Missing my students in SG
From: tuyet minh [mailto:xxxxxxxxxx@yahoo.com]
Sent: 07/11/2010 1:01 PM
To: xxxxxxxxxx@gmail.com
Subject: Please advice
Dear Mr. Thuan,
Good day to you and hope your everything is going well.
I would like to introduce myself. My name is Ms. Minh, an old student of toefl ibt 1 which finished in the early of March. Do you remember me?
The next cource could not open because of lacking student. I waited for 1.5 month and I decided to find another English center to continue my English studying.
I continue to study toefl ibt 2 but I do not like the way of teaching of new writing teacher. That is the reason why I write the email to you. Almost my old classmate changed to another class but the time is inconvenient for me so I have to study in this current class.
The new writing teacher asked us have to prepare the writing homework at home. After that, she will show the homework for everybody read and correct it. I personally do not like this way because I do not belived in my writing skill and I am so shy. Although I did my writing homework at home, I did not give her my flash drive. It is so stupid but I am so timid.
I finished 3 homeworks already. Could you please help me correct them and give me some advice for these mistakes (if yes)? And could you please correct my writing homework per week? I will so appriciate about it.
All in all, thank you very much for reading my email and please help me keep this secret.
Looking forward to hearing from you soon.
Thank you very much and best regards,
Ms. Minh
A successfull writing class
Among the sections that TOEFL iBT test takers are scared of, integrated writing is also a challenge for most teachers.
In my personal experience, integrated writing can be taught in certain stages as follows:
1. Note taking
Students will jot down main ideas and major details as they read and listen. The problem here is 'what is to be noted down?'. The signals! I prefer to call them the signals, which indicate what is going to be discussed in the particular sentence. As a teacher, (s)he must teach how to catch the signals so that the learners can regconize them and at the same time regconize the main points.2. Planning
Decide what point to be included in the essay. One common problem here is the students tends to write a summary of the main points from the passage and the lecture. That is a wrong concept. The task here is to synthesize (the exact word used by ETS manual) the ideas: illustrate how the ideas in the passage are related to the ideas in the lecture. In short, you will need to cross out some irrelevant ideas. What to be done is:- Determine the relationship: Compare the notes from the passage and the lecture to see how they are connected: contrast? Addition? comparison?...
- Omit ideas that do not support the relationship Of course some ideas would be not about the relationship, but the learners have to decide themself
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3. Writing
Start writing with a topic sentence and the supporting details from the passage. That would make one paragraph.Start the second paragraph with the relationship, which is followed by the topic sentence and the supports from the lecture.
If you have time, go back to the beginning and add a short paragraph to demonstrate a general idea of your response. However, you dont need to write a conclusion.
One problem may occur is timing. If students have problems with timing, tell them to start with the two topic sentences and the relationship first. In other words, they could write 2 paragraphs at the same time. In that way, the majority of the essay is still quite completed if they run short in time. Also, if you get stuck while writing the first paragraph, jump to the second one.
Another problem is the lack of paraphrasing. The more you paraphase, the better. One simple tip to do is NOT to look at the passage while you write: try to write with what and how you understand the points of the writer and the speaker. If you copy their words, you are not paraphrasing at all.
*** In my first class, I only taught them about note taking and planning. Then I tell them to do a homework in the same way.
*** In my second class, I do the homework again to correct their outline, and let them write their reponse (with my instruction about the format) on a sheet of paper. Then they do peer correction (with instruction) so that they know how to correct their own.
*** The next class should the an ideal chance to teach paraphrasing, so that they can correct their own repetition (and plagiarism ^^)
TOEFL iBT Speaking, question type 1 & 2
Question type one is pretty much like a daily conversation in terms of the contents and time limit. Typically you will hear a a question about something you did (your experience) or something you know about (your opinion). You will have say what the choice is, and why you choose (to do) it. It is also like a daily conversation because it require quite a short response, 45 seconds, and you got some 15 seconds to think and plan for your response.
The only difference between question type 1 and 2 is the list of choices. Type one, personal preference, offers a long list of options for you to pick, e.g. what you usually do at weekends. Type two, personal choice, limits the options to only 2, so you have to choose either eating at home and eating out, for example.
Easily said than done, so if you really have to answer these questions, the chances are you either have nothing to talk, or have too many things to present. The point is to jot down your choice, then some three key reasons for the choice. Do this before the recording, which is 15 seconds.
Start the response with a statement for your choice, then the reasons one after another. Use only words and structure that you are sure of. Remember to link the reasons with connectors (like first, secondly...). Speak loudly, clearly (and maybe slowly); you don't want to complete a response with a soft voice and unclear sounds and pronunciation. Then conlude your response with a paraphrase of your statement above.
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