Don’t wait!

Fri, 5 Jun 2009 09:40:00 -0700

The saddest e-mails I get from students who need to take the TOEFL are those that say, “I need to take the TOEFL in three weeks. Can you help me?” I received another of them this morning.

It takes time to develop language ability. It takes time to develop academic skills. And it takes time to learn test-taking strategies. Three weeks, or sometimes even three months, are not enough!

As soon as students knows that they need to take the TOEFL, they should find a way to evaluate (measure) their English ability, academic skills, and test-taking strategies. Here are two ways to do that:

1. Take the TOEFL practice test. You can do this several times if you want to measure your improvement.
2. Talk to a good, experienced TOEFL tutor. A good tutor can help you evaluate your language, academic, and test-taking skills and suggest ways to improve them.

The best plan would be to take the TOEFL practice test, then talk to a tutor to have him or her help you develop a plan to prepare for the TOEFL.

Please, don’t wait!

If you have any questions or comments, please write! My e-mail address is warren@successfulenglish.com.

Warren Ediger

Use MIT Opencourseware to prepare for the toefl

Wed, 17 Sep 2008 15:02:14 -0700

A good way to prepare for the TOEFL is to become familiar with academic English used in American university classes. Several months ago, I wrote about using iTunes U to do this here and here. Now there’s another excellent way to become familiar with American academic English.

The Massachusetts Institute of Technology (MIT), one of the premier (leading, or top) U.S. universities, has put almost all of its course (class) content online. And the good news is that it’s free! That’s right, you don’t have to pay anything to use lecture notes, videos, readings and reading lists, special features, and more from one of the best universities in the U.S.

All of this is available from MIT OpenCourseWare (OCW). The Site Overview will show you how to find and download course content and set up RSS feeds so you can learn about new course material. There is also some helpful information on their Getting Started page.

If you have any questions or comments, please send me an e-mail. My address is warren@successfulenglish.com.

Warren Ediger

New at iTunes U

Wed, 23 Jul 2008 07:52:34 -0700

ITunes U is easier to use and has some exciting new audio and video material, thanks to three recent changes!

First, there is a new video that explains how to use iTunes U.

Second, the audio and video material from the universities is now organized by categories, or topics. All of the history classes are listed together under History. All the literature class are listed together under Literature. As a result, it’s now easier to find what you’re interested in.

Finally, there is an exciting new category of sources, called Beyond Campus. This category includes material from non-educational sources, like museums, PBS (Public Broadcasting System) television stations, and the Smithsonian.

If you have any questions or comments, please send me an e-mail. My address is warren@successfulenglish.com.

Warren Ediger

Prepare for Academic English at iTunes U!

Thu, 27 Sep 2007 19:10:18 -0700

In the listening and speaking sections of the TOEFL, students have to listen to academic lectures in English. After they listen to the lectures, they have to be able to remember facts, identify main ideas and supporting details, summarize, and use information from the lectures to answer questions.

Many students are not familiar with academic English. But now there is a wonderful new place students can go to become familiar with academic English. It’s called iTunes U!

iTunes U isn’t a real school. But it is an excellent source of good academic English.

During the last few years, millions of people have become familiar with iPods and the iTunes Store. If you know how to find the iTunes Store, you are only a few steps from the door to iTunes U!

iTunes U is a special area inside the iTunes Store. When you enter iTunes U, you’ll find free academic lectures, interviews, and other kinds of class content from top U.S. colleges and universities, such as Stanford University, UC Berkeley, Duke University, and MIT.

If you have an iPod or other mp3 player, you can download lectures and other content from iTunes U and carry them with you wherever you go. If you don’t have an iPod, you can listen to them on your computer.

Here are some suggestions to help you use iTunes U to prepare for the TOEFL:

Look for lectures that are easy to understand. When you are trying to improve your English, it’s important to read or listen to as much easy-to-understand English as possible. Remember this when you look for lectures and other material on iTunes U.

One way to make sure the lectures are easy to understand is to listen to lectures about subjects you are already familiar with. For example, at the UC Berkeley iTunes U site, there are many lectures on world history in the Social Sciences section. If you are familiar with the Renaissance, find a lecture on the Renaissance and listen to it. What you learned about the Renaissance in your language will help you understand the English lecture on the Renaissance.

If you don’t understand part of a lecture, go back and listen to it again. When read or listen again to something you don’t understand, it will often make sense (be understandable) the second or third time.

If you find a lecture that is interesting, listen to it two or three times. Repeated listening is always a good strategy to improve understanding and to help you acquire, or absorb, more English.

Some lectures include pictures or video that will help you understand more. And some professors give links to their web sites, where they have outlines and other information.

I suggest that you begin with either UC Berkeley or Stanford University.

They both have large collections of lectures for you to choose from. Later, if you want to look at other schools, you can find a list of them at the iTunes Store or at http://itunesu.pbwiki.com/.

Come back in a few days, and I will have some more suggestions for using iTunes U to improve your academic English.

If you have a question or comment about this subject, use the “Add a comment” link below. I would like to hear from you.

Warren Ediger
warren@successfulenglish.com

Note: iTunes U is a registered trademark of Apple Computers.

Using a Tutor to Improve Your English and Prepare for the TOEFL

Thu, 20 Sep 2007 09:25:16 -0700

In this interview, from ESLPod.com’s Guide to the TOEFL Test Podcast, Dr. Jeff McQuillan and Warren Ediger talk about:

• what to look for in a tutor
• choosing a tutor
• advantages of video tutoring
• preparing for the speaking section of the Internet-based TOEFL
• using an online tutor
• building vocabulary and language proficiency

To read the interview, use this link: TOEFLPodcast Interview.pdf