Touchstone In Action

This is a funny video from Cambridge University Press, promoting Touchstone, the excellent textbook we use in the Diploma. It highlights the conversation strategies we practice in class.

TOEFL Reading Presentation

Toefl Reading

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Do you like looking at art?

I love looking at paintings. I like to find out about the story behind the painting. At first glance "Bathers at Asnieres" by George Seurat (above) is an idyllic scene of people enjoying a sunny day by the river.

However, if you look closer you start to notice different things. There is a sense of time standing still, of everything in perfect harmony, of serenity, but in the distance behind the bridge is a factory belching out black smoke, staining the sky.

Does this background represent an ugly future, and the foreground our frozen past? Who is the large simple, but dignified figure in the centre, gazing into the river under a thatch of hair? He seems to connect the classical works of Da Vinci to the modernism of Impressionism.

You can now visit these great works of art without leaving home. This painting comes from the National Gallery in London. Here is the link - just click here.

And below, under my picture and profile, you can listen and watch the National Gallery's monthly podcasts.

The Diploma Level 3 Reading Project

Small town America, quiet nothing-to-do Maycomb Alabama in the Deep South, during the Depression years of the early 1930s, is the setting for Harper Lee's Pullitzer Prize winning novel "To Kill A Mockingbird".

A young girl, Scout, is the narrator and the characters and the story all come through her. Her father, the upstanding town lawyer Atticus Finch, teaches both his children and the ignorant about ethics and the art of compromise.

The book is of central importance to American art and culture in the 20th. Century, as is the Oscar winning film, starring Gregory Peck. It's about how hard times can bring out the worst in people, and the best in other people, and through Scout's eyes America woke up to its treatment of African Americans.

It's a sin to kill a mockingbird. All it does is sing and give us pleasure. It doesn't harm anyone.

Watch the introduction below:

The Diploma Level 3 Reading Project

Diploma Level 3 Reading Project

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My Community

This is a great piece of writing from one of my students, 12 year old Kantong, who has yet again come top of the class in the Diploma Level 3a. Congratulations Kantong and everyone else in the class who passed.

My name is Aroonrerm Kittirattanachai. I’m studying in grade six. Today I’m going to talk about My community.

When I was young,my community was very beautiful. It had lots of trees and people were friendly.

But now everything has changed, trees are being cut down to build new houses and buildings. The people who were there moved out and college students moved in. From a quiet community it has turned into a place where the noise never stops. There are sounds of construction, traffic and music till late at night.

The clean air in the past has become dirty with pollution from cars and dust. Since there are less trees, they can’t help the air much. And from a community where almost everyone knew each other and helped each other, it has changed into a community where we don’t even know our neighbours next door.

When I was a little kid, I liked to watch fireflies flying at night but now I can rarely see one. This shows how the pollution, construction and tree cutting has effected the environment.

In my community almost every one used to trust each other but now there are more and more robberies.

But there is not only just bad things happening, good things happen too. For example, there are new opening stores close by so if I want to buy something I don’t have to wait for my father to take me to the store, I can go and buy it by myself. Some of our new neighbors are friendly too. They sometimes share things with us.

Everything keeps changing in real life. You should look for good things in that change, then you will be happy with life. But if you keep thinking that the old things are the best and don’t face the change, you won’t be able to see the good the change brings you.

TOEFL Writing - The Independent Task

Some students like classes where teachers lecture (do all the talking) in class. Other students prefer classes where the students do some of the talking. Which type of class do you prefer? Give specific reasons and details to support your choice.

Every generation is different in important ways. How is your generation different from your parents' generation? Use specific reasons and examples to support your answer.       

These are 2 examples of the Independent Writing Task on the TOEFL. Here's how to answer them:

      1.  What does the task ask me to do?

• It asks you to state a preference or give your point of view (POV) on a topic
• You should then give reasons, make an argument, about why your preference or POV is correct
• These reasons must then be shown to be correct using evidence: facts, examples, details, personal anecdotes etc.

     

     2.  What do I do first?

• Choose a side or a preference that answers the question – your POV - write a sentence stating your POV - this is your thesis statement OR topic sentence
• Draw a plan
• Think of reasons, keywords or sub-topics to support your point of view
• Think of examples, facts, details, or personal anecdotes to support your reasons

      3.   When I finish "The Plan" how do I organize my essay?

• Use 5 paragraphs
• Paragraph 1 is the Introduction
• Paragraphs 2 to 4 are the Body Paragraphs
• Paragraph 5 is the Conclusion

     4.    The Essay - Paragraphs

           Introduction

• Give some background to the topic – why is it important
• Answer the question using a topic sentence or thesis statement
• Give three reasons, 3 sub-topics, why your point of view is correct
  
  
  

           Body Paragraphs

• Starts with a topic sentence, sub-topic 1, 2, or 3, linking it to your introduction
• Supports your topic sentence using facts, examples and details
• Links back to your thesis statement, showing how this evidence supports your point of view

           Conclusion

• Summarizes what you have written
• Shows how your evidence supports your point of view
• Give a final statement supporting your choice

    And that's all. I hope that helps you with your writing. You should learn the template first, before you start experimenting on your own.

