IELTS – English as a Second Language
International english language testing system
A two-year IELTS preparation programme developing the four strands of Speaking, Listening, Reading and Writing through rich, real-world topics.
Every unit builds practice across the four strands – Speaking, Listening, Reading and Writing – alongside vocabulary, language, structure and formatting work, with detailed analysis and practice of all text types. The aim is to help students progress from band score 5 (modest skill level) to band score 7 (good skill level) and beyond.
Year 12
| Term & Topic | Unit overview | |
|---|---|---|
| AutumnWe Are All Friends Now | The course opens with baseline tests, then a unit all about people, their characteristics and relationships. Students practise note completion while listening to an everyday conversation, read about how teens stay in touch, learn to describe a line graph and its main trends in Writing Task 1, and describe a person in Speaking Part 2 – supported by vocabulary for describing people and language work on likes and dislikes and key tenses. | |
| AutumnTechnology – Now and Then | A unit on the past, technology and making things. Students tackle multiple-choice and matching listening questions, read about the Bronze Age in China, learn to discuss both views and give their own opinion in Writing Task 2, and describe an electronic device in Speaking Part 2 – building verbs of cause and effect, evaluating adjectives, and contrasting the past simple, present perfect and habits in the past. | |
| SpringThrill Seekers | Seeking thrills, sports and the benefits of physical activity. Students complete notes and tables from a listening about a sports centre, read the ‘Thrill Seekers’ text with matching and true/false/not given questions, learn to describe and compare data in a table for Writing Task 1, and discuss sport and its benefits in Speaking Parts 1 and 3 – with sports vocabulary, -ing/-ed adjectives, adjectives with prepositions and the language of comparison. | |
| SpringGlobal Issues | World issues and opportunities. Students listen to a talk on the development of railways, read about the skills shortage in the engineering industry and learn to identify a writer’s views, then practise suggesting causes and solutions and developing a topic sentence in Writing Task 2. In Speaking Parts 1 and 3 they talk about products and discuss problems, while building general nouns, idea-development vocabulary, and countable and uncountable nouns. | |
| SummerThe Future | The future, predictions and robotics. Students practise note and table completion in a listening about booking an exhibition, read about future predictions with summary-completion and short-answer questions, learn to describe a pie chart in Writing Task 1, and discuss the future in Speaking Part 3 – developing adjective/noun collocations, verbs of prediction, adjective formation and the many ways English looks at the future. | |
| SummerMock Exams |
Mock Exams The year ends with two full rounds of mock testing and feedback in each of the four strands – Reading, Writing, Speaking and Listening – so every student knows exactly where they stand and what to target in Year 13. |
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Year 13
| Term & Topic | Unit overview | |
|---|---|---|
| AutumnThe Fruits of Nature | Nature, conservation and describing processes. Students label a map and complete sentences while listening to a description of a place, read about the fruit of the olive tree with flow-chart completion, learn to describe a process and its sequences in Writing Task 1, and describe a place in Speaking Part 2 – supported by vocabulary for lifecycles, processes and conservation, and work on transitive and intransitive verbs. | |
| AutumnThe Family and Society | Relationships, community and experiences with others. Students sharpen note and sentence completion and matching skills in Listening and Reading, learn to agree or disagree with a statement – discussing views, causes, solutions and concession – in Writing Task 2, and describe a friendship, relationship or period of their life in Speaking Part 2, while building family vocabulary, the suffixes -hood and -ship, and second conditionals. | |
| AutumnTravelling Around the World | Visiting places, memories of travel, description and comparison. Students practise multiple-choice and sentence-completion listening questions, work on summary completion and matching in Reading, and develop their ideas further in Writing Task 2. In Speaking they discuss travel and describe a memorable journey, exploring adjectives with multiple meanings, words relating to memory, and the correct use of articles. | |
| SpringExam Practice |
Exam Practice & Official IELTS Exams Two further rounds of mock testing and feedback in Reading, Writing, Speaking and Listening lead into the official IELTS examinations. |
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The IELTS Tests – Externally examined in a nearby location of choice
Each student chooses the right moment for them to take their IELTS examinations – usually during the Spring Term of Year 13. All four tests take place on the same day, and once awarded, the qualification is valid for 24 months.
Listening
30mDuration
40Questions
4Recordings
- A conversation between two people in an everyday social context
- A monologue in an everyday social context, e.g. a speech about local facilities
- A conversation between up to four people in an educational or training context
- A monologue on an academic subject, e.g. a university lecture
Reading
60mDuration
40Questions
3Long texts
- Tests reading for gist, main ideas and detail, plus skimming
- Understanding logical argument and recognising writers’ opinions, attitudes and purpose
- Texts range from descriptive and factual to discursive and analytical, drawn from books, journals, magazines and newspapers
Academic Writing
60mDuration
2Tasks
- Task 1: describe, summarise or explain a graph, table, chart or diagram in your own words
- Task 2: write an essay in response to a point of view, argument or problem
- Both tasks must be written in a formal style
Speaking
11–14mDuration
3Parts
- Part 1: general questions about yourself and familiar topics such as home, family, work, studies and interests
- Part 2: speak for up to two minutes on a topic card, with one minute to prepare
- Part 3: further questions exploring more abstract ideas and issues
- Every test is recorded