IELTS 4.0-4.

5 - Unit 1: Daily life

Lesson 1: READING AND WRITING

Vocabulary/ Grammar – Reading Writing skills

- Vocabulary for daily life activities and telling time - Writing portfolio 1: a paragraph
- Present simple and adverbs of frequency describing a daily routine

- Reading skills: Multiple text - IELTS Writing: Express time & time
periods
- IELTS Reading: Sentence completion

Part 1. Vocabulary about activities that people do in their daily life

No. Words Part of speech Pronunciation Meaning

1 Get up Verb /ɡet ʌp/ thức dậy
2 Exercise Noun /ˈeksərsaɪz/ tập thể dục
3 Work Verb /wɜːrk/ làm việc
4 Study Verb /ˈstʌdi/ học bài
5 Catch the bus Verb /kætʃ ðə bʌs/ bắt xe bus
6 Watch TV Verb /wɑːtʃ/ xem TV
7 Go online Verb /ɡoʊ ˌɑːnˈlaɪn/ trực tuyến
8 Relax Verb /rɪˈlæks/ thư giãn
9 Go to bed Verb /ɡoʊ tu bed/ đi ngủ
10 Have breakfast Verb /hæv ˈbrekfəst/ ăn sáng

PRACTICE: Complete the email. Use the words in the box.

catch finish get up go out have

leave live meet walk work

Hi Sam,

I’m having a great time here in France and I’m learning lots of French. My host family are
very nice. They _______ in an apartment in an area called Pantin, and they both _______ as
journalists. They _______ very early and _______ home before me. I _______ breakfast at
about 8 a.m. and then go to the language school. I usually _______ there, but if I’m late I
_______ a bus. Lessons at the school _______ at 4 p.m. The other students are very nice
and I have made lots of new friends. We _______ after school in a café or _______ in the
evening to the cinema.
IELTS 4.0-4.5 - Unit 1: Daily life

Part 2. Telling time

Useful language for telling the time

To describe time in the morning and in the afternoon, we use:

• a.m after the time – morning (e.g. It’s 8 a.m now – Bây giờ là 8h sáng)
• p.m after the time – afternoon (e.g. It’s 8 p.m now – Bây giờ là 8h tối)
E.g. I get up at 7.30 a.m. I don’t go to school on Sunday. I was born in November.
PRACTICE: Match the digital times with the times in words.

1. 05:15 a. It’s a quarter past five. 6. 09:10 f. It’s ten to nine.

2. 08:20 b. It’s five past ten. 7. 15:35 g. It’s twenty-five to four.
3. 06:45 c. It’s twenty past eight. 8. 10:05 h. It’s half past two.

4. 14:30 d. It’s twelve o’clock. 9. 12:00 i. It’s ten past nine.

5. 20:50 e. It’s a quarter to seven. 10. 16:55 k. It’s five to five.
IELTS 4.0-4.5 - Unit 1: Daily life

Part 3. Present simple and adverbs of frequency

1. Present Simple Tense
Use
Ø To express habits, general truths, repeated actions or unchanging situations, emotions
and wishes:
E.g. I smoke. (habit)
I work in London. (unchanging situation)
London is a large city. (general truth)
Ø To give instructions or directions:
E.g. You walk for two hundred meters, then you turn left.
Ø To express fixed arrangements, present or future:
E.g. Your exam starts at 09.00.
Ø To express future time, after some conjunctions: after, when, before, as soon as, until:
E.g. He'll give it to you when you come next Saturday.
Structure

NOTES ON THE SIMPLE PRESENT, THIRD PERSON SINGULAR

Ø In the third person singular the verb always ends in -s:
he wants, she needs, he gives, she thinks
Ø Negative and question forms use DOES (= the third person of the auxiliary 'DO') + the
infinitive of the verb.
E.g. He wants ice cream. Does he want strawberry? He does not want vanilla.
Ø Verbs ending in -y : the third person changes the -y to -ies:
fly --> flies, cry --> cries
Ø Exception: if there is a vowel before the -y:
play --> plays, pray --> prays
Ø Add -es to verbs ending in:-ss, -x, -sh, -ch:
he passes, she catches, he fixes, it pushes
IELTS 4.0-4.5 - Unit 1: Daily life

2. Adverbs of frequency
Use
ü to discuss how often something happens.
ü to indicate routine or repeated activities
Structure Subject + Adverb of frequency + verb
Subject + to be + Adverb of frequency
E.g. Tom never flies. He always takes the bus.
Tom is always late for work. He never goes to work on time.
Common adverbs of frequency

PRACTICE. Choose the correct words in italics in the text.

