Writing task 1 mini lesson

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IELTS Writing Task 1

Christophe Sagnet and Catherine Sloan

Live Language


Describe a line graph

Problems:

vocabularygrammar

The diagram below illustrates sales of laptops and desktop computers in a UK electronic store between 1990 and 2010.


Lesson aims

Lexical Resource: Language of change

i.e. increase, rise, decrease, decline

Grammatical Range and Accuracy: Use a variety of structures

i.e. Sales increased; There was an increase in sales


Lexical Resource: Verbs 1

Sales decreased.

Sales fell.

Sales dropped.

Sales declined.


Lexical Resource: Verbs 2

Sales increased.

Sales rose.

Sales grew.

Sales climbed.


Practice 1: Which sentence is correct?

1. Sales fell. Sales rose.

2. Sales increased. Sales increase.

3. Sales claimed. Sales climbed.

4. Sales dropped. Sales droped.

Problems:

spelling


Grammatical Range and Accuracy

Sales fell.

Subject + verb.

There was a fall in sales.

There was a + noun + in sales.


Grammar focus

Sales fell.declined.decreased.dropped.

increased.rose.climbed.grew.

Sales

There was a falla declinea decreasea drop

in sales. There was an increasea risea climba growth

in sales.


Practice 2: Grammatical Range and Accuracy

Sales increased.There was…There was an increase in sales.

Sales grew.There was…There was a growth in sales.

Sales climbed.There was…There was a climb in sales.

Sales dropped.There was…There was a drop in sales.


Writing: 20 minutes

Think about:

vocabularygrammar



Sample answer: StrengthsThe line graph shows how many people bought laptops and desktop computers in one British electronics shop over a period of twenty years.

To begin with, desktop computers were more popular than laptops. Between 1990 and 2002, sales of desktop computers rose dramatically from 3,000 to 6000. Over the rest of the period, there was a substantial decline in sales, from 6000 to approximately 2,500.

Fewer people bought laptops at the beginning of the period. There was a steady increase in sales from 500 to about 1,500 between 1990 and 1997. Then sales climbed sharply to reach 6,000 in 2010. By the end of the period, laptops were less popular than desktops.

Overall, sales of desktops fell. However, there was a significant growth in laptop sales.


Summary

Lexical Resource: Language of change

i.e. increase, rise, decrease, decline

Grammatical Range and Accuracy: Use a variety of structures

i.e. Sales increased; There was an increase in sales


Next: Writing introductions


The line graph shows how many people bought laptops and desktop computers in one British electronics shop over a period of twenty years.

The question:

The introduction:

The next lesson will be available at the end of October 2012. See you again soon!

Writing task 1 mini lesson

Technology

Transcript of Writing task 1 mini lesson