Preparing students for the TOEIC Speaking and Writing Test

                 

Unlike TOEIC Listening and Reading, training for the Speaking and Writing test is harder since the answers are more subjective, that is, there is not a correct or incorrect response, it all depends on the examiner evaluating the test who will consider whether you deserve a good score or not, therefore, there are limited exercises found on the net.

Another point to consider is the type of questions we commonly come across during the test. It’s complicated to make a simulation of the test without really knowing the format of it and as we may have noticed, not many people have taken it.

The first time I had to prepare my students for this certification I wasn´t really sure how to do it, I mean,  with limited information (mainly the handbook provided by ETS, which is not enough) and with almost no material or exercises to use in the classroom, I had a hard time finding good material. I ran into great books to prepare students for the test and when I tried to download them, I found out I had to pay for them.

After working for three years training for this test, I have come to the realization that what students mainly need is practice so as to gain confidence. So I have gathered some material that will be of great help for our students to practice and improve their skills for their test. Most of this material has been taken from:

1.       Kenton County Adult English as a Second Language. (s.f.). TOEIC Preparation: TOEFL/ TOEIC Preparation. Obtenido de TOEFL/ TOEIC Preparation: https://sites.google.com/a/kentonesl.org/toefl-toeic-preparation/toeic-preparation

2. Trew, G. (2006). Tactics for TOEIC Speaking and Writing Tests. Oxford: Oxford University Press.

SPEAKING TEST

Some pieces of advice:

1.       Have Ss record with their cellphones or any other recording device the exercises from the PDF documents all the time.

2.       Take your time to teach each question of the test, i.e., questions one and two may take you two classes.

3.       Read the “Tips” or “Test Techniques” found on the Tactic Practice exercises.

4.       Familiarize Ss with the scoring guidelines so they know what they have to do in order to get the highest score in each question of the test.

5.       Once they are familiar with the criteria, share Ss’ recordings with their classmates and have them give the student immediate feedback.

6.       Play the “answer examples” from test takers available in the PDF documents so Ss have an idea of answers that will give them a good score.

You will find some useful videos I recommend watching first before socializing the guided questions and then, it is better if they take notes as you explain.

Once they have learned about the structure, times, and tips for test, it is the moment to wrap everything up. How to make students not to forget the tactics and help them practice? I have created 5 complete speaking practice tests which students hand in weekly. First, I told them to record from Powerpoint and then convert it into a video. But there was a problem in the questions that required audio, since both, the students’ voice and the audio inserted in the slide would play at the same time not allowing me to hear the students’ response. So, they had two options, either to leave it as a presentation which I would have to open and listen to each slide or to screencast with a practical software called “ACTIVE”, which I will also share.

Evaluating the tests takes a while especially if you have a large class but it is worth the effort when you see students’ improvement. To grade them, I made this rubric and as I listen to their responses I am writing comments on aspects they could do better. Let’s say they make grammar mistakes, I do not write each grammar mistake I hear, instead I write something general like “Unclear message, work on grammar”. The score they get in each section varies, depending on the highest they can get from the real test. In the real TOEIC speaking test, for questions 1-2, the highest is 3 but in questions 10 and 11, it’s 5.

Find the S&W Practices tests HERE.  

Find all about the SPEAKING Preparation material HERE.

Find material to prepare for the WRITING test HERE 

The challenge of writing an essay for the first time

                                                

Maybe the hardest question to answer is "Why is it important to write an essay?" We all know  it is important, but do students know? The first stage is get them to understand why knowing to write one is a must in any English class.  If we think about it, most students are learning English because they want to have better jobs or want to live in an English-speaking country. In general, they want a better life. If we keep thinking, we will find out that most situations that help us grow professionally, or even personally, require writing at some point: scholarships, jobs, forms, certifications, love letters, etc. Students should be aware of all this before actually starting to teach them the topic so they get excited and turn the class into lots of fun. 

INTRODUCING ESSAY WRITING

Once students have gotten engaged with the topic, it's time to teach them what an essay is, and to do so, I present a controversial topic on the board and have them share their opinions with the class. Next, I write all their ideas and here's when I explain the concept of essay by telling them that it's a text used to express the opinions we commonly say orally but in a written way. I ask them if it'd sound okay if I just randomly connect all the ideas given and put them into a piece of paper? The answer is NO! Therefore, we need to have a structure. 

