English Readers

English for Exams Get Ready for IELTS Writing

About Get Ready for IELTS Writing

Collins Get Ready for IELTS series has been designed to help learners at a pre-intermediate level
(equivalent to band 3 or 4) to acquire the skills they need to achieve a higher score. It is easy to use,
whether by learners studying at home on their own or in a classroom with a teacher:
• Instructions are easy to follow
• Exam information and study tips are presented in an easy-to-read format
• Exercises are carefully arranged from simpler to more difficult
• Review units allow for systematic revision
• Answer key is clear and comprehensive
With these fundamentals in place, classroom teachers can focus on ensuring that learners
approach the writing process in the most effective way and understand how their writing will be
assessed. This resource will explain how best to use the material and how it can be adapted to
make the most of the classroom learning context. It shows you how you can maintain interest and
motivation, deal with common errors, and facilitate pair and group work so that more interactive
practice can take place.
Each chapter in Get Ready for IELTS Writing has a similar three-part structure, which can form the
basis of regular classroom routines. It will provide 3–4 hours of content, 2 of which we recommend
doing in class and 1–2 of which will make ideal homework tasks.

Part 1: Language development

We recommend that selected exercises be done at home before the lesson.
• This preparation will get learners thinking about the topic and will introduce them to relevant
vocabulary and grammar structures without eating up classroom time.
• As repeated exposure to new vocabulary and structures is required for mastery, the first 10–15
minutes of the lesson can be spent doing a ‘spot check’ of a selection of the material covered at
home. The remaining language development exercises can be done with the teacher in class.

Part 2: Skills development

Part 2 of each unit focusses on either task 1 or task 2.
• Each chapter provides an explanation of the type of answer required along with exercises of
increasing difficulty. The exercises break down the writing process into component skills so that
learners can acquire the necessary underlying competencies.
• The lesson plans provided for each unit concentrate on this section and offer roughly two hours
of material, including suggestions for optional extension activities.
• Most exercises can be done individually and checked in pairs or small groups. This trains
learners to reflect on and explain how they have approached the task.

Part 3: Exam practice

This can be given as homework.
• This section provides realistic exam practice and allows leaners to integrate the skills they have
learned.
• A checklist summarises the key learning points in the unit and gives learners a framework for
assessing their development.
• Feedback should be given and students should be required to redraft their texts incorporating
the necessary improvements.
 English Readers
English for Exams Get Ready for IELTS Writing

Sample lesson plan for Get Ready for IELTS Writing Unit 1
Student preparation for this class: Have students
complete all of Part 1: Language development before Spot check 2:
the class. (40–50 mins)
To provide further practice in using quantifiers,
Teacher preparation: For Language development explain that you are going to conduct a quick class
spot check 1, prepare cards with hobbies listed in survey.
Language development exercise 2 (one word per card).
Prepare sufficient for one set of cards per group of 1. Write 5–6 sentences on the board using the phrase
three students. (20–30 mins) people in the class like + …ing and the hobbies listed
in Exercise 2 leave a blank space at the start of each
sentence for a quantifier, e.g. _____ people in the
Part 1: Language development (up to 20 mins) class like playing football.
2. Ask learners to predict the class’s responses by
FOCUS

Exercises 1 & 2 introduce common words and completing each sentence with a quantifier from
collocations for hobbies and interests; Exercise 3 Exercise 4, e.g. Not many people in the class play
introduces the present simple tense; Exercise 4 football.
introduces quantifiers. 3. To check their predictions, frame each statement as
a question and ask for a show of hands in response,
Spot check 1: e.g. Who likes playing football? See who has made the
most accurate predictions.
To reinforce verb-noun collocations for hobbies
and interests, on the board display the questions:
• Do you play football?
• How often do you play football? Part 2: Skills development (30 mins for
• Do you like playing football? Exercises 1–3; 60 mins for Exercises 4–8)
Nominate individuals in the class to ask and answer
FOCUS

