How to Write an Email to your Instructor transcript

hi everyone it's sean here from the canadian college of english language in vancouver it's been a long time but I hope you're doing well we thought now that so many of you are studying at home virtually while in-person classes are temporarily on hold that we would put together some new videos so new content to help you with your studies so today I thought that we would start with some functional language with a lesson that we do on day one about college communications class here at community college and it's its Alessa all about communicating with your instructor okay so it's essential for you to communicate with your instructor if you have a question or a problem you need an extension on an assignment you don't understand the instructions of an assignment you have an emergency and can't attend a class or a test you have to communicate with your instructor okay it's essential now these days more than ever a lot of that communication is going to happen through email okay so email is obviously very convenient but it can sometimes come with challenges and I'm sure all of us at some point have received an email or a text message and there was something about the language something about the tone or the feeling or the words that the person shows or you know how short it was how long it was that we just didn't like that it possibly upset us or me as angry or irritated us in some way so we obviously want to avoid that so languages is very subtle writing is an art and that's why for many international students whose first language is not English communicating through writing can be can be difficult so I thought today we would start by looking at some tips for writing an effective clear polite email to your instructor that will hopefully get the the positive results that you are looking for okay so let's start by looking at then example of what not to do okay so again this is this is an example of an email that you should not write to your instructor okay I really need your help man I'm sick can you give me a chance to redo the homework if not you're gonna fail me in the homework and maybe the whole course please sir please it's a humble request please bro can you help me read it so again this is not the email that you write to your instructor but this is unfortunately an actual email that I have received from a student okay so let's look at an example of an email you should write okay a more appropriate version of that email rewritten and then I'll kind of break it down you see some tips here some pointers so dear professor Oh movie how are you this is Sean McLeod one seven one five one six from your college communication class on Mondays at 12 I'm writing because unfortunately I'm too ill to attend today's class and I'm wondering if it's possible to submit my assignment to you next week I understand the due date is today but I would appreciate an extension so that my absence does not negatively affect my grade in the course thank you very much Sean okay so the second email much better than first and let's break it down and talk about why okay so here are the tips the first one to keep in mind is is to start your email with a greeting okay you need to address the person that you're writing to so address your instructor in most cases you may want to address that person formally you know with something like professor or doctor but it depends on the situation some colleges like our own for example usually the instructors you can just refer to them by their first name okay but definitely address your instructor if you want you can also include some form of nicety right one sentence one question asking how are you or I hope you are well not it's not essential but it's nice okay that's a good start next very important you want to identify yourself immediately this is it seems obvious but it's something that many students forget to include which is your name your full name a student number if you haven't the name of the course the day and the time I wish you take this course remember that your instructor may have many students some may have the same name as you and your teachers may have many sections of the same course so you really want to make it clear who you are and how they know you okay next tip is be straightforward and concise which means kind of get to the get to the point alright you want to avoid long rambling sentences you don't want to you don't have to tell them a big story you don't have to beg for forgiveness and you don't have to you know beat around the bush before you get to the point it's a bit of a balance because you don't want to be so short that it seems impolite okay but again your teachers may be very busy they may have hundreds of emails from from students to read so you want to keep it keep it directed to the point okay next which was a major mistake in that first email that that I showed you is avoid using slang you don't don't include emojis in your email to your teacher no no common texting abbreviations and never refer to your instructor as bro in an email alright next use proper punctuation capitalization grammar all the rules of English that you've learned in classes you want to show and use in your email if this email looks like you quickly thumbed it out on you are on your phone it didn't give any thought to it it does send another message to your instructor that you you're not very serious and you don't maybe you don't care about their their time okay so make sure that you're using the rules of the language and proper grammar punctuation next you want to use polite linens you want to politely formulate your request or your problem so certain expressions that we used to kind of soften the language we're about to make the requester ask for something things like I was wondering if or is it possible to would it be able would I be able to these are as I said they really soften the language and seem much more polite in your communication to your instruction also important you want to try to show in the email that you are responsible that you're serious that you have that you take ownership of the issue or the problem so you want to let the instructor know that you have done what you can do first to solve the problem or find the answer before you send so let me just give you another example of a of an email kind of the same to the same professor but I've just changed slightly so again this is dear professor I will be telling you I introduce myself and then I say I'm hoping you can confirm the due date for our next essays and I'm sure you have already provided this information but I have looked at the course outline and previous class emails and was unable to find it thank you for your time so again that just shows your instructor that though you're not just emailing them immediately without you know doing any other work yourself again it sends a message of your own commitment and seriousness and lastly for us very important is to sign off at the end of your email sign up and thank you regards all the best something like that and then proofread it we did what once or twice first and then you can send it off okay so I think if you follow these tips you're more likely to get the positive response back from your instructor than you that you're hoping for and to keep healthy communication and avoids any kind of miscommunication or misunderstandings okay so speaking of signing off that is it for me this time thank you for watching and if you are interested in learning more about the classes here at ccel and the ccel live classes where you can virtually join our teachers here and then convert and classmates from all over the world in real time live check out the link below and we'll see you next time Thanks