To present this, I use the typical but helpful method of the hamburger whereby students analyse the structure of an essay:

                          

1. On the top: An engaging introduction for the topic. I recommend starting it with a question, a quote, a study, or something that can get readers' attention to continue with the essay. Next, they should state their position to the topic in case we talk about an opinion or agree/disagree essay. It's crucial to clarify the types of essay they might face: Opinion essays as mentioned above, Pros and cons (advantages and disadvantages) essays, and Agree/Disagree essays. 

2. In the middle: I ask them what the typical ingredients are (lettuce, meat, tomato) and tell them that this is what gives the delicious flavor to the whole burger, hence it has to be "tasty" and well-cooked. The ingredients come to be the three points that will defend our ideas. Each point is a different paragraph. Say, if we agree with something, here's where we must explain by giving three strong arguments, each supported by facts, examples or studies which help us convince our readers that our opinion is valid. I emphasize that in every paragraph we must give our main idea and then, explain why we think so with the "supporting ideas" to make it more believable. 

3. The bottom: What holds all our ingredients and ideas is the last piece of bread we get at the bottom. There, students must summarize all their thoughts they have written in the previous paragraphs or they can make one last reflection on the topic. Again, this last lines of the essay should be impressive for the reader so  even after days of reading the essay, they will still remember those last words. Challenge them to think out of the box and I'm quite sure they will come up with incredible ideas. 

ACTIVITIES

1. Fine, now students know how to write an essay. What's next? To write one just like that? 

Teach them that before starting with the essay itself, it's a good idea to write a draft of what each paragraph will contain. In the draft, students just write the very BASIC argument and general words they will use for their essay. 

Afterwards, group them in threes and have them write an essay on a topic given. Hand out 5 pages to each group and in each page, they should write a paragraph (introduction, first, second, and third argument, and conclusion). Elicit a list of expressions typically used for each paragraph. Make sure they build the essay as a team and not individually, so they collect ideas and put them together. 

Once all the paragraphs have been written, students will connect the pages so as to make one whole text. Hang them outside the classroom and have the groups walk around and read their partners' essays leaving comments next to the texts. 

                 

2. Provide feedback and now, students can write their own essay in a page following the structure taught. 

3. If you want your students to keep practicing, you can have them create their own blogs and upload their essays there. What I do is to send them weekly a topic and they have a week to write about it in their blogs. Then, they reply to my email by sending me the link to their blogs. Here are some blogs my students have made

Milagro Ascencio’s:

https://milyessays.blogspot.com/2016/10/long-shifts.html

Walter Portillo’s:

http://thisistheessay.blogspot.com/2016/10/nowadays-there-are-lot-of-professions.html

Bryan Cerén’s:

http://essaypractice5.blogspot.com/2016/10/in-some-professions-and.html

National Games in ESL Classes

There are several games we normally played in El Salvador, everyone knows them, but how can you adapt them to your EFL Class? In this blog, I will show you some of the national games I have played with my EFL students and that have worked perfectly great. 

1. BACHILLERATO STOP

This is a famous game students play when they are bored or with nothing much to do. Why not to use it as a warm up to review vocabulary? 

1. Write on the board different categories, I usually write 7, starting by "Letter", Name, Place (Countries, cities, place of the city), Food (fruits, vegetables, drinks), Adjective, Verb, Thing, and finally Total.  

2. Choose a letter and tell students to write a word from each category starting with the letter you said. To vary, you can do it pairs. The first group to finish must scream "Bachillerato stop". 

3. Ask the winner to tell you his/her answers. If another group got the same or different answers, they must say it. If the answers are the same in one category, they get 5 points. If they have different answers in one category, they get 10. At the end, they must add up all the points from each category and write it in the "Total" space. 

2. TRIPA CHUCA (Dirty guts)

Again, this is a very popular game played among students to have fun when being bored. Here's how you could adapt it to your class

1, Write two sets of words all around the board in a messy fashion, one in english and one with its translation. 

2. Break the class in two or three groups. And ask the teams to line up in front of the board. 

3. Give each group a marker of a different color and they will have to go to the board and match the English word with its translation without touching any other word nor line traced by the others. 

To vary the game, you can give them two bridges in case they are stucked and want to jump from one line to another. 

3. MICA

It's kind of a variation of "Tag, you're it". 

Once we have studied new words, I take them out and tell them we are about to play "Tag, you're it". If you dont want to be "it", you must say one of the words we just learned plus its translation and freeze until someone gets to give you "Libre". This activity works really well specially with kids, they love it! and also with teenagers in an open area. 

