IELTS Lesson Plans

The task

The graph below shows the number of passenger journeys made on two public transport services in a European city between 1998 and 2005. Summarise the information by selecting and reporting the main features, and make comparisons where relevant. Write at least 150 words.

Light rail
Ferry
Total

What this lesson is for

Students can usually name a rise and a fall. What they cannot do is choose what to report, so they list every year and write no overview. This lesson puts the pen work first: four minutes reading the graph before a single word is written, so the overview has something to say.

The one thing they must notice: light rail plus ferry equals the total. A student who misses that relationship is capped at band 6 for Task Achievement no matter how good the English is.

Anticipated problems

Listing all eight years instead of selecting the main features.
Present tense for a period that has ended. The graph stops in 2005.
"Increased with 20%" for increased by, and "increased 20%" with no preposition at all.
Extreme verbs borrowed from news English: plummeted, skyrocketed, surged.
Explaining causes. The graph gives numbers, not reasons.

Materials

The line graph and task above, on screen.
Pencils. Stage 1 is done on the graph itself.
Board space for the trend language table in Stage 4.

Timing map

Stage	Focus	Min
1	Read the graph	10
2	The introduction	15
3	The overview	20
4	Trend language	20
5	Body paragraphs	20
6	Grammar upgrade	15

Procedure

Stage 1: Read the graph

Interaction: Individual, then whole class

Pens down on writing. Four silent minutes with a pencil on the graph itself.

Light rail plus ferry equals the total. Ask them to check one year out loud: 1998, 0.4 plus 1.0 makes 1.4.
Mark the direction of all three lines with an arrow. All three rise.
Circle the crossover. Light rail overtakes the ferry in 2004.
Choose the paragraph split: by category, or by date. Model the date split, 1998 to 2001 and 2001 to 2005.

Then put the three prohibitions on the board and leave them there all lesson.

On the board: No opinion. No reasons. No conclusion.

Check questions

If I add the two lower lines, what do I get? (The top line, the total.)
Which year do the two services swap places? (2004.)
Can I write why light rail grew? (No. The graph does not say why.)

Stage 2: The introduction

Interaction: Individual, then board

One sentence that paraphrases the prompt. Three moves, in this order.

Move	From	To
Graphic type	The graph below	The line graph
Verb	shows	presents, illustrates, compares
Description	the number of passenger journeys	the topic in their own words, naming the three strands

Send them to Worksheet 1. Part A is the swap drill, six phrases from this prompt, done fast on the board if they stall. Part B is three whole introductions, one for the graph in front of them and two for prompts they have not seen.

Take two of each, put them on the board, fix them together. Hold the line on one rule: no figures in the introduction.

Watch for: copying the prompt word for word. A copied introduction is not counted in the word total, so they lose length as well as marks.

Stage 3: The overview

Interaction: Individual, then pairs

This is the paragraph that decides the band, so it comes before any body work. It opens with Overall, every time. The general direction of every line, then the one thing that changes. No detail.

Two sentences are enough here: total journeys rose steadily across the period, and although the ferry carried more passengers for most years, light rail overtook it by the end. That second half is the crossover they circled in Stage 1, so point back at the graph while they write.

Worksheet 2. Part A sorts six statements into main feature or detail, and Part B is the overview itself, built only from the ones they marked main. Do Part A as a whole class if they are slow: the sorting is the teaching, the writing is the practice.

Check questions

How many figures go in the overview? (None.)
Which word does it start with? (Overall.)
Is the crossover a main feature or a detail? (A main feature.)

Stage 4: Trend language

Interaction: Whole class, board

Point at a line, ask for the word, build the table as they give it.

Movement	Language
Up	increase, rise, grow, climb, go up. Doubled when it doubles.
Down	decrease, fall, decline, drop, go down. Halved when it halves.
Noun form	there was an increase / a rise / growth in the number of journeys
Flat	remained constant, stayed constant, remained at 1.6 million
Up then flat	plateaued. The ferry, 2001 to 2003.
Up and down	fluctuated across the period

Warn them off surged, plummeted, rocketed and skyrocketed. They are news English and the wrong register for an academic report.

Degree	Adjective	After the verb
Small	slight, marginal, minimal	slightly, marginally
Large	sharp, significant, substantial, considerable, steep, marked	sharply, significantly

The trap worth naming: there is no word "smally". When the verb comes first, use to a small extent or to a large extent instead.

