Week 5 Lecture on Classified Ads

CLASSIFIED ADS

Inside the newspaper are pages of stories and pictures. Often the pictures go with stories, but sometimes the pictures are advertisements, or ads.  Ads are space in the newspaper devoted to selling something. The ads scattered throughout the paper are called display ads. They usually have pictures or graphics with them, and can be anything up to a full page in size.

Allow students time to browse through the paper and look at the ads. Keep them focused on the ads by asking:

What makes you stop and look at the ads? Are the pictures in colour, or black and white?

Which pictures do you like the best? Why?

What kinds of things are being sold? Do you think you would buy them?

Are there ads for things that kids would buy or use? Why or why not?

How big are the pictures? Do they take up the whole page, or only part? Are they bigger or smaller than the stories on those pages?

How many ads are in each section? Which section has the most ads?

How many pages are there with ads? Without ads? Would you say that stories or ads take up the most space in the newspaper?

Ads are not only paid for by businesses. Sometimes ordinary people will pay to place classified ads into newspapers. Classified ads are different from display ads: they're all put into one section. Have students find the classified ad section of their newspapers.

How are classified ads different from display ads? What types of classified ads are there? What sorts of things are being sold?

Who has placed these ads?

What are some of the methods people use to try to get your attention in ads like these?

Newspaper ads are also bought by the government, charities, and people offering services. Sometimes a group or organization wants to announce an event, or give its opinion on an issue.  Find:

An ad placed by the federal government An ad seeking a professional service

An ad for a local meeting or fundraising event

Have students clip ads from the newspapers and keep them in a folder. The ads will be used in the following activities.   

The Influence of Advertising  

Advertisements make up a big part of a newspaper. Why do you think there are so many? (Ads not only help businesses sell things; they also help the newspaper. The price we pay for newspapers only covers a small portion of the production costs - advertising helps to pay the rest of the costs. So newspapers don't only have to worry about what readers want to see in the paper - they also have to satisfy the needs of the advertisers. This can sometimes be tricky.)

How do you think the task of keeping both readers and advertisers happy affects the layout of the newspaper?

How might those two tasks conflict to influence the stories printed in a newspaper? (Think of a case where this might happen. An example might be a safety problem with a car: a news story to announce the problem might clash with the manufacturer's need to advertise to sell cars).

Week 5 Lecture on Classified Ads

One important point about newspapers is that they're businesses, and businesses need to make a profit.  They can only do that if they have readers. So newspapers have to provide us with the most up-to-date information: news, features, and also movie listings, the weather, sports scores, etc. The greater the circulation, the more advertising a paper can sell - which means more profit, but less space for stories. Newspapers need to balance these needs.

Think about the newspapers you've looked at. Do you think there's too much advertising in them?

Read more about classified advertising, click the following link:

http://www.media-awareness.ca/english/resources/educational/lessons/elementary/newspapers_magazines/newspaper_ads.cfm

WEEK ACTIVITY 1

Choose a classified advertisement on newspapers or in the internet. Then put smiley (J) on the checklist corresponding to what you have read.

Suggested newspaper: Bangkok Post

Suggested websites: http://classifieds.thaivisa.com/employment/classifieds-chiang-mai/

http://www.chiangmainews.com/classifieds_job/

Indicator CHARACTERISTICS OF AN ADVERTISEMENT Example: J

over-designed graphics (distracts and slows reading)

coded and idiosyncratic communications huge half-page or whole-page or double-page spreads - a waste of money weird advert box shapes, for example wide and flat or tall and thin adverts in reverse (mirror) or upside-down (not permitted anyway by most media) too much emphasis on the job and not enough on the person uninspiring, boring descriptions of roles and ideal candidates too many words - they are a real turn-off - keep it simple too much technical detail about the job or the company extravagantly presented layouts and words (distracts and slows reading) clever or obscure headlines difficult to read quickly or at all for any reason font (type-style) too small or too large capital-letters (upper-case) lots of words in italics - they are a lot more difficult to read quickly strange-looking or fancy fonts printed in daft colours or tints against a coloured, patterned or picture background

• Checkpoint

Now, count the smileys you have in your checklist. If you have eight to fifteen smileys, read another classified advertisement because you have got the worst advertisement. A good classified advertisement should not have the criteria given earlier.

