Peace Corps TEFL volunteers in Ecuador teach middle school, high school, and college students as well as local English teacher counterparts. Clearly, we teach writing at all language levels and have different goals based on the clients we serve. Since many current Ecuadorian English teachers and, also, college students who have received scholarships to study abroad are required to take the First Cambridge, IELTS, or TOEFL exams, we are posting a writing series that addresses themes related to essay writing for these exams, especially the independent essay. In Part One, you will see brainstorming developed through mind maps (or cluster, bubble maps) to answer the basic question types posed in the writing section of these exams.
There are two Powerpoint presentations available on the site that explain prewriting and brainstorming:
http://teachlikeapcv.com/2015/01/26/prewriting-brainstorming/
http://teachlikeapcv.com/2015/01/27/brainstorming-part-two/
To supplement the Powerpoints, we offer this document, created by Nikki Rowley, Ecuador Peace Corps Volunteer and founder of English Exams with Nikki, which has mind maps for examples of each of the four TOEFL essay type questions:
TOEFL Independent Essay Question Types with Mind maps (doc) Download this resource
Question Type 1: Explanation essay: What change would make your hometown more appealing to people your age?
Question Type 2: Agree/Disagree: School uniforms should be mandatory. Do you agree or disagree with this statement?
Question Type 3: Advantages/Disadvantages: Some young children spend a great amount of their time practicing sports. Discuss the advantages and disadvantages of this.
Question Type 4: Some people prefer to live in a traditional house and others in a modern apartment building. Which do you prefer?
Source: Nikki Rowley, Ecuador Peace Corps Volunteer and founder of English Exams with Nikki
Teach Like A PCV 