B1CEFRWriting35 min

Writing Task 1: Mountain Railway Data

Mountain railways and scenic train journeys

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How to use this lesson

TEACHER Instructions (35 Mins)

1. Use this 35-minute lesson to guide B1 students from sentence building to full Task 1 reporting.

2. Check answers automatically in Module 1 before letting students write independently in Module 2.

LEARNER Your Steps

1. Complete the four quick warm-up steps in Module 1 to practice data words.

2. Read the railway table in Module 2, check the writing steps, and write your report in the box.

Module 1 • Build-Up

Practice Data Words (Car Washing Topic)

Practice using data words with a daily routine example before writing your main report.

Sentence Pattern Example

"Although it was foggy, the view from the train was lovely."

💡 Why this works: You can connect two contrasting facts cleanly by starting with "Although".

A Word Forms (5 questions)

Choose the correct form of the word to complete each sentence about car washing data.

1. The number of dirty cars ______ every morning between 8 AM and 9 AM.

____ a. rises ____ b. rising ____ c. risen ____ d. rise

2. After midday, the speed of car ______ increased rapidly at the garage.

____ a. wash ____ b. washing ____ c. washed ____ d. washer

3. The garage recorded a steady ______ in overall vehicle cleaning activity.

____ a. grow ____ b. growing ____ c. growth ____ d. grew

4. By 5 PM, the total count of cleaned vehicles had ______ to fifty.

____ a. drop ____ b. dropping ____ c. dropped ____ d. drops

5. There was a small ______ in the number of staff washing cars.

____ a. fluctuate ____ b. fluctuation ____ c. fluctuating ____ d. fluctuated

B Collocations for Describing Data (5 questions)

Select the exact word that fits naturally in each sentence.

1. The number of washed sports cars ______ a peak of forty at 2 PM.

____ a. reached ____ b. took ____ c. arrived ____ d. caught

2. In the early morning, the figure ______ at five cars per hour.

____ a. went ____ b. stood ____ c. lived ____ d. kept

3. Sedans ______ for half of all vehicles cleaned today.

____ a. made ____ b. total ____ c. accounted ____ d. contained

4. Water usage ______ a sharp fall after 4 PM.

____ a. saw ____ b. looked ____ c. watched ____ d. found

5. The car wash service ______ a growth of ten vehicles compared to yesterday.

____ a. lived ____ b. experienced ____ c. felt ____ d. gained

C Common Phrases for Figures (5 questions)

Fill in the blanks using words from the Word Bank below.

Word Bank: increased by overall trend fell to compared with remained steady

1. The number of cars washed in the afternoon ________ twenty vehicles, down from forty in the morning.

Type the exact phrase from the word bank.

____

2. Car cleaning prices ________ throughout the whole day.

Type the exact phrase from the word bank.

____

3. The total count ________ five units between noon and 1 PM, so there were more cars at 1 PM.

Type the exact phrase from the word bank.

____

4. More red cars were washed ________ blue cars.

Type the exact phrase from the word bank.

____

5. The ________ shows that car washing is most popular in the morning.

Type the exact phrase from the word bank.

____

D Paraphrase Sentences (3 questions)

Choose the sentence that says the same thing in different words.

Original Sentence:

"The number of cars washed increased sharply from 10 to 30."

____ a. There was a steep rise in car washing numbers from 10 to 30. ____ b. The total count of washed cars dropped slightly from 30 to 10. ____ c. Exactly 10 cars were washed throughout the whole day.

Original Sentence:

"Fewer trucks were cleaned in the afternoon than in the morning."

____ a. The number of cleaned trucks stayed exactly the same all day. ____ b. More trucks were washed in the afternoon than in the morning. ____ c. Morning truck cleaning figures were higher than afternoon figures.

Original Sentence:

"Car washing activity reached its highest point at noon."

____ a. No cars were washed at noon. ____ b. The number of cars washed peaked at noon. ____ c. Car washing was lowest at midday.
Module 2 • The Task

Mountain Railway Passengers Report

Read the table below and write a short report describing the changes.

Writing Task Prompt

"The table shows the percentage of passengers who used one mountain railway in each season in 2005 and in 2023. Summarise the information by selecting and reporting the main features, and make comparisons where relevant."

Write at least 120 words.

Percentage of Mountain Railway Passengers by Season

Season 2005 2023
Spring 15 25
Summer 50 35
Autumn 25 20
Winter 10 20

(Figures are fictional.)

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Task 1 Report Checklist

Every successful Task 1 report needs to include the following elements:

✓
An overview
✓
Key features
✓
Comparisons
✓
Accurate figures
✓
At least 120 words

Write Your Report

Compose your report in English based on the mountain railway table.

AI Graded Task
____ (Type your report here... (minimum 120 words))
Grading criteria: Task Achievement • Coherence & Cohesion • Lexical Resource • Grammatical Range
Module 3 • Model Answer

Model Answer & Key Writing Phrases

Read this sample answer to see how to organize your ideas clearly.

📝 Task 1 Model Answer

129 Words • Complete Report

The table compares the proportion of passengers using a mountain railway across four seasons in 2005 and 2023.

Overall, summer accounted for the largest share of passengers in both years, despite experiencing a decrease. In contrast, passenger percentages in spring and winter increased, while autumn saw a slight drop.

In 2005, summer was the most popular season, standing at 50%. However, this figure fell by 15 percentage points to 35% in 2023. Similarly, the percentage of passengers traveling in autumn declined from 25% to 20%, representing a fall of 5 percentage points.

Conversely, spring and winter recorded growth over the period. The share of spring passengers rose by 10 percentage points, from 15% to 25%. Meanwhile, winter passenger usage doubled, increasing from 10% to 20% between 2005 and 2023.

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Useful Phrases & Why They Work

Here are plain-English explanations of the 8 bold phrases used in the model report above:

Phrase 1

"accounted for the largest share of"

💡 Why this works: Useful for identifying which category holds the biggest part of a table or chart.
Phrase 2

"despite experiencing a decrease"

💡 Why this works: Connects two contrasting points smoothly in one clear overview sentence.
Phrase 3

"In contrast"

💡 Why this works: Clearly introduces an opposite trend or difference between categories.
Phrase 4

"standing at 50%"

💡 Why this works: Gives exact starting figures naturally without repeating simple words like "was".
Phrase 5

"fell by 15 percentage points"

💡 Why this works: Accurately states the exact gap between two percentage numbers (never say "fell by 15%").
Phrase 6

"Conversely"

💡 Why this works: Starts a new paragraph to shift focus from falling figures to rising figures.
Phrase 7

"recorded growth over the period"

💡 Why this works: Summarizes upward changes across time using formal report language.
Phrase 8

"doubled, increasing from 10% to 20%"

💡 Why this works: Shows an exact 2x mathematical relationship between figures accurately.

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