Tell them to choose three or four of these and reuse them. A list of twenty words nobody can spell under time pressure is worth less than four they own.

Worksheet 3 is eight gaps, all filled from this graph rather than from a list, so the word has to fit a line they can see.

Stage 5: Body paragraphs

Interaction: Individual

Body 1 takes 1998 to 2001, body 2 takes 2001 to 2005.

Paragraph	What it reports
Body 1	Opening values, then the climb to 2.3 million, driven mainly by the ferry. The ferry carried 1.0 million of the 1.4 million total, so just under three quarters.
Body 2	Light rail from roughly 0.7 to 2.2 million, the 2004 crossover, the ferry flat at about 1.6 million with a dip in 2004, and the total reaching 3.8 million.

Do not force a neat fraction on data that has not got one. 1.0 out of 1.4 is not two thirds and not three quarters. Around 70%, or just under three quarters, is honest and scores exactly the same.

Approximately, roughly and around go in front of every figure. And cycle the verbs: rise, climb, increase, so the same word never lands twice in a paragraph.

Worksheet 4. Part A makes them read six figures off the graph before writing, which is where most of the data errors are caught. Part B is the two paragraphs.

Stage 6: Grammar upgrade

Interaction: Whole class

Four structures, each one taken from a sentence they have just written.

Structure	Example from this graph
Participle clause	Ferry use fell in 2004, declining to 1.4 million.
Non-defining relative clause	The growth came from light rail, which reached 2.2 million by 2005.
Past perfect	By 2004, light rail had overtaken the ferry.
Comparative and superlative	The ferry carried the larger share until 2003. The total reached its highest level in 2005.

For the participle clause, the rule is that the second verb must be a synonym of the first, not a repeat. For comparatives, one syllable takes -er and -est, two or more takes more and most.

Worksheet 5. Part A is three gaps, Part B is three pairs of sentences to join. If time is short, do 4 and 5 and drop 6.

Cohesion for the board: overall, although, at the beginning of the period, between 1998 and 2001, this increase, after 2001, as a result, in contrast, together.

Close on the model report, which uses every one of those joins. Give them two minutes to find the four structures from the table above before you name any of them.

Teacher notes

Stage 1 is the stage to protect. If it runs short the overview collapses, and the overview is where the band is won.
Do not correct trend vocabulary in Stage 3. They have not been taught it yet, and the point of the order is that they feel the gap before Stage 4 fills it.
Walk the room in Stage 5 for one thing only: figures without approximately, and the same verb used twice.

Worksheet 1: paraphrase the introduction

The introduction is one sentence: the task prompt said back in your own words. You change four things and you leave the rest alone.

Change	The prompt says	You write
The graphic	The graph below	The line graph
The verb	shows	presents, illustrates, compares
The quantity	the number of	the figures for, how many
The dates	between 1998 and 2005	from 1998 to 2005, in the years 1998 to 2005

Names of places, names of things and the topic itself stay as they are. Here is the whole move on a different prompt:

Worked example:

Prompt: The graph below shows the number of books borrowed from three libraries in one town between 2000 and 2010.

Introduction: The line graph illustrates how many books were borrowed from three libraries in one town from 2000 to 2010.

No figures anywhere in it, and never copy a whole phrase from the prompt. Now do the same with the task at the top of this page.

Part A. Every phrase below comes from the task above. Write a different way of saying the same thing. One or two words is enough.

The prompt says	You write
The graph below	1.
shows	2.
the number of	3.
between 1998 and 2005	4.
passenger journeys	5.
two public transport services	6.

Part B. Now write the whole introduction. One sentence each. No figures.

7. The graph below shows the number of passenger journeys made on two public transport services in a European city between 1998 and 2005.

8. The graph below shows the amount of electricity produced from three renewable sources in Germany between 2005 and 2015.

9. The graph below shows the number of cinema visits made by four age groups in one country from 1990 to 2010.

Worksheet 1 key

#	Accept
1	the line graph
2	presents, illustrates, compares, displays, gives information about
3	the figures for, how many, the quantity of, the total number of
4	from 1998 to 2005, in the years 1998 to 2005, starting in 1998 and ending in 2005
5	trips made by passengers, journeys made by travellers, passenger trips
6	two forms / types / means of public transport

Parts B is open. Mark it on three things only: is the graphic type named, is the verb changed, and are the dates kept. Everything else is a bonus.

