Formal Persuasive Letter: Ghandi

Encourage your students to write a powerfully persuasive formal letter from a choice of five letter writing tasks. After studying an extract from Mahatma Ghandi’s 1940 open letter to Hitler, designed to persuade him to stop World War Two, students choose a subject that they are passionate about from the following choices:

1. A letter to your local council arguing that the building project should not go ahead.
2. . Write a letter to the organisers of an expedition persuading them that you should be on the team.
3. Write a letter to a well-known person persuading them to visit your school or college for the benefit of the students.
4. Write a letter to a celebrity of your choice persuading him or her to support a campaign to end world poverty.
5. Write a letter to the Manager of the School Meals Service in which you offer your advice.
   Key persuasive features are identified on a twenty slide powerpoint. Students are encouraged to use emotive language; antithesis; rhetorical question; simple sentences; repetition and direct address.
   Perfect for teaching GCSE transacational writing.