For school children, their teachers have more influence on their intelligence and social development than their parents. To what extent do you agree or disagree?

ielts writing task 2 with sample

IELTS Writing Task 2:

For school children, their teachers have more influence on their intelligence and social development than their parents. To what extent do you agree or disagree?

Essay Plan:

 Introduction: (1) refer to the task question (2) my opinion – teachers have more influence on intelligence, parents have more influence on social development

 Paragraph 2: (1) teachers are trained to impart knowledge to children and stimulate their intelligence – example – dedicated teachers who inspire youngsters (2) parents may play a supporting role

 Paragraph 3: parents have more influence than teachers on the social development of their children. (1) parents spend more time with their children than children spend in school (2) parents can be role models for their children in a wide range of social situations – give examples

 Conclusion: re-state opinion given in the introduction, paraphrasing some words.

Model Essay:

It is true that school children are at an impressionable age, and two strong influences on their intelligence and social development are teachers and parents. While I accept that teachers may have more influence on the intelligence of their pupils, I would argue that parents probably exert a greater influence on the social development of their children.

In terms of encouraging the intellectual development and stimulating the intelligence of school children, I believe that teachers play the major role. While not all teachers are capable of inspiring their students, they are trained to impart their knowledge of their subject areas in challenging and imaginative ways. For example, some students owe their lifelong love of a subject to dedicated teachers who taught this discipline in secondary school. Of course, at home parents may also reinforce this passion by encouraging study habits during the formative years of their children. Such support is vital for academic achievement.

From the perspective of social development, I think that parents are mainly responsible for guiding their children. Firstly, they spend far more time with their children than any individual teacher is able to do. They can therefore monitor the activities of children outside school hours, at weekends and during holidays. Secondly, parents are able to provide role models in a whole range of situations. These might include showing respect towards elders, choice of friends, or proper behaviour in public when eating out in restaurants.

In conclusion, although teachers probably have a greater effect in stimulating the intelligence of school children, parental influences on the development of children are stronger in social situations.

266 words by Ngoc Bach

Vocabulary for IELTS:

 impressionable [adjective]:

Meaning: easily influenced or affected by somebody or something

Example: Advertising is often targeted at impressionable age groups, such as children and adolescents.

 to exert influence on [expression]:

Meaning: to use one’s power to affect somebody or something

Example: Rock music exerted a strong influence on me when I was a teenager.

 to impart their knowledge [expression]:

Meaning: to pass knowledge to other people

Example: Good teachers are inspired to impart their knowledge of their subject to their students.

 dedicated [adjective]:

Meaning: working very hard at something, because it is important to you

Example: John is a very dedicated student, so he deserves to be successful.

 discipline [noun]:

Meaning: a subject that people study or are taught

Example: The school has excellent teachers in various scientific disciplines, such as physics and chemistry.

 to reinforce [verb]:

Meaning: to make a feeling or an idea stronger

Example: In order to reinforce her understanding of mathematics, Ann is taking a course at night school.

 formative years [expression]:

Meaning: having an important and lasting influence on the development of something or of somebody’s character

Example: Parents should supervise their children closely during the formative years of their adolescence.

 to monitor [verb]:

Meaning: to watch and check something over a period of time

Example: As a security guard, his job is to monitor who comes into the building.

 elders [noun]:

Meaning: people of greater age, experience or authority

Example: When we were children, our parents taught us to respect our elders, because they were older and wiser than us.

 to eat out [phrasal verb]

Meaning: to have a meal in a restaurant, not at home

Example: Last night, Caroline and I ate out at a Chinese restaurant.

 parental [adjective]:

Meaning: connected with a parent or parents

Example: They don’t want to have children, because they think that they are too young to accept parental responsibilities.