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TASK. Write a letter to yourself to be open at the end of the school year

Directions:

Write a letter to your future self to be opened and read again at the end of the school year. Use the guidelines below to help you compose your letter. During the last trimester of school you will look back how much you have changed and achieved through the school year.

Guidelines:

• 1. Imagine writing to your future self nine months from now — what would you say? What kind of person would you be in nine month’s time? What goals would you want to have achieved? In this letter to your future self, you may address all your current worries and concerns. It helps you think about your goals a school year from now. As you write your letter, you will start to think about the actions you can take to achieve them.

  2. Imagine writing to your future self exactly one year from now. What do you want to say to her/ him? This exercise helps get your thoughts out of the present and keeps you focused on what is yet to come. Sit down and address a letter to yourself in 9 months and it may make you be more hopeful and excited for your future. Let your mind run wild. Think big and give yourself permission to be wildly ambitious. What principles will guide your life? What do you hope to accomplish? How are you going to do it? If you vividly imagine your future in concrete terms, it becomes a self-fulfilling prophecy. Some consideration points:

• • What do you want your future self to be like one year from now?

  • What are the different goals and dreams you want realized by then?

• 1. Be casual. You’re writing this letter to yourself, so don’t feel you have to take a formal tone. Write as though you are talking to your best friend.When talking about your current self in this letter, use “I” language. When talking about your future self in this letter, use “you” language.

  2. Think of your reader. Make it interesting. When we write we want our readers to enjoy what we want to tell them. It is important to help them read making our text fluent, clear and neatly presented. To get so, here are some tips:

     1. Join your sentences with connectors like "and" or "but", “however”, “nevertheless”, “although”, “because”...

     2. Order all your ideas in topics (See the list suggested in number 7)

     3. Write each topic in a clearly separated paragraph (at a simple glance you should be able to see how many paragraphs your letter consists of)

     4. Be tidy and clean and watch your handwriting and/ or spelling.

  3. Remember to use proper letter format (include the date, a greeting and a closing)

• • 1. Greeting to start your letter to your future self, use the following expressions: Dear me, / Dear friend, / Dear (your name). (Pay attention: we use a comma after the name!!!)

    2. Closing to finish your letter include:

       1. Nice sentence: I'm looking forward to hearing from you / I hope to hear from you soon.

       2. Expression of friendship: Kind regards, Love, XXOO (kisses and hugs)

       3. Your name or signature.

• 4. Be mindful of spelling, grammar, punctuation and capitalization. Use a spell check, proofread it several times, you may want to share it with some classmates before submitting the final version. Check for agreement (e.g. 3rd person s), tense (present, past) and coherence.

  5. Your letter should address at least three of the following topics. We suggest you write one paragraph for each topic. We suggest you write a maximum of five to seven topics.

• • 1. You may want to summarize your current self. Your letter could start with a quick reminder of who you currently are. Think about your recent accomplishments, and current interests, including extracurricular activities.

    2. You may want to share your fears. Think about fears you may have, such as speaking in front of a group, or not getting accepted at school. Thinking about them now may help you realize that they may not be so bad after all, or even help you come up with strategies to cope or a backup plan.

    3. You may want to point out your key values and beliefs. Ask yourself what guides the current you. Your belief system and your personal code of ethics play a large role in your actions. Making yourself conscious of your values can help shape your ideas of who you want to be in the future.

    4. You may want to note your skills and abilities. Pick out a few skills or abilities you can clearly identify in your current life, like winning a basketball tournament or organizing school functions.

    5. You can also estate your goals and hopes. You can also write about the things that are important to you now, such as playing soccer or learning to dance break dance. You should also think about what you hope to accomplish in the future,

    6. You can also add things you want to stop, continue, and start doing. Perhaps you want to quit arguing with your brother, or stop biting your nails. You may want to start volunteering in your community or join a sport or club.

    7. Finally, you can also choose to give yourself advice. Think about what advice you want to give your future self. Your advice can be simple or complex. Examples include “be nice to your classmates,” or “don’t worry so much”. Consider what issues you struggle with currently to help you think of advice for your future self.

• 6. Your letter to your future self should answer at least six of the following questions (two for each of the topics). We recommend you not to include more than ten to fifteen and group them according to the topics you have chosen.

  7. What are you passionate about? What are your true passions?

  8. What do you like to do in your free time? What do you like doing in your free time?

  9. What are your hobbies?

  10. What sports or activities have you participated in in the past? What do you plan to join in this school?

  11. What lights you up? What makes you happy?

  12. What do you see as your greatest strength?

  13. What are your greatest talents? If I needed your help to do something, what would it be?

What do you see as your greatest weakness?