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、教學設計思路：

本節課以線圖為載體，教學目標是讓學生掌握如何寫雅思小作文的開頭段。讓學生通過自我探索、總結，在做中學，是整堂課設計的主要思路。因此，整堂課通過6個小活動的施行，希望達到讓學生們會學寫小作文開頭段的目的。

二、不足與反思：

1.老師的部分引導用語不夠精準、及時。

解決方案：在學生發散思維討論后，我應當再適當第進行總結，在學生發言時，可適當在黑板板書，記錄下重點，供其他同學參考。

3.學生畫圖展示的環節，可以讓學生自己用ipad拍照展示到大屏幕上，或者尋找app，讓學生直接在ipad上畫，否則，我自己一個個拍照展示，浪費時間。

4.能夠給學生多一點時間進行整個開頭段的完整寫作練習就更好一些了。

三、總結：

對于寫作課的課堂模式，我仍在探索之中。一方面，寫作確實是需要學生靜下心來，認真書寫，產出內容的課，一般來說，不適合太熱鬧；但是，另一方面，如果從高一起我們就太急功近利地采取刷題應試模式，也會抹殺學生的學習興趣。希望今后可以和備課組的教師一起摸索出一套科學的教寫作的方法。

【作者簡介】薛曉梅，江蘇省南京外國語學校仙林分校國際高中。