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IELTS Discussion Essays [Discuss Both Views/Sides]

Posted by David S. Wills | Jun 14, 2021 | IELTS Tips , Writing | 3

In this lesson, I’m going to explain what an IELTS discussion essay is and how you can write a good one. I will talk about structure and content, as well as looking briefly at discussion essay thesis statements, which many people find tricky. I’ve also written a sample essay, which you can find at the bottom of this page.

What is a Discussion Essay?

As the name suggests, a discussion essay is an essay that discusses things! More specifically, it is a type of IELTS writing task 2 essay that requires you to look at two different points of view . You can easily recognise these essays by the following phrase:

Discuss both views and give your opinion.

Sometimes it is phrased a little differently. It might say:

Discuss both sides and give your opinion

Discuss both points view and give your opinion

The important thing is that these all mean the same. When you see any of these, you know that you need to write a discussion essay. Importantly, this instruction tells you that you need to do two things:

Discuss both views (there will have been 2 views mentioned in the previous sentence(s))
Give your opinion (i.e. state which view you agree with)

If you failed to do either of these things, you would not have satisfied the basic criteria for Task Achievement .

Example Discussion Essay Questions

Here is a list of 5 discussion essay questions either from the IELTS exam, reportedly from the IELTS exam, or from reputable publications that have copied the IELTS question style. (Not that you absolutely should avoid fake IELTS questions when practising.)

Some people say that parents should encourage their children to take part in organised group activities in their free time. Others say that is important for children to learn how to occupy themselves on their own. Discuss both views and give your own opinion.

Some people prefer to spend their lives doing the same things and avoiding change. Others, however, think that change is always a good thing. Discuss both views and give your opinion.

Some people feel that manufacturers and supermarkets have the responsibility to reduce the amount of packaging of goods. Others argue that customers should avoid buying goods with a lot of packaging. Discuss both views and give your opinion.

Some people believe that higher education should be funded by the government. Others, however, argue that it is the responsibility of individuals to fund their higher education. Discuss both views and give your opinion.

Some people believe that it is important for children to attend extra classes outside school, while others believe that they should be allowed to play after school. Discuss both views and give your own opinion.

You can see in these questions that there is a similar pattern. In each case, the question phrase (“Discuss both views and give your own opinion”) is the same and in the previous sentence or sentences, there are two opposing views. This, then, makes “discuss both views” questions a sort of opinion essay .

How to Answer IELTS Discussion Questions

First of all, it is important when answering any IELTS task 2 question that you read the question carefully so that you understand it, then provide an answer that directly responds to the question, following its instructions carefully.

As discussed above, you are required to do two things: 1) Discuss both views, and 2) Give your own opinion. You absolutely must do both of those. It doesn’t really matter what your opinion is or whether you give equal weighting to both sides of the argument. Instead, you must cover both sides and also give some sort of opinion. (It is important, though, according to the marking rubric , that you are consistent in your opinion.)

Your answer of course should be structured carefully so as to present your ideas in a thoroughly logical way that is easy for your reader to interpret. I almost always use a four-paragraph structure in my essays, but some people prefer to use five paragraphs in this sort of essay. The difference would look like this:

You might be wondering why I have given my opinion in the body of the five-paragraph essay but not in the four-paragraph essay. Well, actually I would give my opinion in the body of both. However, my opinion would be more subtly woven into the text of the four-paragraph essay. I personally find this to be a better method, but it is equally possible that you could write an amazing five-paragraph essay. That issue is discussed further in this video:

Discussion Essay Thesis Statement

In academic writing, a thesis statement (sometimes called an essay outline ) is the part of the essay where you insert your opinion. It typically comes at the end of the introduction and guides the reader by explaining your opinion on the issues that have been introduced.

But do you really need to provide one in such a short essay? Well, a 2018 study into successful IELTS essays concluded that thesis statements were “obligatory” – i.e. you absolutely do need one. In fact, that study found that thesis statements appeared in 100% of successful IELTS discussion essays! Therefore, we can conclude they are very important.

Because a discussion essay will tell you to “Discuss both views and give your opinion,” you must introduce the two views and then give your opinion in the introduction. Here is an example:

Introductory paragraph:

In some parts of the world, children are forced to go to cram schools and other facilities of extracurricular learning, but many people believe that this is unfair and that they should be allowed to enjoy their free time instead. This essay will look at both perspectives and then conclude that it is indeed unfair.

My first sentence clearly introduces two different ideas:

Children should do extra classes
Children should not do extra classes

Note how I have successfully used synonyms to avoid repeating anything from the question. I have also framed the issue in a new way so that I am not just paraphrasing. (You can learn why paraphrasing is not always helpful here .)

My second sentence is the thesis statement. In this sentence, I outline what the essay will do (“look at both perspectives”) and then give my opinion (“it is unfair”). This is a simple but effective thesis statement.

Thesis Statement Advice

Your IELTS discussion essay thesis statement should do two things:

Tell the reader what the essay will do
Present your opinion

Because this is a formal essay, it is best not to be too personal. Instead of saying “I will…” or “I think…” it is better to say “This essay will…” Here are some simple templates that you can follow most of the time:

This essay will look at both sides and then argue that…
This essay will discuss both views but ultimately side with…

Just make sure to avoid being overly vague. You are required to give your opinion consistently throughout the essay, so don’t say “This essay will look at both sides and then give my opinion .” It is not really the best approach because the examiner wants to see that you can be consistent in presenting an opinion. That is clearly stated in the marking rubric. For band 7, it says:

presents a clear position throughout the response

It could be concluded, then, that your opinion is not clear from the start and so you have not done enough to warrant a band 7 for Task Achievement.

Body Paragraphs

As I mentioned above, there are really two main approaches you could take to the body paragraphs:

Discuss one view per paragraph and incorporate your opinion into each.
Discuss one view per paragraph and then have another for your opinion.

I suppose there is also a third option:

Compare and contrast the two viewpoints in each paragraph.

This last one may be a little harder to do successfully without jeopardising your score for Task Achievement or Coherence and Cohesion , but advanced candidates may find it useful.

Remember that there is no single perfect formula for an IELTS essay. That’s not how languages work and that’s not how IELTS works. Different people could come up with different ways to present a successful essay. The most common essay structures are mere guidelines for particularly useful methods of approaching an essay.

Does a Discussion Essay Have to be Balanced?

Because the question says “Discuss both views,” it is quite logical to think that you must provide some degree of balance, but you certainly don’t need to give equal weighting to both sides. Remember that you are also going to give your opinion, so if you come down strongly on one side of the issue, it might be odd to give equal attention to both.

If you do feel very strongly about one side, you might want to present your discussion of the other side as quite negative. However, IELTS is a thinking exam as well as an English exam and an intelligent person can always look at both sides of an issue and explain – at the very least – why someone might believe a thing that is different to his own view. This seems quite important, but there is nothing explicitly mentioned in the marking rubric.

I would suggest that if you think a two-sided issue is basically one-sided (i.e. you strongly disagree with the other view), you should still write one or two sentences about why people believe that and then devote the rest of your essay to disputing their view.

Another approach is to write BP1 as a very short paragraph that explains why people might think one thing, but then have BP2 as a very long paragraph that debunks the opposing view and then explains why the other is correct.

(You can read more about IELTS essays and balance here .)

Sample Answer

Here is my full sample answer to the above question about whether or not children should be made to do extracurricular activities:

In some parts of the world, children are forced to go to cram schools and other facilities of extracurricular learning, but many people believe that this is unfair and that they should be allowed to enjoy their free time instead. This essay will look at both perspectives and then conclude that it is indeed unfair. In countries like South Korea, most children are made to go to an array of cram schools outside of regular school hours. Their parents do this in order to give their child a better future because it helps the child to learn more and thus gives them the academic advantages needed to apply to the best universities or jobs in future. These schools often provide children with an advantage over their peers because they improve their foreign language or math skills more quickly, and thus the children who do not attend these schools might have comparatively poor grades. However, whilst this attitude may result in better academic performance, it is certainly not good for the mental health of these children. It is no coincidence that places like South Korea have the highest rates of suicide among their young populations. The fact is that children are not equipped to spend fourteen or sixteen hours per day in classrooms, memorising facts and figures. In a sense, it is a form of child abuse. Children should be allowed to go home and spend time with friends and family to build social skills. They should be allowed to occupy themselves in order to become more creative and learn how to understand their own mind instead of being trained to repeat what they are told. In conclusion, it is understandable that some parents want their children to go to extra classes, but this is damaging to children and they should be given the freedom to play and socialise outside of regular school hours.

In BP1, I have looked at the topic of cram schools (ie the side of the argument in favour of extra lessons). I explored why parents might want their kids to do this and show the supposed benefits. Note that I never embraced any of these benefits. I was careful to use language that distanced these ideas from my own opinion, which was the opposite, so I said “Their parents do this in order to…”

In BP2, I looked at the opposite side. I was careful to make sure that my first sentence linked to the previous paragraph, highlighting that the benefits are quite minor compared to the drawbacks. All of my sentences here justify my position, which is that it is cruel to force these extra lessons on children.

My conclusion ties all of this together. The first clause references BP1 and the second summarises the main argument in BP2.

You can find two more sample essays here:

A discussion essay about sports facilities
A discussion essay about sports abilities

About The Author

David S. Wills

David S. Wills is the author of Scientologist! William S. Burroughs and the 'Weird Cult' and the founder/editor of Beatdom literary journal. He lives and works in rural Cambodia and loves to travel. He has worked as an IELTS tutor since 2010, has completed both TEFL and CELTA courses, and has a certificate from Cambridge for Teaching Writing. David has worked in many different countries, and for several years designed a writing course for the University of Worcester. In 2018, he wrote the popular IELTS handbook, Grammar for IELTS Writing and he has since written two other books about IELTS. His other IELTS website is called IELTS Teaching.

IELTS Speaking Topic: Cooking

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Essay Correction: Task 1

February 28, 2017

It is sometimes debatable whether asking children to get extra education after school or letting them play that is actually beneficial for them. Even though both viewpoints have benefits and drawbacks but I believe ,in the childhood age, children have to take rough and discipline education after school to be succeed in the future.

To begin with, many educational experts believe that playing is one of the essential aspects that have to be gotten by children to grow and happy. By using the playing approach, children can have a good mental and psychic health. Besides, letting children play after school can also support them to increase their emotional stimuli and get a positive social interaction. With this way, experts believe children can grow as a better adult in the future and have a freedom to get a better life in the upcoming times.

However, I completely contra with the first idea because I believe childhood is a better time to train children about academic or other skills that benefits them in the future. Based on scientific journal that I read, the ability of children in learning new things are more spectacular compared to adults. A lot of artists, scientist, and even football player who currently becoming a superstar in this era is a string of process that is began since their in the childhood. For instance, nowadays, I am working in the field of election supervision, it because since in my childhood my father love to force me learning about social and political issues by getting additional class. Thus, making children to get extra class after school is an appropriate preference if parents desire to see their son getting a good future.

To conclude, based on experts children have to get a freedom to play after schools but in my viewpoint it will be more advantages if they utilize the playing time with joining additional class after school.

VERY GOOD MR DIRWAN But actually you mixed both of the ideas , you need to take one side for this sort of essay writting, as it is mentioned in the above instruction. By the way WELL DONE . love from Pakistan to my sweet brother.

I have not checked in here for some time because I thought it was getting boring, but the last few posts are really great quality so I guess I’ll add you back to my everyday bloglist. You deserve it my friend. ??

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How To Plan & Write IELTS Discussion Essays

Students can find it difficult to identify IELTS discussion essays and often confuse them with either opinion essays or advantage and disadvantage essays.

This is one of the issues I’ll be covering in this lesson. I’m also going to show you how to plan and write discussion essays step-by-step.

Here’s what we’ll be covering:

Identifying IELTS discussion essays
3 Common mistakes
Essay structure
How to plan
How to write an introduction
How to write main body paragraphs
How to write a conclusion

Want to watch and listen to this lesson?

Click on this video.

Click the links to see lessons on each of these Task 2 essay writing topics.

Once you understand the process, practice on past questions. Take your time at first and gradually speed up until you can plan and write an essay of at least 250 words in the 40 minutes allowed in the exam.

The Question

The first part of the question for an IELTS discussion essay will be a statement containing two opposing views.

You will then be asked to discuss both sides of the argument and give your own opinion. Here is some typical wording that might be used:

Discuss both views and give your opinion.
Discuss both these views and then give your own opinion.
Discuss both sides of this argument and give your own opinion.

Here's a question from a past test paper.

Some people think that zoos are cruel and should be closed down. Others, however, believe that zoos can be useful in protecting wild animals.

Discuss both views and give your opinion.

Give reasons for your answer and include any relevant examples from your own knowledge or experience.

Write at least 250 words.

I’ll be using this question to guide you through the process of planning and writing an IELTS discussion essay.

The key to identifying this type of question is the fact that you are required to discuss BOTH views. This is different to opinion questions where you must decide between two opposing views and make an argument to support your own opinion.

Opinion essays , also known as ‘agree or disagree’ essays, a generally worded in one of these ways:

What is your opinion? / Do you agree or disagree? / To what extent do you agree or disagree?

The other essay type that students mistake for discussion essays is advantages and disadvantages essays . With these, the statement will contain just one view and the question will typically be written as shown in this sample question.

School children are using computers in school more than ever.

Discuss the advantages and disadvantages of this and give your own opinion.

The consequence of incorrectly identifying the question type is that you will use the wrong structure for your essay. This is a major reason why people make the mistakes we’ll now look at.

3 Common Mistakes

These three errors are common in IELTS discussion essays.

Not stating your opinion.
Not giving arguments for both views.
Not developing both sides of the argument equally.

The most common mistake that students make is not giving their opinion. The question will clearly state that you must choose one side of the argument to agree with. If you fail to do this, you will get a low score for task achievement.

It doesn’t matter which side of the argument you take or even, that you actually agree with it.

However, you must give equal attention to both sides. A common error is to provide a stronger argument for the view you favour. This leads to an unbalanced essay and a low score for task achievement.

Essay Structure

Now let’s look at a simple structure you can use to write IELTS discussion essays. It’s not the only possible structure but it’s the one I recommend because it’s easy to learn and will enable you to quickly plan and write a high-level essay.

1) Introduction

Paraphrase the question
State two supporting reasons
Give your opinion

2) Main body paragraph 1

Topic sentence – outline the view you don’t agree with
Explanation – explain why this view is held by some people
Example – give an example

3 ) Main body paragraph 2

Topic sentence – outline the view you do agree with

4) Conclusion

Summarise the key points and state your opinion

This structure will give us a well-balanced essay with 4 paragraphs.

We now need some ideas to add into the structure and we’ll have everything we need for our essay.

How To Plan IELTS Discussion Essays

# 1 analyse the question.

This is an essential step in the planning process and will ensure that you answer the question fully. It’s quick and easy to do. You just need to identify 3 different types of words:

1. Topic words

2. Other keywords

3. Instruction words

We’ve already considered the instruction words (the actual question) so we’ll focus on the first two.

Topics words are the ones that identify the general subject of the question.

Some people think that zoos are cruel and should be closed down. Others, however, believe that zoos can be useful in protecting wild animals.

So, this question is about ‘ zoos ’.

Many people do this first step of the process and then write about the topic in general. This is a serious mistake and leads to low marks for task achievement.

What we need to do now that we know the general topic, is to understand exactly what aspect of zoos we're being asked to write about.

The other keywords in the question tell you the specific topic you must write about. They define the opinions stated in the statement.

Some people think tha t zoos are cruel and should be closed down . Others, however, believe that zoos c an be useful in protecting wild animals .

By highlighting these words, it’s easy to see that you are being asked to write about the opposing views that zoos are cruel and should be closed down and that zoos can be useful in protecting wild animals. Your essay must only include ideas relevant to these ideas.

# 2 Decide on your opinion

As already mentioned, it doesn’t matter if you genuinely agree with the view you take in your essay or not. IELTS discussion essays are about your ability to write a well-structured essay in the English language and you will not be assessed on any opinion you might hold.

So, choose one view and make sure that your opinion is clear throughout the essay.

