A selection of English ESL time linkers printables

Use the time linkers to join in two sentences.

Time linkers

To practise time linkers and story telling (past simple and continuous). Two-part exercise: 1) Teacher cut up the sentences and ss put the story in order 2) ss need to recreate the story according to the pictures and given time linkers. They can write their sentences. It can be done as a group work or individually or pair work.

Time linkers in story about Mary

To practise the past perfect tense, sentence structures and time linkers. A little bit of creative and group work. Key included. As a group work or individually.  

Past perfect

Familiarise yourself with the task and the time limit. Time management is very important when taking any kind of exam. What are the examiners looking for? Find examples of model answers or read examples of this genre of writing in authentic sources. How can you apply this to your own writing?



What is task 1 writing in Academic IELTS?

Task 1 writing in Academic IELTS is essentially writing a description or a report of the main trends in a diagram, usually a line graph, a bar graph, a map, a process, a chart, a table or a map.  The requirements of the task are slightly different depending on what the diagram is so you need to know what is required for each question type. To succeed and get a good score you should have practised all the possible task 1 questions. This may not always be possible in class time so you must take responsibility for your own learning and actively seek out questions and model answers on the internet.



Change your mindset instead of thinking of the task as an awful exam question you have to do think of it as a practical skill which may have already completed in your own language. For example, have you ever had to write a summary or a report at work or in your studies? Well, task 1 is very similar, imagine you are writing it for someone who is very busy and needs to know the main points. Don’t forget to give a good overview too.



 



What are the examiners looking for and how can I improve my score?

The task is marked in 4 areas, task achievement, coherence and cohesion, lexical resource and grammatical range and accuracy. Ok, what does that mean? Put simply, did you answer the question and how well, does your writing flow, did you use a range of vocabulary and did you make a lot of basic grammar and spelling mistakes. Take note, grammar accounts for 25% of the overall mark. To improve in the first 2 areas, you need to practice a lot. This does not always mean doing lots of IELTS practice tests. Get into the writing habit, keep a journal, write summaries of articles you read, write summaries of diagrams and graphs you see in newspapers or magazines or write your thoughts for the day. Make writing part of your daily routine.



 



Take an IELTS preparation course

Here at Express English College we offer both full-time  and part-time  IELTS preparation classes. Classes can help in 2 ways, firstly teacher feedback on your writing is essential to improve. We improve when we are given feedback on something, we apply the feedback given and then produce something better. We also feel more motivated studying as a class or a group with a common goal (a good IELTS score), which is known as extrinsic motivation. Additionally, of course your peers can give you feedback too. At Express English College in our IELTS classes we use the Cambridge coursebook Mindset for IELTS.  These books break down the tasks into manageable chunks so that students will not feel overwhelmed. There is also supplementary online material which you can access which means you can tailor your learning to your individual needs and focus on your weak areas.



Read a quality newspaper or monthly magazine

The financial newspaper, the Financial Times is a good source of quality writing and usually provides tables and diagrams to accompany texts on the stock exchange and currency markets which may serve as a model for Academic IELTS writing task 1. The Economist or the New Scientist are a good source of authentic, short articles on topical subjects. Reading these will not only improve your reading and writing but it may also give you some potential conversation topics to further improve your speaking skills. While you are reading it may be useful to do the following, underline and highlight grammar structures and underline linkers between sentences and paragraphs.



Time Management

Remember you should spend 20 minutes on task 1 and write 250 words, it is worth 1/3rd of the marks. Do not be tempted to spend longer on this task as that is not a good exam technique. Task 2 is worth 2/3rds of the mark so the correct amount of time needs to be devoted to this task.  Plan your time and answer and then be ready to move on to task 2 writing. Good luck!

How to prepare for IELTS

The New York Times newspaper has got a special section on its website which is called The
learning network. Here is the link https://www.nytimes.com/section/learning.
Every week intriguing images are posted on the page called What’s Going On in This Picture? and
invite students to discuss them by answering the questions such as
What is going on in this picture?
What do you see that makes you say that?
What more can you find?