These exercises train learners to read and

the questions. Check for correct use of the auxiliary
correctly interpret tables. Exercises 3 & 4 show
verb in responses Yes, I do and No, I don’t, and for the
how to write a Task 1 introduction based on a
use of expressions never, every day, once a week etc.
table.
Then divide the class into groups of three and do
the following activity.
Exercise 1
1. Ask or designate one person in each group to act Spend 2–3 minutes discussing the Exam information at
as facilitator using the Exercise 2 answer key on the top of page 10. Ask questions such as:
page 90. • Do you have experience of this type of task?
2. Place face down in front of each remaining pair • How long does it normally take you to write 150
of students one set of cards with hobbies from words in English?
Language development exercises 2. • Can you recognise the difference between formal,
3. Players take it in turn to select the top card and ask semi-formal and informal writing?
each other one of the three questions above using
Then ask learners to do the exercise following the
the term on the card.
instructions in the book and compare their answers
4. The facilitator allocates one point for each correct in pairs. Follow up by asking learners to compare
question and each correct response. sentences 2 and 4 and identify which is less formal and
why. (Answer: 2, because it contains a lot of and the
contraction don’t). Invite them to rephrase the sentence
to make it more formal. (Answer: Many students dislike
hockey).

Typical mistakes: Some learners may believe that

few is the same as a few. Explain that few = not many
and that a few = some (i.e. it is more affirmative).
 English Readers
English for Exams Get Ready for IELTS Writing

Exercise 2

EXTENSION ACTIVITY
Conduct a class survey of Internet use and
Learners do the exercise individually and check their
create a table to serve as a writing prompt.
answers in pairs. Explain that for Task 1 they will
always have to give reasons for any general statements 1. Ask learners to identify how much time they
they make about the table or diagram. spend (in hours or minutes) each day on
average on each of the Internet activities
Exercise 3 listed in Exercise 3.
Draw learners’ attention to the Exam tip box at the top
2. Divide learners into groups of 5–6 and
of page 11, then have them do the exercise.
designate each group with a letter of the
alphabet. Ask the members of each group to
Typical mistakes: Learners often confuse quantity share their answers among themselves and
with percentage. Sentences describing the elements derive a total for each activity for the group.
of a table are also challenging to write because
of the number of prepositional phrases required. 3. Sketch a table on the board like the table
Follow up by rewriting sentence (c) on the board in Exercise 3 but replacing age groups
in random word order and ask learners to work in with Group A, B, C and so on. Compile
pairs to reconstruct the sentence. the information in the table by asking a
spokesperson for each group to report their
totals for each activity.
Exercise 4 4. Give learners 20 minutes to write up the
Draw learners’ attention to the Exam tip box at the findings following the model in the book
bottom of page 11, then have them do the exercise in (Practice exercises 4 & 5). (50 mins)
small groups.

Exercise 5
Learners do the exercise individually and check their Part 3: Exam practice (Homework – 40 mins)
answers in pairs. To follow up, ask learners to identify This can be done in class or assigned for homework.
all of the uses of -ing in the passage (present participle If this is your students’ first attempt at Task 1, suggest
after spend time; gerund after the verb like and the they spend up to 40 minutes on the exercise. This is
subject in the sentence Browsing news…is popular…) to allow learners to develop the skills they need to
produce good quality work. As learners become more
proficient, the amount of time they spend on practice
exam tasks can be gradually reduced until they can
complete the work within the official exam-allotted
time as printed on the paper.
 English Readers
English for Exams Get Ready for IELTS Writing

Sample lesson plan for Get Ready for IELTS Writing Unit 2
Student preparation for this class: Have students Exercise 1
complete all of Part 1: Language development Spend 2–3 minutes going over the Exam information
exercises before the class. (40 mins) at the top of page 17. Have learners work in pairs to
Teacher preparation: none complete the exercise and then draw their attention to
the Exam tip box at the bottom of the page.
To consolidate their understanding of bar charts, ask
Part 1: Language development (10–15 mins) them to look at the table at the bottom of page 10 and
explain how the information would be conveyed in a bar
FOCUS

