hi welcome back to Ingrid comm I'm Adam
nice to see you again
today's lesson is for IELTS and TOEFL
students and so because these students
need a little bit extra practice in
listening to more natural speed English
I will speak a little bit faster if
you're a beginner english learner watch
anyway it's still good practice but
don't worry if I'm speaking a little bit
too fast so more specifically I'm going
to be looking at the writing tasks to
the essay of the IELTS and or TOEFL
they're very similar that's why I'm
doing them together there's not big
differences but I will point them out
and what I'm doing as I'm concentrating
on the introduction today the
introduction paragraph I'm not showing
you the whole essay I'm just showing you
the introduction now you're wondering
why it's just the introduction it's a
short one right no this is probably the
most important paragraph in your whole
essay this is where you basically make
or break your score okay
why because here is where the reader
understands what you're about to do this
is where the greater the person who's
giving you your score understands if you
understood the question I understand if
you know what you're talking about and
understand if you knew how to plan well
okay very very important the first
paragraph the introduction so what are
you going to do of course you're going
to plan first you're not going to start
writing do not write one word of your
essay until you have your plan ready
once you have your plan ready then your
essay is done you just have to basically
translate this plan into sentences
you're basically going for three to five
sentences less than three you didn't you
missed something you didn't do enough
more than five you're going for words
you don't have time don't worry about it
three to five get down what you need to
get down get into your bodies where
you're going to be writing the most okay
there are four questions you want to
answer in the introduction you will
already have these answers once you've
planned properly okay what do you want
to answer what is the topic what is the
question
what is your opinion and what are your
reasons these are the four things that
must be included in the introduction now
a lot of you think well topic in
question is the same thing right but no
they're not and this is where a lot of
people lose points because they don't
realize that these are two different
things the topic is the general idea of
what the question is about the question
is specifically what are you asked to do
now the most common type of question you
will see on both the IELTS and the TOEFL
is the question that asks you to choose
between two things they want you to
choose one and argue why that one is
better than the other one or why that
one is so good now what I'm going to
show you today will mostly apply to
these types of questions but if you have
a question that asks you to compare and
contrast two things keep in mind even if
they ask you to compare two things
they're still going to ask you to lean
towards one of them to choose one as
better than the other in which case
you're still going to need to give your
opinion okay what is the topic you're
going to keep this very very general all
you're doing is giving the idea of what
this essay is about so I know all of you
have probably practiced this question is
it better to live in the countryside or
in the city explain your reasons giving
examples etc your first sentence very
very general what is the topic of this
question city life country life no the
topic is where to live so your first
sentence introduction introduces the the
idea of living choosing a place to live
the question is then more specific so
your sentence narrows a little bit
becomes a little bit more focused the
question is is a better in the country
or the city okay then you have to give
your opinion you must say I believe I
think in my opinion you don't have to
use these words there's other ways to
say your opinion but if you're not sure
of those put one of those make it very
very clear what you're saying this is
your thesis this is a very specific
sentence after reading this sentence I
the greater
must understand which side you've chosen
and what you're going to argue and then
you see the last sentence gets a little
bit more general why because you're
giving your reasons you're not giving me
details
you give me general reasons of why you
have this opinion okay so four sentences
or you can squeeze them you can squeeze
for example this one in this one you can
squeeze this one in this one and make
three sentences or you can add extra
information you want to make this one
two sentences go for it make it five
don't go more than five more than five
means you you've lost focus okay
three means you have a very good command
of the language personally if you can do
a very strong introduction paragraph in
three sentences it could actually be
better for you than five but three to
four three two five four is the average
go for that we're going to look at an
example and you'll understand better
what I'm talking about here okay so
here's our first example
the first example I made it a little bit
more basic I got four different
sentences answering each question
individually okay just to refresh our
memories what is the question is it
better to live in the city or the
country or is it better to live in the
country or the city doesn't matter so
remember I'm starting with a very
general idea of the topic deciding where
to live is one of life's more difficult
choices where to live here is your topic
very general have I given any
information no have I expressed an
opinion no all I'm doing is introducing
the topic that's all I want the reader
to know we're talking about where to
live next sentence one may opt for life
in the country or the city now just in
case you're not sure opt for means
choose I used choice here I use deciding
here I want to use as much different
vocabulary as I can opt for if you know
it use it a little bit extra points for
a nice language okay one may opt for
life in the country or the city this is
your question country city very clear
in my opinion very very direct and
to-the-point state your thesis state
what you believe in my opinion life in
the city is more advantageous
I choose city it's better that's all I
want to say that's the I'm answering the
question this is my stance this is my
opinion this is due to the fact that the
city offers better economic and social
opportunities so I'm going to present
the reader with two reasons economic and
social am i giving any any you any idea
what the economic reasons are no am i
giving you any ideas what the social
reasons are no they're very very general
I've made it a bit more general okay so
