Hello! And welcome to today's video,
which is a writing task 2 video on the screen.
Now, you will see a question which we are going to talk about,
both Jay and I.
Would you like to read the question please, Jay?
I sure would.
It is more important for children to spend time outside
than spending time in front of a screen,
watching television or playing video games.
To what extent do you agree or disagree with this statement?
Some people find it really difficult to think of ideas,
so this video is going to give you lots and lots of ideas,
looking at both sides and helping you reach above a band 7.
So, stay tuned and we'll be back with you soon.
So, in today's question we need to first of all,
figure out what's probably the most important or the keyword from this question.
I ask this to the students all the time and the majority of times.
Most of the time,
students get this wrong.
So on the screen,
now you'll see the question again and we'll repeat it to you.
So it is more important for children to spend time outside
than spending time in front of the screen,
watching television or playing video games.
To what extent do you agree with this statement or disagree with this statement?
You will not believe the number of times that people choose the word
children, they choose the word TV, they choose the word agree or disagree.
You have to find the most important word here.
Because if you don't,
you won't really be able to answer the question.
For me,
The most important word is more important,
and that's the most important word.
Because
you have to think of a position.
Do you think it's more important
for children to spend time outside?
Or,
do you think it's more important for them to be in front of screens?
and if you can't think of those two sides,
you're going to struggle to get above a band seven.
So, we'll think of some ideas
and will explain to you what you could include in this essay.
But I know, Jay, you had an important question,
which is a really common question from the students.
So when you're writing or responding to a written task on the IELTS exam,
can you...
answer in the middle a little bit?
Or do you have to choose one side or the other?
You don't have to choose one side or the other.
This particular style of question asks for the extent to which you agree.
So, you could say I mostly agree that.
You could say I partially agree that.
You could say,
I agree that both this and this are important,
so that would be a middle ground.
There is no right or wrong answer.
The important point that if you want to get above a band 8,
you do need to look at both sides if you only choose one side.
In this case,
for example,
spending time outside is more important.
And you disregard the other side.
You can't get a band 8.
So,
Jay,
let's look at some of the reasons why it is important for children to be outside.
Well, I think the first reason is health, their physical health.
Going outside, and climbing trees, or playing sport with their friends
is really good for their physical development,
and it's definitely beneficial.
As a kid did
you spend a lot of time outside?
All the time,
especially in the summer.
Of course,
when winter came not as much but summertime,
I was out all the time, every night you know,
to the point where I would be listening for my mom
to yell for me to come home and come inside.
Exactly.
I don't hear that anymore.
No.
I used to have the same thing.
My mom would call me,
and I don't hear that any more.
I don't see children outside at all nowadays.
Interesting.
Do you have children outside in your country?
So that was one reason which was spending time outside is really important.
I could think of another reason,
and I was thinking about social interaction.
When kids are outside,
they are playing with others.
They are building and forming relationships with others.
They are working in teams,
they are sharing.
OK,
and I think that's an important part of childhood.
It helps build a basis for when they get older and have to
develop social relationships.
Exactly.
So they were too good reasons
why children should spend time outside.
But as I mentioned, very important, that you have to look at the other side too.
So, Jay,
can you think of any reasons why children should
or why it's important for them to be inside?
I think you know that there are some benefits
to watching television or playing video games,
provided they're the right one.
So, if you're a parent and you are monitoring your child's television,
what shows they might be watching,
you could have them watch educational television shows.
Or they could be playing video games
that might help improve hand-eye coordination.
So there are some benefits to that for sure.
You gave lots of good examples there.
So hand-eye coordination,
great example,
People living in a neighborhood where it's not safe to go outside.
Maybe there's a lot of traffic could be a reason why that they should.
It's important for them to stay inside.
So, some TV shows have educational value.
Yeah.
Some neighborhoods are not safe to go out in because of traffic or crime.
and finally, it could just be a way of keeping kids busy.
You know it could be a distraction,
keeping them safe.
So, looking at both sides is critical.
And if I were writing the essay, there's a few ways that you could do it.
You could write one paragraph about one side.
You could write a second paragraph about the opposite side.
Then you could write a third body paragraph about your position, about your feeling.
There's no reason for you not to do that.
Yeah.
There's no standard template for writing an essay.
And both Jay and I work in university,
and we can both tell you that there is no fixed way of writing an essay.
I know many of you try to learn a template.
The examiner can spot that immediately.
So, Chris,
how would you answer this question?
Personally,
I think that it's more important for children to be spending time outside.
But I would also argue
there are some limited benefits for children to be spending time inside as well.
So I mostly agree and it's using this qualifier.
I want you to qualify the agreement.
I mostly agree that children should spend time outside,
but there are some limited arguments for spending time inside as well.
You could say slightly agree, partially agree.
Using these adverbs are really useful.
What do you think?
I actually completely agree with you,
I, although, maybe I wouldn't say mostly,
I might stay more middle of the road on this.
I think there are a lot of benefits to staying inside but again you know,
having a moderation
and doing a little bit of on both sides of the spectrum
is important in life.
And my personal views is
to make sure that you're not doing too much of one thing.
So pretty close to you,
although maybe I might go a little bit more towards
the television and video games,
especially if you're living in an urban setting too.
You now, the world you live is a very big determiner
for this type of question actually.
Very valid point, very good point.
And finally,
the thing that I want to remind you all,
and I tell you this again and again.
The question says in IELTS,
use examples and knowledge from your own personal experience.
If I were writing this essay,
I would say when I was a kid,
or when I was a child,
I spent most of my childhood outside.
And I feel that's very important because... and explain.
It's really, really critical for you to meet the task response mark
that you have some form of opinion and own experience in that.
And if you use your own experience,
it just makes answering the question easier because
you are drawing from your life, and you don't have to try to think of anything else.
Such good advice from you Jay, there.
Please take that on board.
If you have any questions,
any doubts, any concerns, any ideas,
feel free to write them in the comments section below.
We read all of them and we love to read them.
So thank you for watching this video.
Thank you for coming, Jay.
You are welcome.
Would I see you soon?
You sure will.
Fantastic.
See you guys soon too.
Bye for now.
Take care.