Gifted and Talented Teacher creates high-quality teaching resources and printable teacher resources designed to support calm, organised, and engaging learning environments. From curriculum-aligned teaching tools to functional classroom decor, our resources are classroom-ready and designed to save teachers time.

Build students’ understanding of language choices with this explicit, curriculum-aligned lesson on levels of formality. Designed to support clear, purposeful communication, this lesson guides students to understand, identify, and apply different levels of formality in both written and spoken language.

Note: Get the most from this lesson by using it with the matching teacher slides and independent student activities. Click here to view the bundle.

Through a structured I Do, We Do, You Do approach, students explore how language shifts across contexts, including slang, colloquial, conversational, and formal registers.

Students will examine how tone, audience, and purpose influence the way we communicate, and how deliberate word choices can strengthen clarity and appropriateness. Modelled examples and guided practice support students to compare and transform language across levels of formality, building confidence in adapting their communication to suit different situations.

This teacher resource includes:

• Clear learning intention and success criteria
• Explicit teaching slides with definitions and examples of each level of formality
• Modelled examples demonstrating how language changes across contexts
• Guided practice tasks to identify and sort levels of formality
• Application task where students rewrite a scenario across different levels of formality
• Opportunities for discussion and reasoning about audience and purpose
• Check-ins for understanding throughout the lesson
• Exit ticket to assess student ability to adapt language to context

This lesson supports students to move beyond recognising formal and informal language, equipping them with the skills to intentionally select language that suits audience, purpose, and context. Ideal for upper primary classrooms, it provides a practical and engaging way to build strong, adaptable communicators.

Format: PDF

Aligned to Australian Curriculum Outcome: Understand that language varies as levels of formality and social distance increase (AC9E6LA03)

Gifted and Talented Teacher creates teacher resources designed to lighten the load and classroom decor that lifts the room.