IELTS 4.0-4.5 - Unit 1: Daily life

Part 4. Reading: Multiple texts

In this kind of reading, you will read multiple texts about different people or topics. The
questions are rotate around the text, asking about which person or topic each question
talking about.

Steps to answer multiple text questions:

• Skim the text. Remember who or which topic each part is about.
• Identify the key words in each question.
• Locate the key words or their paraphrases in the text and answer the questions.

Note: Key words in a sentence are:

ü Nouns and Verbs

ü Names (places, scientists, people and more included in the passage)
ü Locations (towns, cities, states, countries…)
ü Dates and Years
ü Numbers or Figures
ü Capitalized or Italicized words/phrases

PRACTICE: Read the passage and answer the questions.

How to have a great day every day

Many people want to know how to work harder and feel better. How can you have a great
day at school or at the office? A good daily routine can help you to have a great day every
day.

A Get up early

Many people want to stay in bed in the morning, but it is best to get up before 7:00 a.m. If
you start working or studying early, you will have more ideas and you will be able to work
faster. Many well-known writers and musicians from the past believed that it was important
to get up early – and to go to bed early too. You should also try to get up at the same time
every day, because this is good for your body and brain.

B Eat breakfast
IELTS 4.0-4.5 - Unit 1: Daily life

Breakfast is the most important meal of the day. People often say that they don’t have time
to eat breakfast, but they will find it more difficult to start work, and they will soon feel very
hungry. A healthy meal of toast, eggs, and fruit juice will help you to work well all morning –
and stop you from eating unhealthy food like crisps and chocolate later in the morning!

C Go for a walk

If you usually spend a lot of time in your office or in the classroom, it is very important to go
outside and get some fresh air. If you spend just 30 minutes a day walking outside, you will
feel less tired and you will be able to do more when you get back to work or school. A walk
in the park every day will make you feel much healthier and will help you to do your best
work.

Choose the correct paragraph to match the information. Read the text on the first screen
again to help you.

1. A lot of people don’t have time to do this.

2. This will stop you from feeling tired.

3. This will stop you from eating food that is bad for you.

4. In the past, famous people thought that this was a good idea.

5. You should do this at the same time every day.

6. Many people don’t want to do this.

IELTS 4.0-4.5 - Unit 1: Daily life

Part 5. IELTS Reading: Sentence completion

IELTS 4.0-4.5 - Unit 1: Daily life

Example: Worms

About a quarter of the world's population could have worms living in their guts. For many
years experts have recommended treating large groups at risk of infection - but is this mass
approach worthwhile?

Evidence showing the benefits of large-scale deworming projects has come under scrutiny in
recent weeks - the debate has even been dubbed "worm wars". Parasites, such as
roundworm, hookworm and whipworm could be living inside more than 1.5 billion people
according to the World Health Organization (WHO).

"People are usually infected through contaminated food but hookworm larvae can also
burrow into feet, get into blood vessels and make their way to the heart and lungs. From
there they can climb up to the oesophagus* and be swallowed, ending up in the gut where
they grow.

Worms are not usually fatal but in serious cases they can cause abdominal pain, diarrhoea,
loss of appetite, weight loss, fatigue and anaemia. In children, they can also contribute to
malnutrition, stunted growth, and absences from school. A nurse gives deworming
treatment to a boy in India.

*oesophagus – throat

Complete the sentences below. Write NO MORE THAN THREE WORDS from the passage for
each answer

1. Now scientists doubt whether it is ____________ to treat large groups of possibly

infected people.

2. The experts called the debate ____________.

3. Hookworm larvae might make his way to the _____________ and then be swallowed.

4. Although dangerous, worms are rarely _____________.

Step-by-step guide:

• Skim the passage: the title, first and last sentences.

• Read and remember the word limit:

NO MORE THAN THREE WORDS (it means you are only allowed to use three words or
less for your answers)

• Identify the key words in the options and try to predict the type of information for each
blank. Look at the following example:
IELTS 4.0-4.5 - Unit 1: Daily life

1. Now scientists doubt whether it is _____(adjective)_______ to treat large groups of

possibly infected people.