For this model essay, I’m going to agree with the statement that zoos are cruel and should be closed down.

# 3 Generate ideas

The next task is to generate some ideas to write about.

There are several different ways to think up ideas. I cover them fully on the IELTS Essay Planning page.

We’re going to use the ‘friends technique’. This is my preferred method as it allows you to take a step back from the stress of the exam situation and think more calmly.

Here’s how it works. Imagine you are chatting with a friend and they ask you the question in a casual conversation. What answers would you give them off the top of your head? Plan your essay around these ideas.

Doing this will help you to come up with simple answers in everyday language rather than straining your brain to think of amazing ideas using high level-language, which isn’t necessary.

You might want to try this yourself before reading on for my ideas.

Here are my ideas:

Cruel – closed down:

Cramped cages – animals distressed
Unnatural environments
Most animals not endangered
Animals become a public spectacle for entertainment

Useful – protect wild animals:

Research work to learn more about wild animals
Breeding programmes for endangered species
Some species saved from extinction
Seeing wild animals close up inspires people to want to help protect them

I’ve got more ideas here than I need so I’m going to pick two to develop in the essay – one for each of the main body paragraphs.

Idea 1 – Cramped cages & unnatural environments, animals distressed.

Idea 2 – Breeding programmes for endangered species, some species saved from extinction.

We’re almost ready to start writing our IELTS discussion essay but first, we have one other small task to do.

# 4 Vocabulary

In an IELTS essay, it’s important to be able to say the same things in different ways, either by paraphrasing and/or using synonyms. During the planning stage, quickly jot down a few synonyms of key words you could use to save you having to stop and think of the right language while you’re writing.

For example:

zoos – animals in captivity, collections of wild animals, menagerie, wildlife park

cruel – to cause suffering, inhumane

protect – safeguard, preserve

animals – creatures, species

With that done, we can focus on the first paragraph of the essay – the introduction.

How To Write an Introduction

Good introductions to IELTS discussion essays have a simple 3 part structure:

1) Paraphrase the question

2) State two supporting reasons (outline statement)

3) Give your opinion (thesis statement)

Have 2-3 sentences
Be 40-60 words long
Take 5 minutes to write

Start your introduction by paraphrasing the question.

Question: Some people think that zoos are cruel and should be closed down. Others, however, believe that zoos can be useful in protecting wild animals.

There are various phrases you can use to do this. Here are three examples. They all say the same thing using different language.

Some people argue that… while others say that…
It is considered by some…. while there are others who think….
It is often argued that... whilst others disagree and think...

Choose one and add the details in the question statement in a paraphrased form. I recommend putting the view you don’t agree with first.

Paraphrased question:

Some people argue that zoos help to preserve wild creatures, while others say that they are inhumane and should be abolished.

Note my use of synonyms. You don’t have to replace every key word but do so where possible whilst ensuring that your language sounds natural. There aren’t any suitable synonyms of ‘zoo’ that I can think of, so I've repeated this word from the statement.

2) Thesis and outline statements

Now we need to add an outline statement where you outline the two main points that you’ll cover in the rest of the essay (ideas 1 and 2 above) and a thesis statement where you state your opinion.

Outline & thesis statements:

While the development of breeding programmes contributes to the preservation of endangered species, I believe that the poor conditions that many animals held in captivity are kept in make the existence of zoos unacceptable.

So, let’s bring the three elements of our introduction together.

Introduction

This introduction achieves three important functions:

It shows the examiner that you understand the question.
It acts as a guide to the examiner as to what your essay is about.
It also helps to keep you focused and on track as you write.

The two ideas in your introduction will become your two main body paragraphs.

Main body paragraph 1 – Breeding programmes for endangered species, some species saved from extinction.

Main body paragraph 2 – Cramped cages & unnatural environments, animals distressed.

How To Write Main Body Paragraphs

Main body paragraphs in IELTS discussion essays should contain 3 things:

It is easier to begin by discussing the opinion you don’t agree with and then present the reasons for the opposing view that you support. So, we’ll start with idea 1.

Main Body Paragraph 1

The topic sentence summarises the main idea of the paragraph. That’s all it needs to do so it doesn’t have to be complicated.

It plays an important role in ensuring that your ideas flow logically from one to another. It does this by acting as a signpost for what is to come next, that is, what the paragraph will be about.

If you maintain a clear development of ideas throughout your essay, you will get high marks for task achievement and cohesion and coherence.

We’ll now take the idea for our first main body paragraph and create our topic sentence.

Topic sentence:

On the one hand, there are many projects in existence in zoological parks around the world where species facing extinction have been successfully bred in captivity and their numbers increased substantially.

Next, we must write an explanation sentence that expands on the idea. This explains to the examiner what we mean or why this is the case.

Explanation sentence:

This is important for ensuring the survival of animals under threat from poaching and the destruction of their natural environments.

Finally, we add an example to support our main point. If you can’t think of a real example, it’s fine to make one up, as long as it’s believable. The examiner isn’t going to check your facts.

Example sentence:

A good example of this is the golden lion tamarin from Brazil which nearly died out because of logging and mining activities which are destroying its habitat. Today, a third of wild golden lion tamarins were raised in captivity.

That’s the 3 parts of our first main body paragraph complete. Here’s the finished paragraph.

We now follow the same process for our second main body paragraph.

Main Body Paragraph 2

Main idea 2 – Cramped cages & unnatural environments, animals distressed.

First, we write the topic sentence to summarise the main idea. I started main body paragraph 1 with the phrase ‘On the one hand...’, so main body paragraph 2 will naturally begin, ‘On the other hand... .

These are great cohesive devices to use when making a direct contrast between two opposing views and they link the ideas together well. They can be used in most IELTS discussion essays and will help to earn you a good score for cohesion and coherence.

Topic sentence:

On the other hand, a significant percentage of zoos house their animals in cramped cages with very little space to move around or behave naturally.

Now for the explanation sentence where we expand on this idea.

Explanation sentence:

This can lead to them becoming distressed and depressed as well as suffering physically through lack of exercise.

Finally, an example to support this point.

A friend of mine recently visited a wildlife park while on holiday abroad and was very upset to see the lions pacing up and down in a narrow, bare pen and eagles in enclosures so small that they were unable to fly.

That’s the 3 parts of our second main body paragraph complete. Here’s the finished paragraph.

Now we need a conclusion and our IELTS discussion essay is done.

How To Write a Conclusion

Conclusions to IELTS discussion essays should do two things:

Summarise the main points
State your opinion

This can generally be done in a single sentence.

If you're below the minimum 250 words after you’ve written your conclusion, you can add a prediction or recommendation statement.

Our essay currently has 231 words so we’re on target and don’t need this extra sentence but you can learn more about how to write a prediction or recommendation statement for IELTS discussion essays on the Task 2 Conclusions page.

The conclusion is the easiest sentence in the essay to write but one of the most important.

A good conclusion will:

Neatly end the essay
Link all your ideas together
Sum up your argument or opinion
Answer the question

If you achieve this, you’ll improve your score for both task achievement and cohesion and coherence which together make up 50% of the overall marks. Without a conclusion, you’ll score below band 6 for task achievement.

You can start almost any final paragraph of an IELTS discussion essay with the words:

In conclusion

To conclude

Now all you need to do is briefly summarise the main ideas into one sentence.

Here’s a top tip . Go back and read the introduction to the essay because this is also a summary of the essay. It outlines what you are going to write about.

To create a great conclusion, you simply have to paraphrase the introduction. Let’s give it a go.

Introduction:

Here is the same information formed into a conclusion:

That’s it. We’ve completed our essay. Here it is with the 4 paragraphs put together.

Finished IELTS discussion essay.

Go through this lesson as many times as you need to in order to fully understand it and put in lots of practice writing IELTS discussion essays from past exam questions. Practice is the only way to improve your skills.

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More help with ielts discussion essays & other task 2 essays.

IELTS Writing Task 2 – T he format, the 5 question types, the 5 step essay writing strategy & sample questions. All the key information you need to know.

The 5 Types of Task 2 Essay – How to recognise the 5 different types of Task 2 essays. 15 sample questions to study and a simple planning structure for each essay type.

Understanding Task 2 Questions – How to quickly and easily analyse and understand IELTS Writing Task 2 questions.

How To Plan a Task 2 Essay – Discover why essay planning is essential & learn a simple 4 step strategy, the 4 part essay structure & 4 methods of generating ideas.

How To Write a Task 2 Introduction – Find out why a good introduction is essential. Learn how to write one using a simple 3 part strategy & discover 4 common mistakes to avoid.

How To Write Task 2 Main Body Paragraphs – Learn the simple 3 part structure for writing great main body paragraphs and also, 3 common mistakes to avoid.

How To Write Task 2 Conclusions – Learn the easy way to write the perfect conclusion for a Task 2 essay. Also discover 4 common mistakes to avoid.

Task 2 Marking Criteria – Find out how to meet the marking criteria in Task 2. See examples of good and poor answers & learn some common mistakes to avoid.

The 5 Task 2 Essay Types:

Step-by-step instructions on how to plan & write high-level essays. Model answers & common mistakes to avoid.

Opinion Essays

Discussion Essays

Problem Solution Essays

Advantages & Disadvantages Essays

Double Question Essays

Other Related Pages

IELTS Writing Test – Understand the format & marking criteria, know what skills are assessed & learn the difference between the Academic & General writing tests.

IELTS Writing
Discussion Essays
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How to write a discussion essay

September 21, 2023

A discussion essay, also called a controversial essay, is where you express your opinion about a topic. When writing one,

Cover both sides of the topic , present the key points that back your viewpoint and the opposing one.
Ensure a multi-faceted understanding of the issues before presenting your own personal views and conclusions.

So let’s deeply explore the structure and components of a successful discussion paper.

Quick summary

Carefully read and comprehend the essay prompt.
Select a topic that leads to multiple viewpoints and debates.
Begin with a clear introduction that includes a strong thesis statement.
Discuss different viewpoints or/and arguments in separate body paragraphs.
Maintain a balanced approach by presenting viewpoints fairly.
Summarize the main ideas and restate your thesis statement , then end your essay.

Choose a controversial topic

Choosing a topic is the first step when starting your essay. When choosing a topic , make sure it is something that you are personally interested in as it will be easier for you to write.

Now let’s have a look at discussion essay topic examples.

Should Capital Punishment be Abolished?
Is Genetic Engineering Ethical for Humans?
Should Schools Implement Mandatory Vaccination Policies?
Is Nuclear Energy a Viable Solution to the Energy Crisis?

After choosing the essay topic, you should create your outline to finish planning your essay.

Create an outline

The outline allows you to understand how to combine all the information and thesis statement to support claims of your essay.

Create a basic outline for your discussion essay. Start with a preliminary version of your thesis statement, main argument, opposing argument, and other main points.

Here is an outline example for a discussion essay.

Discussion essay outline example

Title: The Ethics of Artificial Intelligence in Healthcare

Start with a strong and engaging opening.
Introduce the topic and its relevance.
Present the thesis statement that highlights the ethical considerations in AI integration in healthcare.
Begin with a clear topic sentence about AI's role in diagnosis.
Explain AI's superiority in analyzing medical data and images.
Provide an example of AI detecting diseases early.
Discuss concerns about the potential effects on human expertise.
Introduce the focus on personalized treatment.
Explain how AI can customize therapies based on individual data.
Give an example of optimizing medical outcomes.
Raise ethical issues about privacy, consent, and data security.
Start with a topic sentence about accountability.
Discuss the challenge of assigning blame in AI-related errors.
Address the importance of unbiased AI algorithms.
Mention the need for regulation and oversight.
Restate the significance of the ethical landscape of AI in healthcare.
Summarize the core points discussed in the body paragraphs.
Reiterate the importance of balancing AI advancements with ethical considerations.
End with a call to uphold ethical principles in the integration of AI in healthcare.

So now that you’ve seen an outline example, l et’s start writing your essay with an introduction.

Write your introduction

Start with an attention-grabbing opening ( hook sentence ) that piques the reader's curiosity and encourages them to continue reading.
Provide a brief background or context for the topic you'll be discussing.
Seamlessly transition from the general to the specific focus of your essay. Guide the reader to understand what to expect from the essay.
End your introduction with a strong and clear thesis statement.

Discussion essay introduction example

Introduction

Now that we have written our introduction, we can move on to the discussion parts.

Compose the body of your essay

Write down the main points of the body paragraphs of your discussion paper. A well-written body paragraph illustrates, justifies, and/or supports your thesis statement. When writing body paragraphs:

Typically, present each issue separately and discuss both sides of the argument in an unbiased manner.
Start each paragraph with a topic sentence that transitions from the previous one to introduce the next topic.
Start with your least convincing argument and work your way up to your strongest argument. This structure helps readers follow your logic consistently.
Make sure your citation usage is consistent for each argument. If you cite three quotes that support your main argument, aim to use three quotes for the opposing view as well.

Discussion essay body paragraphs

Body Paragraph 1: Enhancing Diagnostics and Accuracy

Body Paragraph 2: Personalized Treatment and Privacy

Body Paragraph 3: Ethical Responsibility and Accountability

Now, let’s look at how to end your work.

Conclude your discussion essay

Writing a strong conclusion for a discussion essay is essential to leave a lasting impression on your readers and summarize the main points of your argument effectively. Here are the steps on how to write a good conclusion for your discussion paper:

Begin your conclusion by restating your thesis statement in a slightly different way. This helps remind the reader of the main argument you've presented throughout the essay.
Provide a brief summary of the key points you discussed in your essay.
Emphasize the importance of the topic and the implications of your argument.

Things to avoid in conclusion

Let’s have a look at a conclusion example for a discussion essay..

Discussion essay conclusion example

Remember that a conclusion is your final opportunity to leave a strong impression, so make it memorable and impactful.

Frequently Asked Questions

How is a discussion essay different from other types of essays.

Unlike other common essays that might focus on presenting a single argument, a discussion essay presents multiple perspectives on a topic. It strives to remain neutral and balanced while analyzing different viewpoints.

Can I express my personal opinion in a discussion essay?

Yes, you can include your personal opinion, but it should be presented alongside other viewpoints. Your opinion should be supported by evidence and analysis, and you should strive for a balanced presentation.

Do I need to include counterarguments?

Yes, including counterarguments is essential in a discussion essay. Addressing opposing viewpoints demonstrates your understanding of the topic and strengthens your analysis.

How do I ensure a balanced presentation of viewpoints?

Present each viewpoint objectively and support it with evidence. Give equal attention to different perspectives and avoid using biased language.

How can I transition between different viewpoints in my essay?

Use transitional words and phrases like “however,” “on the other hand,” and “in contrast” to smoothly guide readers between paragraphs and viewpoints.

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Writing Task 2 Discuss Both Views Lesson

How to write a Task 2 discussion essay:

Introduction: paraphrase the question, state both points of view, make a thesis statement and outline your sentence.
Main body paragraph 1: state the first viewpoint, discuss it, state whether you agree or disagree and give an example to support your view.
Main body paragraph 2: state the second viewpoint, discuss it, state whether you agree or disagree and give an example to support your view.
Conclusion: summarise and state which viewpoint is better or more important.
Remember that each Task 2 essay requires a different structure. It is important to learn each structure and practise your writing at home.

Introduction

This lesson will help you answer IELTS Writing Task 2 discussion (or discuss both views and give your opinion) questions.

These particular questions require a different approach to opinion essays because you have to discuss both sides rather than argue in favour of one side.

This post will look at:

Identifying the question

Example Questions

Sample Answer

Task Achievement

Coherence and Cohesion

Lexical Resource

Many students fail to do well in these questions because they do not do what the question asks them to do and do not use an appropriate structure . This post will help you overcome these problems and give you a sample answer.

We will also look at ‘lexical resource’ and ‘coherence and cohesion’; two of the IELTS examiners’ marking criteria when marking your essays. Understanding the marking scheme will help you get inside an IELTS examiner’s head and give them exactly what they want.

Identifying the Question

Look at the three questions below and choose the one you think is a discussion question.

Computers are being used more and more in education and so there will soon be no role for the teacher in education.

