TOP10 topics for Writing and Speaking parts of IELTS:

✏#TOP10 topics for Writing and Speaking parts of IELTS:

Many people do not realise that the IELTS system uses a group of ten key topics to formulate all of these questions in Speaking and Writing. If you understand these ten topics, and above all if you know some advanced vocabulary on each topic to use in your Speaking and Writing answers, you can make a huge difference to your IELTS Band score, even if your English contains some mistakes.

1)Topic 1: Work and careers ✔

The Work and careers topic includes issues of opportunities and problems at work, ways of motivating and rewarding workers, the work/life balance, changes in patterns of jobs and work (for example, the growth in working from home), career choices and training, and occasionally the relationship between government and businesses or industries.
You are not expected to know any vocabulary connected to specialised areas of finance, marketing and so on.

✏Topic 1 Example Task
Some employers offer their employees subsidized membership of gyms and sports clubs, believing that this will make their staff healthier and thus more effective at work. Other employers see no benefit in doing so.
Consider the arguments from both aspects of this possible debate, and reach a conclusion.

✏Explanation of the Task
This is an Opinion>Discussion type Task. You should introduce the topic, present two or three ideas on each side of the discussion, and then give your opinion in the conclusion.
If you are not already familiar with the different types of IELTS Academic Task 2 essay, please see the ‘Overview’ at the end of this book. It is essential to be familiar with these different essay types before you take the exam.
The following model essay shows you key words and phrases which you can use to increase your band score when discussing this topic, in both writing and speaking. The key words are highlighted in bold.

✏Band 9 model essay
Employers are always seeking ways to enhance their employees’ productivity, and subsidising healthy pursuits may be one way of achieving this. There are arguments on both sides, however, which we will discuss here.
On the one hand, it might be said that if workers are fitter and less stressed, their working time will be more efficient, leading to higher levels of output and service. Furthermore, the work/life balance of the staff will hopefully be improved, because their leisure time will be more fulfilling.This may even be more motivating than pay increments, perks, or financial rewards such as bonuses or incentives which may be hard to attain. Finally, feeling healthier may lead to better job satisfaction which is in itself a motivating factor.
Conversely, the problem with such leisure-based subsidies is that their efficacy is virtually impossible to quantify. For example, with target-related payments, employers can at least see whether the objectives are reached or not. It might also be said that, if this budget was spent on (for instance) on the job training or day release programmes, the employees would achieve better career progression and have better job prospects. These matters are all easier to measure, especially in performance reviews and appraisals, and may even help to reduce the risk of redundancy if the company restructures, downsizes or outsources its workforce.
Overall, it seems that, while health-related subsidies are superficially attractive, the lack of measurability is a substantial drawback. Spending funds on ongoing training would appear to be a better use of company or Human Resources budgets.

(259 words)

✏Explanation of the topic vocabulary and examples in Speaking

✔productivity = the ability of people to produce useful results at work. ‘My country is not as advanced as some other countries in our industrial sector. Productivity and quality are still quite low.’

✔to subsidise = to pay part of the cost of something, usually in order to help people. ‘The government could encourage children to be healthier by subsidising swimming lessons and sports coaching at weekends.’

✔output = the amount of work or goods produced. In Europe, industrial output has decreased, maybe because of competition from producers in other continents.

✔work/life balance = the ability to work hard but also enjoy a good quality family and social life. People are working long hours these days, and so their work/life balance is affected, leading to stress.

✔to motivate people = to give them positive reasons for working hard. If employees are given regular feedback, they will probably be well motivated and committed.

✔pay increments = pay rises/increases. In my country, pay increments have been very low because of the financial crisis.

✔perks = reward from an employer which are not financial (eg free lunches, a car etc). Personally, I’d like to work for a company that gives lots of perks, because I would find this very enjoyable.

✔financial rewards = any form of money payment (salary, commission, pension etc). Being a primary teacher may be satisfying, but the financial rewards are not high

✔bonuses = money given in addition to salary, usually in return for achieving targets. Apparently some investment bankers can earn millions of dollars in bonuses.

✔incentives = any reward that makes people work harder. Some employers offer vacations or parties as incentives if the team hits its sales targets.

✔job satisfaction = enjoyment of a job for non-financial reasons. I get a lot of job satisfaction from my work at the wildlife centre, although the financial rewards are quite low.