4. MAR Y TIERRA

Students line up facing the board and as you say "SEA", Ss will jump forward once. If you say "SAND", they will jump backwards once. You keep saying the words and start to confuse them: Repeat SEA twice, or three times, and so on. If one students had the intention to jump or did jump, he will have a question.

How to structure a EFL class successfully

Something I struggled with when I started to teach English was how to structure my class. How am I supposed to start it? How should I explain it? What to do to finish the lesson? As an unexperienced teacher, at first we have hard times trying to see what works and what doesnt, but with time, we find the right way. Here's how I do it.

1. ALWAYS START WITH A FEEDBACK

The first thing I do to start the class is ask my students "What did we study last class?" or "What do you remember from the previous lesson?". Highlight main ideas of the last topic and provide feedback of the mistakes or difficulties you noticed your students had with the topic.

2. ENGAGE THEM WITH THE LESSON

After having highlighted the main points, present an agenda. I know sometimes we cant afford the time to write an agenda, but still, you can explain what the objectives of the class are as well as some activities you are gonna be doing.

Something I do is to ask several questions related to the topic they are about to learn. They get really curious and that's when you start to engage them with the class.

3. WARM UP!

Usually, when the class is in the early hours of the morning, let's say 7:30 or 8:00 am, or early hours of the afternoon, 1:00 pm or 2:00 pm, students feel sleepy or down, and this is why I use warm ups.

Warm ups help students wake up and be more active in the class. They are meant to energize them, hence they should involve movement and lots of fun. Warm ups shouldnt last more than 15 minutes. It's difficult sometimes to think of a game for each class, but it is certainly helpful to make our class successful. (See my next blog to find some warm ups I play in my class)

4. ELICIT THE NEW TOPIC

You got them energized, this is your moment to take advange of their concentration and explain your new topic. To make it even more interesting, elicit it. How? Give several examples using the new structure or words, give different contexts using it, write examples on the board, let them tell you the use or the meaning of the new word or structure, this will make the topic more meaningful for your students. And then, ask them to give examples using the structure.

5. EXERCISE

Provide a worksheet or have them solve the exercises they have on their book. While they are solving the exercises, make sure to walk around the classroom and check how they are doing. Are they making a lot of mistakes? If so, what are the most common mistakes? Then, check the answers as a class,  explain each answer and provide feedback.

6. PRACTICE

I always tell me students: The best way to learn a language or anything, is by practicing it not only with worksheets but also orally, actually using the structures. This helps the brain get used to the words or structures and makes them automatic after a while. 

To practice, I provide them different activities such as games, onion rings, invent a conversation, roleplays, videos, invent a song and sing it, make presentations, debates, ads, posters, essays, etc. 

7. WRAP UP

I do two things to wrap up: Either a quick test (with 10 questions the most to see how well students understood the topic) or with a game in which students practice the words or structures learnt. 

When you have an structure of your class, it's a lot easier to plan it because you know the steps to follow. So, give it a go and see how your classes will change. 

Creative Classroom Management

We have all been there at least once. A moment we dont know what to do with our students' behaviour: They do not pay attention to the class, they speak with their partners while you are explaining an important topic, you ask them to be quiet, and  you end up frustrating because nothing seems to work right,  

I was 17 when I started working as an English teacher for 6th and 9th graders. I was only 2 years older than them! At first, things were a bit hard, so I had to come up with something to solve this problem and I looked into information to take over this situation. How to build a class with respect? How to keep control of the class?

Classroom Hack 1: The Black List

I made this up and it has worked incredibly great. On one of the corners of the board, I write "Black List" and tell Ss that those who are speaking while you are , are not paying attetion, or simply doing something they dont have to in the class, they will be in the List. 

Being in the list means taking some time off their break (The time they took off your class), extra homework to reinforce the topic they didnt listen, loss of certain privileges. 

From the moment you write a name in the list, two things can happen:

1. They stop misbehaving: If this happens, then after 5 minutes you wrote their name, you can erase and say that because  XXX is now behaving really well, you will erase him/her from the black list. 

2. They continue misbehaving: If the person is already in the list, I write a star next to his name. If the  person keeps the same, I write another star and so on. The more stars the student has, the thougher his punishment will be. Of course, if the student starts to show a positive change, I erase the stars as he behaves. 

