How to Teach IELTS Writing Task 1 and Task 2

Teaching IELTS Writing begins with finding out why a learner's message is unsuccessful. A paragraph may contain accurate sentences but miss the question. A report may include every number but hide the main pattern. A letter may explain the problem yet never make the required request.

Your job is to identify that specific gap, teach a manageable skill and check whether the learner can use it independently. The activities below use original, illustrative material.

Start with the correct Writing task

The Writing test allows 60 minutes. Task 1 requires at least 150 words; Task 2 requires at least 250. IELTS recommends approximately 20 and 40 minutes respectively, and Task 2 contributes twice as much to the Writing score. Check the official Academic Writing format (opens in a new tab).

General Training letters may require personal, semi-formal or formal language, depending on the recipient and situation. Use the official General Training Writing guidance (opens in a new tab) when preparing those lessons.

Diagnose before choosing an activity

Ask learners to complete a short planning task before writing a whole response. For Academic Task 1, request two main observations and three supporting details. For a letter, ask who the reader is and what the reader needs to understand or do. For Task 2, request a one-sentence answer to the question and two reasons.

A learner who cannot plan a relevant answer needs help interpreting and developing content. A learner with a clear plan but confused sentences may need language work. Giving both learners the same list of linking words misses the actual problem.

Keep the plan alongside the first draft. It shows whether the difficulty arose during understanding, planning or expression.

Teach Academic Task 1 through selection and comparison

Use this invented classroom dataset showing how students travelled to a college:

Before teaching vocabulary, ask: “What stayed the same? What changed most? Which method was most common in both years?”

A learner might write:

The car was 60%. The bus was 30%. The bicycle was 10%. In 2025 the car was 45%.

The figures are accurate, but the reader must construct the comparison. Model a more useful observation:

Driving remained the most common way to reach the college, although its share fell. Cycling increased, while bus use was unchanged.

Then ask learners to support one observation with selected figures:

The proportion travelling by bicycle rose from 10% to 25%, while the figure for bus travel remained at 30%.

Explain that the increase is 15 percentage points. Do not casually describe it as a 15% increase: those statements mean different things.

For the next practice, change the numbers so that cycling becomes the largest category. Learners must reconsider the overview instead of recycling the previous wording.

Adapt the method for maps and processes

A process requires decisions about stages and sequence; a map may require comparison of locations or changes. Ask learners to explain the visual aloud before writing. For an invented recycling process, have pairs arrange stage cards and identify what enters and leaves each stage.

Avoid forcing trend vocabulary onto every visual. “Rose sharply” cannot help a learner explain where a new entrance was built.

Teach General Training Task 1 through audience and purpose

Create an original practice situation: a learner borrowed equipment from a community centre and discovered a fault. The letter should explain the fault, describe its effect and request a solution.

Ask learners to write only the opening first:

I am writing about the projector I borrowed yesterday, which stopped working during our club meeting.

Now compare two requests:

Give me another one immediately.

Could you arrange a replacement before our next meeting on Thursday?

Discuss which request fits the relationship and why. The second also gives the reader information needed to act.

Give pairs a three-column checklist for fault, effect and request. They underline evidence for each requirement in a draft, then mark anything the reader would still need to know. This moves peer review beyond “the grammar looks fine”.

For a transfer task, change the recipient to a close friend who lent the equipment. Learners adjust the opening and request while preserving the important information. The goal is control of register, not memorising one universal letter.

Teach Task 2 by developing an answer

Use this original practice question:

Some people believe local governments should make public transport free. To what extent do you agree or disagree?

First, ask learners to distinguish the question from the broader topic. “Public transport is convenient” describes transport. It does not yet explain whether removing fares is a good policy.

A weak planning note might be:

Free transport is good because it helps people.

Ask three follow-up questions: Who benefits? What changes for them? Why does that support your position?

One possible development is:

Removing fares could help workers on low incomes accept shifts further from home. When travel costs take a large share of a day's earnings, those jobs may be difficult to afford. Free services could therefore widen access to work.

This is an illustrative paragraph, not a band-rated answer. Ask students to test its limits: would free fares help if no buses ran at the required time? A relevant qualification might explain why reliable services should accompany a fare policy.

Next, students develop a different reason independently. They should explain the connection between the policy and its possible result, rather than imitate the paragraph sentence by sentence.

Build language work around the draft

Choose language that serves the learner's intended meaning. If a writer repeats “it is good”, practise naming the actual benefit: reduce travel costs, widen access or save time. If every sentence begins with “Furthermore”, work on the relationship between ideas and whether another connector is necessary.

Use a short revision instruction:

Find one claim that lacks an explanation. Add the missing reasoning, then check that the next sentence follows logically.

For assessment language and evidence-based comments, see how to use IELTS Writing band descriptors as a teacher.

Turn the activities into a focused lesson

A suggested 60-minute lesson could allocate ten minutes to diagnosis, ten to analysing contrasting examples, fifteen to guided practice, fifteen to independent writing and ten to review. These are classroom timings, not examination rules.

Choose one main objective. A lesson on selecting Task 1 features does not also need to cover every chart type, tense and cohesive device. Our guide to planning an IELTS lesson explains how to connect the objective with an observable outcome.

On a later day, use a fresh timed task to check transfer. Preserve space for revision: completing more tasks is useful only when learners can apply what they have learnt.

If you want guided practice developing your own teaching approach, explore the CVIM® IELTS teacher training programme.

Frequently asked questions

Should I teach Task 1 or Task 2 first?

Use the diagnosis and course priorities. Task 2 carries more weight, but a learner struggling to interpret visual information or write an appropriate letter still needs targeted Task 1 instruction. Plan recurring practice in both.

Should students memorise essay templates?

Teach flexible ways to organise ideas and explain relationships. Have students adapt a plan to a new question. If the same introduction fits every topic without answering any particular question, it is providing little useful practice.

How much writing should I correct?

For a learning draft, select a few changes the student can act on and require a revision. Periodically assess complete responses across the criteria. Our guide to effective IELTS feedback shows how to turn comments into follow-up work.

Sources: IELTS: Academic Writing test format (opens in a new tab); IELTS: General Training Writing test format (opens in a new tab)