Practice using linkers for reason and result with photos from The New York Times

Culture, intercultural communication, cross-cultural communication

Adjectives to describe feelings, emotions

Adjectives to describe personality and character

Adjectives: Gradable / Non-gradable adjectives

Articles: Definite or indefinite article (a, an or the)

BE + infinitive structures (e.g. he was to become famous)

Clauses of contrast (e.g.  although, while)

Clauses of purpose (e.g. in order to, so that, so as to)

Clauses of reason (e.g. because, because of, due to, as, since)

Cleft sentences (e.g. It's Joey we're looking for)

Comparison: Comparative adjectives and structures

Comparison: Superlative adjectives and structures

Conditional 2 (second conditional) - would

Conditionals: Conditional phrases (e.g. unless, provided that, as long as)

Conjunctions (aka connectives, e.g. and, but, or, so, then)

Contractions (shortened forms, e.g. don't, aren't, etc.)

Determiners (words that can come before nouns)

Formal and informal English (politeness or colloquial language)

Future perfect continuous (progressive) tense

Future perfect simple and continuous (progressive) tense

Future phrases (e.g. be about to, bound to, likely to, due to, set to + INF)

Homonyms (two words with the same pronunciation - homophones and homographs)

It as preparatory subject (e.g. it's raining, it's nice of you to)

Linking verbs (aka copulas, e.g. I am a student)

For personal or classroom use only. Uploading on other internet sharing platforms or any commercial use NOT PERMITTED. Share Alike.

Creative Commons Attribution Share Alike License

Creative Commons Attribution No Derivatives License

Creative Commons Attribution Non-Commercial License

Creative Commons Attribution Non-Commercial Share Alike License

Creative Commons Attribution Non-Commercial No Derivatives License

how to accuse somebody of something in English

how to apologize, say sorry, forgive and express regret in English

how to ask for information and make inquiries in English

how to ask for something, make requests in English

how to blame somebody for something in English

how to defend yourself from criticism in English

how to deny or admit something in English

how to describe things or people in English

how to emphasize important things in English

how to encourage or discourage people in English

how to evaluate people or progress in English

how to express agreement /disagreement in English

how to express approval and disapproval  in English

how to express cause and effect in English

how to express interest in something in English

how to express likelihood, probability in English

how to express likes and dislikes in English

how to express sequence and chronology in English

how to express shock and disbelief in English

how to express sympathy and condolences in English

how to give permission, authorization in English

how to inform somebody about some news in English

how to interpret what was said in English

how to keep a conversation going in English

how to make guesses about something in English

how to make, accept and refuse offers in English

how to order or make a booking in English

how to persuade, convince people in English

how to praise people and express appreciation in English

how to reassure somebody of something in English

how to refuse and object to something in English

how to remind people of something in English

how to rephrase, paraphrase what was said in English

how to say thank you, express gratitude in English

Nouns: Collective nouns (team, class, family, committee)

Nouns: Proper nouns (names of people, cities, companies)

Oxymorons (phrases with words of contradictory meaning, e.g. living dead)

Participles: Past participle (e.g. HAVING DONE)

Participles: Present participle (e.g. DOING)

Parts of Speech (aka word classes, e.g. nouns, verbs, adjectives, adverbs)

Past perfect continuous (progressive) tense

Phonetics (pronunciation, IPA, phonetic symbols)

Plural nouns: regular plurals with S ending

Prefixes (e.g. A, UN, IM, DIS, MIS, EN, etc. )

Prepositions vs adverbs (e.g. before me, saw him before.)

Prepositions: Double prepositions (e.g. out of)

Prepositions: Participle prepositions (e.g. pending, concerning)

Prepositions: Phrase prepositions (e.g. by means of)

Present perfect continuous (progressive) tense

Present perfect simple or present continuous tense

Present simple tense: S for third person singular verbs

Present simple vs continuous (progressive) tense

Pronouns: EACH OTHER, ONE ANOTHER (reciprocal pronouns)

Pronouns: Possessive pronouns (e.g. my, mine)

Pronouns: Reflexive pronouns (e.g. myself, yourself))

Pronouns: SOMEBODY, ANYBODY, EVERYBODY, NO ONE, NOTHING, etc.