✔target-related = dependent on hitting a target. My boss once offered me a target-related bonus, but it was almost impossible to achieve!

✔on the job training = training while working, not by leaving work to go to college etc. My sister has found that the on the job training she gets at her bank is very useful, and she has progressed well because of this.

✔ongoing training = training throughout your time in a job, not just at the start. I enjoyed my work at the airline at first, but I soon found that there was no ongoing training and my skills weren’t really developed.

✔day release programmes = programmes of training or education when employees can spend entire days out of work. I feel that employers should be much more flexible regarding training, for example by subsidising day release programmes or job exchanges with other companies.

✔career progression = the ability to advance your career. The problem with being a freelance photographer is that there’s no real career progression, unless you become very famous.

✔job prospects = the possibility of promotion or higher level work in future. I remember an interview when the employer told me there were excellent job prospects in their firm for young people. In reality, this was not really true.

✔to measure = to assess the dimensions of something. Job satisfaction may be important, but can we really measure it?

✔superficial = not addressing deep or important issues. I’m not a big fan of traditional music. I find the lyrics rather old-fashioned and superficial for modern listeners.

✔performance reviews/appraisals = meeting at which an employer gives feedback to a worker on their work over a fixed period. I remember being worried about my job at first, but at my six month appraisal my manager told me she was pleased with my efforts.

✔redundancy = a situation where a worker loses their job because of changes in the company (not because of personal mistakes) (verb = to make someone redundant). In my home town, the textile factories have closed and many people have been made redundant.

✔to restructure = to change the organisation of a company, usually in order to make it more effective or to save money. We used to have a large training department in my office, but in our recent restructure it was eliminated and the staff were made redundant.

✔to downsize = to make an organisation smaller and employ fewer people. My father’s college used to employ almost one thousand people, but then it downsized and now has less than five hundred.

✔to outsource = to stop doing work inside the company and send it to other companies or other countries, usually to save money. Many American companies have outsourced their IT operations to Asian countries, where productivity is similar and salaries are lower.

✔the workforce = the total number of people working in an organisation, company or country. The workforce in Northern Europe is skilled, but it’s also inflexible and much older than in other parts of the world.

✔Human Resources (or HR) = the department in a company which manages recruitment, employment and training. When I graduate, I plan to work in the Human Resources area of the oil industry, possibly in the Middle East.

✏#TOP10 topics for Writing and Speaking parts of IELTS:

3)Topic 3: Children and families

The Children and families topic includes child psychology and development, ways of bringing up children, family discipline, child care, preschool learning, parental roles, family structures and roles (for example nuclear or extended families), adolescence, teenagers and elderly family members.
Important: Please remember that the topics are used in different ways in the Writing and Speaking parts of the IELTS test.
In the Academic Writing test Task 2, you should present ideas or opinions about society in general, but not about your personal life. In the Speaking test, the examiner will always ask you both about society in general (in Speaking part 3) and also about your personal life, country and background (in Speaking parts 1 and 2.)
With controversial topics such as ‘families’ and ‘health,’ some candidates become confused about this difference, but it’s absolutely essential to remember if you want to achieve a very high Band!

✏Topic 3 example Task

Some people believe that children should spend all of their free time with their families. Others believe that this is unnecessary or even negative. Discuss the possible arguments on both sides, and say which side you personally support.

✏Explanation of the Task

This is another Opinion>Discussion type Task. You should introduce the topic, present two or three ideas on each side of the discussion, and then give your opinion in the conclusion. Remember that these Opinion>Discussion Tasks might be expressed in different ways; look for the instruction key word ‘discuss’ and its synonyms such as ‘debate,’ ‘consider’ and ‘review.’

✏Band 9 model essay
Nobody can deny that parental influence is important for children, at least in cases where children live with their parents, foster parents or guardians. However, it is by no means clear that children should spend time exclusively in the family, as we will see.
On the one hand, it may appear advisable for parents to act as role models and to establish ground rules for behavior by spending as much time as possible with their children. This allows the youngsters to absorb conventions and codes of conduct which they can then follow themselves, hopefully leading to an absence of problems such as bullying, truancy and delinquency later on.
Furthermore, being with the family should reduce the risk of children falling victim to crimes such as abduction, or coming under the influence of negative peer pressure.
On the other hand, we have to ask whether this is a practical proposition. In a society where many families are dual-income, or where one parent’s role as breadwinner means he/she is away from the family for long periods, it is inevitable that children cannot spend all of their time with the family. Child-minding and after-school childcare are often used in these cases, and if managed properly, these can be perfectly viable alternatives. Equally, it seems that children can in some cases learn a considerable amount from their peers in addition to adults, and allowing them to play without direct supervision may be a benefit.
To conclude, it appears that, while family time is essential for bonding and absorbing patterns of behaviour, there are definite advantages when children are outside the family too. This is provided that they are in a safe, well-behaved environment with peers who are themselves reasonably well brought-up.