Week 5 Lecture on Classified Ads

WEEK 5 ACTIVITY 1.A

SENDING BUSINESS E-MAIL

WHAT'S OKAY TO SEND TO EMPLOYERS (and others) VIA E-MAIL

For a first contact, e-mail employers when an employer specifically invites or instructs you to do so — with instructions on the employer's web site, a job ad, a verbal conversation, other reliable advice, etc. Obviously if an e-mail address is provided by a person or web site, you can use it. If you can't find an e-mail contact, you might be safer sending a resume and cover letter via hard copy.

Don't ever send an e-mail without doing your research online first. If you ask a question easily answered on the organization's web site, you'll create the impression that you are lazy or unintelligent, or both.

Don't send an e-mail randomly to someone saying "I'm not sure if you're the correct person, but I figured you could forward this...." Don't figure. If you write to the wrong person, s/he has no reason to respond or forward. Do your research, and say WHY you're writing to the person ("you were listed as the contact for the XYZ job fair").

RESPONDING TO EMPLOYERS

If an employer e-mails you, you can probably respond via e-mail. The key is to READ the e-mail sent by the employer and follow instructions. For example, it might instruct you to do some follow-up on-line or with another person.

Be very careful about noting TO WHOM and HOW you should respond. Morgan McKenzie of XYZ Inc., might send the e-mail, but instruct you to MAIL your resume and a cover letter to Chris Corrigan of XYZ.

E-mails that have been forwarded to you (or to many) and/or have gone through lots of forwarding may take more time for you to interpret. Read the details so you do the right thing. It won't help you to send off a response to someone who just happened to forward the e-mail but isn't the correct contact person.

CLICK THE LINK BELOW TO ANSWER THE ACTIVITY:

http://www.quia.com/hm/790446.html

1. You can e-mail them when they specifically invite or instruct you to do so from instructions on their web site, a job ad, a verbal conversation, other reliable advice, etc.

2. If you can't find this, it might be safer to send a resume and cover letter via hard copy.3. Don't ever send an e-mail without doing this first via online.4. You’ll create this impression if you ask questions that can be easily answered on the

organization’s web site. 5. You might send this via hard copy together with a cover letter if you can’t find an email

contact of the employer.

Week 5 Lecture on Classified Ads

WEEK 5 ACTIVITY 2

RESPONDING TO EMPLOYERS

If an employer e-mails you, you can probably respond via e-mail. The key is to READ the e-mail sent by the employer and follow instructions. For example, it might instruct you to do some follow-up on-line or with another person.

Be very careful about noting TO WHOM and HOW you should respond. Morgan McKenzie of XYZ Inc., might send the e-mail, but instruct you to MAIL your resume and a cover letter to Chris Corrigan of XYZ.

E-mails that have been forwarded to you (or to many) and/or have gone through lots of forwarding may take more time for you to interpret. Read the details so you do the right thing. It won't help you to send off a response to someone who just happened to forward the e-mail but isn't the correct contact person.

CLICK THE LINK BELOW TO ANSWER THE ACTIVITY:

http://www.quia.com/pop/525204.html

1. If an employer e-mails you, you can probably respond via /*.2. The key is to /* the e-mail sent by the employer and follow instructions.3. Be very /* about noting TO WHOM and HOW you should respond.4. Read the details of forwarded emails so that you’ll know the correct contact

person whom you’re going to send your /*.5. E-mails that have been forwarded to you (or to many) and/or have gone through

lots of forwarding may take more time for you to /*.

WEEK 5 ACTIVITY 3

REPLYING VIA E-MAIL

When you reply to an e-mail, stick to the same subject and place your response at the top.

