Paying Attention in Class | Writing for Academic IELTS PDF Download

This paying attention in class essay is a causes and solutions type question. The issue is about the extent to which children at school concentrate or pay attention in their classes.

Here is in the question:

Q. These days, many children have difficulty paying attention and concentrating in their classes at school. What are the reasons for this? How can it be dealt with?

Hint:

• There are two ways that you can organize an essay like this. Firstly, you could write a paragraph about the causes / reasons and then a paragraph about the possible solutions.
• This is a good idea when you have general solutions that do not specifically relate to the causes that you have given.
• An example of this type of organisation can be seen in this Stress Essay.
• However, if you wish you can put the solution directly after the cause if it is directly related to that cause. So the organsation would be as follows:
  • Body 1: Cause - Solution
  • Body 2: Cause - Solution

Sample Answer

• Teachers are increasingly finding that their pupils do not pay full attention or concentrate properly during class time. This essay will examine the reasons for this and suggest some possible solutions.
• One of the reasons for this is that teachers now lack the freedom to discipline children. In the past, teachers could use any methods they felt appropriate to control pupils in their class, even if this meant physical punishment. However, the balance has now changed, with children aware that there are limits to what a teacher can do and without this respect they do not concentrate if they do not want to. There have, for example, been cases were pupils have sued teachers for disciplining them too harshly. Children should of course not be abused, but teachers must be given more power to use the methods that they think appropriate to control the class without fear of recrimination.
• Another factor may be the diet of children. Research has widely reported that the additives in a lot of the snacks and carbonated drinks that children drink regularly can cause behavioural changes such as hyperactivity. This may lead to a lack of ability to concentrate in class. To prevent this, schools must make sure that these snacks are not available at the school. Parents have a part to play as well, and they must ensure that their children are not given too much of these types of snacks at home.
• To conclude, children may have difficulty paying attention in class because of a lack of discipline in schools and additives from snacks. However, the solutions are to give more power back to teachers and to limit the availability of certain foods.