Let's do it!
Throughout the different missions, you have learnt about education and the crucial role it plays in society. Now it is time to use it all together for your final mission. You are going to write a proposal addressed to your school principal suggesting the different ways in which your school could change. Sending a proposal to your school principal is a proactive way to speak for your ideas and contribute to positive change within your school community.
Students' proposals are important because they let students share their ideas and suggestions directly with the school. It makes them feel like they own and have power in their school. Also, student proposals show different views and needs of students, making sure school rules and activities work for everyone. Proposals help students think critically, become leaders, and care about their community. So, how would you feel about writing yours?
Again, you will work with the same teammates but before writing, you should revise the following resources:
- A reading comprehension activity from the British Council LearningEnglish Teens website where you will see a model sample of a proposal for a digital newspaper. Read the text provided and do the activities it proposes.
- Check the section How to write a proposal from the webpage wikiHow. You will find very useful infographics for the steps to follow when writing a proposal.
- As you are expected to use formal language, you will need to revise some important aspects in formal writing and learn also formal expressions which you could use in your proposal. You can check that in the article How to write a formal Letter/Email from the engxam webpage.
We should also consider the importance of reported speech in the type of text that you are about to write as you will have to report the information you gathered from a survey in Mission 1. Reported speech is a way of expressing what someone else has said without quoting them directly. This often involves changes in verb tenses, pronouns, and other elements to reflect the shift from direct quotation to indirect reporting.
To understand how reported speech works, watch this LearnEnglish Teens video, which will help you see the changes in the reported sentences, After that, revise these infographics in the test-english webpage. Read through the examples provided and practice with these interactiv test-english.com activities.
Now, you are ready for your proposal. Get creative, put your thoughts into action, follow these guidelines and have fun writing!
Pre-writing
- Brainstorm some ideas through freewriting, mind mapping, or listing.
- Gather information from the previous survey conducted to students in mission 1.
- Organize the content. Use the "Guidelines for writing a formal proposal" (download in editable format or pdf) provided by your teacher to organize your ideas. You can decide to use a digital tool like Miro and or just the printed version and jot down your ideas in the document.
Drafting
- Write your first draft without worrying too much about perfection.
- Make sure that you use reported speech to refer to the survey conducted to students in class.
- Focus on getting your ideas down on paper (or screen) in a coherent manner.
Revising
- Rethink the structure and organization of your draft.
- Proofread for grammar, punctuation, and spelling errors.
Asking for feedback
- Consider feedback from peers or teachers and make necessary changes. For self or peer assessment, you can use this "Checklist to assess a proposal". It will help you do a great job! (Download editable file/Download pdf file)
- Edit for grammar accuracy, clarity, coherence, and logical flow after receiving feedback.
Publishing
- Now, it is time to send your proposal to the school principal. You can choose to send a formal email or just write the proposal in a piece of paper.
A proposal is a formal written document that outlines a plan, suggestion, or idea, usually with the goal of persuading someone to take a particular action or support a specific project. Proposals are commonly used in business, educational institutions and professional settings to propose solutions to problems, request funding or resources, or initiate collaborations.