Personal Letter #1. Write a friendly letter to a relative or friend. Follow the format shown in “Structure and Form of Personal Letters.” After it has been checked by your teacher, it would be a good idea to actually send the letter.

Personal Letter #2. Write a letter of invitation. This letter will use the structure and form of a personal letter and will have only one or two paragraphs. Include these details:

1. Pretend you are inviting a friend, who lives sixty miles away, to a weekend in the mountains with your family.
2. If your friend accepts, explain that your family will pick him or her up on the way to the mountains; tell him or her also what to bring, such as a sleeping bag and warm clothing.
3. State the day, date, and time of arrival at your friend's house and the day, date, and time of return.
4. Be specific about where you will spend the weekend and what you will do.

Personal Letter #3. Write a thank-you letter. The subject of your thank-you letter can be the sweater your grandmother gave you, or any other gift and giver of your choice.

#1

Dear Katty,

Thanks for buying me chocolate this afternoon. It was absolutely delicious! I hope you have a nice day!

Sincerely,

(Your Name).

#2

Dear (friend),

You are invited to my birthday party! It will be held on June 17th, at 5pm, eastern time. We will have delicious food, like pizza, and cookies! If you'd like to come, RSVP by texting my number!

Make sure to come with a gift for me! This party is for my 13th birthday. Hope everyone comes!

Sincerely,

(Your Name).

#3

Dear Grandma,

Thanks for the sweater you knitted me for Christmas! It looks fabulous with the hat Mom got me. I hope you enjoyed my gift, too! We hope to see you soon!

Sincerely,

(Your Name).

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serve the people! ,” smoothly translated by julia lovell, offers an initial sample of yan lianke’s writing to an english-speaking audience. a bluntly drawn, mildly erotic fable, it teases mao zedong by poking fun at a true believer who obeys the chairman’s precepts too literally. to a western sensibility, the broad strokes of yan lianke’s humor would seem to pose little risk of inciting rebellion, whether of the flesh or of the body politic. but then, part of the book’s attraction is that it doesn’t have a western sensibility. it lets the reader see — or rather, intuit — what jokes chinese officials don’t consider funny, and how very little it takes for a writer to be branded an incendiary in 21st-century china, more than three decades after the death of mao, a decade after the death of deng xiaoping and seven years since china entered the world trade organization, a move that would seem to signal a willingness (however wary) to mingle with the rest of the world.