To what extent do you agree or disagree?

Computers are being used more and more in education.

Discuss the advantages and disadvantages and give your own opinion.

Computers are being used more and more in education. Some people say that this is a positive trend, while others argue that it is leading to negative consequences.

Discuss both sides of this argument and then give your own opinion.

The first question is an opinion question, and we can tell this from the instructions ‘To what extent do you agree or disagree?’.

The second question is obviously an advantages and disadvantages question.

The third question is the discussion question. We can tell this from the typical instructions in the question, ‘Discuss both sides of the argument and then give your opinion’.

You may also be asked to ‘Discuss both views and give your opinion’ or ‘Discuss both sides of the argument and give your opinion’.

Each of these questions is asking us to do different things, and we, therefore, need a different structure for each question .

Here are a few other typical discussion questions:

A growing number of people feel that animals should not be exploited by people and that they should have the same rights as humans, while others argue that humans must employ animals to satisfy their various needs, including uses for food and research.

Discuss both views and give your opinion.

Bloodsports have become a hot topic for debate in recent years. As society develops it is increasingly seen as an uncivilized activity and cruel to the helpless animals that are killed. All blood sports should be banned.

Discuss the main arguments for this statement and give your own opinion.

Some people think that the best way to reduce crime is to give longer prison sentences. Others, however, believe there are better alternative ways of reducing crime.

As you can see, they typically state two opinions and then ask you to discuss both and give your opinion. Make sure you do these things in the essay. If you only discuss both views and fail to give your opinion you will lose marks.

For discussion questions, I suggest you use the following four-paragraph structure.

Introduction

1- Paraphrase Question

2- State Both Points of View

2- Thesis Statement

3- Outline Sentence

Main Body Paragraph 1

1- State first viewpoint

2- Discuss first viewpoint

3- Reason why you agree or disagree with viewpoint

4- Example to support your view

Main Body Paragraph 2

1- State second viewpoint

2- Discuss second viewpoint

Conclusion

Sentence 1- Summary

Sentence 2- State which one is better or more important

Practice

Here is a sample answer, but I have mixed up the sentences. Can you match the sentences below to the structure above?

This exercise will help you understand the structure.

In conclusion, while the benefits of technology, particularly the internet, allow students to tap into limitless sources of information, some still feel that people should be wary of this new phenomenon and not allow it to curb face-to-face interaction.
There is an ever-increasing use of technology, such as tablets and laptops, in the classroom.
The internet has provided students with access to more information than ever before.
Moreover, learners can research and learn about any subject at the touch of a button. It is therefore agreed that technology is a very worthwhile tool for education.
However, many disagree and feel that technology deprives people of real human interaction.
Human interaction teaches people valuable skills such as discourse, debate and empathy.
Despite this, human interaction is still possible through the internet, and this essay disagrees that technology should be dismissed for this reason.
This essay agrees that an increase in technology is beneficial to students and teachers. This essay will discuss both points of view.
For instance, Skype and Facebook allow people to interact in ways that were never before possible.
Wikipedia is a prime example, where students can type in any keyword and gain access to in-depth knowledge quickly and easily.
However, as long as we carefully consider the importance of human interaction in education, the educational benefits are clearly positive.
It is often argued that this is a positive development, whilst others disagree and think it will lead to adverse ramifications.

Example Answer

Computers are being used more and more in education. Some people say this is a positive trend, while others argue that it leads to negative consequences.

There is an ever-increasing use of technology, such as tablets and laptops, in the classroom. It is often argued that this is a positive development, whilst others disagree and think it will lead to adverse ramifications. This essay agrees that an increase in technology is beneficial to students and teachers.

The internet has provided students with access to more information than ever before. Moreover, learners can research and learn about any subject at the touch of a button. It is therefore agreed that technology is a very worthwhile tool for education. Wikipedia is a prime example, where students can type in any keyword and gain access to in-depth knowledge quickly and easily.

However, many disagree and feel that technology deprives people of real human interaction. Human interaction teaches people valuable skills such as discourse, debate and empathy. Despite this, human interaction is still possible through the internet, and this essay disagrees that technology should be dismissed for this reason. For instance, Skype and Facebook allow people to interact in ways that were never before possible.

In conclusion, while the benefits of technology, particularly the internet, allow students to tap into limitless sources of information, some still feel that people should be wary of this new phenomenon and not allow it to curb face-to-face interaction. However, as long as we carefully consider the importance of human interaction in education, the educational benefits are clearly positive.

This is one of the four areas you will be assessed on in the IELTS writing test.

Task achievement refers to your ability to address all parts of the question and present a fully developed answer. By following the structure above, we have fully discussed both sides of the argument and given our opinion. This is exactly what the question asked us to do, no more, no less.

Discourse markers (words like ‘however’, ‘despite this’ and ‘In conclusion’) are also referred to as ‘linking words’ and ‘linking phrases’, or ‘sentence connectors’. They are quite formal and are used more in academic writing than informal speech.

You gain marks for using these under the ‘coherence and cohesion’ section of the marking scheme. These words ‘stick’ the other words together and lend continuity to sentences and paragraphs.

If you do not include discourse markers in your IELTS writing, your answer will appear illogical and more difficult to understand.

However, this does not mean that you should try to insert as many of these words into your writing as possible. This is a common mistake in IELTS writing. Using too many of them, or using them inappropriately, can make your writing sound too heavy and unnatural. They are important but must only be used at the appropriate time.

Try to identify any discourse markers in the essay above . Don’t look at the essay below yet. How many can you find?

Student Sample Answer with Discourse Markers

Here is the sample answer again with the discourse markers in bold .

The internet has provided students with access to more information than ever before. Moreover , learners can research and learn about any subject at the touch of a button. It is therefore agreed that technology is a very worthwhile tool for education. Wikipedia is a prime example , where students can type in any keyword and gain access to in-depth knowledge quickly and easily.

However , many disagree and feel that technology deprives people of real human interaction. Human interaction teaches people valuable skills such as discourse, debate and empathy. Despite this , human interaction is still possible through the internet, and this essay disagrees that technology should be dismissed for this reason. For instance , Skype and Facebook allow people to interact in ways that were never before possible.

In conclusion , while the benefits of technology, particularly the internet, allow students to tap into limitless sources of information, some still feel that people should be wary of this new phenomenon and not allow it to curb face-to-face interaction. However , as long as we carefully consider the importance of human interaction in education, the educational benefits are clearly positive.

This is also one of the four criteria you will be marked on, and it refers to your ability to use a wide range of accurate vocabulary.

A common mistake is to repeat the same words over and over again. You will lose marks if you do this. A solution to this problem is to use synonyms. You can either think of synonyms as you are writing or leave time, in the end, to add them in.

Can you identify any synonyms in the essay above?

Here are some examples:

Computers- technology

Computers- the internet

Education- in the classroom

Education- students and teachers

Positive trend- positive development

Negative Consequences- adverse ramifications

By varying your vocabulary this way, you are demonstrating that you have a wide vocabulary, which will boost your band score. However, like discourse markers, be careful not to use inappropriate/inaccurate words. Only use words you are confident about. Mistakes will lead to fewer marks.

Do you need me to correct your essays and give you feedback on them? Check out our essay correction service .

I hope this post helps you with discussion questions, and if you have any questions, please comment below.

About Christopher Pell

My name is Christopher Pell and I'm the Managing Director of IELTS Advantage.

I started IELTS Advantage as a simple blog to help 16 students in my class. Several years later, I am very humbled that my VIP Course has been able to help thousands of people around the world to score a Band 7+ in their IELTS tests.

If you need my help with your IELTS preparation, you can send me an email using the contact us page.

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IELTS Discussion Essay Video Lesson: Useful Language

Learn expressions to use in your discussion essay for IELTS writing task 2 with this video lesson. It is important to use a variety of language to express both sides in your essay. Being able to have flexible language for giving other people’s opinions is a good way to increase your vocabulary band score.

Hello in this lesson I’m going to look at some expressions that you can use for a discussion essay for IELTS writing task 2. Now when you have a discussion essay you have to support two different sides and this is not about your opinion this is about what other people think, other people’s opinion and you have to support what they think. so here are some very useful expressions to help you show other people’s thoughts and opinions.

Now there’s quite a lot of expressions you can use. I will run through each one but I will tell you now there are two expressions here that you shouldn’t use. can you see which ones? well I’ll tell you at the end of the lesson let’s have a look the first one. “Many people believe that ” this is a very common expression to use for IELTS It is not high band score but its clear and its academic so don’t worry, please use it. The next one “it is commonly believed that” this is a very nice expression because you can see here “is believed” that is the passive and it’s very good to give the examiner some passive tense in your essay. It will improve your band score and you can see this word here “commonly” that means many people so it has the same meaning as this sentence and this word we can change, we could say “it is frequently believed that” or we could say “it is often believed that”. So we could put a different adverb of frequency here. The next one “some people think that” again it’s very simple but it is academic and its clear. “It is often thought that” here we’ve got another passive, so very nice to use. But “on the side of” or “the other side of the coin is” this is the other opinion, the other side. “It is considered by many that” this is a very nice expression is very academic. It’s very good to use for IELTS and again you have a passive here and you can change this word if you want and you could say “it is considered by some that”. The next one here “many argue that” is very nice very clear. You don’t need to say “many people”, you could say “many argue that “. Another one, “it is argued by some that”, again here we’ve got the passive and you can change this word, “it is argued by many that”. “On the one hand” and”On the other hand”, so that’s the one side of the argument, on the other hand that’s the other side of the argument. The last one “some people support the opinion that” again this is very nice, very academic.

Discussion Essay Model Answer

I am exceedingly grateful for your copious and advantageous free resources.

I will be back with my testimonial about how your resources assisted me with acing my IELTS test once.

Well done and God bless you.

Ebizi Eradiri Njoku

Wishing you the best of luck in your test!

Thank you , my best online teacher

hi Liz I have subscribed your channel for many years now .I do receive some emails .However I need support in writing the introduction for a discussion please could you guide me

Think about getting my advanced lessons. I’ll be offering a discount at the start of July: https://elizabethferguson.podia.com/ . The reason I made advanced lessons is so that I could explain fully how to write essays step by step. Each lesson is around 1 hour in length.

I am a new student learning the IELTS and today I started following you with the lesson writing task – 2. It is observed that there are -04- types of essays. I started the discussion type but little confused and not able to analyse the discussion type. Please advise, how may I understand whether the topic is discussion or opinion-based or discussion with opinion.

Go to this page for all your answers: https://ieltsliz.com/ielts-writing-task-2/

Dear liz, I have read your E-Book and that helped me a lot because I didn’t know about how to develop Ideas, but after reading that book I have learned what we can write in our essay according to the topic. Thank you for making that E-book. But here I have different doubt about structuring an Introduction for discussion type essay. (Specially, one sided opinion essay) While writing discussion type essay, you taught to give balanced approach or one sided approach. My confusion here is after paraphrasing both view points in the introduction we can directly state our opinion even if it is one sided, do we have to mention that why we do not agree with the other view point? What I mean to say is, if I think cooperation is more important to learn then do i have to mention why i do not think competition is important? My another doubt is do we have to give the hint what body paragraphs will discuss about within the introduction? Like, after paraphrasing the two different view points do we have to write again that many people think competition because it develops a sense of self-esteem in a child, while others believe cooperation is important as it helps in developing social skills + giving my opinion stating, I believe cooperation is important + reason why I believe so + why don’t I believe competition is important?

I am confused what should I exclude to make a short yet clear Introduction with one sided clear opinion? because giving reason why we do not think other view point is more important is making introduction too lengthy. Similarly giving hint within the introduction why people have different view points making it too lengthy.

Your background statement will include the two views held by others. The details for those views will be explained in the body paragraphs. The thesis statement will contain your view and the body paragraph will explain it. It is your choice how you develop the body paragraph. You might want to explain why you agree with one side and why you disagree with the other – if they are two completely different choices to make. It really depends on how much you have to say. IELTS essay are as much about strategy as they are about ideas. Think about word count and length. IELTS essays are short – they were never designed to be long. You should be aiming between 270 and 290 words. So, plan each sentence before you start writing and you’ll soon see how much you can and can’t fit into each paragraph. Also remember that if you agree with one side fully, your opinion will be given along side (in the same paragraph) as the same view that others have. If you are unsure or confused, get my Advanced lessons because I’ve explained it really carefully in those lessons: https://elizabethferguson.podia.com/ . Glad you liked the Ideas E-book 🙂

Hello Ma’am, Sorry for over bugging You Hope You’re kicking fine. Meanwhile, Where can I get full length videos of Your Academic Test teachings on Tips for Task 1 writing- Graphs, Charts, pictures etc- My elder Brother is attempting it for the first time and needs help with it as His Academic test is slated for 12 September. I introduced Him to Your blog but all He could set His eyes on were snippets of Your teachings on YouTube.

Best Regards.

Sorry, I don’t have full length videos for writing task 1. I only have Advanced Writing Task 2 Lessons which can be purchased on this page: https://elizabethferguson.podia.com/

Hello Liz, i visited your website and discovered numerous information and tips that will be useful for my ielts academic test. please i would like to be notified for any new video and information. thanks

You can access over 300 pages of free lessons and tips through the RED MENU Bar at the top of the website. All new lessons can be found listed in the side bar column if you are using desktop or at the bottom of all posts if you are using a smart phone.

Hi Liz, I am a little confused when it’s about the introduction of the “discuss both views and give your opinion” essay. As I understood, introduction is made of 2 parts: 1. Paraphrasing the question (very clear) 2. Thesis to introduce the topics of the body paragraphs In this type of questions, if we start the thesis just right after paraphrasing with “in my opinion”, doesn’t show the examiner that my essay will be only about my opinion?

You’re website and advanced videos are very helpful Thank you

The examiner has the instructions. The examiner has the full essay question. It’s fine.

Hello liz i find your videos very helpful, i wanted to ask can you give the complete structure of an ielts essay

You can find model essays on the main writing task 2 page – click on the RED BAR at the top of the website.

Thank you very much for all your insights on various topics on IELTS. I genuinely appreciate it.

I have a doubt regarding the essay writing; are we allowed to use colon, semi-colon and double-dash in our GT essays and letters just as how I’ve used in this comment?

Your input here will be a good help. Thanks again.

There is no need to use them. Using just full stops and commas is enough. However, there are a no fixed rules.

Hi Liz, Thanks your youtube videos are outstanding and very helpful. Please i will need some clarifications on the following: 1. Can I treat an opinion essay as a discussion essay where i write about both views or do i just stick with my opinion throughout my essay. 2. Is this thesis statement correct- This essay will discuss both views before reaching a logical conclusion. Will appreciate your response

You can’t alter the instructions and write a discussion essay if you are given an opinion essay. However, it is possible to have a partial agreement but you need training for that. See my Advanced Writing Task 2 lessons: https://elizabethferguson.podia.com/ 2. That is not a thesis statement for IELTS. If you are asked for your view, you must give it directly – I, my. The words “this essay” does not represent your own personal opinion. Also NEVER use learned phrases in an English language test. Each sentence must be created uniquely by you. The examiner will put a line through any learned sentences.

Ma’am thanks so much for all the content that you have provided! I had a question regarding a discussion cum opinion essay. Do I make 1 body paragraphs for each side and a third body para for the details of my opinion (totally 3 paras) or do i combine both sides in body paragraph 1 and explain my perspective in the 2nd body paragraph?

I’d very much appreciate your input.

Do not combine opposite sides in one paragraph. If your opinion agrees with one side, add it to that paragraph. Otherwise, create a third body paragraph.

Hello, Your website is a lifesaver, thank you so much for your work! I have a question regarding the use of singular ‘they’ in an essay: is it allowed or is it better to be avoided? I find myself using it quite often but I am not sure how the examiner would react. Thank you in advance

Yes, it’s allowed.

Hi Liz, Your videos are very informative.

In an opinion essay, could the term ‘I feel’ be used? Or is it better to use I think or I believe?

Thanks Anne

“I feel” is informal.

It’s very helpful thank you. You’re doing a great job.

This was very helpful. Thanks.

Can we say “On the flip side …”?