(287 words)

✏ Explanation of the topic vocabulary and examples in Speaking
foster parents = people who have children living in their existing family for a fixed period, with the original parents’ agreement. Being a foster parent is a difficult and tiring role, I can imagine.

✔guardians = people who are legally appointed to protect a child’s interests in the absence of
parents. In some countries, the government appoints a guardian if the parents die or experience severe difficulties.

✔role models = people that children look to and respect as good examples. In some countries, the royal family are good role models for youngsters, although in other cases this is not the case.

✔ground rules = basic rules governing the way people can behave in a situation. During the school holidays, my parents had strict ground rules for what we could do outside.

✔conventions = traditions or social norms that most people follow. It’s a convention for grandparents to live with their children in many countries.

✔codes of conduct = voluntary rules which people accept in a situation. The Boy Scouts have a firm code of conduct, which seems to be a positive influence.

✔bullying = when children attack and intimidate other children. Bullying could be reduced through better awareness and positive peer pressure in schools.

✔truancy = when a pupil leaves school without permission (verb = to play truant from school) . I must confess that at secondary school I sometimes played truant and went to the park with my friends.

✔delinquency = minor crime (often by young people). Delinquency is a huge problem in urban areas, especially when policing is minimal.

✔abduction = the crime of taking or kidnapping people for a criminal reason. Child abduction is a great concern for many parents, especially in South America.

✔peer pressure = the pressure from people in the same group to act in a certain way. Many children start smoking due to peer pressure or bad role models.

✔dual-income = a family where both the father and mother work. In many countries, the dual-income family is the norm nowadays.

✔breadwinner = the person who earns all or most of the money in a family. In some families, the father is still the only breadwinner.

✔child-minding = caring informally (not in schools) for children when parents are busy or working. In some countries, the state subsidises the costs of child-minding.

✔after-school childcare = caring for children in a school setting, as above. Many families rely on after-school childcare because both parents work and commute.

✔viable = practical and possible to achieve. It is not really viable to expect all children to get maximum grades in exams.

✔peers = people in the same group or level as yourself. Many of my peers from school are now working for charities.

✔bonding = the development of close emotional connections between people. Festivals and parties are an ideal time for families to bond.
patterns of behaviour = ways of acting and doing things (either positive or negative) . Unfortunately, some children absorb dangerous patterns of behaviour when watching movies or playing computer games.

✔well brought-up (to bring up children = to raise and educate them in your own moral, behavioural or religious conventions) . I was brought up in a very religious family, and I seem to have absorbed their values.
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✏#TOP10 topics for Writing and Speaking parts of IELTS:

2)Topic 2: Education and schooling

The Education and schooling topic includes teaching methods and resources, approaches to exams and testing, school management, pupil motivation, behaviour and discipline, school sport, extra-curricular activities, higher/further education and course funding.

✏Topic 2 example Task
‘The Internet will never replace traditional course books in schools.’ How far do you agree with this prediction?

✏Explanation of the Task
This is an Opinion>Personal viewpoint type essay (it asks how far you agree with an idea.) You should introduce the topic and give your opinion in the introduction, then explain why you have this view. You should briefly consider the opposing view, then restate your opinion in the conclusion.
Notice how this essay type is different from the Opinion>Discussion type which we saw in Topic 1, which asks you to discuss both sides of a debate.