Exercises 1 & 2 introduce some common words chart. Ask the questions below:
and collocations associated with education; 1. What would the left-hand vertical axis show? (Answer:
Exercise 3 introduces the past simple tense; number of hours)
Exercise 4 introduces comparative forms.
2. What would the bottom or horizontal axis show?
(Answer: activities)
Spot check 1:
3. How would the bars be shaded? (Answer: each bar
Check learners’ recall of verb-noun collocations would have two shades, one representing teenagers
related to education. Ask them to close their books. 13–15 and the other teenagers 16–18.)
Write on the board the six nouns listed in Language
Exercise 2
development exercise 2. Using the answer key
Before looking at the bar chart on page 18, write the
read out the verbs that collocate with each item –
subjects on the board. For each subject, ask students
learners have to listen and guess the associated
to say whether they think boys or girls are likely to
noun.
have the higher number of exam passes. Learners
then compare their predictions with the information
Spot check 2: in the bar chart. Have them do the gap fill exercise
individually and check their answers in pairs.
To provide further practice in using comparative
Demonstrate how they can exploit language in a model
forms, invite student to compare males and females
answer for another task.
in the class using the forms listed on page 16. Give
an example sentence and prompts based on what Write the first paragraph on the board and erase the
you can see, e.g. for the prompt carry a rucksack, content words until only the following remains:
learners might say More females than males carry a The bar chart shows the numbers of … in … in … .
rucksack. Other prompts might include: have short The chart groups the … according to … and divides
hair, wear glasses, use an electronic dictionary, are these … into … and … . There are clear differences
wearing bright colours today. between the … .
Ask students to complete the sentences using
Typical mistakes: Learners may not recognise that information from the bar chart on the previous page.
much and less should be used with uncountable (Answer: The bar chart shows the numbers of students
nouns and produce sentences like: Less females in local primary schools in 2008. The chart groups the
than males wear glasses. students according to school and divides these groups
into boys and girls. There are clear differences between
the schools.)

Part 2: Skills development (30–35 mins for Exercise 3

Exercises 1 & 2; 45 mins for Exercises 4–8) Draw learners’ attention to the Exam tip box at the
top of page 11. Have them do the exercise individually,
then compare their paragraphs in pairs. Circulate
FOCUS

These exercises train learners to read and write among the pairs and note examples of good work as
about bar charts. well as the types of mistakes being made. Share good
work with the class by writing example sentences on
the board. Give additional instruction to address
persistent errors.
 English Readers
English for Exams Get Ready for IELTS Writing

Part 3: Exam practice (Homework – 35 mins)

Typical mistakes: Make sure that students use the
past tense. Point out that even if the information in This can be done in class or assigned for homework.
the prompt refers to a time period in the past, Task If this is your students’ first or second attempt at Task
1 responses typically begin with the present tense. 1, suggest they spend up to 35 minutes on the exercise.
This is because the subject of each sentence is This is to allow learners to develop the skills they need
usually the figure itself (e.g. The bar chart shows…) to produce good quality work. As learners become
or parts of it (e.g. the horizontal axis represents…). more proficient, the amount of time they spend on
However, for the main body, you normally switch practice exam tasks can be gradually reduced until
to the simple past tense if the information in the they can complete the work within the official exam-
prompt refers to past time. allotted time as printed on the paper.
Also look out for errors with prepositions as this
type of response requires a good command of a
range of phrases (e.g. number of…with…, range
from…to, a difference of…, did best in…).
 English Readers
English for Exams Get Ready for IELTS Writing

