Teach Your Students When to Use Formal and Informal Language

Being able to choose the right style of language depending on the audience, context or purpose is a fundamental life skill. Imagine if we used slang in a job interview or ceremonial language when speaking to our friends… This would be very confusing indeed!

This comprehensive slide deck has been designed by our team to teach your students about when to use formal and informal language. The resource breaks down these two styles of language into easy-to-understand categories and gives students clear, relatable examples of each. The categories of formal and informal language included in the presentation are:

• Slang (informal)
• Colloquial (informal)
• Conversational (informal)
• Polite (formal)
• Professional (formal)
• Ceremonial (formal)

This resource will reduce the confusion about when to use formal or informal language in a clear and age-appropriate manner. The slide deck also features regular review activities to make sure students are retaining the information.

More Ways to Explore Informal and Formal Language in the Classroom

This versatile informal and formal language presentation can be used to support explicit teaching, but it has many other potential uses, too! Here are some ideas for how you might use this resource in your classroom to extend your teaching of this important topic:

• • Role-Play Scenarios – After showing the slides, have students act out short skits featuring the different categories of formal or informal language featured in the presentation. Add an extra element of challenge by having students base their skits in a randomly selected setting, like a job interview or a chat with a friend.
  • Real-Life Writing Tasks – Use the examples from the slides to inspire writing activities. For example, have the students complete a writing task where they must write two versions of the same chain of communication – one formal and one informal.
  • Formal or Informal Language Scavenger Hunt – Have students walk around the school to find different types of displays, posters or signs, then identify the type of language used in each example. As an extra challenge, see if they can rewrite the piece of text using a different language category.

Download This Formal vs. Informal Language Slideshow

This slideshow downloads as either a Microsoft PowerPoint or Google Slides presentation. Use the dropdown menu on the Download button to access your preferred version. (Note: You will be prompted to make a copy of the Google Slides presentation before accessing it.)

Project the resource onto your screen and work through the slides as a class for a lesson on when to use formal vs. informal language. Whether you’re planning a language unit or looking for a quick refresher lesson on audience, purpose and context, this resource is just a click away.

This resource was created by Brittany Collins, a teacher in Indiana and a Teach Starter collaborator.

More Resources for Teaching Formal or Informal Language

Looking for more resources to use in your language unit? Teach Starter has you covered! Click below to browse more curriculum-aligned, teacher-created activities.

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Formal vs. Informal Language Sorting Activity

Engage students in identifying formal vs informal language with this sorting activity that helps build understanding through real-world sentence examples.

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Formal vs Informal Language Worksheet Pack

Download this formal vs informal language worksheet pack to help students strengthen their understanding of language in real-world contexts.

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Language and Social Context Matching Game

Explore language and social context with this fun matching activity that helps students understand how our speech changes depending on the situation.