That is informal and an IELTS essay is formal.

Hi Liz, Thank you for your support 🙂 I wanted to ask you about Writting Task 2; in an opinion essay should I writte the two paragraphs to support my opinion or should I writte the first paragraph for supporting and admitting the suggested opinion in the topic and the second to introduce mine. So do I get more points for a balanced answer or should I present my 2 topics in both paragraphs?

You do not get more points for a balanced view or a one sided view. You choose your opinion, state it in the introduction and then explain it in the body.

What if we agree with both of the views. Can we still use those sentences you provided in the video? Thank you 🙂

A balanced approach does not mean agreeeing with both sides. It means presenting an opinion which is neither one side nor the other but your own specific opinion.

I was wondering if we are not suppose this language in Agree/disagee(Opinion) essay.

Basically whenever I start any opinion essay using one of the expressions mentioned above. And also some times for each paragraph I use “on the other hand” for the second paragraph opening sentences for opinion essay.

Kindly confirm the same. If I not supposed to use, can you provide us with some Agree/Disagree(opinion) essay language too.

Thanks, Shree

You use expressions such as “it is thought …” or “some people believe that …” when you express other people’s opinions. For your background statement in almost all essays, you might use these expressions. When you have an opinion essay, you use these expressions in the background and then present your own opinion directly in the thesis “In my opinion”.

When you use “On the other hand” it is to present an opposing view. It shows an opposite. This is unlikely to be used in an opinion essay but not impossible. It depends on the ideas and the paragraph content.

I hope that helps. See my model writing task 2 essays on this page: https://ieltsliz.com/ielts-writing-task-2/

Hi Liz, Cam you please clarify between discussion type and agree disagree type questions. How does the structure vary.

All IELTS essays have either two or three body paragraphs. The structures are decided depending on your opinion and ideas.

Hello Liz, Is there a link for all the essay sample questions you shared?

Regards Sweety

You can find sample essay questions here: https://ieltsliz.com/100-ielts-essay-questions/ . All links can be found on the main writing task 2 page: https://ieltsliz.com/ielts-writing-task-2/ . All main pages can be found on the red bar at the top of the website.

Hello Liz, Is there are a link for all essay answers?

See the main writing task 2 page: https://ieltsliz.com/ielts-writing-task-2/

Is it necessary to write your opinion in introduction in a discussion essay (discuss both views and give your opinion)? And also please tell that is it the write structure for this type of question Introduction body para 1 (discussing one view) body para 2 (discussing other side of the argument and giving your opinion) conclusion

You should also introduce your opinion in the introduction.

Helpful commentary, I love the info – Does anyone know where I could acquire a sample form I could use?

can we say the other side of the MEDALLION is

Obviously not. You shouldn’t be using idioms.

Hi Liz, can i write 3 paragraphs if i agree with both sides of the arguments and third one is going to be about my opinion that it is better both

You shouldn’t agree with both sides. Giving an opinion, doesn’t mean sitting on the fence. Please see my advanced lessons.

Hi Liz, Thank you very much for this helpful Blog. Just trying to be helpful here, you said in the first line: wring task1. So, I know it’s not serious error, but just want to get your attention on it, so maybe better to correct it.

Best regards, Salah

Thanks. It really helps me when people tell me about typos because I don’t have much time for proof reading. Well spotted!! Liz 🙂

Hello mam..im ALi From PAKISTAN and i am prepairing my IELTS exam test for 23 Jan ….could you give me few tips and techniques for task 2 and speaking for General Question

https://ieltsliz.com/liz-notice-2015-2016/

Hi Im Aysa Im 12 years old and Im studing Ielts I have 2 older sister.My schools name is Hafez and the place that I study Ielts in it is Melal English school and there are some knowledgeable teachers there. Actually Im a cheerful person and I love Art. and then I love so much eating and watching animations especially Sponge bob.

Please inform your parents that you have posted a comment on my blog. It is essential that all underage comments are done with parental permission. Thanks Liz

Hi liz, Thank you for your videos and everything. In writing task 2 if the topic says “discuss both these views and give your own opinion” when should we state our opinion? Can we mention it in inroduction part or in conclusion? While discussing both views are we allowed to be personal or we should discuss them objectively?

The given site is not found?

Mam, I was going through the subscription video of your Discussion essay.After viewing it i was trying to write a Background statement for the question ” Some say all offenders should be sent to prison,others argue that there are better alternatives such as community work for those who commit minor crimes.Discuss both views and give your opinion “.

I tried writing this line same as you were explaining on that video ” Although it is sometimes argued that all criminal ought to sent to jail,other people believe that the focus should be on other alternative methods “. Is this back ground statement correct.Please help me in this

This is the correct technique to use. All the best Liz

Hi mam My question is regarding writing task 2, Mam what counts more in IELTS,more number of ideas but not explained much or one-two ideas bit well explained. For example,to reduce environmental pollution ,we can write about a number of ideas like Using green energy resources to curb air pollution,lesser use of pesticides to control land pollution and so on..so should we write about all the ideas that i have in my mind or should i pick one or two of them and elaborate upon then well.? Thnx

See this page to learn how your writing is marked: https://ieltsliz.com/ielts-writing-task-2-band-scores-5-to-8/ . To learn more about writing an opinion essay and how to develop ideas, see my advanced lessons: http://subscriptions.viddler.com/IELTSLizStore All the best Liz

Hi Liz ..conclusion is compulsory in each essay?

All writing task 2 essays have a conclusion. Please see the lesson about paragraphs. Liz

After 7 days I have an IELTS exam. And I have still problem with speaking and reading, so can you please help me how can I get improvisation in both?

Please see the reading section and the lesson: how to improve your reading. The look at the speaking section and how to develop your speaking at home. All the best Liz

CAN YOU LIE WHEN WRITING YOUR ESSAY?

You can write anything you want. No one will check whether the information is true or not. However, as you have not presented me with an example of “a lie”, I can’t fully say yes. All the best Liz

plzz telk me which is best BC or IDP test

IELTS is owned by Cambridge ESOL, IDP and the British Council – they are all the same company. The test at IDP and BC is the same, the examiners are trained in the same way – there’s no difference. All the best Liz

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IELTS discussion essay: model answer and analysis

Updated : February 2024

Below is an IELTS question for writing task 2 and my model answer. It is on the topic of Education. After analysing the question, I can see that it’s about whether homework is a good idea or not in helping kids in their educational development . It asks me to discuss both views and also asks for my opinion .

In this case, you must state your opinion in the introduction, the body and conclusion.

In this essay I will need to do 3 things:

Write about why some people think school children should not be given homework by their teachers.
Write about why other people think homework plays an important role in the education of children.
Give my opinion on the issue and explain.

Task Question

Some people believe that school children should not be given homework by their teachers, whereas others argue that homework plays an important role in the education of children. Discuss both views and give your own opinion.

Model Answer

Some people think it is not a good idea for teachers to assign home study tasks to school children, while others say it is an essential part of learning. I believe pupils need homework to achieve better exam results as it gives them a chance of entering higher education.

On the one hand, some believe that homework is of no benefit and becomes a burden to school children. This is because pupils spend their whole day studying, taking part in after school clubs and feel exhausted after returning home. For instance, in Japan, the majority of minors are under pressure to complete vast amounts of homework along with extracurricular activities. If they fail to finish their assignments they may not do well in exams, meaning they would be unable to get into a good high school. I think home assignments are beneficial but children should not be put under this kind of pressure.

On the other hand, it is widely believed that homework plays a vital role in the development of knowledge for students and I agree with this. In other words, home study tasks help pupils understand school subjects better which allows them to attain higher grades. For example, according to extensive research, children aged between 10 and 16 who are given a large amount of mathematics homework do far better in tests than those who are not given any home assignments. I believe that home study tasks improve a child’s chances of entering tertiary education which leads to a rewarding career.

To conclude, although views differ concerning children being assigned homework, I would argue that home assignments are necessary to help pupils get high grades, enabling them to secure a place at university and improve their career chances.

Click this blue button to see an analysis of the model answer.

Word count is 290 words. I advise keeping it under 300 words as you may not have the time to write a long essay in the exam and it is not necessary to write a very long essay.

The structure is:

Introduction: Paraphrased task question with a thesis statement (opinion)
Main body 1: Discussed first view, explained and gave an example with my opinion.
Main body 2: Discussed second view, agreed, explained and gave an example.
Conclusion: Referred to the differing views, opinion rephrased

Make sure to check the task question again before writing your essay. you could lose a band score if it goes off-topic.

Planning time is crucial here, allow 10 minutes to plan an essay and make sure you have some good supporting points to back up your topic sentences.

With a discussion essay, you have to state others views and give supporting sentences with detail and specific examples. Discussion essays often ask your opinion. Click here to see this lesson about stating an opinion.

When we state others views, especially in IELTS Discussion essays, there is specific language that should be used. For more detail on this, click here to see this lesson.

There is a lot of confusion about whether to use personal pronouns in IELTS essays (I, me, my, our, etc..) but if the question asks to ‘what extent do you agree?’ or ‘give your own opinion’ then you need to write personal pronouns… click here to see a lesson on this .

Note on paraphrasing: I have paraphrased the word ‘ homework’ in this essay with the phrases ‘ home study tasks ‘ and ‘ home assignments’ . Sometimes there is no way to avoid repetition but if you have a good understanding of synonyms and referencing you can avoid too much repetition. There are often words that are hard to paraphrase such as ‘people’ or ‘children’.

Not every word from the task question needs paraphrasing and you can repeat words as long as you can demonstrate a wide range of vocabulary. Be very careful not to over paraphrase.

Any Comments? leave them below

3 thoughts on “IELTS discussion essay: model answer and analysis”

Thanks to analysing for this essay,as it helps me very well as I want

EL Education Curriculum

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ELA G5:M3:U2:L10

Writing an Opinion Essay: Planning

In this lesson, daily learning targets, ongoing assessment.

Technology and Multimedia

Supporting English Language Learners

Universal design for learning, closing & assessments, you are here:.

ELA Grade 5
ELA G5:M3:U2

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These are the CCS Standards addressed in this lesson:

W.5.1: Write opinion pieces on topics or texts, supporting a point of view with reasons and information.
W.5.1a: Introduce a topic or text clearly, state an opinion, and create an organizational structure in which ideas are logically grouped to support the writer's purpose.
W.5.1b: Provide logically ordered reasons that are supported by facts and details.
W.5.4: Produce clear and coherent writing in which the development and organization are appropriate to task, purpose, and audience.
W.5.5: With guidance and support from peers and adults, develop and strengthen writing as needed by planning, revising, editing, rewriting, or trying a new approach.
W.5.9: Draw evidence from literary or informational texts to support analysis, reflection, and research.
W.5.9b: Apply grade 5 Reading standards to informational texts (e.g., "Explain how an author uses reasons and evidence to support particular points in a text, identifying which reasons and evidence support which point[s]"").
SL.5.1: Engage effectively in a range of collaborative discussions (one-on-one, in groups, and teacher-led) with diverse partners on grade 5 topics and texts, building on others' ideas and expressing their own clearly.
I can plan an essay that states an opinion and has reasons that are supported by facts and details. ( W.5.1, W.5.4, W.5.9b )
I can give kind, helpful, and specific feedback to my partner. ( W.5.5, SL.5.1 )
Opinion Writing Planning graphic organizer ( W.5.1, W.5.4, W.5.5, W.5.9b )
Strategically pair students for the peer critique in the Closing with at least one strong reader per pair.
Review the Opinion Writing Checklist ( see the Tools page ).
Post: Learning targets and applicable anchor charts (see Materials list).

Tech and Multimedia

Continue to use the technology tools recommended throughout Modules 1-2 to create anchor charts to share with families; to record students as they participate in discussions and protocols to review with students later and to share with families; and for students to listen to and annotate text, record ideas on note-catchers, and word-process writing.

Supports guided in part by CA ELD Standards 5.I.A.1, 5.I.A.3, 5.I.A.4, 5.I.A.5, 5.I.C.10, 5.I.C.11, 5.I.C.12, 5.II.A.1, 5.II.A.2, 5.II.C.6 , and 5.II.C.7

Important points in the lesson itself

The basic design of this lesson supports ELLs by referring to the Factors for Success anchor chart from Unit 1 to plan their essays, inviting students to draw on conclusions from the text-based discussion to form their focus statements, allowing time for discussion throughout the lesson, and explicitly reviewing the characteristics of opinion writing as a class.
ELLs may find it challenging to go from annotating the Model Essay: Branch Rickey in Work Time A to planning their own opinion essays with the graphic organizer in Work Time B without having seen this process modeled. Consider filling in the graphic organizer with components of the model essay in Work Time A, providing students with concrete examples to refer to during their planning (see Meeting Students' Needs).

Levels of support

For lighter support:

Encourage students to use the focus structure from the Language Dive in Lesson 9, but it was _____, to write their focus statement, supporting students in using linking words and phrases to connect ideas. Challenge students to think of more than one way they could use this linking language to write their focus statement.

For heavier support:

Consider color-coding the text in the displayed Opinion Writing Planning graphic organizer to match the corresponding information in the Painted Essay(r) template, signaling the information that goes in each section. For example, in the introduction paragraph box, the text "What context do you need to give to your reader?" would be color-coded red; "State your opinion:" would be green; all text in "Proof Paragraph 1" would be yellow; etc.
Multiple Means of Representation (MMR): Students provide kind, helpful, and specific feedback during a peer critique of their opinion writing planning. As this familiar learning target is displayed, consider inviting students to share examples of this type of feedback from previous lessons and note their responses for visual display.
Multiple Means of Action and Expression (MMAE): Continue to support a range of fine motor abilities and writing needs by offering students options for writing utensils. Also, consider supporting students' expressive skills by offering partial dictation of student responses.
Multiple Means of Engagement (MME): Since peer review can be threatening to some students, continue to emphasize the benefits of peer review and feedback for all students. Make this activity relevant by reminding students that writers have editors who provide feedback for their writing through each step in the writing process, which improves their writing.

Key: Lesson-Specific Vocabulary (L); Text-Specific Vocabulary (T); Vocabulary Used in Writing (W)

states, support, specific, reason, evidence, use my strengths (L)
Close Readers Do These Things anchor chart (begun in Module 1)
Academic Word Wall (begun in Module 1)
Vocabulary logs (from Module 1; one per student)
Opinion Writing Planning graphic organizer (one per student and one to display)
Model Essay: Branch Rickey (from Lesson 9; one per student and one to display)
Working to Become Effective Learners anchor chart (begun in Module 1)
Directions for Opinion Essay (from Lesson 9; one per student and one to display)
Opinion Writing Checklist (from Lesson 9; one per student and one to display)
Colored pencils (green, yellow, blue; one of each color per student)
Preparing for a Text-Based Discussion: Jackie Robinson note-catcher (from Lesson 7; one per student)
Discussion Notes Form: Jackie Robinson (from Lesson 8; one per student)
Promises to Keep (from Unit 1, Lesson 1; one per student)
"This I Believe: Free Minds and Hearts at Work" (text; from Lesson 2; one per student)
Listening Closely: "Jackie Robinson: Royals to Obamas" note-catcher (from Lesson 4; one per student)
Factor for Success anchor charts (begun in Unit 1)
Domain-Specific Word Wall (begun in Unit 1, Lesson 1)
Opinion Writing Planning graphic organizer (example, for teacher reference)
Sticky notes (two per student)
Working to Contribute to a Better World anchor chart (begun in Module 1)
Directions for Peer Critique (from Module 1; one to display)
Peer Critique Protocol anchor chart (begun in Module 1)
Language Dive I Practice: Model Essay: Branch Rickey homework (from Lesson 9; one per student)
Language Dive I Practice: Model Essay: Branch Rickey homework (example, for teacher reference)

Each unit in the 3-5 Language Arts Curriculum has two standards-based assessments built in, one mid-unit assessment and one end of unit assessment. The module concludes with a performance task at the end of Unit 3 to synthesize their understanding of what they accomplished through supported, standards-based writing.

