The First Step of Teaching Writing Section

     Knowing the essence of something is the essential step toward improving in doing it. Therefore teachers should introduce the writing section to the students as a first step, and make sure they know what it is all about. You can use the following general description to simply explain its tasks, rules, and requirements for them. This description is very similar to how this section has been introduced on the official IELTS website, brief, yet informative enough.

     Teachers can start by explaining that there are two writing tasks, and both must be completed. In Task 1, students have to describe some visual information in their own words (a graph, table, chart, or diagram). They need to write at least 150 words in about 20 minutes. In Task 2, they are given a point of view, argument, or problem that they need to discuss. They need to write at least 250 words in about 40 minutes.

     Then teachers can move on to the rules and requirements and clarify that the students must write their answers using full sentences. They must not write their answers as notes or bullet points. They must write their answers on the answer sheet. They are allowed to write notes on the question paper, but these will not be seen by the examiner. The total time to complete the writing section is 60 minutes, and the number of tasks is two, keeping in mind that Task 2 contributes twice as much as Task 1 to the writing score.

     In conclusion, after you make sure your students understand what the test is, you can move on and give them tips on how they can achieve the best score. There are some important areas you need to draw your students’ attention to, e.g., vocabulary, graphs and tables, different types of essays, and accordingly different ways of writing, etc. Here in PYSI, some useful tips in many of these areas will be provided, stay tuned!

 References :

 [1] “IELTS academic test,” IELTS, https://ielts.org/take-a-test/test-types/ielts-academic-test (accessed Sep. 25, 2023).