✏Band 9 model essay
There is a huge range of resources available to the modern teacher, and the right selection is crucial in delivering effective lessons. I agree that there will always be a place for course books in the school curriculum, despite the many benefits of the Internet.
Firstly, course books (whether conventional or digital) have been developed by pedagogical experts and designed to be incorporated into a subject syllabus, leading to testing procedures such as formal examinations or continuous assessment. This means that they are proven to improve students’ academic achievement, enhancing their potential for progression to further or higher education. Furthermore, the use of modern course books allows pupils to coordinate their studies as part of group work, hopefully making their lessons less teacher-led and more about autonomous learning. This in itself teaches study skills such as independent research and synthesizing sources, rather than old-fashioned rote-learning. This is where the Internet, in fact, can play a useful part: to supplement and add to knowledge which the students are assimilating via their course books.
However, it is the role of teachers and school management generally to ensure that use of the Internet remains a guided learning process, and not an exercise in data-gathering from Internet sources which may be unreliable or even misleading.
It is true that the Internet can be invaluable for adults (for example in distance learning or
self-study modules) who are able to discriminate between sources and sift information to marshal their facts. However, this is a mature skill and we should not assume that school age pupils are ready to do this.

Overall, it appears that course books, with their quality and depth of material, are set to remain an integral part of the syllabus. The internet can be judged a useful supplement to this, if used carefully and under supervision.

(304 words)

✏Explanation of the topic vocabulary and examples in Speaking

✔curriculum = the full range of subjects offered by a school or group of schools. The curriculum in private schools is sometimes wider than in state schools, because they have more resources.

✔pedagogical (experts) = (experts in) education and teaching. I admire pedagogical pioneers such as the Victorian English thinkers who began free schools for all children.

✔syllabus = the content of elements taught in a specific subject. The syllabus for geography at my school included volcanoes, earthquakes and tidal waves, which we found fascinating.

✔formal examinations = exams where students answer set written or spoken questions without assistance.

✔continuous assessment = giving students marks for course work or projects, rather than formal exams. At my school, our grades were based 50/50 on formal examinations and continuous assessment, which we thought was very fair to all the children.

✔academic achievement = the measurable performance of a student in marks, exam results etc. In my country, children enjoy school, but academic achievement is frankly quite low.

✔further education = education after leaving school at the minimum age. Some governments encourage further education by allowing teenagers to claim benefits while they study.

✔higher education = education after age 18 at college or University, usually for a Degree. When I pass IELTS, I plan to go on to higher education in Canada and do a degree in engineering.

✔group work = study where pupils discuss and agree a project together. Personally, I think that group work enables lazy children to do less work than the eager ones.

✔teacher-led lessons = traditional lessons where the teacher delivers a long talk and the students take notes. In my country, lessons are still very teacher-led and interaction is rather limited.

✔autonomous learning = when a student learns through independent study and research. At University, you are expected to be an autonomous learner far more than at High School, which is quite exciting for me.

✔study skills = the skills of organizing, using and checking study work. My study skills were rather weak until I read an excellent book by a Japanese pedagogical expert.

✔to synthesize sources = to use a variety of sources and combine them in one project. I use the Internet to synthesize my sources, and I always cite the origin of the information. (to cite sources = to acknowledge publicly)

✔rote-learning = learning by repetition and memorizing items. I used to think that rote-learning was a negative approach, but my recent experiences teaching in a South African school have changed my view.

✔to supplement = to add extra content or material. My supervisor said that I should supplement my essay with more examples of experiments.

✔to assimilate knowledge = to absorb and understand it. I always use a dictionary when I study in English, to help me assimilate new phrases.

✔guided learning = learning under the supervision of a teacher. Lessons in Primary Schools should always contain guided learning, otherwise the children will lose focus.

✔data-gathering = collecting information, usually in numerical form. Mobile phone companies employ many people in data-gathering Tasks, to see how users are using the phones and Internet.

✔distance learning = learning by the Internet or email, rather than face-to-face. My mother took an entire degree by distance learning over a period of five years.

✔self-study = studying using a course without a teacher’s involvement. There are many self-study guides to improving your English, and some of them are actually quite good.

✔to discriminate between sources = to decide whether one source is better or more reliable than another source. Children should not study using unsupervised Internet access, because they can’t discriminate between the sources of information they find.

✔to sift information = to remove unwanted or less useful information. I had to sift hundreds of pages of data to arrive at my conclusions when I did my thesis.

✔to marshal facts = to organise facts in support of an idea. In IELTS essays, you should marshal a few facts to support each idea in the argument.

✔an integral part of the syllabus = essential, central or indispensable. Nutrition is an integral part of food sciences these days.

✔to work/study under supervision = under the direction of a responsible person. At college, I discovered I did not have to work under supervision all the time, and I was free to do independent research.
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