Pronouns: THIS, THAT, THESE, THOSE (demonstratives)

Pronouns: YOU and THEY to talk about people in general

Quantifiers (e.g. some, many, much, any, few, little)

Questions: WH questions (open-ended questions)

Reported speech: reported questions (indirect questions)

There is / there are / there was / there were / there will be, etc.

Verbs: Transitive or intransitive verbs (words that can or cannot stand with objects)

Working with Paragraphs: ordering, titling

Role play, miming, drama activity or improv game

Pictionary (picture dictionary) or picture matching

Writing an opinion essay (persuasive essay)

Learners who are Pre-A1 have just begun learning English and will first learn how to:<ul><li>Say the letters in the alphabet and numbers</li><li>Say hello, talk about names and age</li><li>Name the colors and dates, express likes and dislikes</li></ul>

Absolute beginners who have begun to learn the letters and numbers

Learners taking the A1 Elementary exam should be able to:<ul><li>Introduce themselves and ask and answer questions about personal details such as where he/she lives, things he/she has, people he/she knows.</li><li>Communicate using very basic phrases as long as the other person talks slowly and clearly and is prepared to help.</li><li>Main grammar points to know: common adjectives & adverbs of frequency, going to, how much/how many, imperatives, I'd like, 's – possessive, common prepositions of place and time, present simple & continuous, there is/are</li></ul>

A very basic tourist level, which is enough for buying food and a bus ticket

Learners taking the A2 Pre-intermediate exam should be able to:<ul><li>Understand sentences and frequently used expressions (e.g. very basic personal and family information, shopping, local geography, employment).</li><li>Complete tasks that are routine and exchange information about familiar matters.</li><li>Describe matters of immediate need in simple terms.</li><li>Main grammar points to know: countable/uncountable nouns, adverbs of frequency, future will/going to, much/many, present perfect, past simple, past continuous, common phrasal verbs, common modals: can/should</li></ul>

A tourist who can do basic conversations about the past, present and future

Learners taking the B1 Intermediate exam should be able to:<ul><li>Understand points regarding family, work, school or leisure-related topics.</li><li>Deal with most travel situations in areas where the language is spoken.</li><li>Create simple texts on topics of personal interest.</li><li>Describe experiences, events, dreams, and ambitions, as well as opinions or plans in brief.</li><li>Main grammar points to know: question tags, intensifiers: too/enough, future tenses, past tenses, modals, conditionals, wh-questions in the past</li></ul>

Learners who can deal with both familiar and routine situations, in friendly and work contexts

Learners taking the B2 Upper-intermediate exam should be able to:<ul><li>Understand the main ideas of complex text on both concrete and abstract topics, including technical discussions in his/her field of specialization.</li><li>Interact with fluency and spontaneity that makes regular interaction with native speakers quite possible without difficulty for either party.</li><li>Produce clear, detailed text on a wide range of subjects and explain an opinion on a topical issue giving the advantages and disadvantages of various options.</li><li>Main grammar points to know: perfect tenses, mixed conditionals, modals in the present, phrasal verbs, reported speech, wish, relative clauses</li></ul>

The level where you can be a tour guide for your foreign friends and talk about a lot of topics, even abstract ones, with ease and fluency

Learners taking the C1 Advanced exam should be able to: Express ideas fluently and spontaneously without much obvious searching for expressions. Use language flexibly and effectively for social, academic and professional purposes. Understand a wide range of demanding, longer texts. Produce clear, well-structured, detailed text on complex subjects, using linking phrases (=words that connect ideas between sentences). Main grammar points to know: inversion, mixed conditionals, modals in the past, all passive forms, phrasal verbs (all patterns), wish/if only for regrets

Learners who can smoothly communicate in every walk of life, read long texts and write well

Learners taking the C2 Proficient exam should be able to:<ul><li>Understand almost everything read or heard with ease.</li><li>Summarize information from a variety of sources into a coherent presentation.</li><li>Express themselves using precise meaning in complex scenarios.</li><li>Can express him/herself spontaneously, very fluently and precisely, differentiating finer shades of meaning even in the most complex situations</li></ul>

Get here and you are ready to study in English at university

5 Time linkers English ESL worksheets pdf & doc