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The Pros and Cons of Discussion

Resources & Preparation
Instructional Plan
Related Resources

In this lesson, students use a Discussion Web to engage in meaningful discussions. Students work in groups to answer the question, "Are people equal?," analyzing all sides of the response, forming a consensus, and presenting it to the class. Students then read "Harrison Bergeron" by Kurt Vonnegut, Jr. and use supporting details to complete another Discussion Web that looks at whether people are equal in the story. Groups form a consensus, present their position to the class, and engage in class discussion. Free-writes, a persuasive essay, computer activities, and an informal class debate help students extend and apply knowledge.

Featured Resources

"Harrison Bergeron" by Kurt Vonnegut, Jr .: In this lesson, students read the short story "Harrison Bergeron" by Kurt Vonnegut, Jr. to engage in a discussion of satire and equality. The story is available online to print and distribute to your students.
Discussion Web: This printout provides students with a blank Discussion Web, along with instructions for completing it. Have them use it to answer and discuss the question, "Are people equal?"

From Theory to Practice

The Discussion Web:

Is a strategy designed to encourage all students to participate actively in class discussions and to think critically.
Gives students a framework for evaluating both sides of an issue or question. Students are encouraged to process opposing evidence and information before asserting viewpoints, giving them an opportunity to refine their thinking.
Requires students to work in groups and helps to develop cooperative learning skills.
Incorporates all four of the language arts (reading, writing, speaking, and listening).
Functions as a prereading, postreading, or prewriting strategy.
Helps instill in students the desire to read complex material by providing them with a framework to analyze difficult texts.
Develops students who are active, purposeful, and independent learners.

Common Core Standards

This resource has been aligned to the Common Core State Standards for states in which they have been adopted. If a state does not appear in the drop-down, CCSS alignments are forthcoming.

State Standards

This lesson has been aligned to standards in the following states. If a state does not appear in the drop-down, standard alignments are not currently available for that state.

NCTE/IRA National Standards for the English Language Arts

3. Students apply a wide range of strategies to comprehend, interpret, evaluate, and appreciate texts. They draw on their prior experience, their interactions with other readers and writers, their knowledge of word meaning and of other texts, their word identification strategies, and their understanding of textual features (e.g., sound-letter correspondence, sentence structure, context, graphics).
7. Students conduct research on issues and interests by generating ideas and questions, and by posing problems. They gather, evaluate, and synthesize data from a variety of sources (e.g., print and nonprint texts, artifacts, people) to communicate their discoveries in ways that suit their purpose and audience.
8. Students use a variety of technological and information resources (e.g., libraries, databases, computer networks, video) to gather and synthesize information and to create and communicate knowledge.
11. Students participate as knowledgeable, reflective, creative, and critical members of a variety of literacy communities.
12. Students use spoken, written, and visual language to accomplish their own purposes (e.g., for learning, enjoyment, persuasion, and the exchange of information).

Materials and Technology

Reflection journals
Overhead projector and transparency paper
Writing Checklist
Debate Rubric
Discussion Web
Concept of Definition Map
Group Work Rubric
"Harrison Bergeron" by Kurt Vonnegut, Jr.

Preparation

Student objectives.

Students will

Develop critical thinking skills by analyzing, evaluating, and synthesizing various sides of an issue to form a conclusion
Practice working cooperatively in groups
Apply specific comprehension strategies, such as activating prior knowledge, making predictions, comparing and contrasting, drawing conclusions, and examining different viewpoints
Practice supporting conclusions by writing a well-organized paragraph

Instruction and Activities

It is at your discretion to decide how long to spend on each activity, but a week of prereading, during reading, postreading, and writing activities is recommended with two days spent on the follow-up activities. Many of these activities can also be assigned for homework if you run out of class time. Prereading activities

During reading

After reading

Follow-up activities

Use the Discussion Web and the following websites to answer the question, "Is the society in the story "Harrison Bergeron" an example of a utopia?"

Encyclopedia Brittanica: Definition of Utopia Utopian Philosophy

Use Discussion Webs with additional books. Some texts and focusing questions might include:

The Giver by Lois Lowry (Laurel Leaf, 2002) Can happiness be found in a utopian society? To Kill a Mockingbird by Harper Lee (Warner Books, 1988) Does race influence trial verdicts? The Red Badge of Courage by Stephen Crane (Tor Books, 1990) Was Henry Fleming a coward for running? The Tell-Tale Heart by Edgar Allan Poe (Sagebrush, 2001) Is the narrator of the story sane or insane?

After you have used the Discussion Web as a guide for exploring and writing about the two sides of an issue, object, or idea, have students write comparison/contrast essays in which they must demonstrate their understanding of both sides.

Student Assessment / Reflections

Use the Writing Checklist and Debate Rubric to assess students' work in these areas.
Use the Group Work Rubric to evaluate how well each group worked together.
Have students write in their reflection journals:

What did I learn about equality? Did I change my opinion of equality after I read "Harrison Bergeron" ? What can we do to improve equality and reduce discrimination? How did the use of the Discussion Web help me think critically and understand the text? Reflect on how your group worked together.

Calendar Activities
Student Interactives
Strategy Guides

Students can map out the key literary elements of character, setting, conflict, and resolution as prewriting for their own fiction or as analysis of a text by another author in this secondary-level interactive.

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Kindergarten K

The Big List of Class Discussion Strategies

October 15, 2015

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When I worked with student teachers on developing effective lesson plans, one thing I always asked them to revise was the phrase “We will discuss.”

We will discuss the video.

We will discuss the story.

We will discuss our results.

Every time I saw it in a lesson plan, I would add a note: “What format will you use? What questions will you ask? How will you ensure that all students participate?” I was pretty sure that We will discuss actually meant the teacher would do most of the talking; He would throw out a couple of questions like “So what did you think about the video?” or “What was the theme of the story?” and a few students would respond, resulting in something that looked like a discussion, but was ultimately just a conversation between the teacher and a handful of extroverted students; a classic case of Fisheye Teaching .

The problem wasn’t them; in most of the classrooms where they’d sat as students, that’s exactly what a class discussion looked like. They didn’t know any other “formats.” I have only ever been familiar with a few myself. But when teachers began contacting me recently asking for a more comprehensive list, I knew it was time to do some serious research.

So here they are: 15 formats for structuring a class discussion to make it more engaging, more organized, more equitable, and more academically challenging. If you’ve struggled to find effective ways to develop students’ speaking and listening skills, this is your lucky day.

I’ve separated the strategies into three groups. The first batch contains the higher-prep strategies , formats that require teachers to do some planning or gathering of materials ahead of time. Next come the low-prep strategies , which can be used on the fly when you have a few extra minutes or just want your students to get more active. Note that these are not strict categories; it’s certainly possible to simplify or add more meat to any of these structures and still make them work. The last group is the ongoing strategies . These are smaller techniques that can be integrated with other instructional strategies and don’t really stand alone. For each strategy, you’ll find a list of other names it sometimes goes by, a description of its basic structure, and an explanation of variations that exist, if any. To watch each strategy in action, click on its name and a new window will open with a video that demonstrates it.

Higher-Prep Discussion Strategies

Gallery walk >.

a.k.a. Chat Stations

Basic Structure: Stations or posters are set up around the classroom, on the walls or on tables. Small groups of students travel from station to station together, performing some kind of task or responding to a prompt, either of which will result in a conversation.

Variations: Some Gallery Walks stay true to the term gallery , where groups of students create informative posters, then act as tour guides or docents, giving other students a short presentation about their poster and conducting a Q&A about it. In Starr Sackstein’s high school classroom, her stations consisted of video tutorials created by the students themselves. Before I knew the term Gallery Walk, I shared a strategy similar to it called Chat Stations , where the teacher prepares discussion prompts or content-related tasks and sets them up around the room for students to visit in small groups.

Philosophical Chairs >

a.k.a. Values Continuum, Forced Debate, Physical Barometer, This or That

Basic Structure: A statement that has two possible responses—agree or disagree—is read out loud. Depending on whether they agree or disagree with this statement, students move to one side of the room or the other. From that spot, students take turns defending their positions.

Variations: Often a Philosophical Chairs debate will be based around a text or group of texts students have read ahead of time; students are required to cite textual evidence to support their claims and usually hold the texts in their hands during the discussion. Some teachers set up one hot seat to represent each side, and students must take turns in the seat. In less formal variations (which require less prep), a teacher may simply read provocative statements students are likely to disagree on, and a debate can occur spontaneously without a text to refer to (I call this variation This or That in my classroom icebreakers post). Teachers may also opt to offer a continuum of choices, ranging from “Strongly Agree” on one side of the room, all the way to “Strongly Disagree” on the other, and have students place themselves along that continuum based on the strength of their convictions.

Pinwheel Discussion >

Basic Structure: Students are divided into 4 groups. Three of these groups are assigned to represent specific points of view. Members of the fourth group are designated as “provocateurs,” tasked with making sure the discussion keeps going and stays challenging. One person from each group (the “speaker”) sits in a desk facing speakers from the other groups, so they form a square in the center of the room. Behind each speaker, the remaining group members are seated: two right behind the speaker, then three behind them, and so on, forming a kind of triangle. From above, this would look like a pinwheel. The four speakers introduce and discuss questions they prepared ahead of time (this preparation is done with their groups). After some time passes, new students rotate from the seats behind the speaker into the center seats and continue the conversation.

Variations: When high school English teacher Sarah Brown Wessling introduced this strategy in the featured video (click Pinwheel Discussion above), she used it as a device for talking about literature, where each group represented a different author, plus one provocateur group. But in the comments that follow the video, Wessling adds that she also uses the strategy with non-fiction, where students represent authors of different non-fiction texts or are assigned to take on different perspectives about an issue.

Socratic Seminar >

a.k.a. Socratic Circles

Basic Structure: Students prepare by reading a text or group of texts and writing some higher-order discussion questions about the text. On seminar day, students sit in a circle and an introductory, open-ended question is posed by the teacher or student discussion leader. From there, students continue the conversation, prompting one another to support their claims with textual evidence. There is no particular order to how students speak, but they are encouraged to respectfully share the floor with others. Discussion is meant to happen naturally and students do not need to raise their hands to speak. This overview of Socratic Seminar from the website Facing History and Ourselves provides a list of appropriate questions, plus more information about how to prepare for a seminar.

Variations: If students are beginners, the teacher may write the discussion questions, or the question creation can be a joint effort. For larger classes, teachers may need to set up seminars in more of a fishbowl-like arrangement, dividing students into one inner circle that will participate in the discussion, and one outer circle that silently observes, takes notes, and may eventually trade places with those in the inner circle, sometimes all at once, and sometimes by “tapping in” as the urge strikes them.

Low-Prep Discussion Strategies

Affinity mapping >.

a.k.a. Affinity Diagramming

Basic Structure: Give students a broad question or problem that is likely to result in lots of different ideas, such as “What were the impacts of the Great Depression?” or “What literary works should every person read?” Have students generate responses by writing ideas on post-it notes (one idea per note) and placing them in no particular arrangement on a wall, whiteboard, or chart paper. Once lots of ideas have been generated, have students begin grouping them into similar categories, then label the categories and discuss why the ideas fit within them, how the categories relate to one another, and so on.

Variations: Some teachers have students do much of this exercise—recording their ideas and arranging them into categories— without talking at first. In other variations, participants are asked to re-combine the ideas into new, different categories after the first round of organization occurs. Often, this activity serves as a good pre-writing exercise, after which students will write some kind of analysis or position paper.

Concentric Circles >

a.k.a. Speed Dating

Basic Structure: Students form two circles, one inside circle and one outside circle. Each student on the inside is paired with a student on the outside; they face each other. The teacher poses a question to the whole group and pairs discuss their responses with each other. Then the teacher signals students to rotate: Students on the outside circle move one space to the right so they are standing in front of a new person (or sitting, as they are in the video). Now the teacher poses a new question, and the process is repeated.

Variations: Instead of two circles, students could also form two straight lines facing one another. Instead of “rotating” to switch partners, one line just slides over one spot, and the leftover person on the end comes around to the beginning of the line. Some teachers use this strategy to have students teach one piece of content to their fellow students, making it less of a discussion strategy and more of a peer teaching format. In fact, many of these protocols could be used for peer teaching as well.

Conver-Stations >

Basic Structure: Another great idea from Sarah Brown Wessling , this is a small-group discussion strategy that gives students exposure to more of their peers’ ideas and prevents the stagnation that can happen when a group doesn’t happen to have the right chemistry. Students are placed into a few groups of 4-6 students each and are given a discussion question to talk about. After sufficient time has passed for the discussion to develop, one or two students from each group rotate to a different group, while the other group members remain where they are. Once in their new group, they will discuss a different, but related question, and they may also share some of the key points from their last group’s conversation. For the next rotation, students who have not rotated before may be chosen to move, resulting in groups that are continually evolving.

Fishbowl >

Basic Structure: Two students sit facing each other in the center of the room; the remaining students sit in a circle around them. The two central students have a conversation based on a pre-determined topic and often using specific skills the class is practicing (such as asking follow-up questions, paraphrasing, or elaborating on another person’s point). Students on the outside observe, take notes, or perform some other discussion-related task assigned by the teacher.

Variations: One variation of this strategy allows students in the outer circle to trade places with those in the fishbowl, doing kind of a relay-style discussion, or they may periodically “coach” the fishbowl talkers from the sidelines. Teachers may also opt to have students in the outside circle grade the participants’ conversation with a rubric, then give feedback on what they saw in a debriefing afterward, as mentioned in the featured video.

Hot Seat >

Basic Structure: One student assumes the role of a book character, significant figure in history, or concept (such as a tornado, an animal, or the Titanic ). Sitting in front of the rest of the class, the student responds to classmates’ questions while staying in character in that role.

Variations: Give more students the opportunity to be in the hot seat while increasing everyone’s participation by having students do hot seat discussions in small groups, where one person per group acts as the “character” and three or four others ask them questions. In another variation, several students could form a panel of different characters, taking questions from the class all together and interacting with one another like guests on a TV talk show.

Snowball Discussion >

a.k.a. Pyramid Discussion

Basic Structure: Students begin in pairs, responding to a discussion question only with a single partner. After each person has had a chance to share their ideas, the pair joins another pair, creating a group of four. Pairs share their ideas with the pair they just joined. Next, groups of four join together to form groups of eight, and so on, until the whole class is joined up in one large discussion.

Variations: This structure could simply be used to share ideas on a topic, or students could be required to reach consensus every time they join up with a new group.

Ongoing Discussion Strategies

Whereas the other formats in this list have a distinct shape—specific activities you do with students—the strategies in this section are more like plug-ins, working discussion into other instructional activities and improving the quality and reach of existing conversations.

Asynchronous Voice >

One of the limitations of discussion is that rich, face-to-face conversations can only happen when all parties are available, so we’re limited to the time we have in class. With a tool like Voxer , those limitations disappear. Like a private voice mailbox that you set up with just one person or a group (but SOOOO much easier), Voxer allows users to have conversations at whatever time is most convenient for each participant. So a group of four students can “discuss” a topic from 3pm until bedtime—asynchronously—each member contributing whenever they have a moment, and if the teacher makes herself part of the group, she can listen in, offer feedback, or contribute her own discussion points. Voxer is also invaluable for collaborating on projects and for having one-on-one discussions with students, parents, and your own colleagues. Like many other educators, Peter DeWitt took a while to really understand the potential of Voxer, but in this EdWeek piece , he explains what turned him around.

Backchannel Discussions >

A backchannel is a conversation that happens right alongside another activity. The first time I saw a backchannel in action was at my first unconference : While those of us in the audience listened to presenters and watched a few short video clips, a separate screen was up beside the main screen, projecting something called TodaysMeet (update: TodaysMeet has shut down. Use YoTeach! instead.) It looked a lot like those chat rooms from back in the day, basically a blank screen where people would contribute a few lines of text, the lines stacking up one after the other, no other bells or whistles. Anyone in the room could participate in this conversation on their phone, laptop, or tablet, asking questions, offering commentary, and sharing links to related resources without ever interrupting the flow of the presentations. This kind of tool allows for a completely silent discussion, one that doesn’t have to move at a super-fast pace, and it gives students who may be reluctant to speak up or who process their thoughts more slowly a chance to fully contribute. For a deeper discussion of how this kind of tool can be used, read this thoughtful overview of using backchannel discussions in the classroom by Edutopia’s Beth Holland.

