My approach to Task 1
My approach to IELTS Writing Task 1 is built on one thing I see in every classroom: most candidates don't lose marks because their English is weak - they lose marks because Task 1 rewards a specific, learnable set of language functions (describing trends, making comparisons, grouping data, sequencing a process), and nobody ever taught them which ones, or the exact phrases that signal them to an examiner.
So I don't teach “writing” in the abstract. Each lesson isolates one function, gives you the precise target language an IELTS examiner looks for, then asks you to use it: write, see upgraded language examples, rewrite, and practise on a real chart. That loop comes straight from my MA research into metacognition: learners improve fastest when they can spot and fix their own weaknesses, not when they're simply told what's wrong.
Background
I hold an MA in Applied Linguistics and TESOL (Distinction), a Cambridge DELTA, a CELTA, and a PGCE. Over fifteen years I've taught IELTS and English and led English departments in the UK, Spain and Vietnam — including running the British Council Vietnam's advanced teacher-training programme — and I write assessment content for Trinity College London, Oxford International and the British Council. I've sat on both sides of the exam: teaching it, and helping build it.
Everything on this site is curriculum I've taught in person, many times over. The AI's only job is marking — instantly, against examiner criteria. The teaching is mine.
Qualifications
- MA Applied Linguistics & TESOL (Distinction) — University of Leicester
- Cambridge DELTA
- Cambridge CELTA
- PGCE (Secondary) + Qualified Teacher Status — University of Brighton
- Assessment item writer — Trinity College London, Oxford International, British Council