getting started

Sometimes the hardest part is getting started. There are millions of different ways to delay. Like writing blog entries!

Here are some ways to deal with procrastination.

via lifehacker

More writing help

Eslbee has some useful explanations for essay writersthat cover a lot of the problems that come up in my classes.

If you want to work on Subject-Verb Agreement

or topic sentencesthen head over to eslbee!

mind maps

An important skill to develop not only for the TOEFL essay, but also your writing and thinging generally is mind mapping. Our brains don't work in straight lines, especially when we're under time pressure. A mind map helps you get ideas out of your head and onto a page. This lets you work with them more easily and turn them into a coherent essay.

You can find out more here
.

podcasting

our new word for the week ispodcasting .

I've seen a few pairs of the little white headphones dangling from students' necks lately. Although some people think they isolate users from the community, I feel that there are important benefits to using an Ipod or other mp3 player as a study tool. At least two universities in the US,Duke and Drexel, have given or are giving incoming students ipods. Reports are mixed but I think that for students in places like Vietnam where there aren't a lot of other sources of natural,authentic spoken language; podcasts can be a high quality, motivating, repeatable way to improve listening skills.

This page has over 43,000 podcasts on hundreds of subjects.

Even traditional broadcasters are releasing podcasts.

There is so much to listen to!

learning vocabulary

At the end of with my toefl 2/48 class on Friday, we wrote some new vocabulary on the board that came up in the reading questions we'd done. There was a pregnant pause and a couple of students asked why I wasn't going to explain the new words.

This is something I feel very strongly about and which has probably put me at odds with some many of my Vietnamese students. There are a couple of issues to deal with.

Traditionally, Vietnamese students view the teacher as the explainer or the source and everything should come from the teacher and students should obediently write down what comes out of the teachers mouth or goes onto the board. My experience and instinct tell me that this isn't really learning. If it is, why do I meet so many people who have "studied" English for six years in school who can barely express a thought in English.

If I lapse into the Teacher=Explainer role, that removes responsibility from learners to think and work for themselves. I think this is probably one of the biggest problems for VN students in foreign studies.
In my own language learning expeience, the most powerful (and consequently memorable) moments for me have been when I've figured things out for myself.

The people at the University of Manchester in England agree with me.

Among their 10 Hints on Learning Vocabulary:

You're more likely to remember something you've worked out for yourself

I couldn't agree more! The whole list is worth reading.


There is also useful, more generalized advice at Oxford University Press.



However, if explanations are really what people want, there are some useful ones at http://www.english-at-home.com


Finally, I'll repeat what I think is the most useful trick I've found in the last year. I've used this dozens of times. In the
Google search box, type define: and the word you're looking for. After you press Enter, you will get any definitions of that word on the web. It works better for longer words or specialized vocabulary: medicine, science or engineering, for example. It's an excellent way to check words you don't know while surfing the web.

Test practice

Thanh, a student in my afternoon class, mentioned this page to me. It has some good practice materials for the TOEFL and other standardized tests. I've had a quick look through it and seems pretty good. Check it out and let me know what you think in my comments. or if you know of other good materials share them with me and your fellow students.

tough love

This story from Canada is about a difference between North American cultre and Korean culture. How far should parents go to punish their children? Does the state (government/police/legal system) have the right to become involved in a "family matter?" If parents pay to have their children educated abroad, what are the duties of the children? and the parents? Is there a disconnect between wanting one's children educated in a foreign country but expecting them to keep the behavoural standards of the home country? Does any of this apply to Vietnamese students?

TOEFL 2/47 & 2/48

Hello and welcome to my new classes, this is where I keep a lot of ideas on practicing for the TOEFL
Have a look around, try some of the links and let me know what you think by adding a comment.


If you have any questions or problems let me know those, too!

Hard work or Passion?

This idea is appealling for a toefl essay task that might also get students thinking.

Hard work has nothing to do with success. It does not produce success. It does not sustain success. And it certainly does not reverse a failure. It is passion that drives success. Love for one's activity is infinitely more important to creating success than hard work. Yet for some twisted reason, parents, teachers, and leaders insist on emphasizing the importance of hard work.

If you emphasize hard work to the youth, you will create a generation of most obedient servants. However, if you inspire passion in them, the sky is the limit for what can be accomplished.

99% of my students would argue the opposite point of view.


On the other hand, I'm also thinking that passion as an ingredient for success may be a hopelessly Western white middle-class inulgence. Individualistic and self centred?

Voocabulary Games

There are some good games and quizzes to practice vocabulary on this page.
Try them and let me know if you think they're useful.