Talk Moves >

a.k.a. Accountable Talk

Talk moves are sentence frames we supply to our students that help them express ideas and interact with one another in respectful, academically appropriate ways. From kindergarten all the way through college, students can benefit from explicit instruction in the skills of summarizing another person’s argument before presenting an alternate view, asking clarifying questions, and expressing agreement or partial agreement with the stance of another participant. Talk moves can be incorporated into any of the other discussion formats listed here.

Teach-OK >

Whole Brain Teaching is a set of teaching and classroom management methods that has grown in popularity over the past 10 years. One of WBT’s foundational techniques is Teach-OK , a peer teaching strategy that begins with the teacher spending a few minutes introducing a concept to the class. Next, the teacher says Teach! , the class responds with Okay! , and pairs of students take turns re-teaching the concept to each other. It’s a bit like think-pair-share, but it’s faster-paced, it focuses more on re-teaching than general sharing, and students are encouraged to use gestures to animate their discussion. Although WBT is most popular in elementary schools, this featured video shows the creator of WBT, Chris Biffle, using it quite successfully with college students. I have also used Teach-OK with college students, and most of my students said they were happy for a change from the sit-and-listen they were used to in college classrooms.

Think-Pair-Share >

An oldie but a goodie, think-pair-share can be used any time you want to plug interactivity into a lesson: Simply have students think about their response to a question, form a pair with another person, discuss their response, then share it with the larger group. Because I feel this strategy has so many uses and can be way more powerful than we give it credit for, I devoted a whole post to think-pair-share ; everything you need to know about it is right there.

TWO MORE YOU’LL LOVE

Since writing this post, I have learned about two more discussion strategies that teachers are finding to be incredibly effective and powerful for getting students to talk, especially about books and other texts:

The TQE Method >

This protocol has students come up with their own Thoughts , lingering Questions , and Epiphanies from an assigned reading. Teachers who have used this method say it has generated some of the richest conversations they have ever heard from students!

Ongoing Conversations >

This strategy places students into one-on-one conversations, getting them to learn each others’ names better and create a track record of what they talked about. Excellent for classes where you want to assess for discussion and help students get more comfortable with each other.

So what else do you have? I would like to think this is a pretty complete list, but I’m sure more strategies are out there. If you use a discussion strategy that’s not mentioned here, please share it below.

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Categories: Instruction , Podcast

Tags: college teaching , English language arts , Grades 3-5 , Grades 6-8 , Grades 9-12 , greatest hits , history/social studies , science , teaching strategies

130 Comments

The division by prep time is helpful, thanks.

These are some great strategies. Not a lot applies to the virtual classroom in science. The online, live classroom is similar to a discussion board. Students talk to each other as well as to the teacher. They can ask questions in the moment and not wait to raise their hand. They can ask privately to each other or the teacher. This is similar to the Backchannel discussion. The class activity is happening alongside the chat discussion. The Teach-Okay is a great strategy and can apply to all kinds of classrooms. This is a great teach-reteach method that helps to identify in-the-moment misconceptions and provides students the opportunity to help each other in a very positive way.

I agree Dorothy about some of the types of activities described. The on line environment doesn’t allow for many of them. It’s amazing how many students will send a private message to the teacher to ask a basic question or make a comment, the just want to disappear. On the other hand, I think the snowball discussion, affinity mapping and gallery walk are great things we can (and do) use, I just didn’t have a name for them.

Hi, Jen. Thanks for these strategies. I also like the division based on prep-time.

Have you heard of the Harkness Discussion method? It has helped my ELLs develop critical thinking skills and strengthen their communication skills. Because language is a social experience, using the Harkness Discussion is one of the most effective methods to help ELLs develop their literacy skills.

I wrote about it here AND referenced this page in my article, Jen. THANK YOU! http://www.empoweringells.com/2016/10/01/a7-teaching-ells…tive-discussions/

The thread doesn’t work. I think this is the correct thread: https://www.empoweringells.com/a7-teaching-harkness/

Thank you for this! We can use it in the EFL and ESL classroom for Language learning to encourage classroom speaking.

Are these “discussion strategies” for University students, kindergarten students, or are these just fun parlor games? New pedagogy is not better pedagogy. Just try teaching with good questions and leave the unnecessary games for grade school students. God, do professors infantilize their students these days!

I could not agree with you more!

TJ, Many of these activities teach life skills that children don’t show strength in, unlike yourself. And i assume your students always respond fashionably to your greatly worded questions. Why debate when jeopardy….

If you actually read the article then you would certainly realise that the strategies are not just “fun parlor games”.

Exactly. How could we possibly think like college students when we’re just lowly, Pubblically empoloyed . . . emplyees

I use silent discussion. Groups of 3-4 write out their thoughts and responses on paper. They read ahead of time and answered questions. I prepared some question cards for the discussion just to get the started and keep them going. What I love is that everyone,even the shy kids get to share ideas and be “heard.” Also, they are forced to practice “listening” because they can’t respond to another if they haven’t “heard”/read what the person has to say.

I agree. Great arrangement by prep time and I like the gallery walk and snowball discussion activities.

Your podcast is no longer refreshing in my Podcasts app. I thought you had taken a break since April! I’ve unsubscribed, deleted all of them, and then resubscribed, and it still won’t show new ones. I really don’t like the new iphone Podcast format. It makes it much harder to find what I want.

Oh no!! That’s awful, Sharee. I wish I knew what was going on or how to help you. If you are on Twitter you may want to send the question out with the hashtag #podcastPD and see if anyone has ideas. You can also tag me (@cultofpedagogy) and I can retweet it for you to try and reach more people. I just found this: http://apple.stackexchange.com/questions/182046/podcast-app-not-downloading-episodes-to-iphone Maybe it will help?

Jennifer, your article is so inspiring. I must admit at times I am guilty of being that teacher whose planning shows “discussion after the video”! The thinking routine that we do well in my class are the Gallery walk and the Speed dating (we call it donut talk). But I am so motivated by your article to try different strategies to encourage deeper and meaningful discussions in my class now, that I can’t wait to see it in action! Thank you for sharing your ideas.

Donut Talk!! That is a fantastic name! So some time has passed since you posted this comment…did you end up trying one of these strategies? How did it go?

Since TodaysMeet shut down- has anyone heard of Mentimeter ?

Hi Alison! Although I’ve not personally used Mentimeter, it looks like a great tool and it’s one that Jenn included in her 2019 Teacher’s Guide to Tech . In the guide, she features YoTeach! as a similar alternative to TodaysMeet. You might want to check that out.

I’m one teacher who writes “students will discuss….” in my lesson plan and end up with fisheye teaching. Thank you for pointing out this blind spot, and I’m ready to do my lesson plans different by adding “students will discuss BY….”. I’m gonna try a variation of the philosophical chairs with the talk moves in my next series of lessons.

That sounds great, Tian. Just that little tweak will force you to make more specific plans. I would love to hear how it goes for you.

What a great list of classroom discussion strategies! I, too, am guilty of asking my students to ‘discuss … with a partner’ on occasion. I’m looking forward to trying out the fishbowl approach as well as the backchannel discussion next week. I’ve had some success using Wechat to report summaries of discussions back to the class using the voice recording function (similar to the asynchronous discussion above but in class time) and the students found the exercise enjoyable as they could give immediate face to face feedback to each others’ responses.

Thanks for sharing the information about WeChat–I hadn’t heard of it before. It looks a lot like Voxer! Here’s a link for anyone wanting to learn more: http://www.wechat.com/

One of my favorites for empowering students is the Harkness Method, named after a teacher at Exeter Academy where it has been used for years. There are plenty of resources for it on the web.

I have had “Harkness Table” on my list of things to research forever. I didn’t realize there was a specific method associated with it. Thanks for reminding me!

Harkness Discussion has been an anchor in my class and like Peter said has empowered students to be accountable for not what they talk about but how they speak with one another.

I would also look up Spider Web Discussion by Alexis Wiggins…Game changer!

Thanks for sharing Alexis Wiggin’s Spider Web discussion model. I plan to use it in my college classroom this fall!

Definitely. A number of teachers at our school use SPIDER Web discussion. Check it out at http://spiderwebdiscussion.com/

Thanks! I was here to steal some good ideas for my own classes, but it was really nice to stumble across this shout out!

Teaching in a Harkness school more than ten years ago led me to develop Spider Web Discussion, and I still am amazed by its power to transform kids into learning leaders.

I wanted to start SWD. The students in my school are so grade focused. I’m not sure that they’d buy into this method if there’s no “grade” or at least they wouldn’t be likely to give it their best. I realize how sad that statement is, but it’s the culture of the school. So depressing.

Here is a detailed essay on Harkness pedagogy, its historical roots, and philosophical underpinnings. A great piece by Guy Williams of Wellington College (UK). http://uobrep.openrepository.com/uobrep/bitstream/10547/335887/1/Harkness+Learning+-+Principles+of+a+Real+American+Pedagogy.pdf

A Structured Academic Controversy, or SAC, from David and Roger Johnson (cooperative learning, U of MN) positions students on both sides of an issue and encourages consensus building. There are several resources for SAC’s online. Thank you for the wonderful list of strategies!

Jess, thanks for sharing this! I found this article that provides an overview, and it looks like a fantastic format: http://teachinghistory.org/teaching-materials/teaching-guides/21731

Having a class discussion in Mathematics class can be challenging. Students who are not comfortable with Mathematics are not likely to speak up. If you force students to stand and deliver, it can lead to feelings of embarrassment, shame and unnecessary discomfort. So in my search to find new ways to have students discussing Mathematics in Mathematics class I happened upon this podcast.

I planned a lesson with a hybrid of the Gallery Walk and Concentric Circles. The class I choose was a small class of 12 students. I established six stations, each with a different Mathematics question and I held a number of questions in abeyance anticipating that students would complete questions at some of the stations. Each station started off with two students and they were assigned as “A” group or “B” group. After five minutes with a question all of the “A” group students rotated clockwise to the next question in that direction, leaving the B student at the station to explain, discuss and work on the question with their new partner. Any work that had been done remained at the station to allow students to observe the previous students’ work and as a basis for discussion. After another five minutes the “B” group rotated anti-clockwise. So now the student who had arrived at that station in the first rotation was left to explain to the new arrival. If a pair finished a question correctly, then a new question was placed at that station for the students to work on. As anticipated there were questions that were completed, so having extra questions prepared was critical to the continuity of the work. During the course of the class there was a lot of discussion and interaction taking place between the pairs. I circulated, observed and answered questions where suitable. I refrained from giving hints or direction, preferring to remind the students that they were responsible for discussing options and working out theories or ideas. At no time did any pair surrender. As part of the wrap up of the lesson I asked students how they felt about the activity. They unanimously stated that they really enjoyed it and asked for the opportunity to repeat the activity. In response to a request for specifics some of the positive feedback included seeing a wide variety of approaches to problem solving. One student remarked that she saw approaches to problems that were very different from her way of approaching them and she found that she learned a lot from being able to see the other students’ working. They commented that the opportunity to work with more than one student on the same problem was beneficial. Directly related to the idea of encouraging discussion in Mathematics class, students also mentioned that the need to explain to others was helpful to them. I asked students for ideas on how to improve the experience. They all indicated that they would have liked the class to last longer so that they could spend more time working in this way. Another student said that she would have liked an opportunity to work with students who were in her same group. In other words, none of the “B” group got to work with anyone else in the “B” group. When she mentioned this the other students agreed that it would be better to be able to work with “everyone at least once.”

I love this idea, and I’m so excited to hear about your students’ reactions! There’s so much value in students being able to watch one another problem-solve. I’ve seen this work with reading in Kylene Beers’ book When Kids Can’t Read: What Teachers Can Do , where the more skilled readers will do “think alouds” while other, less skilled readers observe. The lower-level readers are always surprised by how messy the process is–they believe a good reader just goes straight through, without stopping. I’m sure watching other students solve math problems would have the same enlightening impact. Thanks so much for sharing your experiences here!

Hi B Sarvay and Jennifer, I wanted to start off by thanking both of you for your opinions on some strategies and educational practices that you have actually implemented and seen to be successful. As an undergraduate in secondary math education, I hope to one day teach at the high school level after I finish with my student teaching in the spring of next year. As an aspiring teacher, I’m constantly looking for ways I can improve my teaching because I want to be the best teacher I can for my students (as cliché as that may sound). One thing that I specifically appreciated about your post here was that you actually tried these methods in a math classroom, so now I can see that my desire to do an activity like Jennifer’s idea of Conver-stations actually has a lot of potential for math content. As a student myself, I can try to plan as many lessons as I want, but not having had a true teaching experience yet, I am mainly confined to what I think could work well for my class. Thus I look forward to hopefully being given the chance to use something like this in my future lessons. One thing I did have a question about with regards to an activity like this would be when would be the best time during a unit to give something like this: somewhere in the middle, as a review for an exam, etc? Also, any suggestions you have for new teachers would be appreciated!

What if you have an odd number of students?? Say 13.

Thank you for sharing how you implemented this! I also teach math and appreciate the detail you put into explaining your implementation. I’ll probably try something like this with my college students!

I’m new to listening to podcasts and I felt I have struck gold. I have just listened to two of yours after getting on to the 40 hour group. After holidays it is great to have the fresh mind to be motivated to beginning again. Thanks.

Thank you so much, Louise! I’m thrilled to hear that you are enjoying the podcast. I hope you go back into the earlier episodes and keep listening! Enjoy the club!!

I just used two different discussion techniques for A Midsummer Night’s Dream that I came across through Engage New York resources. One activity was a written conversation and the other was a “world cafe” discussion. I loved it. It was a little tough to make sure the students transitioned smoothly from one station to the next, but they did have engaging conversations and a variety of kids were able to take leadership roles.

Hi Jennifer, I enjoyed this post and will “steal” some ideas. However, several of the strategies you describe come from Critical Friends and other sources. As someone who also does research and development, I would encourage you to acknowledge the hard work of others by citing your sources. Thank you!

Hello Elisabeth. Thanks so much for the tip. I certainly do not mean to avoid giving due credit. I was not aware of the origins of many of these. Would you mind telling me which ones you had in mind? I’m happy to look into their sources if I know which ones you’re thinking of. Thank you!

In the Uk people say ‘pedagogy’ because they are too nervous to find out how to pronounce it and it’s absurdly tolerated out of politeness. No-one says ‘anthropology’ like that, or ‘pharmacology’ or any other word whatsover that ends with ‘ogy’. It’s not accepted, it’s tolerated rather ambivalently. Then sometimes, rarely, people who insist on the hard ‘g’ actually get insistent in the same way that people who drink a lot insist you have a drink. At this point the person being corrected smiles politely and thanks them, and everyone else edges away nervously. Don’t do it folks. You might as well hang a sign around your neck saying ‘I don’t have a clue, and I don’t even realise it’. It’s ‘pedagojy’.

This cracked me up, Jason. Thanks for contributing!

I teach 6th grade health. How or which one of these could I use for my students since most health issues are pretty black and white for discussion?

Hey Denise,

I would think one way to apply these in health would be to have students talk about how to apply certain health concepts to their own lives, think of real-world examples of the things you’re teaching, or evaluate how well they are already doing with certain health practices. You could also stop periodically during instruction and have students paraphrase something they just learned in a think-pair-share. Does that help?

Keep in mind that the Teach-Okay method can really apply to any classroom and any activity. If planned right, it can be fast and break up the monotony of the classroom. It will help those kids understand the black/white concepts and help break up misconceptions. You might be surprised what they still think, even after being told. Teaching HS science and biology never ceases and to amaze me.

Another very effective strategy is the World Cafe format. There is a book you can purchase, but there are also many resources on the web. It works well to keep students on task while at the same time allows for the generation of new ideas by reconfiguring the group composition. The trick is for the teacher to come up with an excellent question–one that has no clear answer and that can keep the conversation going for a considerable length of time. I use this technique frequently in my undergraduate nursing and public health classes.