Classroom Hack 2: Teamwork

You can carry out this activity in two or more ways

1. Break the class in groups and assign each team a number which you will write on the board. Then, you will explain that the group(s) that most participates, most behaves, most complete the tasks will obtain a point and at the end, the group(s) with more points, will go out to break 5 min before the time, or will have a privelge such as a point for homework or a test. Something important to keep in mind is that if several groups got the same amount of points, then they should all receive the prize. 

2. Assign each group a score of 10. Then, tell them that as they misbehave in the class, or dont work, you will take off some points and at the end of the class, the groups with a score under 8 or 7, will stay in the class for 5 more minutes. It's important to bear in mind that if students start behaving, give them back the points and praise them. 

Classroom Hack 3: Behaviour lights

Take three color pages to your classroom: Red, green and yellow. Explain that each color represents their behaviour in the class and that you will be sticking the page on the board. If the color shown is green, it means that they are behaving really great and therefore, they will all be prized with 5 extre minutes for their break. If it is in yellow, it means that they have started to speak too much while you are speaking or they are not working, therefore they will stay 5 more minutes after the class. If it is in red, it means that they are unstoppable and you will take 10 minutes off their break to recover the time the took off your class.  (It's necessary you explain this last point so they understand why you are doing that)

TIPS

• Try to vary your classroom management strategies each quarter 
• Try to make your class as interesting as possible. Think of you as a student: How would you like the class to be like? 
• Always praise publically and tell off privately. 

Dope Websites for any EFL Class

Dope Websites

The internet is an amazing tool when it comes to learning a second language. However, it is sometimes hard to find one that suits our need. In this entry, I will share some of the websites (And apps) I have  used in my EFL class successfully and have made my students have a great time learning!

1. KAHOOT

Kahoot has two websites.
For teachers: https://getkahoot.com/ 
For students: https://kahoot.it/

It's actually pretty simple. You pretty much register for free and make quizzes.
You must assign them a topic, describe what the quiz is about and click on next.
The next step is start making the multiple choice questions. You can make as many questions as you want. 

Once you have finished your quizz, you must publish it and then, click on "PLAY".
A new window will open and you should select either the classic mode (individual) or team mode. 
Afterwards, wait a few secs while the website generates a PIN Code that students will type in on their website. 
You will be able to see the number of people taking the quiz as well as the name. 
Make sure everybody has entered the code and then, get ready to Start!

The questions will be projected as well as the options with a shape (a circle, a square, a triangle, etc). 
Your students will only see the shapes and they must rapidly choose the right option. 
Once time's up, the screen will show who answered the fastest and correctly, and that's what makes it entertaining.

 2. JEOPARDY

I wasnt really familiar with this game until a couple of weeks ago, and it worked amazingly great. 
I went to http://www.jeopardy.rocks and made my own set of questions divided into different categories. 
Each question worths an amount of money (From $100 -the easiest one- to $500 -the most difficult one-) 

You play it like this
1. Divide the class in two.
2. Groups take turns to decide on a category and a question. If they answer it correctly, they get the money,
if not, they loose it. 

Luckily, the place where I work owns a Mimio and that allows me to make my traditional board a smart board,
which makes the game more interesting. 

3. HEADS UP!

If you've never played this before, you should definitely try it! This is an app you can download from your cellphone 
and basically, it's charades. 

Once you have installed the app, open it and select a category. (I usually use "Act it out", it's honestly the one that
my students most love). Then, Ss should hold the phone on their forehead and a word will show up on the screen.
Ss will start miming the word so that their partner will guess. 

Give it a go. If it worked for me, it can work for you.

VOCABULARY GAME: Battleship

                              

Battleship

This is a game I recently found out on the net. I had seen it years ago, but I had never put it into action in my class until I really wanted to come up with a new way to practice vocabulary. Here's how it goes.

1. I draw a big 10x10 chart on the board, just like the one below, and ask my students to draw two of those in their notebooks.

2. Once they have drawn the two charts, I ask them to write at least 5 words in the grids of one chart in any position they want. The words can be about the topic being studied or just to recycle words. 

3. Then, I set them in pairs and they will take turns giving different positions so as to get their partners' hidden words. E.g.

Student A: B2

Student B : "K"

Therefore, student A writes the letter K in B2 in the second chart they drew. 

Student B: C10 

Student A: Nothing

Therefore, student B will write an "X" in C10 in the second chart they drew. 

At the end, the winner will be the one who gets his/her partner's 5 words. 

Give it a go and have your students engaged with the lesson. If it worked for me, it can also work for you.