TOEFL IBT: 2013

Friday, December 6, 2013

Take a look at participle clauses...

About inversions

Friday, August 2, 2013

Free online ESL / EFL Academic Reading and Writing Exercises

Constructing the Paragraph
Elizabeth Hanson-Smith
A Tutorial and Self-testing Program:

Topic Sentences
Topics and Comments
Support Sentences
Using Transitions
Ordering principles

Formal or Informal: Rank the texts
UniLearning

Pulp Friction
UVic English Language Centre, Canada
A complete module including: Pre-reading, skimming, scanning, reordering, scavenger hunt (unfortunately many dead links), essay writing. A particularly useful exercise:
Review of Cause and Effect Linking Words

An Academic Writing Module: Paragraphs
Victoria University, NZ
Including exercises on:

Topic sentences
Building Paragraphs
Incorporating Sources
Types of Paragraphs
Sample Essay

UEFAP Using English for Academic Purposes
Andy Gillett, University of Hertfordshire

Academic Word List 56 short articles followed by gap filling exercises.
Individual words Click on "word order" to find the exercises
Describing Trends Matching sentences to graphs
Listening comprehension & note-taking: Gap-filling exercises
Efficient reading skills including:
- Scanning to locate specifically required information
- Surveying the text
- Using the title
- Skimming a text using first lines of paragraphs
- Skimming a text using first and last paragraphs
- Skimming a text, using section headings

Reading strategies for academic texts
Advice followed by lots of short articles for practice:
Strategies for reading

Interactive academic reading exercises
Based on the Voice of America's Special English programs

Interactive academic text reconstruction exercises
Based on the Voice of America's Special English programs

Linking Words
A set of interactive exercises

Determiners: Articles
A sequence of exercises aimed at understanding the logic of article use in English.

Quentin's cool English site
Links to information and exercises on Essays, Bibliographies, Citations, Evidence, Paraphrasing, Proof Reading, Quoting, Summarizing, Thesis.

MOTS LIENS (Linking Words)
Institut de langues vivantes at the Université catholique de Louvain.
Many other grammar exercises, too.

Dartmouth Writing Program
No exercises but a lot of practical advice including a sections on:

The Process Approach to Teaching Writing
English as a second language
This includes a section on cultural differences and a list of
Common ESL errors: the top ten list
(scroll down to the middle of the page to find it).

Reading for Thinking
Laraine Flemming

Thursday, August 1, 2013

More practice!

VIDEO BASED EXERCISES FOR ESL | Page 1 (Movie Trailers):

Catch Me If You Can

Unbreakable

The Patriot

Gladiator

Lost In Translation

The Wedding Crashers

Almost Famous

Matchstick Men

Spirited Away

After watching these videos and doing the quizzes: What is it that you think was more challenging? Do you think this activity helped you improve your listening skills? Why?

Friday, June 7, 2013

Reading strategies

Reading strategies

1. Become familiar with reading in English. You should be reading in English every single day. Read the newspaper or news online, print out the daily lessons on English, baby! and find academic papers at the library or online. Do not just stick to topics related to areas that you are interested in – become familiar with a variety of subjects!

2. Practice skimming passages rather than spending valuable time reading the passage in detail. (Skimming is when you quickly glance through text rather than reading every single word). Then go back and read the passage more slowly – you will find you understand more now that you know what the key points of the passage are. By practicing using any passage of written English, such as today's lesson on English, baby!, you will dramatically increase your fluency and reading rate.

3. Highlight the main ideas of the passage - often you will find this in the introduction. Also highlight key points and facts such as numbers and dates. You will not have time to read every paragraph in detail during your TOEFL reading exam and practicing this regularly will increase your reading speed and fluency.

4. Make quick notes after your first or second reading to save time when looking back for the answers to the questions.

5. Do not worry if you are unfamiliar with the topic of the passage. Everything you need to know to answer the questions will be in the passage in your TOEFL reading section and no prior knowledge is required.

6. Do not spend too much time on a question you are completely unsure of. If you do not know the answer to the question, try to eliminate any answers that you feel are not correct. You want to make sure you have enough time for the questions and answers you are sure of!

7. Practice creating charts placing information from the passage in the appropriate category. For the TOEFL iBT reading exam you do not have to create a chart but you will be expected to fill in the chart with the correct choices and this will help you thinking about putting the information you are reading into useful categories.

8. Increase your vocabulary and understanding of idioms – this will help your overall understanding of passages in your TOEFL reading exam. Visit our grammar section for good examples.

9. Guess if you are running out of time – if you have very little time left, it is better to complete all questions than to leave an answer blank. Remember, you will not lose points for incorrect answers in your TOEFL reading exam!

10. Choose unfamiliar words from past TOEFL reading exams and try to guess what they mean from the words surrounding it, as well as using the context of the paragraph. This will help you stay calm during the exam when you come across words you do not know, as you will be well trained to make an educated guess.

...more reading tips