Pre-TOEFL & IELTS Course - Building Skills

 The TOEFL and IELTS tests all 4 English skills – Reading – Listening – Writing – Speaking in an academic atmosphere.

The Pre-TOEFL/IELTS Course has been designed by the Language Institute to build students’ English skills in the context of the TOEFL and IELTS tests, but at the appropriate level of the students’ ability. This means that when the students progress to the TOEFL or IELTS Preparation Course they will have acquired the skills to tackle the more difficult TOEFL/IELTS questions.

All students will be pre-tested and interviewed before joining the TOEFL or IELTS Courses at the Language Institute, and given advice about how they should proceed and what course would be appropriate for their skill level and needs.

There is no specific course book used in this course. Authentic materials will be supplied by the teacher, that correspond to academic or non-academic sources. Students will be expected to do homework and follow a study plan. 

Some of the skills covered in the course are:

• Planning a self study strategy and setting goals
• Self analysis and keeping a record
• Note taking and using short hand
• Active reading and listening
• Skimming and scanning
• Finding the topic and main idea
• Understanding natural speech
• Pronunciation, intonation and speech patterns
• Simple sentence structures
• Working on grammar
• Being clear, concise and unified in speaking and writing
• Linking ideas in reading and listening
• Organizing essays – from the general to the specific
• Identifying and using signal and transition words
• Summarizing and paraphrasing
• Using examples and details in writing and speaking
• Planning – writing and speaking
• Between the lines – suggestions and listening for tone and attitude
• Predicting in reading and listening
• Personal preference answers
• Choosing and supporting an option in speaking and writing
• Vocabulary in context strategies
• Definitions and finding references

American University Videos

You can visit these American University sites on YouTube. There are lots of lectures, including visiting lectures by famous Americans, but also there are campus tours and other short videos that students have produced. Definitely worth a visit.

Here are the links:

Duke University
Stanford
University of California at Berkeley
UCLA

All the videos can be downloaded and watched later.

In Our Time

You should all be trying to improve your listening skills. The BBC has a radio program called "In Our Time", which discusses various academic issues divided into different themes - Science, History, Culture, Religion and Philosophy. 

The contributors are Professors from Oxford, Cambridge and other top English universities. You can listen or download the programs, subscribe to the podcasts or just use the RSS feed in Firefox, Explorer or Opera to receive the programs on your computer. Each program also supplies you with links so you can do your own research on the topic. Excellent.

Click here for the link to In Our Time.

Or click on the In Our Time feed below to listen to the broadcast:

TOEFL Integrated Writing Task - Best answer

I said I would post the best essay I've received on the integrated writing task. This is the one I've picked and it's written by U.  My comments are included.

Writing essay homework 2
Topic: Tidal power

 According to the lecture, the professor gives some opinions about a tidal power that differ from the reading passage. Most details in the passage focus on advantages of the tidal power on energy generation while the lecture states the opposite. The professor mentions some disadvantages of this kind of power that cast doubts on the reading passage.
 First, the passage shows that the tidal power can provide a renewable energy generation that could be a useful energy supplement in the future. By contrast, the professors says that this amount of energy is small and can supply only a particular region, not for a large area. Therefore, it will not be practical as an important alternative energy source.
 Another point that the professor casts doubts on the tidal power is its environmental drawbacks. Although the passage support the tidal power because of its non-polluting quality, she states that a dam or estuary change the water flow. Fishes cannot migrate across the dam and many animals, including birds, lose their habitats and foods.
 Furthermore, the lecture states that human also receive the bad points of the tidal power’s energy generation not only in the environment aspects, but also the economic problem. This ______because their fishing work cannot navigate across the estuary.
 In conclusion, the professor argues some reasons that show many disadvantages of the tidal power. These reasons cast doubts on the reading passage whether this power really give us a benefit or not. 

Very good essay again U.
You have argued your case very well and would get a top score for this essay. I have underlined where you are making some mistakes – articles, 3rd person verbs and countable/uncountable nouns.
I’ll send you some practice sheets for your grammar.

WATERSHIP DOWN THEME SONG AND TRAILER

Here are links to watch the theme song "Bright Eyes" by Art Garfunkel and the trailer for the original movie. Click here for Bright Eyes and here for the Trailer. 

Enjoy!!!

Our next book and movie - Watership Down

All the World will be your Enemy

In Watership Down, Fiver the rabbit sees the future, in a vision. He sees himself, all his fellow rabbits and their home (the warren) destroyed in a terrible catastrophe.

He tries to tell the older rabbits what is going to happen, but the older rabbits don't believe him. So, he and his brother Hazel leave the warren with a group of young rabbits to find a new home - Watership Down.

The book Watership Down is an exciting adventure as the young rabbits try to escape to their beautiful new home. At the time it was a very popular best seller.

The movie is one of the most stunning animations ever created. It is like watching a great work of art. The actors who play the rabbits are some of the best British actors.

This is a Do Not Miss show full of suspense and drama with a very clear message for us humans.

    "A beautifully realised animation"  Channel 4 Movies

The Rap

We all had a great time on Saturday watching Bridget Jones's Diary. Everyone enjoyed it and some of my students wanted to watch a movie every weekend.

But, sadly our next movie is not till next month on Saturday 2nd. May. I will send everybody the new book this week, so you can start reading it over Songkran.

A big thank you to everybody who came and all the staff who helped make our first Read the Book, Watch the Movie event a success.

Bridget Jones's Diary

"We're not lonely. We have extended families in the form of networks of friends," says Tom, joining Sharon in deploring others' "arrogant hand-wringing about single life." 

Helen Fielding: Bridget Jones's Diary

Are friends the new family like Tom says? You can choose your friends, but you can't choose your family!

We're showing the wonderfully funny Bridget Jones's Diary on Saturday at 5 pm. in the Language Institute Theatre. All our welcome and it's free! So come and improve your English and have a laugh.

Bridget is a 30 something unmarried professional woman, who is caught in a bit of a trap - a sort of modern day Catch 22. She reads Women's magazines and wants to be slim and beautiful, and find that handsome man to marry, but she's smart and wants to be independent.

So she fluctuates between smoking, drinking and having a good time, and denial and diets. We've all been there - that yo yo affect.

It's a poignant story that is becoming very applicable in Asia, where women are not marrying and having babies like they used to, but they want a guy, that knight in shining armour, who turns out to be a cad or a butterfly, who won't commit.

What will Bridget do? Come and find out. Then we can talk about it after.

"Screamingly funny."
—USA Today

"Bridget Jones is channeling something so universal and (horrifyingly) familiar that readers will giggle and sigh with collective delight."
—Elle

"Good-bye Rules Girls, hello Singletons . . . Endearingly engaging."
—The New York Times Book Review