(Tim & Alexis)IELTS雅思首戰7.5 寫作7分, 心得分享

To Oak Tree:

首先真的很感謝Oak Tree 跟James老師，如果沒有你們的協助我們是不可能順利在第一次就考取目標的成績。對於正在努力的同學，我可以完全明白心理的擔憂，尤其是寫作的部分。雅思寫作的部分我希望大家可以完全放心去相信James老師，至少我跟Alexis都是遵守老師上課所強調的重點，最後都有取得6.5以上的分數。相信大家在網路上或外面會聽到很多不同版本的聲音，甚至有些人認為太過制式的寫法會拿不到高分。但以我們個人的經驗認為，除非真的是天生好手(大概也不需要補習XD)，有沒有注意到雅思寫作的重點在分數上會差很多，而這些重點正是老師在每堂課當中不停強調的部分。在這邊也希望可以給大家信心，我覺得我們做得到也代表大家做得到，只要往正確的方向努力最後一定可以達成目標!

                                                            Tim & Alexis

Oak Tree 語言樹國際文教
台中市中區中山路27號7樓
04-2225-5559
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新書上架! 連雅思主考官都讚嘆的雅思寫作解題祕笈

熱騰騰的新書上架囉!! 還在寫作苦海中打滾的考生們，快來看看吧!
裏頭有各種題型解析，文章分析以及範例文章，讓你一次解決所有困惑!

別忘記Oak Tree 語言樹辦公室有現貨喔! 現場購書只要315元喔!

IELTS Reading and Writing

 Endangered and Extinct Species

The environment and endangered species are topics that come up often in the IELTS test.

Of course everyone knows that the panda bear is endangered. Sadly, the dodo is now extinct.

EXTINCT = They are all dead.
ENDANGERED = They are NEARLY all dead!

How about some other examples? What are the reasons for extinction?




 

Reading

Check out the following link which shows some information about 15 of the world's endangered and extinct species:

ENDANGERED AND EXTINCT SPECIES

Of course there is no need to memorise all of them for your test!
 
Look again and ask yourself the following questions:

1. What do number 1,2 and 3 have in common?
2. Which animals on the list can you find in your country?
3. Looking at the pictures, are most of the animals cute or ugly? Why do you think this is?
4. What are the main causes of extinction?
5. Which industries are mentioned as causes? 
6. What solutions are suggested?
7. Each animal has two names, the common name and the scientific name in Latin. Which one should you remember and use in your test?

 
 SCROLL DOWN FOR THE ANSWERS!

Writing review

Now try the following cause and solution writing task using the ideas you have just read as examples:

Nowadays many animal species are extinct or endangered. What are the main causes of this? What can we do to protect endangered animals?

You should write at least 250 words.
Spend around 40 minutes on this task.

TIP!

This topic contains many commonly misspelt words. Make sure you check the following words:

environment
species 
endangered
extinct
preserve
habitat
conservation










 ANSWERS

1. What do number 1,2 and 3 have in common? They are all fish which are eaten for food (sashimi).
2. Which animals on the list can you find in your country? Answers will vary. The Chinese Cobra can be seen in Taiwan.
3. Looking at the pictures, are most of the animals cute or ugly? Why do you think this is? Most of the animals look quite ugly. Perhaps we can say that people care more about protecting "cute" animals than ugly or dangerous ones?
4. What are the main causes of extinction? Habitat destruction (5,7,8,9,11,12,13,14,15), consumption as food (1,2,3,4), global warming (9)
5. Which industries are mentioned as causes? Fishing industry (1,2,3), Mining / Quarrying (7,9), Construction (8), Oil and Gas (12), Farming (13,14) 
6. What solutions are suggested? Marine reserves /protected areas (1,2,14), Fishing quotas (1), Better conservation efforts (4), Education to raise awareness (14)
7. Each animal has two names, the common name and the scientific name in Latin. Which one should you remember and use in your test? Just remember the common name. You don't need to know the Latin name and they are usually found together in the reading.

COMMON NAME: Pacific bluefin tuna 
(Scientific name: Thunnus Orientalis) 

IELTS Reading

MUSEUMS in the FUTURE

This article will give you some ideas for talking or writing about how museums could be improved or how you think museums will change in the future.

You will also be able to practice:

• READING - T, F, NG
• VOCABULARY - reviewing adjectives
• SPEAKING - Discussion questions
• WRITING

Don't worry if you don't understand everything in the article. Just try to get a general idea. You can also watch the video to help you understand.

Read the article HERE.

  Then continue reading for the exercises..