Jean, that sounds great! I found a highly rated book on Amazon about this topic: The World Cafe: Shaping Our Futures Through Conversations that Matter . Thank you so much for the recommendation!

Nice list, Jennifer. Thanks for sharing. I just added you on Twitter. Rob Chennai, India @DigitalNomadRob

There are a lot of ideas to try to get kids engaged. Some of these activities I could have tried in the traditional class setting, but the groups would have had to be much larger as there were often nearly 30 kids per class. I now teach in the on line environment. I like the ideas of snow ball discussions, students can be in groups, add their ideas and move to the next area. All ideas can then be shared. Affinity mapping and a gallery walk would work as well. Students don’t have to feel the “burden” of speaking or contributing a whole lot. Once they share one idea, their apprehension may lesson and they’ll be more apt to share the next time. Students can see many different topics with which to share and not “hide” in the back row while the teacher dominates the discussions.

Hi Jennifer! This article was my first online podcast I’ve ever listened to, at least related to education. I am a middle school special education teacher and I co-teach in Math, Language Arts and Social Studies. In my US History class, my co-teacher and I are always looking for ways to have good discussions amongst the students, so that they learn and understand the information more in-depth, think critically of decisions which were made hundreds of years ago, etc. We often go the approach of what would be closest to the Socratic Circle, where the students all sit in a circle. However, we haven’t gotten to the point of letting them speak “out of turn”- they pass around a ball/fidget which then the person who catches it, is the only person who gets to speak. It is a little elementary, but we notice our students struggle with handling even just that activity. I really would like to try the speed dating discussion technique sometime- this would be like you said, way more of an intimate conversation and I’m betting more students will open up more on a 1 on 1 basis, rather than whole group. I also like the affinity mapping idea, especially since it is an independent, quiet thinking like activity at first, and then becomes a group discussion and involves teamwork to categorize the sticky notes/answers. Lastly, as a special education teacher, I found that the Talk Moves discussion technique would be extremely beneficial for my special needs students. They really need the structure, especially with knowing how to properly verbalize their sentences aloud, and communicate their thoughts on how to agree, disagree, or challenge others. Thank you for providing such helpful strategies!! I will definitely share these with my co-teachers and am sure we will incorporate some of these into our classes in the near future!

Kenzie, thank you for sharing this! I love hearing how teachers will implement these ideas with their students.

Hi Kenzie and Jennifer, I first wanted to say how much I appreciated both of you contributing certain teaching strategies that have worked for you in the past as alternatives to typical lecture style instruction. I am currently about to finish my undergrad in Secondary Math Education to one day hopefully teach math at the high school level. Given that I am about to begin my student teaching experience in a high school, I am obviously looking extensively for various things I can do within my classroom to both convey the material but also to avoid just giving my “students” (because they are not actually my students yet) the content. While the Socratic Circle may be a bit elementary for my high schoolers, one opportunity that I think could really work are the one on one conversations for them. This could be slightly challenging on a math classroom, but my idea is to maybe implement this as a review session before an exam where students are assigned a problem are they are tasked to explain how they would solve that problem to the student at their particular spot and then you could rotate students around the room so that each student is responsible for teaching each other and then making it more concrete. Given than many of you are very experienced teachers, any advice or suggestions would be very helpful!

I have a question about the Teach-Okay strategy. What happens in between the teacher teaching and the student teaching? How does the teacher know that the students are ready to teach their peers? Does the teacher do more than the basic checking for understanding?

Thank you for this repertoire of discussion strategies! I think its a great summary of tools and it has definitely inspired me to try out new methods in class.

Wanted to ask for your advice on a 40-student classroom. We face the challenge of engaging every student given the constraints of the class size and time. What would, in your opinion, be the best strategy for engaging a class of that size in meaningful discussion?

Thank you v much!

Hi Ian! Quite a few of these would work beautifully with a large class, because they offer many students the opportunity to talk at the same time, rather than waiting for one student to talk at a time. I would say Gallery Walk, Conver-Stations, Concentric Circles, and good old Think-Pair-Share will give lots of students a chance to have meaningful discussions.

Hi Jennifer, I am going to be going into my Student Teaching soon and then hopefully into a career teaching Math at the high school level and I really enjoyed reading all of the possibilities there are for alternative classroom management other than having the teacher be the focal point of the room. One of the strategies that I thought could be really interesting was to have Conver-Stations in a Math class where students could be in groups of 4-6 and, perhaps as a chapter review, each student could be assigned a different but related problem form that chapter. Then, after every rotation in Conver-Stations, each student has to teach their group the problem they have been assigned in order to better solidify their understanding of the problem. This sounds good as an aspiring teacher, but opinions from experienced teachers as to whether you think this may work would be very appreciated!

I’m midway through a graduate thesis on developing a rubric to comprehensively address all the elements of a conversation, and these formats are going to be really, really useful. Do you know of articles that describe research on any of them, particularly the low-prep ones?

Gene, off the top of my head, I can’t refer you to any research on any of these, but I’m sure it exists. If I happen to come across anything, I’ll link to it here.

Or any published sources that inspired this?

I just stumbled across your site and have been bingeing on the podcasts. They’re wonderful! One thing you might want to include in an update on conversation in your “high prep” category are two types of debates: one is a formal debate like you’d have on a debate team, and the other is a debate modeled after presidential debates in which a moderator (me at the beginning of the year, confident students who need a challenge later in the year) asks questions. Because students will be standing up in front of the class (and usually before a few administrators invited in to judge the debate), they talk a LOT, and very on task, in preparation before the debate, and then, of course, the debate itself involves some back and forth as well. It’s less collaborative and more stressful for the students than Socratic, but those competitive kids just SHINE and love them. (A fun modification is to allow strong students to come back the next year and judge the debate they did the year before. They usually have to miss a class, so have to make up that work, but it’s one of those times when talented students are asking for more work, rather than having it crammed down their throats in the guise of differentiation.) Another word about differentiation and debates: it’s worked well for me to put the groups together with two strong groups debating each other on a question and two weaker groups debating each other on another question, and the groups are made up of mostly homogeneous students. This works well because everyone thinks it’s fair (they know who’s “smart” by 8th and 11th grades, the two grades I’ve taught) and no one sandbags. In fact, I often group like this and the weaker students complain about not being able to sponge off the stronger kids (sometimes right in front of the class, which makes for some awkward hilarity). It’s amazing what weaker students can bring to the table when they can’t rely on stronger kids, but that’s a topic for another day. Thanks again for your work. It’s great!

I’m very much grateful for the great discussion strategies. I was only aware of few strategies like think-pair-share. My scope has widened and deepened. Thanks a lot

I structure my classes as Socratic Seminars with a variation: all of the students type up a three page response to the day’s reading. The only requirement: that it quote and discuss a passage from the day’s reading assignment. The papers are informal and so should not require too much time. Sometimes, I begin discussion by asking three people to read their papers aloud. One suggestion: discussion feels less ephemeral if some kind of record of it is kept on the board or screen. At any point, the class can use this record to summarize the discussion or look for common areas of interest or instead points of disagreement,

Interesting facts apropos this product

I was surprised to not see one strategy I love on here: Quiz-Quiz-Trade (a Kagan structure). The way it works is that each student has a card with a math problem or discussion question or a prompt to retract a concept on it. Then, student A would go up to student B and ask them on whatever is on their card. Student B would then ask Student A their question. Sometimes I’ll have the answer on the back so that they can check it (if it’s something that has a “correct” answer. Then, student A and B trade cards. Student A can go to student C and repeat the process. I usually have students aim to see 5 different people which keeps the conversation moving without repeating cards. It can be higher prep activity where I create the questions or discussion starters, but I also like having the kids create their own. Often in math, their homework assignment might be to write 2 problems or 2 questions on an index card. Then, we use them in class for quiz quiz trade. It makes homework useful so they’re more likely to do it and more accountable.

This is fantastic. Thanks so much for sharing, Amy!

Great list. My own most common structure is to do a roundtable, then pose ‘what did you hear at your table that the whole class should hear?’ It seems to take off the pressure, and people share other student’s comments which is great validation. Also, where possible, I have student volunteers (who have not led a discussion) lead the post-small group part. Students are more interested in helping their classmates instead of waiting for me to say what is right.

I also love Talking Points from the restorative practices movement. See Elizabeth’s post for more info: http://cheesemonkeysf.blogspot.com/2014/07/tmc14-gwwg-talking-points-activity.html

Hi Jennifer- a lot of these sound really great. I can definitely see myself implementing them in my class.

I came across this site as I was searching for resources in the class that had a specific focus on race- I’m looking for activities that can help students discuss race, while reading Ta-Nehisi Coates’ book “Between the World and Me”. A few of these can work, but do you know of any other activities or other sources that can help with this? It would be a huge help if possible.

Thank you so much for listening! 🙂

Hi, Rolando! Jenn has a few other posts that could be just what you’re looking for: A Collection of Resources for Teaching Social Justice (a personal favorite) 3 Tips to Make Any Lesson More Culturally Responsive Race in the Classroom: There’s a Manual for That I hope these help!

Debbie from your team recommended that I take a look at this article – great stuff!

I especially find it useful that you’ve broken these down into higher-prep and lower-prep strategies, as we all know it’s easy to be short on time every now and then.

I myself follow the Socratic Seminar Method with a slight twist. I ask participants to write their own question on a piece of paper and then we read them off and majority vote decides which one we will use for the 45-60 minute discussion. This leads to a student-centered focus, but I’ve found even with this method in place people often struggle with getting all participants to engage.

That’s why I’ve written a full guide to what I call The Epiphany Question Method: https://www.aristotlescafe.com/blog/epiphany-question-method/

A 5 step process to super engage participants of all ages that beginner or experienced teachers can use. I’ve utilized it for over 11 years and across 3 continents with wonderful success – if I can do it I know others can as well.

Thanks again for always providing great resources Jen!

This is a great list- lots of techniques I’ve seen used and shared in different places plus some great new ones. I’d add Walk and Talk (give a couple of prompts and send folks out to stroll in pairs either on the track, the playground, or just the sidewalk, depending on ages then debrief the key points from their discussion when the return), and the WASH method by Mike. St. John ( https://eric.ed.gov/?id=ED438139 ). I also love the way that multiple methods can be combined to move through different modalities in a discussion. Thanks for this!

I like to use a strategy called ‘silent conversation.’ I write a question or quote on a piece of chart paper and put one at each table. Students at each table select different colored markers and, silently, respond to the prompt, writing their thoughts on the chart paper and responding to each others’ notes as well. I use a different color marker and circulate, asking clarification questions or drawing a smiley face or circling words I think need more focus. In this way, every student’s voice is ‘heard,’ no one dominates the discussion, I can see who needs support and who really gets it, and every student is engaged. There’s no wait time – all students are responding simultaneously. Afterwards, I might ask groups to look for areas of agreement/disagreement, unexpected findings, etc., giving them a chance to talk out loud. Other times groups will share their prompt and some responses (all groups will have a different prompt). This has proven to be a very effective approach. I’ve had colleagues try it across the disciplines, with great success.

http://blog0rama.edublogs.org/2017/07/09/summer-series-of-saves-can-we-talk-about-this/

This list is great, and the comments add even more! I think the only one I added that may not have been there is the Town Hall format.

I did a book study with some colleagues using Jeff Zweirs and Marie Crawford’s Academic Conversations. Completely changed how I use conversations in class. My juniors held focused, academic conversations lasting 15-25 minutes with nobody of task, and no input from me. They were respectful of other’s ideas and used strong text evidence to support their ideas. It was magic! I had about 8 students in a group and had 3 groups with 3 different questions over the reading. The inside group discussed “Live” as I monitored for a grade, the 2 groups on the outside held a conversation online about the same question. When time was up, a different group came inside to the live discussion and the 1st group then went outside and logged into the discussion online.

Hi Can you please share strategies for young children who can’t write their thoughts . Mostly in these startegies where children share their thoughts with each other they record their thoughts by writing…. I wonder how 4-5 years olds thoughts can be recorded during these conversations

Hi, Vibha! I’m a Customer Experience Manager with Cult of Pedagogy. Younger kids can talk out an idea and then express it through a drawing. You’ll want to model this — while modeling, be sure to do a think aloud, talking about how your idea matches your drawing; talk about how you can even add a label with 1st letter or a word(s), as well as use arrows and speech bubbles — these options are a way to differentiate. Another idea is to have kids use building blocks or legos to represent an idea and then talk it out to another group. Hope this helps!

Love this list! I just came across GOGOMO by Read It. Write It. Learn it at http://blog.teacherspayteachers.com/survive-squirrel-outside-window-middle-school-teacher-tricks-end-school-year/?utm_source=bronto&utm_medium=email&utm_term=Here%27s+how+to+do+that&utm_content=http://blog.teacherspayteachers.com/survive-squirrel-outside-window-middle-school-teacher-tricks-end-school-year/&utm_campaign=Weekly+Newsletter+%23432+Grade+6-12+05/29/17&_bta_tid=18418169141401968820271650984996552369211578910726121637403247815866967331290004755984489152117079830529288&_bta_c=0dcmt5x3kjzxyy1j2jt9j8hryy3ez

This is a great resource that could spark questions and therefore discussions without fear and risks. It’s worth a review. http://rightquestion.org/education/

Jennifer You are creating a new zone of teacher education. Are you familiar with ThinkTrix? The strategy gives students back their minds. I have a book with Kagan for teachers on ThinkTrix. Lynda Tredway is familiar with the strategy. Hope to connect with you. your Think Pair Share treatment with the responses was great.

Frank Lyman

Frank, I had not heard of ThinkTrix until right now. I just looked it up and have found the book. I will definitely put it on my list of things to learn more about. Thanks so much for mentioning it here!

Thanks so much for these great ideas! I have used many of them for years, but these will add to my repertoire. I used Fish Bowl for the first time recently and the students loved it. They immediately asked when we could do it again. Can’t wait to let my 7th graders experiment with these new techniques!

Great list! I was looking to add some new formats and this post definitely fit the bill. I retweeted to my followers also!

Thanks for your list – I got a lot of good ideas from Brookfield and Preskill’s “Discussion Book” https://www.amazon.com/Discussion-Book-Great-People-Talking/dp/1119049717/ . Just wish more of these could be used online…

Thanks! It’s very beneficial to get fresh ideas on a variety of ways to open up discussion in the classroom. Jr. High students get bored with too much repetition.

Hello Jennifer Gonzalez Thanks for the wonderful list of strategies! As a teacher in Eklavya School Jalandhar, I had faced many problems in the classroom discussion. Your article helped me to improve our discussion and I will share this with a colleague.

This was a great refresher on discussion strategies – lots of entry points for supporting rich conversations amoung students. Also appreciated all the suggestions and links to resources in the comment section. I’ll be sharing your site with my staff and modeling some of these strategies at our next staff meeting. Thank you.

I absolutely LOVE this helpful list of ways students can participate in discussions. I often go to China to practice with students and teachers methods that will allow students to talk and share rather than a teacher oriented class. Every one of these discussion strategies is exemplary! And each strategy was explained brilliantly, in a way everyone can understand and use one or more. The fact that teachers can watch each strategy being used is so incredible, because so many of us are visual and can retain the how-to’s better with seeing students in action. Thank you! Thank you!

Whether in groups or Think/ Pair/ Share, a lot of my students will use discussion as a time to socialize, and then their contributions to the class will be really superficial. I stick to study questions and random calling to try to avoid shallowness but spread out participation beyond the usual suspects. Maybe the school I teach at has something to do with that. I generally have better luck with written responses, so maybe Padlet or Voxer are worth a look.

Yesterday, for the first time, I combined your speed dating/concentric circles discussion strategy with what I call Round the Room Review(big pieces of paper where groups rotate to write facts about what they’ve just read), and it was AWESOME! I was able to see where there were misconceptions and misunderstandings, and some of the discussions within the circles were great! Thank you so much. I was amazed that they were actually talking to each other (about the lesson), and to me! Thank you so much for a great idea!

Thanks so much for sharing this, Dana!

