Your former homestay family is coming to see you in your home country and stay from January 31st to February 10th. Write them a letter. In your letter: - make plans to meet them at a convenient location - specify a time and date - suggest some activities you may all participate in during their visit
Sample Response
Dear Mr & Mrs Johnson, I trust you are doing fine and enjoying the season. I am delightedsurprised to hear that you are visiting the United Kingdom in a few days and I am really happy about it. I am sure you will enjoy your holiday here and the climate at this time of the year is bright and sunny. I cannot wait to meet you. As you have already said, you are going to stay in a hotel in London. My house is almost a ten-hour drive10 hours driveway from London city centre. I suggest we meet on February 4thI hope you will be free on February 4th so that we can meet on that day. When you come to Belfast, I will meet you at Belfast Central Station at 9:00 am on February 4thgive me a ring or send me an SMS two hours prior so that I can meet you there. Early morning (around 9:00 am) would be better, but I can meet you anytime you want.Early morning (around 9:00 am) would be better but I can meet you anytime you want. We will have our lunch together in a restaurant where I have been many timeswhere I went many times and I quite like its atmosphere and foodtheir environment and food. There are many tourist attractionsspots in Belfast so I am sure you both will enjoy your time. I would be very glad if you agreedI will be very glad if you agree to stay with usat our home for a couple of days as my parents are very eager to meet you. I have told them about you and they are expecting you. During your stay at our home, we can go to see popular historical museums, beaches, amusement parks and other places of interestattractive places near my hometown. We would love to give you a taste of our traditional food. Looking forward to seeing you both soon. Sincerely yours, Sonia Vincent
Why this response received Band 7.0
The letter is warm and purposeful, providing a date, an approximate time, and a varied set of activities that make the visit feel well planned. Its main weakness is that the meeting arrangement remains dependent on a later call rather than giving one definite place, while the single paragraph and several awkward language choices reduce polish. The highest-priority improvement is to confirm a precise meeting point and time, then structure the remaining plans in clear paragraphs.
IELTS Writing Criteria Scores
Task Achievement
The letter makes plans to meet, gives a date and approximate time, and suggests several activities. The arrangement is somewhat loose because the exact meeting place depends on the visitors contacting the writer later.
Give one definite meeting location and time, then add flexibility as a backup.
Coherence and Cohesion
The message is friendly and generally well sequenced, moving from greeting to meeting plan and activities. One-paragraph formatting and some overlong sentences limit cohesion.
Use separate paragraphs for reaction, meeting arrangement, activities, and closing invitation.
Lexical Resource
Vocabulary is warm and mostly appropriate, but several collocations are unnatural, such as 10 hours driveway and environment and food.
Replace awkward travel and hospitality phrases with more idiomatic wording.
Grammatical Range and Accuracy
Meaning is clear, but there are tense, article, and verb-form errors in several sentences.
Check fixed forms such as have been to, a ten-hour drive, and stay with us.
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
Your former homestay family is coming to see you in your home country and stay from January 31st to February 10th. Write them a letter. In your letter:
- make plans to meet them at a convenient location
- specify a time and date
- suggest some activities you may all participate in during their visit
Your response
Write the task yourself, then compare your choices with the annotated response.