Good luck with your test.

                     

New Diploma Courses at the Language Institute

Hi everybody,

I would first like to congratulate all the students who passed their Diploma Courses last term. Well done to everyone.

Now we have students studying in Levels 1a, 1b, 1c, 2a and 3a.

Levels 1 and 2 are mainly to do with conversation and listening practice, and also with building vocabulary and basic grammar skills.

Levels 3 and 4 have more to do with academic skills as well as speaking and listening. So, there will be more emphasis on reading and writing.

Good Luck to you all as you continue to study the Diploma.

Remember:

If you think you can't, then you are probably right.

However if you think you can, You probably can.

Fear Can Hold You Prisoner, Hope Can Set You Free

The Shawshank Redemption is our next film in the "Read the Book, Watch the Movie' series, and it's one of my all time favorite films. It's from the book "Rita Hayworth and the Shawshank Redemption" by Stephen King - one of my favorite authors and the "Dickens" of the 20th. Century.

It's a story of friendship, loyalty, patience and belief. Andy Dufresne is sent to prison - Shawshank - for murdering his wife and her lover, a crime he says he didn't commit. There he meets Red Redding, the wise old fixer, who can get anything for anyone, and over time they become great friends. They can both get things done for people, but for each other they get respect. One has a price, one is priceless. Prison is tough and the brutality comes from the warders and prisoners alike. And the film doesn't block that out. However, the real story is of good and evil and how they can be reversed in both our minds and in real life. For there is nothing which is good or evil unless we think it. Is it the evil we see, or evil to see it?

The movie will be shown on Saturday 6th. June at 4.30pm. It will change your life.

Click here to watch the movie trailer.

To get the ebook send me an email at cmudiploma@live.com

FREE HUGS

Tonight in The Diploma class (Level 2c) we're studying newspaper stories.

This is a news item from 10 News Australia. It's about an Australian guy who started giving free hugs at a shopping mall once a week. What a wonderful idea! But the local government decided that he needed insurance in case someone got hurt while hugging. How crazy can they be?

So, he started a petition and got 10,000 people to sign up saying "let the love in". And then a band called the Sick Puppies wrote a song about him and posted it on YouTube. It got to be a big story and now Free Hugs is spreading around the world.

Watch the videos by clicking on the links below and give someone a free hug.

Free Hugs News Report

Sick Puppys Free Hugs Song

TOEFL PREPARATION II

Review and Practice

60 hour Syllabus



TOEFL Preparation II is for those students who have completed Preparation I and would like more opportunity to practice.

There will be a short review of techniques, but most of the time will be taken up with classroom and lab practice.

There will be more time spent on the writing and speaking sections with more feedback time from the teacher. Students will also be expected to do homework and a lot more time will be spent in the classroom correcting and perfecting students’ work.

Students will also be able to complete a full test in the lab and obtain a full score from the teacher.

TOEFL PREPARATION I

Question Answering Techniques

60 hour Syllabus


1. READING – 18 hours

Introduction to the TOEFL – Advice on study and practice – How the different sections are linked - Structure of Academic Reading Passages – Finding the topic and main idea – How to read actively – Following direction markers – The importance of skimming – Breaking down and simplifying sentences – Dealing with difficult vocabulary – Basic principles for answering questions – Process of elimination – Two-pass system – It’s in there – Question Types – Classroom practice and lab practice.

2. WRITING – 15 hours

Scoring on the writing section – Understanding and answering the questions – Essay organization – Planning – Time constraints - Writing a thesis statement – Giving appropriate reasons – Supporting your reasons with examples and details – Introduction, Body and Conclusion – Use of linking words – Keeping it simple - The 2 writing tasks – Using templates – Practice in the classroom and at home.

3. LISTENING – 15 hours

The different listening tasks – The importance of the first 20 seconds - Listening for the main idea or purpose – Following the structure – Sub-topics and examples – Tone and attitude – Transitions or signal words – Question types – Attacking the questions – Using POE – Practice in the classroom and the lab.

4. SPEAKING – 12 hours

Scoring on the Speaking section – The six different tasks - Delivery, intonation, pronunciation, flow and clarity – Developing your answer with reasons and examples – Using appropriate language – Templates for the different tasks – Beyond the templates – Speaking practice in the classroom and recording your voice in the lab – Listening and analyzing your answers.

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