats recommended by CBSE and samples



If you are looking for ICSE Board Letter Writing Formats and Example, click here

Letter Writing Formats recommended by ICSE and samples

Ask for Worksheets for more questions on Letter Writing.at crayonsler.edu@gmail.com


Marking Scheme in Letter Writing

Letter writing carry big marks and it is considered as a very important question in any English exam. Note that it is easy to score full marks in letter writing.

CBSE Board class 10 exam letter writing question carries 8 marks and comes with a choice, while the ICSE Board letter writing carries 10 marks.

Marking Scheme of Letter Writing in CBSE Class 10 English Exam:
  • Format – 1 mark
  • Content – 4 marks
  • Expression – 3 marks (grammatical accuracy, appropriate words, spellings, coherence & relevance of ideas and style, logical arguments)
In case of content, if you can present your ideas with creativity using relevant language and reasoning, you can achieve full marks.

Marking Scheme of Letter Writing in ICSE Class 10 English Exam:
  • Format – 3 marks
  • Content – 2 marks
  • Expression – 5 marks
Ask for Worksheets for more questions on Letter Writing.at crayonsler.edu@gmail.com

Now that you know why do we need to learn letter writing, how to make your letters more eye-catching and marks-fetching, and the marking scheme of the two most important national education boards, it’s time to use this lockdown period to improve upon your letter writing. In my next post I will share the formats of both formal and informal letters and also provide some examples along with worksheets.
Meanwhile, post your doubts, suggestions and queries in the comment section below and I will try to answer them.


If you are looking for CBSE Board Letter Writing Formats and Example, click here

Formal and Informal Letter Writing Formats recommended by CBSE and samples

If you are looking for ICSE Board Letter Writing Formats and Example, click here

Letter Writing Formats recommended by ICSE and samples

Ask for Worksheets for more questions on Letter Writing.at crayonsler.edu@gmail.com

Wednesday, April 8, 2020

Course Curriculum


Yesterday, I spoke to mother of one of my students. While we discussed how difficult life has become and how she is spending almost two third of her life in the kitchen whipping up something interesting or innovative for her 2 kids, she raised a concern about her children missing out on studies and that she has no clue where to begin if she were to homeschool.
Parents of school-going kids are constantly in search of some resources online that can keep their children in touch with their studies. I spoke to some of my friends about how they are approaching this whole new unchartered business of home-schooling. Some said they are downloading apps dedicated to school education and some are looking up at resources available online. A lot of them are using this time to get their children hooked to storybooks or to brush up their mental maths.
So if you want to start off with the next session’s studies, I am sharing the course curriculum. Please have a look so that you can start right away.
Class 1 – ICSE
Class 2 – ICSE
Class 3 – ICSE
Class 4 – ICSE
Class 6 – ICSE
Class 7 – ICSE
Class 8 – ICSE
Class 9 – ICSE
Class 10 – ICSE

Are you looking for a good school in your neighbourhood? Search your preferred school within seconds using Crayonsler school database. Click here Crayonsler 

Saturday, April 4, 2020

Routine for Children to Keep Them Happy During Lockdown Period

Hiya, my otherwise happy and spirited 1 year old, is getting increasingly cranky and aggressive with each passing day, thanks to the lockdown period. And I don't blame her because she absolutely loves socializing, sometimes more than her parents. I see a lot of babies of her age (and less) get uncomfortable and feel insecure when surrounded by people, but not her. In fact, the more the number of people, the happier she is, whether she knows them or not.
Ever since she has started differentiating between humans and things, she has loved being around people. She hops on to everybody's lap and plays with them (that kind of worries me at times, though).

The lockdown period is till 14th April, and children by all means should stay at home till then. And that is worrying us for we don't know what will become of Hiya's temperament by the time everything becomes normal.
I might be over reacting, all these tantrums might mean that everything is normal and she is just behaving like kids her age should. Or it could be the lack of going outdoors.
Meanwhile, a friend has sent a pdf document created by West Bengal Commission for Protection of Child Rights. It's called Routine for Children to keep them happy during lockdown period. I am sharing this with you. Hope this helps me and you too, if you are looking for some solution to keep your kid happy, busy, and happily busy.

Click on this link below:
Routine for Children to Keep Them Happy During Lockdown Period


Are you looking for a good school in your neighbourhood? Search your preferred school within seconds using Crayonsler school database. Click here Crayonsler 

Dancing and Singing and Off Your Blues

When I was very young, around 7 – 8 years, my dad used to go to Mumbai often for office tours. And every time he came back, I would sit i...