#	A model introduction
7	The line graph compares the number of trips made on two forms of public transport in a European city from 1998 to 2005.
8	The line graph illustrates how much electricity was generated from three renewable sources in Germany from 2005 to 2015.
9	The line graph presents the figures for cinema attendance among four different age groups in one country from 1990 to 2010.

Two errors to expect in Part B: a copied prompt with two words changed, which is not a paraphrase and is not counted in the word total, and a first sentence that already contains figures. Both are quick to fix on the board.

Worksheet 2: the overall trends

Part A. An overview reports main features only. Details belong in the body paragraphs. Mark each statement about the graph above.

Statement about the graph	Main feature or detail?
1. Journeys increased markedly between 1998 and 2005.
2. Light rail fell slightly in 2000.
3. Light rail rose sharply and overtook the ferry towards the end of the period.
4. The ferry stood at 1.1 million in 1999.
5. The ferry carried the larger share of passengers for most years.
6. The total reached 3.8 million.

Part B. You marked three statements main. Join those three into the overview, in two sentences, using nothing else from the table.

No figures, and no years. Change the wording as much as you like. You are not copying the statements, you are joining them.

7. Sentence 1. The statement about the overall direction. Start it with Overall.

8. Sentence 2. The other two, joined with Although: the service that was bigger for most years first, then what light rail did at the end.

Worksheet 2 key

#	Answer	Why
1	main	The overall direction is the first thing an overview says.
2	detail	One year, one small movement. Body paragraph.
3	main	The one thing that changes across the period. No year: the overview names when it happened only loosely.
4	detail	A single figure.
5	main	Which service is bigger, held across most of the period.
6	detail	A figure, and figures do not go in the overview.

A model overview, the one from the model report: Overall, journeys increased markedly across the period. Although the ferry carried the larger share for most years, the sharp rise in light rail played a decisive role towards the end of the timeframe in pushing total journeys to their highest level.

#	What a good answer looks like
7	Overall, journeys increased markedly across the period.
8	Although the ferry carried the larger share for most years, light rail rose sharply and overtook it towards the end.

Part B is a joining job, not a writing-from-nothing job: the content is already on the table in front of them, and the only decisions are the order and the joins. Two things will need fixing on the board. The dates in statement 1 have to become across the period, and statement 5 has to move in front of the Although, not after it.

Watch for: an overview stuffed with figures, and an overview that describes only the total and forgets the two services underneath it. Both are band 6 answers.

Worksheet 3: trend language

Complete each sentence about the graph above. One word, unless the gap needs two.

1. Between 1998 and 2005, light rail journeys from 0.4 to 2.2 million.

2. There was a steady in the total number of journeys.

3. Ferry use between 2001 and 2003.

4. Light rail slightly in 2000, the only year it did so.

5. After 2003 there was a rise in light rail use. (an adjective for a big change)

6. Ferry numbers fell in 2004. (the adverb, not the adjective)

7. There is no word "smally". Instead we write: the figure rose to a extent.

8. One of these verbs is the wrong register for Task 1. Which?

Worksheet 3 key

#	Accept
1	increased, rose, grew, climbed, went up
2	increase, rise, growth
3	remained constant, stayed constant, remained stable, plateaued, levelled off
4	fell, decreased, declined, dropped
5	sharp, significant, substantial, considerable, steep, marked
6	slightly, marginally, minimally
7	small
8	surged. It belongs to news English, not an academic report.

Number 3 is the one to spend time on. Plateaued is only right if the line rose first and then went flat, which is exactly what the ferry does. Remained constant is right whatever came before. Students reach for plateaued everywhere once they meet it.

Worksheet 4: the body paragraphs

Part A. Read the six figures you need off the graph before you write a word.

Read from the graph	Figure
1. Light rail in 1998	1.
2. Ferry in 1998	2.
3. Total in 2001	3.
4. The year light rail overtook the ferry	4.
5. The ferry's lowest point after 2001	5.
6. Total in 2005	6.

Part B. Now write the two body paragraphs. Put approximately, roughly or around in front of every figure, and never use the same verb twice in one paragraph.