IELTS - Integrated Skills

Childhood Obesity

CAUSES, EFFECTS, SOLUTIONS

The problem of childhood obesity comes up quite regularly in the IELTS test.

Before the test, try to prepare some ideas.

Think about:

• CAUSES

• EFFECTS

• SOLUTIONS

See if you can think of THREE ideas for each of the above.

Now continue for some reading, speaking and writing tasks...

[寫作討論]agree/disagree

網路上看到考生們在討論一個題目:
Computers and modems have made it possible for office workers to do

much of their work from home instead of working in offices every day.

Working from home should be encouraged as it is good for workers and employers.

Do you agree or disagree?

文章網址及更多討論: http://www.ptt.cc/bbs/IELTS/M.1397401566.A.669.html

以下提供James老師的建議架構，這只是其中一種寫法，task 2寫法百百種，請斟酌參考喔^0^

Intro:1.Accept the FACT(Computer and ......every day)
         2.Give your opinion(decide agree or disagree and 100% sure about it)
Body 1: Reason 1-why it's good for workers(if agree)
Body 2:Reason2-why it's good for employers(if agree)
Conclusion: 1. Summarise
                  2. Restate opinion



UPDATE: A sample answer has now been added... 

Continue reading...

IELTS - The Future

How will ... change in the future?

Nobody has a crystal ball to see the future, so it may be difficult to think of ideas!

Luckily, the BBC website has created a new section called BBC: FUTURE which contains articles, movie clips and audio files about the future. The content covers a whole range of topics from EDUCATION to HEALTH to TRANSPORTATION, and how they might change in the FUTURE.

These ideas, as well as the vocabulary and phrases used, can be useful for both WRITING and SPEAKING. Not only that, but you can also practise some LISTENING and READING skills too!

Here are some of the articles I think could be useful:

Future of Education (article) : Can technology kill off the exam?
Future of Transportation (article) : Can a city go car free?
Future Health (sponsored article) : Treating patients 3000 miles away
Future Transportation (video) : New design for electric scooters
Future Entertainment (slideshow and article) : Virtual Reality's Puke Problem

Hope you find it interesting and helpful!

IELTS - Integrated Skills

The Effects of Tourism - Reading, Vocabulary, Speaking & Writing

Tourism and historical buildings are popular topics in the IELTS test. This article helps you to practise reading, review vocabulary, prepare for the speaking test AND do some writing.

Continue reading for READING, VOCABULARY, SPEAKING and WRITING TASKS...

FORMAL or INFORMAL?

IELTS WRITING : GENERAL TRAINING and ACADEMIC

In IELTS Writing, for both Academic and General Training, you will need to be aware of the difference between FORMAL and INFORMAL writing.

Continue reading for some practice using FORMAL WORDS and PHRASES in your writing...

IELTS Writing Task 1 and Reading

Language of Trends (FUELS and ENERGY SOURCES)

Always look out for reports that contain language useful for the IELTS writing test.

Reading and understanding this report on trends in CO2 emissions and energy sources will give you lots of useful words and phrases for describing fuel use and pollution - a common data type in IELTS Writing Task 1.

Continue reading for four tasks to help you improve your IELTS READING and WRITING skills...

IELTS Writing : PASSIVE VOICE

PASSIVE VOICE

Using PASSIVE voice is a good way to improve your writing, sound more academic and improve your grammar score. 

This article helps you understand what PASSIVE is, why we use it and how you can use it to improve your IELTS writing.

Continue reading for more about PASSIVE and how to use it in the IELTS test...

IELTS Integrated Skills

Review Writing, Speaking, Listening and Reading for IELTS

Although the IELTS test separates the 4 skills (L, R, W, S), we can save time when we prepare by INTEGRATING SKILLS. This means using all four skills TOGETHER

In this review exercise, you can improve your reading, writing, listening and reading skills at the same time.

Keep reading for the EXERCISE and TASKS....

IELTS Writing: Investment in the Arts

Investment in the Arts

A common topic in the IELTS writing test is investment in the arts.

 (The arts includes dance, drama, music etc.)

You may be asked to:

• describe advantages and disadvantages of spending government money on the arts 
• to discuss different views related to arts investment and give your opinion
• or to say whether you agree or disagree with investment in the arts.

It can be difficult to come up with ideas for this topic quickly in the test, so it helps to think about some ideas in advance.

An article in the Guardian newspaper from the UK details a recent report into the benefits of arts investment.

Continue reading for some extracts and task....

IELTS Writing : Task One REVIEW

If your test is coming soon, try reading this article for some quick review.