Don't delete the content sent to you (unless there is something inappropriate or unnecessary for your recipient to see). If you delete it, you force the person you write to dig up his/her prior e-mail to see what you're responding to. Don't waste people's time.

Do delete unnecessary forwarding code and text that is irrelevant to the content. Again, don't waste people's time.

THANK YOU NOTES AFTER INTERVIEWS

A thank you email isn't wrong. Employers will appreciate that you did at least send thanks. If you know that the person who interviewed you is travelling a lot, s/he may see your e-mail before getting back to the office to see hard copy mail. If the hiring decision will happen very quickly following the interview, an e-mail might be seen sooner than hard copy. Hard copy is still nice, shows that you really made an effort, and can follow up an e-mail.

Week 5 Lecture on Classified Ads

CLICK THE LINK BELOW TO ANSWER THE ACTIVITY:

http://www.quia.com/hm/790469.html

1. When you reply to an e-mail, stick to the same subject and place your response at this portion.

2. Don't do this to the content of the e-mail sent to you. 3. Do delete this including texts that are irrelevant to the content of the e-mail.4. Sending this kind of e-mail to the prospective employer isn’t wrong.5. This is still nice in telling your gratitude to your employer, it shows that you

really made an effort, and can follow up an e-mail.

WEEK 5 ACTIVITY 4

HOW TO SEND IT / E-MAIL BUSINESS ETIQUETTE

Think like the Person to Whom You're Sending E-Mail

Your e-mail alias, your subject line, and your content all have to be clear and appear appropriate to your recipient. Failure to do this can get your e-mail ignored and/or deleted as junk or spam.

Using E-Mail Alias

Make it your full name with "@vt.edu" as in MadisonMorgan@vt.edu. That's what the recipient will see in her/his in-box; better than stromb2467@whatever.net

Using the "edu" extension lets the recipient know you are affiliated with an educational institution — and being a student is your main job now.

Your recipient also might recognize the "vt" part. Not a bad thing.

"Hotdogdude@hotmail" or "Sillyefgrl75849" are not appropriate. True story: employer received e-mail from "sexygirl." That is an excellent way never to be taken seriously or viewed as professional — or end up in a junk/spam filter.

E-Mail Subject Line

Clear and meaningful to the recipient, as in:

"Application for graphic designer position listing 84G11"

"Follow-up to our meeting of February 21 at Virginia Tech job fair"

A blank subject line is unacceptable. You've given the recipient a good reason to ignore or delete your e-mail.

"Read this" and "information" and "for your consideration" and the like are meaningless. (Aren't all e-mails supposed to be read, and contain information, etc.?)

CLICK THE LINK BELOW TO ANSWER THE ACTIVITY:http://www.quia.com/cz/440866.html

Week 5 Lecture on Classified Ads

WEEK 5 ACTIVITY 5

CLICK THE LINK BELOW TO ANSWER THE ACTIVITY:

http://www.quia.com/pop/525219.html

1. What is it that you must spell correctly?a. Person’s addressb. Person’s namec. Name of the organization

2. If you know you're writing to Allyson Abernathy, what are you going to use?a. "Dear Ms. Abernathy:"b. “Dear Abernathy:”c. Dearest Allyson:”

3. This is never appropriate to assume on part of the women because this is irrelevant to business communication.

a. marital statusb. writing skillsc. capabilities

4. What are you going to use if there is no name supplied?a. "Dear Sir or Madam:"b. "Dear Madam:"c. "Dear Sir:"

5. What are you going to write if the person does not use "Dr." and the person's name leaves you uncertain about gender?

a. Do some research.b. Just write his/her name.c. Just leave it blank.

WEEK 5 ACTIVITY 6

CLICK ON THE LINK BELOW TO PLAY THE ACTIVITY:

http://www.quia.com/rr/852119.html

Week 5 Lecture on Classified Ads

FINAL ACTIVITY

GO TO THE LINK BELOW TO TAKE THE LONG QUIZ.

(The SECRET WORD to answer the activity is marvinsinacay)

LR242 Week 5 Activity 6

http://www.quia.com/quiz/3393642.html