How to Write the Opening Paragraph of IELTS Writing Task1？

Topic： How to write the opening paragraph for writing task1？

Target student： Year10 students （UFS 10C）

Textbook： Writing for IELTS， Written by Anneli Williams

Objectives：

1. to lead students to know the structure of writing task1

2. to equip students with the strategy of paraphrasing

3. to guide students to master the skill of describing the overall trend of a graph

4. to cultivate students creative and cooperative spirit

Teaching procedure：

Step1： Review： Q&A-; What is the most important requirement for task 1 writing？

Step2： Brief introduction to the structure of task1 writing

Lecture

Invite students to briefly analyze the structure of a sample writing

Step3： Strategy 1—How to paraphrase the topic introduction？ （Substitution）

Ask students to figure out the rule of paraphrasing the introductive sentence

Lead students to practice paraphrase and write it down on the notebook

Group work：

Study the substitute word-list in groups

Paraphrase with the given words

Write on the poster

Rotate

Report

Feedback

Step4： Strategy2—How to describe the overall trend？

Pair-work：

Find a partner from other groups with the corresponding word/graph which matches that of yours

Sit down and share the new word with your new partner

Go back to your seat

Consolidation： Compete to answer

Step5： Self-study：

Self-study adjectives which can be used to describe the degree of change represented in a line graph

Activity to check： for line1-stand up； for line 2- sit down

Step6： Individual work： read and draw

Step7： Strategy 3—How to paraphrase the sentence describing the trend？ （verb-adverb）

Demonstration： There was a sharp rise in the amount of money saved annually. –The amount of money saved annually rose sharply.

Output： Ask students to paraphrase the sentence describing the overall trend.

Feedback

Step8： Summary

Step9： Assignment

Write the opening paragraph of task1 （textbook p15， p23， p31）

Due： 5 p.m. tomorrow

Step10. 反思

一、教學设计思路：

本节课以线图为载体，教学目标是让学生掌握如何写雅思小作文的开头段。让学生通过自我探索、总结，在做中学，是整堂课设计的主要思路。因此，整堂课通过6个小活动的施行，希望达到让学生们会学写小作文开头段的目的。

二、不足与反思：

1.老师的部分引导用语不够精准、及时。

解决方案：在学生发散思维讨论后，我应当再适当第进行总结，在学生发言时，可适当在黑板板书，记录下重点，供其他同学参考。

3.学生画图展示的环节，可以让学生自己用ipad拍照展示到大屏幕上，或者寻找app，让学生直接在ipad上画，否则，我自己一个个拍照展示，浪费时间。

4.能够给学生多一点时间进行整个开头段的完整写作练习就更好一些了。

三、总结：

对于写作课的课堂模式，我仍在探索之中。一方面，写作确实是需要学生静下心来，认真书写，产出内容的课，一般来说，不适合太热闹；但是，另一方面，如果从高一起我们就太急功近利地采取刷题应试模式，也会抹杀学生的学习兴趣。希望今后可以和备课组的教师一起摸索出一套科学的教写作的方法。

【作者简介】薛晓梅，江苏省南京外国语学校仙林分校国际高中。