I've answered all four questions I'm
doing exactly what the essay is supposed
to do what the essay is asking me to do
now the only thing I would suggest about
this one again very basic the only thing
I would recommend you could do make this
take out the period take out this in my
opinion life in the city is more
advantageous due to the fact that the
city offers better economic and social
opportunities all I did was join the
last two sentences so now I have a three
sentence paragraph and a little bit more
complex sentence because I have more
clauses and more phrases in it so it
shows a little bit of sentence variety
and it's very simple all you have to do
is just take at the beginning if I want
I can just take out the whole thing
due to the fact is a good expression use
it remember it and just put because if
you're stuck if you don't know another
expression to show reason just use
because preferably you don't use because
because a thousand other people taking
the test with you are also using because
you want to be a little bit different
you want to stand out a little bit but
if you're panicking if you're stuck use
because now again I mentioned there's a
slight differences between TOEFL and
IELTS the only difference is time and
number of words for IELTS you have 40
minutes to write your essay TOEFL you
have 30 minutes that's ten minutes is a
huge
difference right you have to write your
IELTS you have your to write your
paragraph up to your first paragraph
sorry up to eight minutes more than
eight minutes maybe 10 with the planning
you're getting into a bit of trouble
TOEFL you have maybe five six minutes to
do this right so you have to be a little
bit quicker you have to be better
prepared all that means is just practice
practice practice write lots of essays
another difference is the IELTS you need
a minimum 250 words whereas TOEFL you
need more words okay so write more if
you can add another sentence but not get
off-topic
put it in for the TOEFL but I'm going to
show you another example a little bit
more complex a little bit fancier if you
want to say it and one that I could use
for in choose one or a compare and
contrast and choose okay let's do that
okay so let's look at now at another
example I made this one a little bit
more multi-purpose depending on what
kind of questions you're asked if you're
asked to compare and contrast you can
use this if you're just asked to choose
between two you can still use this okay
first thing you'll notice after we read
it only three sentences but it's
actually longer than the last example
okay first sentence as a person reaches
adulthood he needs to decide on where he
would prefer to live again topic where
to live you can introduce another topic
adulthood because you can incorporate
that into your reasons okay I'm not
saying much I'm just my topic is still
where prefer to live okay next while
there are advantages excuse me
to both living in the country and the
city so here I'm introducing the fact
that I might be comparing both have
advantages so I'm going to compare these
I believe that for economic reasons I
have your thesis and your main reason
life in the city is more beneficial I've
chosen one here's my general reason now
you think okay done right no because I'm
here's an example of where you can use
one reason for your whole essay you
don't have to have two reasons
we think this is because the city offers
more employment opportunities as well as
a more affordable cost of living so now
you realize I actually do have two
reasons under the umbrella of the one
reason okay so many people think oh I
can't think of ideas I don't know what
to say about this if you can have one
idea that's fine split it into two
categories right economic reasons jobs
and cost of living it's cheaper to live
in the city because more people more
things come in etc now a couple of
things to keep in mind one I only have
three sentences this is a very this
sentence the second one is a very long
complex sentence if you can write a
sentence that has more than one clause
more than one phrase you're going to get
bonus points because it shows a very
strong command of the language okay I'm
doing three things here almost I'm
showing but I'm going to talk about the
advantages I'm giving you my opinion and
I'm giving you my major reason all in
one sentence and then I'm getting a
little bit more specific how I'm going
to split this up now another thing to
keep in mind two things to keep in mind
one whatever however way or whatever
order you list your reasons make sure
that the body paragraphs follow suit so
I talked about employment opportunities
first my next paragraph if I'm comparing
then the paragraphs are by comparing
then the next one is employment
opportunities and cost of living if I'm
only making a choice then my first body
paragraph is about employment my second
body paragraph is about cost of living
okay
but keep that in mind if you're
comparing and then choosing first
paragraph make the comparisons second
paragraph first reason for your choice
third paragraph second reason for your
choice or if you want if you have enough
reasons you're going to need more than
one you can compare throughout the body
each paragraph compares one point though
the city offers more employment
opportunities in the countryside there's
a limited number of jobs because there's
not that many people there aren't that
many people etc in the next one another
thing I want to mention some of you may
be angry with
me right now because I said he okay he
is okay she is okay please do not do
this do not do he she he she him her him
her himself herself it a it doesn't
count as extra words and B this gets
really really annoying for the reader if
you're a girl say she if you're a guy
say he if you're a guide you want to say
she say she if you're a girl and you
want to say he say he but only choose
one don't worry about it you're not
going to lose points for this okay now
again I can't stress enough how
important it is to practice writing and
ideally get someone to check it for you
and give you feedback okay but write
your essays and go over make sure all
your pronouns are okay all your
prepositions are okay your subject and
your verbs agree try to have different
vocabulary different sentence structures
okay and practice practice practice when
you start preparing for the IELTS and
TOEFL start with the essay learn to
write first because that takes the
longest time to improve and it's usually
where people get their lowest score on
the test okay anyway go to Ingrid comm
there will be a quiz there to give you a
little bit more practice with this and
of course go to my YouTube channel and
subscribe there if you like and come
back again real soon bye
you