Mark Teacher’s Free Weekly IELTS Newsletter
Week 12: Cities
IELTS Warm-up Questions: Cities
Warm-up Questions:
- Are there many ‘green spaces’ (parks, gardens etc.) in your neighbourhood?
- Have you heard the expression ‘concrete jungle’? What do you think it means?
- Do you think your city is a good place for tourists to visit?
- Is there a big difference between your city now and in the past?
- Is there another city you’d love to visit in the future?
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IELTS Lesson – How to Take Notes in Part 2
Part 2 is tough – there’s no denying that. Fortunately, the IELTS knows that too, so you are given 1 minute to prepare your talk.
“How do I make the most of my 60-second preparation time?”
This is a common question I receive from students.
In this week’s newsletter, I will give you some strategies to help you prepare for any Part 2 answer.
Strategy #1 – PDF
This one comes directly from my comprehensive IELTS Speaking eBook.
My personal favourite strategy is: PDF
This stands for Past – Describe – Future
Simply, this means start your story in the past, describe in the middle, and finish in the future.
Not only does this strategy help you construct and share a chronological and therefore easy to follow answer, but it also helps you prepare your notes by making by giving you a structure you can jot down quickly.
Here’s an example:
Describe a beautiful city.
You should say:
- What it is
- How you know it
- What it is famous for
- and why you think it’s a beautiful city.
Following the PDF strategy. Your 60-second notes could look like this:
As you can see, you can quickly separate your notes into 3 sections: P, D and F.
Then you can include details and information related to each part. When it’s time to give your answer, you can simply start with ‘P’ and go through your notes. You can also feel confident that your story will be clear, comprehensive, and will help you show off a wider variety of skills (the past tense in the past or the 2nd conditional in the future, for example.)
However, some students find this distracting and actually don’t feel comfortable using this strategy, even after some practice.
Luckily, there is another strategy you can employ that will help you ace Part 2.
Strategy #2 – Prompts
If you saw last week’s newsletter, you might remember that you can talk about anything related to the topic.
If your cue card was about a beautiful city, for example, you could easily…
- Describe the buildings and atmosphere
- Give your opinion about it, including likes and dislikes
- Talk about a friend you associate with the city
- Talk about the unique experiences you had in that city
- And almost anything that comes to mind related to the city.
These bullet points are actually all you need to write on your notes.
This is great for some students who feel that their notes actually distract them more than help them.
If this is the case, you can simply write:
That’s it! You simply create a list of prompts and topics, rather than specific words or sentences. Now you don’t have to worry about going ‘off’ your notes and losing your concentration or harming your fluency.
I would recommend this technique for students who are more confident with their grammar when they speak, because there are no sentences here to make sure you say things correctly. It’s also possible to jot down some extra adjectives or phrases you want to mention as well.
Now watch the video below. Based on the two strategies you just learnt about, which one do you think I am using in my answer?
Strategy #1 – PDF?
Strategy #2 – Prompts?
Well done if you said Strategy #2. 🙂
Try to experiment with both strategies to find your favourite. Set 60 seconds on a timer your phone, grab a pen and paper, and get practising!
You can download the transcript to my answer here: Describe a beautiful city.doc
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“I can never think of any ideas.”
“I can’t find the right IELTS vocabulary anywhere.”
Are you having any of these problems?
If you’re struggling with vocabulary and ideas for your IELTS Speaking answers, you can find HUNDREDS more high-band example answers (written and recorded by me) to help you tackle any IELTS Speaking Topic you might encounter.
This week in fact, I’ve just uploaded the 200th example answer to the library! With hundreds more to come!
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IELTS Vocabulary and Levelled Reading
Read these 2 levels of about ‘Cities’. Cities is quite a general topic, so here are a few different Part 3 questions which are relevant to Cities, including parks and pollution. Every level becomes more difficult but every level has the same meaning. The new words are highlighted, so if you don’t understand a word in Level 2, look back at Level 1 to find the easier synonym! This is a great way to learn new vocabulary!
Level 1: Basic Level 2: Advanced
IELTS Question #1: What benefits can parks bring to a city?
- Level 1:I think a lot of cities are concrete jungles, so having a park can provide a nice green space for anyone who lives there, because the trees clean the air, soak up some of the pollutants, and actually help during summer because they provide some cool shade and some rest from the city. Also, if there is a playground in the park, then kids can enjoy themselves, get outside, and meet other kids, which makes life a little easier for parents.
- Level 2: I think a lot of cities are becoming concrete jungles, so having a park can provide a nice green space for local residents, because the trees can freshen the air, soak up some of the pollutants, and really help during summer, because they can provide some cool shade and some respite from the heat of the city. As well as that, if there is a playground in the park, then kids can enjoy themselves, get outside, and socialise with other kids, which makes life a little easier for parents.
IELTS Question #2: What kinds of pollution are serious in your country?
- Level 1: Unfortunately, there are quite a few serious threats in my country about pollution at the moment. The main one is probably the air quality. There’s a lot of smog created by cars and other vehicles, and at some points of the year, it’s very bad. You can barely see further than a few hundred metres. Also, there is a lot of litter, especially on the beaches. There’s sewage from nearby resorts and hotels which contributes to the problem. It makes the beach smell bad, and it drives tourists away. So I think those two are the major types of pollution we need to deal with in my country.
- Level 2: As much as it pains me to say, there are quite a few serious threats in my country in terms of pollution at the moment. The main one is probably the air quality. There’s a lot of smog generated by cars and other vehicles, and at some points of the year it is almost unbearable. You can barely see further than a few hundred metres. As well as that, there’s a lot of litter, especially on some of our beaches. There’s sewage from nearby hostels and hotels which also exacerbates the problem, but it makes the beach stink, and it drives tourists away. So I think those two are the most pressing types of pollution we need to deal with in my country.
Links and Resources
You can find even more IELTS-appropriate vocabulary, collocations and phrases about Cities here:
Want to know the pros (+) and cons (-) of living in a city? This article is loaded with good IELTS-appropriate vocabulary and ideas.
Likewise, the benefits of having more green spaces in cities is explain in excellent IELTS-ready terms here:
IELTS Practice Questions
Putting it all together:
Part 2 Questions:
Describe a beautiful park or garden. You should say:
- What park it is
- Where it is
- When you go there
- And say why you like it
Describe a beautiful city. You should say:
- What city it is
- How you know it
- What it’s famous for
- And why you like it
Part 3 – Questions
- Why is important to have parks in a city?
- How often do you visit parks?
- Should people visit parks every week?
- Do we need small parks or big parks in the city?
- Should people help to clean public parks?
- What kinds of pollution are serious in your country?
- What can individuals do to lower pollution in cities?
- Do you think there is a need to involve the government in controlling pollution levels in cities?