Writing Letters and Summaries

1The friendly letter

You write a friendly (informal) letter to someone you know well: a friend, a cousin, a grandparent. It is warm and chatty, but it still has a shape.

1. Your address, at the top right.
2. The date, under your address.
3. The greeting, on the left: Dear Mutesi,
4. The body: an opening paragraph that asks after your reader, one paragraph for each piece of news, and a closing paragraph.
5. The closing: Your loving cousin, or Your friend, with your first name under it.

Here is a model friendly letter.

P.O. Box 102
Kicukiro
Kigali
15th October 2026

Dear Mutesi,

How are you, and how is life at boarding school? I hope the nights in Musanze are not too cold for you. We are all well at home, and Mama sends her greetings.

I have exciting news. Our class has opened a reading corner! Every family gave an old book, and now we have more than forty storybooks. I have already read six of them. My favourite is about a boy who learns to read and dreams of becoming a teacher.

I am also studying hard for the national examinations. I made a timetable, so I revise Mathematics and English every evening after supper, and on Saturdays I practise with past papers. It is tiring, but I feel more confident every week.

Please write back and tell me about your new friends and your teachers. I am counting the days until the holidays, when we can play together again.

Your loving cousin,
Uwase

2The formal letter

You write a formal letter to someone you do not know personally, or to someone in an official position: a head teacher, a company or a leader in your cell. It is polite and goes straight to the point.

1. Your address and the date, at the top right.
2. The receiver's title and address, on the left, below the date.
3. The greeting: Dear Sir/Madam, when you do not know the person's name, or Dear Mr … / Dear Mrs … with their family name when you do.
4. The subject line, in capital letters: RE: REQUEST FOR … It tells the reader at once what the letter is about.
5. The body: say why you are writing in the first paragraph, give the details in the middle, and say what you hope will happen at the end.
6. The closing: Yours faithfully, after Dear Sir/Madam, or Yours sincerely, after a name. Then your signature and your name.

P.O. Box 102
Kicukiro
Kigali
20th October 2026

The Executive Secretary
Kabeza Cell
Kicukiro District
Kigali

Dear Sir/Madam,

RE: REQUEST FOR A PLACE TO HOLD A CHILDREN'S READING CLUB

I am writing on behalf of the reading club of Primary Six pupils in our village. We are asking for permission to use the veranda of the cell office on Saturday afternoons.

Our club has twelve members and more than forty storybooks. At the moment we meet under a tree, but when it rains we have nowhere to go and the books get wet. The veranda would keep the books dry, and younger children from the village could join us.

We promise to keep the place clean and to leave by five o'clock. Our class teacher has agreed to visit the club every week.

I would be very grateful if you could consider our request.

Yours faithfully,

(signature)
Uwase
Secretary, Primary Six Reading Club

3Writing a summary

A summary is a short version of a text. It keeps only the main points, in your own words. Exam questions often say: Summarise the passage in not more than 4 lines or in about 50 words.

Read this short story from Ghana.

Amahi gets a Library
by Jedidiah Nhyiraba

Amahi is a small farming community in the Eastern part of Ghana.

There is only one public school in this community where all children attend.

One morning, a group of volunteers from the regional capital visited the community. They realized that the school did not have a library.

This lowered the community's reading interest and literacy levels. The leader of the group thought of a way to help.

The group introduced the community members and leadership to the African Storybook Reader App.

With their internet router, they installed the App for households that had a smart phone. They also downloaded storybooks.

Every household now has a smart library in their house and on the go.

Children were found reading during their leisure hours.

Parents were now able to read with their children.

Those who could not read, enjoyed seeing their children reading out loud and explaining the stories to them.

The volunteer group donated some tablets to enrich library time in the school.

Reading sessions in school became fun and interesting.

Several months of high reading interest in the community showed positive change.

Pupils were able to read fluently in English and the Akwapim Twi, the local language.

Community leaders took it upon themselves to support reading.

They engaged groups of pupils daily to sustain their reading interest.

The only school in Amahi, a farming village in Ghana, had no library. Volunteers put a storybook app on families' phones and gave the school tablets. Soon children and parents were reading together, and pupils learned to read fluently in English and Twi. Community leaders now help to keep reading alive.

Careful! A summary never adds your own opinion, never copies long sentences from the text and never includes anything that is not in the passage.

Try it yourself

Answer each one, then check.