IELTS: Task 1—Interpreting maps 1

Introduction

In this article, we will be looking at how to help students write a text describing changes on a map, understand maps and the Key related to maps, juggle several sets of information and text simultaneously, develop their psychometric skills and see patterns.

Preparation

Print the map off and enlarge it on a photocopier or draw your own very rough map on a large sheet of paper. Give each student an A4 version for reference. Stick the map on the board. Give each student a copy of the Key. Print a set of labels, one sheet for each pair. If you don’t have labels, the students can tear the printed sheet.

Procedure

• Ask the students to give the island a name.
• Tell the class where a particular place from the Key is on the map, e.g. there is a city in the centre of the island. There is a fish farm off the northwest coast of the island.
• Invite a volunteer to stick the appropriate label in the appropriate place on the map. If you do not have sticky labels use blu tack or tape.
• If the class thinks the student volunteer has put the label in the wrong place allow someone else to correct it.
• When you think you have done enough, ask the students to describe the map on the board. At this stage help them with the language.
• As a development you can ask the students to give you the instructions while you put the labels on the map. Put a few of them in the wrong place!

Exercises

There are six different exercises based on the same model text, so you will not use all of them together. However, you can choose several of them to help your students prepare for describing changes on a map.

Exercise 1: Spot the difference

• Give the students the three maps and the Key.
• Give them a few minutes to discuss the maps in pairs.
• Ask the students a few questions at random about the maps, such as: Where are the mountains? What was the population in 1950?
• Give the students Exercise 1 and ask them to find the differences and correct them. Point out that the differences relate to factual information about the text.
  
• Give them the first one as an example: the text says two maps when it should be three.
• If the students do not know particular vocabulary, encourage them to find the differences and look at the unknown words afterwards. Doing this should help the students engage with the text and the maps without focusing on the language.
• You could put the students into groups and turn the exercise into a timed competition.
• Check the answers with the correct text in the Key.
• The text in the Key has not been marked so that you can turn the checking of the correct answers into an exercise. Give the students a copy of the text in the Key and ask them to check their answers. When they have done this, make sure they have found all the differences.

Exercise 2: Missing words

• The text in this exercise is the same as in Exercise 1. Follow the procedure exactly as for Exercise 1 above. However, you may wish to let the students have the list of missing words, depending on the level of the class.

Exercise 3: Guided writing 1

For weaker students, give them this exercise after they have done either Exercise 1 or 2.

• Tell students that they are not allowed to look at the text in the previous exercises or the Key.
• Ask students in pairs to fill in the blank spaces. They may of course use other words than those in the model text as long as they fit.
• Check the answers with the class as a whole before allowing students to look at the Key. When they look at the Key, ask them to check their spelling. As they are doing this, go round the class checking.

OR

• For more able students, you may wish to go straight into this exercise after the opening sequence as in exercise 1 above.
• Give the students the three maps and the Key.
• Give them a few minutes to discuss the maps in pairs.
• Ask the students a few questions at random about the maps, such as: Where are the mountains? What was the population in 1950?

Exercise 4: Guided writing 2

This exercise can be done in a number of different ways. Use the procedure described in Exercise 1 and 2 above to introduce the maps to the students.

• Give the students Exercise 4 and the maps. Ask them in pairs to insert the jumbled sections of text into the model answer.
• Check the answers.
• For guided writing practice, ask the students to cover the texts (A -I) now that they have them in order.
• Ask the students to fill in the blanks in the model text using the maps. They may use their own words and not just those in the exercise.
• Alternatively, ask the students to cover the text. Then tell them to complete sentences A-J using the maps to create a text.
• Either way the students are looking at the organization of the text: (i) the beginnings of the sentences (A-J) which contain the connecting devices; (ii) and the ends of the sentence which contain the new information.

Exercise 5: choosing verbs

This exercise can be done after Exercises 1 and 2 above. Alternatively, give the students the exercise and the maps and follow this sequence as in Exercise 1 above.

• Give the students the three maps and the Key.
• Give them a few minutes to discuss the maps in pairs.
• Ask the students a few questions at random about the maps, such as: Where are the mountains? What was the population in 1950?
• Next divide the students into pairs and ask them to choose the appropriate verb for each alternative. Point out that there may be more than one answer in each case.
  
• Check the answers with the class as a whole.
• As a development, give the students the list of verbs in the Key:

• For guided writing practice, ask the students in pairs to use the verbs and the maps to help them re-construct the text as far as they can. The verbs will act as clues to the sequence of the information. It will help them collocate verb and noun.

Exercise 6: Writing frame

After any of the exercises above, ask the students to work in pairs, groups or alone and using the maps write a text describing the maps.