The following is a lesson plan for assisting students who hope to write the Academic IELTS paper to better structure their essays (IELTS Task 2). This post is the result of an assignment I completed when receiving my IELTS teaching certificate.
Writing Task 2 is one of the most daunting parts of the IELTS exam. Often times, students struggle because they don’t know how to structure an essay. This lesson focuses on addressing this shortcoming.
View the lesson plan here.
View the Prezi here:
View the lesson materials here:
Students discuss which types of essay questions they struggle with the most in both the warmer and the cooler. This is to 1) gauge improvement from the beginning to the end of the lesson, and 2) identify problematic essay types for future lessons.
In the Present phase of the lesson, I walk students through some considerations to keep in mind when aiming for Band 7 on the writing exam. These are practically built out using an example. However, this part of the lesson is largely theoretical and teacher-led; students are given a chance to practice these ideas in the next part of the lesson. From this point, students are encouraged to take responsibility for their learning by filling in a summary sheet of different essay types as the lesson progresses. This encouraged autonomy as well as improving note-taking skills.
The matching exercise allows me to get a sense of what students already know, as well as eliciting clues for identifying different essay types that students may not have even been aware that they were picking up on. Understanding the different types of essays helps students to better structure their essays during their planning phases.
You will notice that in my example essay preparation notes, I chose to keep to an introduction, two body paragraphs, and a conclusion; this is because I feel it is important to keep it simple at first, with the option of introducing slightly more complex structures in future lessons. However, should students spontaneously attempt more complex structures (i.e. more body paragraphs), I will encourage this and work with them accordingly.
Students are also encouraged to practice planning a short essay under time constraints. Realistically, they may struggle with the three minutes limit so soon, but as they are academic students, it would be interesting to see how they perform in this task. It is essential that the quality of their brief planning is checked in detail to ensure that they are on the right track before continuing. Errors made here could carry through to the homework assignment; this needs to be avoided.
This is the point where students demonstrate whether or not they can plan a structurally sound essay with a clear topic contained within each paragraph. Because they are working with their classmates, this should be a low-stress introduction to the concept of planning essays.
Finally, the homework task allows students to practice their essay planning and structuring skills further in preparation for a test in the next lesson. The test, as well as the preparation worksheets they hand in, will be used as a basis for identifying weaknesses and planning future lessons. The homework assignment is low-stress introduction to essay writing; students are able to plan their essays in advance (even though they won’t have this opportunity in the actual exam). Hopefully this will help to build confidence. Future lessons will include exam-like writing conditions.
The activities are aligned with the learning aims as follows:
- Organise information and ideas logically in an essay format.
By walking students through the process of identifying essay types and then planning essays for each type, they will become more familiar with logical essay formatting.
- Identify a range of useful cohesive devices.
Students will be able to identify cohesive devices (linking words) that could improve the flow of their essays (if used properly) during the present phase. The idea is that they would have covered this in previous lessons. If any more attention is needed in this regard, future lessons will be planned accordingly.
- Present a clear central topic within each paragraph.
Again, by planning each essay, students become more and more comfortable with ensuring that each paragraph contains a clear idea.
I considered including linking word exercises in this lesson. However, there was insufficient time to focus on this aspect. If this lesson were part of a broader lesson scheme, I would dedicate time to this concept in another lesson, either before or after this one. I also considered having students spend time actually writing an essay in this lesson, but decided that it was more important to lay the groundwork for structuring the different types of Task 2 essays now, and allow them time to internalise the tricks and tips before having them launch into a writing activity. Some students may be surprised that they were not simply told to write in this lesson; these expectations need to be managed at the beginning of the lesson.
My main concern is that we will get stuck on a topic (such as linking words or a particularly problematic essay example) and run out of time. However, if this happens, then I think it is best to run with it, as this is clearly where students need to focus their attention. If more time needs to be spent on an area of the lesson than I initially planned, then so be it; in the next class, instead of writing an essay, I will finish the lesson, focus on the bigger challenges and issues, and keep the essay writing task for a future lesson.
Secondly, the prezi may not work due to, for example, internet connectivity problems. I have created a document with the prezi information included to use as a guide for presenting the content without the visual aids, as needed.
The warmer and cooler are partially designed to allow me to detect problematic essay types that students struggle with for attention in future lessons (starting with the mock test in the very next class). The homework assignment will allow me to detect weaknesses on an individual level and help me to formulate individual interventions, if necessary. Finally, the lesson will give me clarity on whether or not students understand linking words, allowing me to run follow-up lessons as required. If we get stuck on linking language for the whole lesson, I will adapt the plan on the fly to meet students’ needs.
All-in-all, I am happy that this lesson plan will serve as a good introduction to structuring Task 2 essays.