2. The experts called the debate ______(noun- name of the debate)______.

3. Hookworm larvae might make his way to the ______(noun- a place)_______ and then be
swallowed.

4. Although dangerous, worms are rarely ______(adjective)_______.

• Scanning the key words or their synonyms in the paragraph and locate the answer.
About a quarter of the world's population could have worms living in their guts. For many years
experts have recommended treating large groups at risk of infection - but is this mass approach
worthwhile (Question 1)?

Evidence showing the benefits of large-scale deworming projects has come under scrutiny in recent
weeks - the debate has even been dubbed "worm wars" (Question 2). Parasites, such as roundworm,
hookworm and whipworm could be living inside more than 1.5 billion people according to the World
Health Organization (WHO).

"People are usually infected through contaminated food but hookworm larvae can also burrow into
feet, get into blood vessels and make their way to the heart and lungs. From there they can climb up
(=make their way) to the oesophagus* (Question 3) and be swallowed, ending up in the gut where
they grow.

Worms are not usually fatal (Question 4) but in serious cases they can cause abdominal pain,
diarrhoea, loss of appetite, weight loss, fatigue and anaemia. In children, they can also contribute to
malnutrition, stunted growth, and absences from school. A nurse gives deworming treatment to a
boy in India.

*oesophagus – throat

PRACTICE: Read the text and answer the questions

A giant panda at a zoo in the United States has given birth to twin cubs
Keepers at the Smithsonian National Zoo in Washington DC only discovered Mei Xiang was
pregnant during an ultrasound scan last week. The zoo said both cubs appeared healthy.
Giant pandas are one of the most endangered species in the world and are notoriously hard
to breed in captivity.
The National Zoo is one of only four zoos in the US to have pandas, which are on loan from
China. Mei Xiang, who has two other offspring, is one of the zoo's star attractions and a
Panda Cam on her enclosure crashed within seconds of the birth of the first cub being
announced because of the volume of interest.
IELTS 4.0-4.5 - Unit 1: Daily life

Female pandas are able to conceive for only two or three days a year, leading to a very low
reproduction rate. Mei Xiang was artificially inseminated with sperm from the zoo's resident
male Tian Tian and a panda named Hui Hui from Wolong, China. It will not be known for a
while which is the father, or what sex the cubs are.
It has previously taken months before Mei Xiang's cubs have been introduced to the public.
AP news agency reports that her first cub, Tai Shan, was born in 2005 and returned to China
in 2010; her second cub, Bao Bao, is two years old on Sunday and still lives at the zoo. The
panda population is threatened by habitat loss as land is increasingly inhabited by humans,
with about 1,800 pandas left in the wild in China. However, the number living in the wild in
China has gone up over the last 10 years.
Complete the sentences below. Write NO MORE THAN THREE WORDS from the passage
for each answer.
1. Mei Xiang pregnancy was discovered with an ____________ last week.
2. Pandas from the USA National Zoo are ____________ from China.
3. Due to the short conceiving period, pandas have a low ____________.
4. Pandas are in danger because their lands are increasingly ____________.
Part 6. Expressing time and time periods

Here are some common time expressions:

• in • before
• for • from - to / until
• between – and • after
• during
IELTS 4.0-4.5 - Unit 1: Daily life

• In the 20th century …

• In a century from 1900 to 2000…

• In a period of a hundred years between 1900 and 2000,

• At the beginning of the 20th century… • At the end of the 20th century …

• In the early 20th century • In the late 20th century …

IELTS 4.0-4.5 - Unit 1: Daily life

• During the year…

• Over the first half of the year…
• In the second half of the year…
• For the first three months/ quarter of the year…
• During the next/ following quarter of the year…

Part 7. Writing Portfolio 1: Write a paragraph describing your daily routine

When writing a paragraph describing your daily routine, you can mention:
• Do you exercise in the morning? How often do you go to the gym?
• Do you study or work? What do you do?
• What school/ college do you go to?
• What were your favorite subjects in school? What are your favorite subjects now?
• How do you spend your free time? What is your favorite occupation?
• Do you like reading? Who is your favorite writer? What kind of books do you like?
• Do you participate in sports? What sports do you like? What sports are you good at?
• What is your favorite food? Do you eat a balanced diet? Do you live a healthy life?
You can look at some people’s daily routine on Page 12, Mindset Foundation.