These are terrific and I also really enjoy the comments thread. Agree with Harkness and Spider Web Discussions. I use them both in my undergraduate classes with great success (as well as DBQs). For those who might want to track student participation, check out Equity Maps (an app teachers or students can use on their iPads). I’m also a huge fan of Liberating Structures, a set of 33 ‘structures’ or discussion processes that “engage and unleash” everyone. A few of the Liberating Structures are very similar to ones listed in this post, however there are some really cool ones that I haven’t seen anywhere before, like TRIZ and Troika Consulting (similar to consultancy protocols for students). Here’s a link for those interested: http://www.liberatingstructures.com . A couple people here mentioned online courses. I’m a huge fan of Zoom’s breakout group features to accomplish many of these discussion activities virtually. Thanks again for the terrific post! Discussions are the foundation of engaged, dynamic, inquiry-based classrooms.

Inevitably, the volume of Turn and Talk would increase to a point beyond tolerable by administrators and next door neighbors. Reflecting on the fact that many students need lesson in listening, I adapted T&T to Lean and Listen. All steps are written for the listener, not the talker. So, I say, “Lean in close to your neighbor and listen to his ideas on . . .” The community that is built by placing the focus on listening and not talking has been magnificent. It worked well with my classroom theme of serving others.

The website https://todaysmeet.com/ seems to have shut down FYI 🙂

Thanks, Herb! We were disappointed to hear this — will have to update this in the post. Appreciate the heads up!

I am so motivated by your article to try different strategies to encourage deeper and meaningful discussions in my class now, that I can’t wait to see it in action! Thank you for sharing your ideas. Of course, the subject of your investigation needs to know how to write an entrance essay for college, and at https://college-homework-help.org/blog/bibliography it is be clearly indicated.

Very interesting and useful information provided in this post. I am presently involved in curriculum writing and the strategies shared are excellent to include for teachers and students. This will develoment a lot of social skills and critical thinking in learners. Thanks for some great ideas!!

Here’s a discussion strategy that I use often and have found really helpful in my work with children. Some people call it “Exploding Atom” to help kids visualize that they are part of the whole within the activity. Here’s a video on how to do it: https://dbp.theatredance.utexas.edu/content/exploding-atom Thanks for your wonderful resources, keep doing what you do!

Thanks for sharing, Amy! This is awesome!

Jen, I’m so grateful to have stumbled upon your article, and am so excited to start listening to your podcast. I love all of the discussion strategies you describe and how they incorporate movement around the classroom to allow students to get up from their seat, listen to each other and contribute to the conversation in a more meaningful way. I’m curious about how these strategies would translate to a different audience. I’m an instructional designer working in corporate training, and the majority of my participants are adult learners (a lot of them are 20-30 years old, close to college years). I think a lot of these ideas would translate well, but am wondering if you had any suggestions on ways to adapt these activities, or things I should watch out for in general? Can’t wait to read your thoughts on this!

Emmanuelle, I absolutely think these strategies can be applied to an adult audience. I’ve used many of them with adult English language learners and also with fellow teachers during professional development sessions. As with any teaching environment, you want to make sure you understand the needs of your audience. You’ll want to make sure the discussion strategy you choose makes sense for the content you’re covering in the training. For example, if you have departments engaging in some sort of project, a gallery walk might be a good choice for having them present their projects to smaller groups so that the various departments can learn from one another. I also think it’s important to provide justification for why you are doing something in class for adult students. This is also true when working with kids, but I think it becomes increasingly important when working with adults.

Thank you so much for the great insight, Eric. The information you provided is very helpful.

Thanks a lot for sharing these strategies! I would like to try the concentric circles a.k.a. Speed Dating technique in one of my classes. I am thinking of using pictures – I mean they should describe pics to each other – do you think this could work out well? Thanks! Antonella

Hi there, enjoying this post. Something I’ve done with adults and teens is “greeting card” combined with “gallery”. I give them half of a flipchart, have them folded once, then again. On the front of the card they are to draw a picture of themselves as they want to be seen, on the front inside, things they are passionate about, on the back inside–things they want to learn or know about, and on the back they should write “things that others would not guess” about them. You can make up any categories you want; they don’t have to be an introduction icebreaker as I used it. Sherry

Very exciting stuff. I do some of these now. I am anxious to try some of the others. I love how engaging and interesting the techniques are to keep students interested. Love, love, love it. Thank You.

I’m in the middle of the ISTE summer academy and lo and behold Cult of Pedagogy turns up! Love it!

Here’s my predicament: I’m pondering now how to best make my favorite discussion strategies, like Ongoing Conversations or other favorite strategies listed here, work in a digital environment. Ideas so far include:

Synchronous: Breakout rooms Asynchronous: Padlet, Google Question, shared Google docs/slides/forms

The thing is, my district doesn’t have an LMS beyond Google Classroom with a discussion board, so I’m looking for workarounds. Wish me luck or give me ideas! Either would be appreciated! 🙂

Hi Jordana! I would add Flipgrid , Yo Teach! , Parlay , and possibly Kialo to the list. We wish you luck as well!

The portion that resonated the most for me was telling the kids what would be discussed in advance. That helps the teacher focus on what will be discussed in the face-to-face and gives the students a way to come to class better prepared. Thank you.

Hi Jennifer, I just want to let you know that I am a big fan of yours. Your thorough, critical topics, and easy to read articles are very valuable. Thank You!

Maha, Thank you so much for sharing this feedback! We are so glad that you are finding value in Cult of Pedagogy. I’ll be sure to pass this on to Jenn.

Thank you so much Jennifer for these strategies. Looking forward to trying them in the classroom.

Great strategies to use in the classroom. I have used a few like conversations, pairing and sharing, but look forward to using the others!

These are some great strategies.

Wonderful strategies. I particular like pairing and sharing.

Interesting options for engaging my students. I can see myself using the Chat stations as well as the Socratic Seminar.

This was a great refresher on discussion strategies so many great ideas.

The three class discussion strategies which stood out to me was Pinwheel discussion, Fishbowl Discussion, and Hot seat These methods will be used in my class next year. I can see how my students will be able to actively learn and get involved. Engagement is number for my students’ success and educational growth.

We’re glad you found them helpful Everlene!

Thank you for this compilation! I am struggling this year because our COVID protocols require assigned seats and no movement of classroom furniture (this is on a college campus, for contact-tracing purposes), which forecloses a lot of the discussion techniques I usually rely on (jigsaws, fishbowl, flexible groups). I’d appreciate if anyone could offer thoughts or resources for reducing the fisheye effect under these circumstances.

Hello! I love all of these protocols and think they are so important. Do you have any advice or ideas specific to the science classroom? I teach 3rd – 6th graders and would love more ideas for scaffolding discussion.

Eloise, these protocols can be used in the science classroom for so many activities, whether hands-on investigations, lab work, research, or experiments. The Gallery walk, for example, is a great opportunity for students to investigate what their classmates have been up to, and there are some variations suggested in the post that you can try out. Another one is the Socratic Seminar, in which students can dive deep into a topic related to your unit of study. Once you get comfortable with these strategies, I think you’ll find that you can switch up the content and use them for a variety of purposes. Best of luck!

Good video. I learned a lot strategies from this video. Thank you.

Students really enjoyed the gallery walk. Thank you.

Jenn will be glad to hear that! Thanks for sharing!

Hello there!

Great article! Is there any way to update the links? Many of them are retired or don’t exist. Thanks!

Lee, thanks for bringing this to our attention! Our team is working on updating the links in this post.

Discussions

Type of English

Lesson time

I want to learn

LESSON PLAN FOR ENGLISH TEACHERS

Level: Intermediate

Type of English: Business English

Tags: meetings developing an argument giving opinions agreeing and disagreeing Situation based

This lesson teaches useful expressions for students who need English for business meetings and discussions. Through reading, language practice and role play, students learn how to structure an argument with linking words and phrases as well as respond to opinions using a variety of techniques for agreeing and disagreeing.

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Lesson Plan Critique and Discussion, Essay Example

Pages: 3

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You are free to use it as an inspiration or a source for your own work.

When making lesson plans or otherwise preparing to implement classroom strategies and activities, teachers are faced with a number of concerns. In the article entitled “Multiple Intelligences Meet Bloom’s Taxonomy,” authors Kimberly C. Gray and Jan E. Waggoner propose a lesson-planning matrix that comprises the core elements of those two theories of intelligence. This essay will explore the main ideas discussed by the authors and will examine on a proposed lesson plan through the lens of their lesson-plan matrix.

As Gray and Waggoner (2002) note, “teachers at all levels of experience frequently struggle with the basic paradox of education: which concepts do I emphasize, how much do I cover, and how do I assess students’ new knowledge, skills, and attitudes?” In a traditional educational setting, all students in a particular classroom are given the same set of information to learn, and are tested on their acquisition of knowledge in more or less the same manner. In recent decades this approach has been entirely upended, and supplanted with a differentiated approach to education that attempts to provide instruction that is more individualized and shaped to fit the knowledge, experience, and skills of each student.

As the authors describe it, “in a differentiated classroom, the teacher begins instruction where the students are, not at the front of the textbook or curriculum guide.” In a non-differentiated approach, some students would have inherent advantages simply because they would already be familiar with the ideas or information being presented by the teacher. Those students would likely do well on tests and homework related to such information; by contrast, students who had to learn the idea or information from scratch may not score as highly. Despite these disparities, it may be that the students who did not score as highly were the ones who actually learned more during the course of the instruction.

Gray and Waggoner assert that utilizing two well-known theories of intelligence can help teachers develop and implement lesson plans that are suited to this new differentiated approach. The Multiple Intelligences (MI) theory espoused by Howard Gardner proposes that “students could learn and display knowledge in multiple ways, according to their developed strengths” (Gray & Waggoner, 2002). Bloom’s Taxonomy proposes a hierarchy in which basic knowledge is at the bottom and higher-order thinking is at the top. Gray and Waggoner propose that “MI theory (can) activate learning from an array of students,” theorizing that a matrix utilizing these two concepts of intelligence could bring the strengths of each to bear in developing lesson plans.

The lesson plan attached in the Appendix section is built around real-world activities. It involves the application of mathematical skills in the context of a restaurant menu. Students are instructed to use the menu from a well-known restaurant to practice dividing money amounts. This lesson plan is designed to meet two standards, 4.NBT.B.6 and 4.OA.A.3. The first standard focuses on place value understanding and properties of operations to perform multi-digit arithmetic. The second standard focuses on using the four operations with whole numbers to solve problems. In each case, the use of a menu’s price listings to perform mathematical functions allows students to contextualize the skills addressed in the standards by having them perform operations that are a common component of daily life.

This approach to developing a lesson plan fits well with the suggested matrix framework proposed by Gray and Waggoner. It allows teachers to easily assess the skills that each student has already developed before engaging in this exercise, and offers students an opportunity to activate higher-order thinking, turning basic knowledge into something tangible and useful. As Gray and Waggoner explain, “”students must be taught to think in ways that are meaningful and useful to them.” By developing and implementing lesson plans that utilize general knowledge by deploying it in a real-world framework, teachers can help to support the type of “meaningful and useful” learning the authors advocate.

Original Lesson Plan

Standard: 4.NBT.B.6 (add 4.OA.A.3)

Objective: For students to be able to divide money amounts and to use problem solving skills.

Teacher: Review steps for division

Review steps in problem solving

Student Application: Use Applebees menus to practice dividing with money amounts.

Modifications: In class support teacher

Peer assistance

Assessment: Observe and review student.

Gray, K. C. & Waggoner, J. E. (2002). Multiple intelligences meet bloom’s taxonomy. Kappa Delta Pi Record , 38 (4), pp. 184–187.

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IELTS Writing Task 2 -Discussion Essay

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IELTS Discussion Essays [Discuss Both Views/Sides]
In this lesson, I'm going to explain what an IELTS discussion essay is and how you can write a good one. I will talk about structure and content, as well as looking briefly at discussion essay thesis statements, which many people find tricky. I've also written a sample essay, which you can find at the bottom of this page.
IELTS Discussion Essays
Once you understand the process, practice on past questions. Take your time at first and gradually speed up until you can plan and write an essay of at least 250 words in the 40 minutes allowed in the exam. The Question. The first part of the question for an IELTS discussion essay will be a statement containing two opposing views.
PDF Introduction to discussion essays
Procedure. Give each student a copy of the four-page worksheet. First, students read a brief description of discussion essays and preview an outline of an example discussion essay structure. Next, students read a discussion essay and underline and label the parts of the essay that show the essay structure. Exercise A - Answer key. a.
Writing a Great Discussion Essay: Steps & Examples
A discussion essay, also called a controversial essay, is where you express your opinion about a topic. When writing one, Cover both sides of the topic , present the key points that back your viewpoint and the opposing one. Ensure a multi-faceted understanding of the issues before presenting your own personal views and conclusions.
2023 IELTS Discuss Both Views and Give Your Opinion Lesson
Introduction: paraphrase the question, state both points of view, make a thesis statement and outline your sentence. Main body paragraph 1: state the first viewpoint, discuss it, state whether you agree or disagree and give an example to support your view. Main body paragraph 2: state the second viewpoint, discuss it, state whether you agree or ...
IELTS Discussion Essay Video Lesson: Useful Language
IELTS Discussion Essay Video Lesson: Useful Language. Learn expressions to use in your discussion essay for IELTS writing task 2 with this video lesson. It is important to use a variety of language to express both sides in your essay. Being able to have flexible language for giving other people's opinions is a good way to increase your ...
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EAP Discussion Essays Worksheet - Writing Exercises : Unscrambling, Writing Sentences, Writing an Outline and Essay - Speaking Activity: Freer Practice - Pair Work - Upper-intermediate (B2) - 90 minutes. In this productive discussion essays worksheet, students practice phrases used to refer to widely held beliefs and phrases that introduce ...
IELTS Discussion essay model answer and analysis
Planning time is crucial here, allow 10 minutes to plan an essay and make sure you have some good supporting points to back up your topic sentences. With a discussion essay, you have to state others views and give supporting sentences with detail and specific examples. Discussion essays often ask your opinion.
PDF Writing Task 2 Developing arguments
Procedure: introduce focus of the lesson: Writing Task 2 - developing an argument. give each student a copy of Worksheet 1 and one minute to read the Task 2 question. elicit possible next steps before writing i.e. brainstorming ideas. draw attention to the True / False task and clarify the importance of spending time with the question before ...
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The basic design of this lesson supports ELLs by referring to the Factors for Success anchor chart from Unit 1 to plan their essays, inviting students to draw on conclusions from the text-based discussion to form their focus statements, allowing time for discussion throughout the lesson, and explicitly reviewing the characteristics of opinion ...
Under discussion: ESL/EFL Lesson Plan and Worksheet
This lesson prepares students to tackle the B2 First speaking paper, part 4 - discussion questions. Students complete a part 3 collaborative task to introduce the topic of the lesson and then review and extend functional language for giving full answers to questions. There is also an opportunity to define useful language in context.
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a.k.a. Pyramid Discussion. Basic Structure: Students begin in pairs, responding to a discussion question only with a single partner. After each person has had a chance to share their ideas, the pair joins another pair, creating a group of four. Pairs share their ideas with the pair they just joined.
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Discussions: ESL/EFL Lesson Plan and Worksheet
Share. This lesson teaches useful expressions for students who need English for business meetings and discussions. Through reading, language practice and role play, students learn how to structure an argument with linking words and phrases as well as respond to opinions using a variety of techniques for agreeing and disagreeing.
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Lesson Plan Critique and Discussion, Essay Example
This lesson plan is designed to meet two standards, 4.NBT.B.6 and 4.OA.A.3. The first standard focuses on place value understanding and properties of operations to perform multi-digit arithmetic. The second standard focuses on using the four operations with whole numbers to solve problems. In each case, the use of a menu's price listings to ...
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IELTS Discussion Essays [Discuss Both Views/Sides]

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How To Plan & Write IELTS Discussion Essays

The Question

3 Common Mistakes

Essay Structure

How To Plan IELTS Discussion Essays

# 2 Decide on your opinion

# 3 Generate ideas

# 4 Vocabulary

How To Write an Introduction

1) Paraphrase the question

2) Thesis and outline statements

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