You are going to visit New Zealand for an 'English and Homestay' program. You have just received details of your homestay host family. Write your first letter to the family. In your letter: - introduce yourself - ask the family some questions to get information that is important to you - tell the family about your arrival date and time
Sample Response
Dear Mr Nithan, I am Preeti Roy, a 22-year-old student from India. I applied for an English Homestay program at the University of Wellington and I have received a letter from the university, apprising me that you will be my host family. I really appreciate that you have agreed to host me at your house. I am from Delhi, India and I am pursuing my Engineering degree from the University of Technology in Delhi. My father is a doctor and my mother is an architect. I have two siblings and they are juniors to me. I applied for the English Homestay programme last June to further enhance my English speaking skills. I was wondering if you could advise me on the weather and etiquette in Wellington as I have never been there. What type of dress should I bring? Could you also inform me of the distance between your home and the university and what will be the easiest way to reach the university? Besides, I am coming to New Zealand for the first time and have no idea about the common cultures and manners you respect. Please advise me on that as well. I will arrive in Wellington on 10th December, probably around 10:30 in the morning. I want to reach a week earlier as I want to explore the surrounding areas. Kindly also inform me of the best way to reach your home from the airport. Looking forward to meeting you soon. Yours sincerely, Preeti Roy
IELTS Writing Correction
- 1. Clarify host arrangement Original: apprising me that you will be my host family Suggested revision: informing me that I will be staying with your family Why it matters: A family hosts a person, so the original wording assigns the roles incorrectly.
- 2. Use natural preposition Original: host me at your house Suggested revision: host me in your home Why it matters: In your home is the more natural expression for a homestay arrangement.
- 3. Use lowercase subject Original: Engineering Suggested revision: engineering Why it matters: A general field of study is not capitalized here.
- 4. Use natural comparison Original: juniors to me Suggested revision: younger than me Why it matters: Younger than is the standard expression for siblings' relative ages.
- 5. Hyphenate modifier Original: English speaking skills Suggested revision: English-speaking skills Why it matters: The compound modifier before skills should be hyphenated.
- 6. Choose general noun Original: dress Suggested revision: clothing Why it matters: Clothing refers generally to what to pack, whereas dress may mean one garment.
- 7. Use natural collocation Original: common cultures and manners you respect Suggested revision: local customs and manners I should respect Why it matters: Local customs is the natural phrase, and the writer is the person expected to respect them.
- 8. Use arrive correctly Original: I want to reach a week earlier Suggested revision: I plan to arrive a week early Why it matters: Arrive is used for reaching a destination, and early is the correct adverb here.
- 9. Name programme clearly Original: an English Homestay program Suggested revision: an English and Homestay programme Why it matters: This wording reflects the two-part programme described in the task more precisely.
- 10. Add joining comma Original: Delhi, India and I am pursuing Suggested revision: Delhi, India, and I am pursuing Why it matters: A comma is needed before and when it joins these two independent clauses.
- 11. Use study preposition Original: from Suggested revision: at Why it matters: A student pursues a degree at a university, not from it.
- 12. Remove redundancy Original: further enhance Suggested revision: enhance Why it matters: Enhance already means improve further, so further is unnecessary.
Suggested Rewrites
- apprising me that you will be my host family informing me that I will be staying with your family
- host me at your house host me in your home
- Engineering engineering
- juniors to me younger than me
- English speaking skills English-speaking skills
- dress clothing
Why this response received Band 6.5
The response's strongest feature is its thorough fulfilment of the task: it introduces the student, asks several practical questions, and gives a precise arrival date and time in a consistently polite tone. Its main limitation is unnecessary personal detail and some awkward expressions, which make the letter longer and less natural than needed. The priority is to streamline the introduction and phrase the cultural and travel questions more idiomatically.
IELTS Writing Criteria Scores
Task Achievement
All required points are fully addressed with useful questions and clear arrival information, although details about the writer's parents and siblings add little to the purpose.
Keep only personal details that help the host family prepare, and clarify what arriving a week early is relative to.
Coherence and Cohesion
The letter progresses logically from introduction to questions and arrival plans, but its single long body and repeated requests reduce concision.
Group the introduction, practical questions, and arrival arrangements into separate paragraphs with one clear focus each.
Lexical Resource
Vocabulary is varied and generally appropriate, but phrases such as "apprising me," "juniors to me," and "common cultures" sound unnatural.
Prefer natural wording such as "informing me," "younger than me," "local customs," and "what clothes should I bring."
Grammatical Range and Accuracy
The writer uses varied sentence forms with generally good control, though occasional article, capitalization, and clause-choice errors remain.
Use standard forms such as "an engineering degree," "English-speaking skills," and "the easiest way to get to the university."
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
You are going to visit New Zealand for an 'English and Homestay' program. You have just received details of your homestay host family. Write your first letter to the family. In your letter:
- introduce yourself
- ask the family some questions to get information that is important to you
- tell the family about your arrival date and time
Your response
Write the task yourself, then compare your choices with the annotated response.