The article is from the Guardian Newspaper in the UK and reports crime rates.

Answer the following questions:

• Did the crime rate go up or down overall?
• When did the crime rate reach the highest point?
• Specifically, which types of crime rose?
• Which type of crime was different?
•  Which VERBSare used to describe change over time?
• Which ADVERBS are used with the verbs?
• Which NOUNS are used?
• Which ADJECTIVES are used with them?
• Can you see any comparatives (more than) and/or superlatives (the most)?

NOTE: Use the language for change over time from this article, but there is no need for quotes or opinions or interpretation of the data in IELTS Task 1

Crime  in England and Wales fell sharply last year with an 8% drop recorded on police figures and a 5% reduction according to the official crime survey.
The crime rate has halved since it peaked in 1995 and appears to be at its lowest level for more than 30 years. The  statistics show that all the main categories of crime recorded by the police fell, with violence down 6%, robbery down 13% and burglary down 9%. The murder rate also continued to fall in 2012, down 4% from 577 to 552 homicides. Knife crime fell by 16%.

The only category to see an increase was theft from person, which rose 8% to 107,471 incidents. Police said the increase, was driven by a rising number of mobile phone thefts, sometimes by youths on bikes.
The crime survey for England and Wales, which interviews more than 40,000 people about their experience of crime, estimates there were 8.9m crimes in 2012. This is the lowest level since 1981 when there were 11m crimes. The police figures recorded 3.7m offences, which is the lowest on this measure since 1989.

Crime rose steadily from 1981 to 1991 before peaking in 1995. Subsequently, the crime survey for England and Wales showed marked falls up to the 2004-05 survey. Since then the rate of reduction has slowed with some fluctuation from year to year.

The text has been adapted slightly from the original article.

IELTS 9 TEST1 TASK ONE MODEL ANSWER

Here is my model answer for the TEST ONE Task One in Cambridge IELTS 9. Many of my students had problems with this one so I thought a model answer might help.

This Task requires you to describe the changes to an island. There is not much to say about the island before development, so I have focused on the construction, and used PASSIVE (the jetty WAS BUILT) because we don't know who did the action in most cases.

I have made sure to mention the buildings and transportation. I have tried to use a RANGE of VOCABULARY, in particular using SYNONYMS (pier / jetty) to avoid using vocabulary from the map.





Continue reading for model answer and vocabulary... 

IELTS: Improving Your Vocabulary

In the IELTS Writing and Speaking test, you should show a range of vocabulary. To do this, try to use less common vocabulary accurately.

Students sometimes have problems with this so I thought I'd share some tips on how to include more vocabulary in your writing and speaking.

Continue reading for tips and explanation...

IELTS Writing Task Two: Common Question Types (4)

Cause, Effects, Solutions

This essay Question Type presents you with a SITUATION and asks you to describe the CAUSES, EFFECTS and/or SOLUTIONS to the problem.

You must read the question carefully and be sure to provide the items required by the question.

A common topic for this type of question is TOURISM so lets look at some ways the question can be written and how you can answer it.

More and more people today travel by air. What are some causes of this? What positive and negative effects does this have? Can you suggest any solutions?

Continue reading for examples, tips and advice...

IELTS Writing: Logic

Logic for IELTS Writing

What is logic?

Logic is a system like mathematics for proving things to be true or false. It was invented by the ancient Greeks thousands of years ago.

Why is logic important for IELTS?

You must ORGANISE your answer LOGICALLY. This means your PARAGRAPHS must be about one topic and your SENTENCES must build logically to prove your point. 

The more logical you can be, the higher your score for COHERENCE and COHESION.

Continue reading for examples and more explanation...

Reading for Task One Writing

Reading to Improve Writing (Task One)

A good way to improve your writing skills and reading skills at the same time is by picking up a newspaper once a week and finding a useful article. Look for articles that talk about issues related to the IELTS test, for example the environment, crime and social issues.

Often newspapers publish the results of polls and surveys. These kinds of articles have lots of language for data description which you can "recycle" in your Task One writing.

Keep reading for an example and task...

 

IELTS Writing Task Two: Common Question Types (3)

Discuss both views and give your own opinion.

In this common question type you are presented with an issue and two OPPOSITE opinions.

For (a very simple) example,

It is important to eat fruit as part of our daily diet. Some people believe the best type of fruit to eat is bananas. Others, however, think eating oranges is more beneficial.

Discuss both views and give your own opinion.

We can clearly see in this question that there are 4 parts:

Continue reading for explanation, tips and practice question...