One of your friends wants to apply for a job that involves working with foreign teenagers. Write a letter of recommendation for him/her. In your letter express: - how well you know your friend - what qualifications he/she has - why you think she would be suitable for the job
Sample Response
Dear Sir or Madam, I understandI have been notified by one of my close friends that your organisation is looking for a few bilingual assistant tutors to work with foreign teenagerschildren. I am writing to recommendI am writing to you to recommend my close friendone of my best friends, Anna Pattison, whom I consider a strongdeserving candidate for the post. I know Anna for more than 14 years. She used to be my classmate at the Cherry Blossom International School and then at Saint John College. She was an enthusiastic organiser and participantShe used to be an enthusiastic organiser and participant in extracurricular activities. Because of her outstanding leadership skills and cheerful personalityFor her outstanding leadership skills and cheerful personality, she was chosen as class captainnominated class captain for most of her school yearsacademic years in school. Her excellent skills in both English and Spanish make her ideal for the post, which involvesthe post that involved working closely with children. She graduated with an arts degreecompleted her graduation from Arts major and received a medal of distinctiona distinctive medal for her exceptional academic performance. Upon her graduation, she worked as a teacher in an international school in London, where she has been teaching bilingual lessons for five years. FurthermoreWhat’s more, she loves being around children and easily builds rapport with themeasily wins their hearts. Therefore, I do not hesitate to recommend her as an ideal candidate for the post you advertised. I am sure she would be an excellent candidate for the post. Yours faithfully, Enya Brennan
Why this response received Band 7.0
The letter fulfils its recommendation purpose convincingly, covering the long friendship, Anna's bilingual and academic qualifications, teaching experience, leadership, and rapport with children in a suitably formal tone. Its main weakness is presentation as one continuous block, while a few awkward phrases reduce polish. The highest priority is to organise the three requested areas into clear paragraphs and refine tense and collocation choices.
IELTS Writing Criteria Scores
Task Achievement
The purpose is fully clear, all three bullet points are developed with relevant evidence, and the formal recommendation tone is consistently suitable.
Refer specifically to working with foreign teenagers rather than broadening the role to children, so the suitability evidence matches the advertised post exactly.
Coherence and Cohesion
The content follows a logical progression from relationship to qualifications and suitability, but the absence of paragraph breaks weakens readability.
Use separate paragraphs for how you know Anna, her qualifications and experience, and the reasons for recommending her.
Lexical Resource
A varied formal vocabulary communicates the recommendation effectively, although a few combinations such as deserving candidate and completed her graduation are awkward.
Choose natural professional phrases such as strong candidate, graduated with an Arts degree, and received a distinguished academic award.
Grammatical Range and Accuracy
The letter uses a good range of mostly accurate complex structures, with a few tense and clause-selection errors that do not impede meaning.
Correct time-sensitive forms such as I have known Anna for fourteen years and keep present and past references to the advertised post consistent.
Write this task while it is fresh
Try the same task now. It helps you remember the feedback and write better next time.
IELTS General Training Writing Task 1
One of your friends wants to apply for a job that involves working with foreign teenagers. Write a letter of recommendation for him/her. In your letter express:
- how well you know your friend
- what qualifications he/she has
- why you think she would be suitable for the job
Your response
Write the task yourself, then compare your choices with the annotated response.