Sample lesson plan for Get Ready for IELTS Writing Unit 3
Student preparation for this class: Have students • How long does it normally take you to write 250
complete all of Part 1: Language development before words in English?
the class. (40–50 mins) • How do you learn about the kind of social topics
Teacher preparation: Photocopy Language covered in Task 2 exam questions?
development spot check 1 hand out (sufficient for Then ask learners to do the exercise following the
one per student). Photocopy Language development instructions in the book and compare their answers in
spot check 2 hand out (sufficient for one per pair small groups.
of students), cut up each sentence into individual
words and bundle sets together. For the Extension Typical mistakes: Learners who choose (a) or (b)
activity, prepare bundles of 10–12 blank slips of paper for question 1, or choose an incorrect paraphrase
(sufficient for one set for each group of four students). for the question, may focus too much on the
(35–40 mins) subordinate clause (because they are…). Point out
that in most cases the important information in
a statement is contained in the main clause (All
Part 1: Language development (up to 20 mins) museums and art galleries should be free…).
FOCUS

Exercises 1 & 2 introduce common nouns

associated with culture and a range of negative Exercise 2
and positive adjectives. Exercise 3 & 4 introduce Learners do the exercise individually and check their
SVO word order and common conjunctions. answers in pairs or small groups.

Spot check 1: Typical mistakes: If learners choose (b), point out

To check learners’ recall of adjectives, divide learners that IELTS Task 2 questions are rarely so broad. For
into groups of 3–4. Distribute Language development those who choose (c), point out that essay questions
spot check 1 hand out and invite learners to respond are unlikely to be so categorical or ‘black and white’.
to what they see using the adjectives listed in
Language development exercise 2.
Exercise 3
Learners work in pairs to complete the exercise.
Conduct a straw poll of students’ opinions re
Spot check 2:
statements 1–4: as you read out each statement ask
To reinforce learners’ understanding of SVO word for a show of hands if they agree. To follow up, pairs
order and use of conjunctions, pair them up and generate 2–3 ideas of their own in response to the
distribute the word cards for sentences 3 and 4 from essay question. Invite each pair to read out one of their
Language development exercise 4. Challenge them ideas and ask the class to decide whether it agrees or
to unscramble the sentences in two minutes. disagrees with the statement in the essay question.

Exercise 4
Draw learners’ attention to the Exam tip box at the top
Part 2: Skills development (40 mins for of the page. Have them do the exercise individually and
Exercises 1–4; 30 mins for Exercise 5) check their answers in pairs.

Exercise 5
FOCUS

Exercises 1–4 focus on understanding Task Learners do the exercise individually and compare
2 essay questions. Exercise 5 focusses on their answers in pairs. Have them brain storm ideas in
generating ideas for a Task 2 essay. small groups. Invite a spokesperson from each group
to share one or two of their ideas with the class. As
Exercise 1 they do so, write them up on the board in note form.
Spend 3–4 minutes discussing the Exam information Then draw learners’ attention to the Exam tip box at
at the top of page 23. Ask questions such as: the bottom of the page. Point out that to save time
• Have you written essays of this type before, either in when planning their essay they can write down their
English or in your own language? ideas in note form.
 English Readers
English for Exams Get Ready for IELTS Writing

Part 3: Exam practice (Homework – 60 mins)

EXTENSION ACTIVITY

Learners continue working in small groups.

Distribute 10–12 slips of blank paper to each This can be assigned for homework. If this is your
group and ask them to write down one of the students’ first attempt at Task 2, suggest they spend
ideas generated in Exercise 5 on each slip of up to 60 minutes on the exercise. This is to allow
paper. Ask them to put the ideas in the order learners to develop the skills they need to produce
in which they might logically occur in an essay. good quality work. As learners become more proficient,
Circulate among the groups and ask them to the amount of time they spend on practice exam tasks
explain their choices. (25 mins) can be gradually reduced until they can complete the
work within the official exam-allotted time as printed
on the paper.
 English Readers
English for Exams Get Ready for IELTS Writing

PHOTOCOPIABLES

Language development spot check 1

 English Readers
English for Exams Get Ready for IELTS Writing

PHOTOCOPIABLES

Language development spot check 2

Language development Exercise 4 Sentence 3

Young people should

watch less television

because most programmes

are not educational.

Language development Exercise 3 Sentence 4

The science museum

is free so I

think it is

good for families.