IELTS

Stands for:
International English Language Testing System

Mr. Thomas Jackson

In this lesson, you will:

 Learn how to answer writing task 1 on the IELTS Examination

 Learn how to analyze a bar chart as well as a pie chart

 Learn how to use the IELTS band 9 answer structure effectively

 Learn how to specifically write the introduction and the overview

 Then practice writing the introduction and overview on your own

Warmer – Hot Seat

How to play:
 Two teams are formed
 One student is nominated to sit in the “hot seat”.
 Look at the vocabulary term on the board.
 Call out relevant synonyms, antonyms, or even use body language for the person
on your team to guess what word is written on the board.
Activity 1 – How Should You Answer This Task?

 What do you know about the writing task 1?

 Discuss your ideas as a group. (time, word count,
structure, visual data)
 Take a look at the handout and the task.
 ACADEMIC WRITING SAMPLE TASK 1
 You should spend about 20 minutes on this task.
(recommend)
 The bar chart below shows the estimated sales of
jeans for two companies next year in Turkey. The
pie chart shows the projected market share of the
two companies in jeans at the end of next year.***
Write a short report for a university lecturer
describing the information shown below.
 Write at least 150 words.
Activity 2 – The Band 9 Answer Structure

 Take a look at the handout. Introduction

 By following this answer structure, you
can easily attain a band 9 for your
answer. Overview
 In the introduction, you should introduce
the chart to the readers in one or two
sentences.
 In the overview, you should describe Body Paragraph 1
some general trends and features of your
chart.
 Don’t forget that the goal for this task is
to describe the information in a clear
way. No personal opinions, so no Body Paragraph 2
conclusion paragraph!
Activity 3 – The Intro

 The introduction is quite easy and simple.

 Just paraphrase the task on the task card.
 To paraphrase, use synonyms and other words to get the same meaning.
 You should mention what the graph shows, and for what period of time. (NEVER
COPY WORD-FOR-WORD)
 Remember to never change the name of the chart (bar chart, pie chart, line
graph, map, etc…)
 To gain more synonyms, you can learn them in a thesaurus, or even play the
synonym game.
Activity 4 – The Overview

 Look at the bar chart.  Answer:

 Do the sales of the two companies  Both companies increase.
increase or decrease?
 Both companies have fluctuations.
 Is there any fluctuation? (an
 Jack & Jones is higher at the
irregular rising and falling in
beginning and at the end.
number or amount; a variation.)
 Remember to never write number
 How do the sales differ from the
or percentages!
beginning to the end?
Activity 5 – Fix The Mistakes

 Take a look at the handout.

 Do you see any mistakes?
 Work in pairs and try to find all 10 mistakes in this sample answer.
 Look at the question at the bottom of the paper and discuss with the class.
Activity 6 – Practice Writing The Intro and Overview

 Take a few minutes to plan and write the intro and overview of the task on
handout #1.
 Share your answers with your classmates.
Goodbye!