Tag Archives: notetaking

Practicing listening, reading, writing and speaking integration tasks

By Salsita Says | Published: March 29, 2009

What is an integration task?
An integration task is a task where you must combine two or more skills such as listening, reading, writing and speaking. The TOEFL iBT requires that you complete several integration tasks, some in the speaking section and some in the writing section. To get a complete overview of the different questions [...]

Posted in English Classes, TOEFL | Also tagged , , , , , , , , , | 6 Comments

How to prepare for an English proficiency test

By Salsita Says | Published: March 24, 2009

Today in class we had an interesting conversation about the best ways to prepare for taking an English proficiency test such as the TOEFL iBT or IELTS. I asked the students what they thought was the best way to prepare for the test. Here are some of the things we spoke about:

You need to know [...]

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Reverse outlining to improve your writing and summarizing

By Salsita Says | Published: March 23, 2009

The OWL (online writing lab) at Purdue has a good resource page about the technique of reverse outlining.
Reverse outlining is a useful method for taking notes, analysing complex writing, or revising and assessing the quality of your written work.
Click here to read more about this very useful technique.
Can you find an online example of reverse [...]

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Making a good summary

By Salsita Says | Published: March 19, 2009

Yesterday in class we practiced summarizing, comparing and contrasting information in preparation for answering question four (speaking) of the TOEFL ibt. We used a practice example taken from Jason Renshaw’s TOEFL practice website. Click here to see the sample question.
In the ‘real’ test students are only given a very short amount of time to read, [...]

Posted in English Classes, Speaking | Also tagged , | 1 Comment

60-Second Science podcasts for listening practice

By Salsita Says | Published: March 16, 2009

Do you need short lectures for practicing your notetaking and summarizing skills? Search no more! Scientific American now has a whole podcast dedicated to 60 second lectures about the latest news in the science world. The sound lectures include a transcript as well as a link to an article with more detailed information about the [...]

Posted in English resources, Listening | Also tagged , , , , | 1 Comment

Using “Ted Talks” to practice listening and notetaking 1

By Salsita Says | Published: March 16, 2009

Practicing listening and notetaking is an essential part of preparation for doing both the TOEFL and the IELTS. Unfortunately, most of the example practice material is pretty dry. While it is still worth using the official practice example material in order to get a feel for the kinds of lectures you will be ‘forced’ to [...]

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