7. Body 1: 1998 to 2001. Where the three lines start, and what drives the rise to 2001.

8. Body 2: 2001 to 2005. The growth in light rail, the crossover, and what the ferry does while it happens.

Worksheet 4 key

#	Answer
1	0.4 million
2	1.0 million
3	2.3 million
4	2004
5	1.4 million, in 2004
6	3.8 million

#	A model paragraph
7	In 1998 the city recorded around 1.4 million journeys in total, of which the ferry accounted for roughly 1 million, or just under three quarters. Both services then grew, and by 2001 the combined figure had reached approximately 2.3 million. Most of this increase came from the ferry, which climbed to about 1.6 million, while light rail added only 0.3 million over the same three years.
8	After 2001 the pattern changed. Light rail rose substantially, climbing from roughly 0.7 million to 2.2 million in 2005, and by 2004 it had overtaken the ferry. Ferry use, in contrast, remained close to 1.6 million for the rest of the period, apart from a temporary fall to about 1.4 million in 2004. Together these trends pushed the total to approximately 3.8 million in the final year.

Walk the room for two things only: a bare figure with no approximately in front of it, and the same verb used twice in one paragraph. Ignore everything else until the paragraph is finished.

Worksheet 5: grammar upgrade

Part A. Complete the sentence about the graph above.

1. By 2004, light rail the ferry. (past perfect)

2. The ferry carried the share of passengers until 2003. (comparative)

3. The total reached its level in 2005. (superlative)

Part B. Join each pair into one sentence. For 4 and 5 use an -ing clause, and make the second verb a synonym of the first, not a repeat. For 6 use , which.

4. Ferry use fell in 2004. It went down to 1.4 million.

5. Light rail journeys rose sharply after 2001. They went up from 0.7 to 2.2 million.

6. Most of the growth came from light rail. Light rail reached 2.2 million in 2005.

Worksheet 5 key

#	Answer
1	had overtaken. Also accept had surpassed, had passed.
2	larger. Also accept bigger, greater.
3	highest.
4	Ferry use fell in 2004, declining to approximately 1.4 million.
5	Light rail journeys rose sharply after 2001, climbing from roughly 0.7 to 2.2 million.
6	Most of the growth came from light rail, which reached 2.2 million in 2005.

The error that decides 4 and 5: repeating the verb. "Fell in 2004, falling to 1.4 million" is grammatically correct and scores nothing extra, because the clause adds a structure but no new vocabulary. The second verb has to be a synonym.

The model report

This is the whole thing, written from the task below. You have already written all four paragraphs. Put yours beside this one and compare them a paragraph at a time.

Light rail
Ferry
Total

The line graph illustrates how many journeys were made by light rail and by ferry in one European city from 1998 to 2005.

Overall, journeys increased markedly across the period. Although the ferry carried the larger share for most years, the sharp rise in light rail played a decisive role towards the end of the timeframe in pushing total journeys to their highest level.

At the beginning of the period, total journeys stood at around 1.4 million, with approximately three quarters made by ferry and the remaining quarter by light rail. Between 1998 and 2001, the overall figure climbed steadily to 2.3 million. This increase was mainly the result of growth in ferry travel, which rose to about 1.6 million, while light rail figures remained comparatively moderate and showed only minor variation.

After 2001, the pattern shifted noticeably. The number of light rail journeys rose substantially, climbing from roughly 1 million in 2002 to 2.2 million in 2005. As a result of this increase, by 2004 light rail had surpassed ferry travel. In contrast, ferry numbers changed little, staying constant at around 1.6 million for most of the remaining period, apart from a temporary fall to about 1.4 million in 2004. Together, these trends resulted in total journeys reaching approximately 3.8 million in the final year.

216 words. Press a button to light up one feature of the report at a time. Press it again to clear the page.

Check your own report against these five: no figures in the introduction, Overall as the first word of the overview, an approximator in front of every figure, no verb used twice in the same paragraph, and not one sentence saying why any of it happened.

What to point at in the model

Where	What it is doing
Introduction	Names the graphic type, swaps shows for illustrates, turns the number of into how many, and names the two services the prompt leaves generic. No figures at all.
Overview	Two sentences, no figures. The first gives the direction, the second gives the crossover. Nothing else.
Body 1	Opens with the 1998 split, then the movement to 2001, then what drove it. Approximately three quarters, not a forced two thirds.
Body 2	Reverses the story. The crossover lands in past perfect, the ferry dip is an aside, and the total closes the paragraph.

The structures from Stage 6, all four in the model: participle clause (climbing from roughly 1 million in 2002), non-defining relative (which rose to about 1.6 million), past perfect (had surpassed), and comparative (the larger share). Ask them to find all four before you name them.

Do not hand this out before Stage 6. Given early it becomes the thing they copy, and the sorting work in Stages 1 and 3 is what actually moves the band.