 Thu Aug 23, 2007 5:43 am How you guys practicing for the TOEFL speaking section? |
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Hi,
A couple of ideas:
Independent task
1 Make a list of words of feelings and opinions. ( see samples below, use a Thesaurus for more)
a. For each word give a short presentation of something it relates to. (prep 15 sec. talk for 45 sec. I found a nice downloadable timer online "XNote Stopwatch")
b. Write down a couple of sentences you said/ wanted to say and check them vs. search results whether you used all words in the correct context and with the right prepositions etc.
Exaples:
Feelings: upset, outraged, angry, annoyed, mad
shocked, stunned, speachless,
amazed, bewildered, taken aback
worried, apprehensive, concerned
undecided, in doubt, of two minds about,
scared, frightened, afraid, timid, puzzled,
incredulous, skeptical, dubious about,
amused, pleased, glad, happy
Opinion: consider a good idea, prefer, rate highly, appreciate, disagree, vote for, support, oppose, object to, treasure, dispute, second <s.o.'s opinoin>, think highly of, disparage, value
scorn, praise, laude, ridicule, condemn, applaude, welcome, argue against
(Look at interviews with politicians at news sites for more)
2. Expand the following list with your own ideas. Then
a. put each topic on a card and take one and rattle off as many related adjectives (describes how s.o. or s.th. is) and/or adverbs (describes how you do s.th.) as you can before you run out of steam. (then find more if you're not happy with your performance)
b. write down vocab groups of noun, related verb and preposition, adverb and adjective.
c. For each topic write answers to basic questions: (not all will fit each topic)
What? Who? Why? When? With whom? Where?
Your favorite:
book
type of reading
movie
TV program
musician
type of music
artist
type of entertainment
sports activity
spectator sport
food
past time/ leisure activity (hobby)
holiday (celebration)
day of the year
season
vacation destination
place to relax at
study suject
job
pet
Characteristics:
successful person
successful student
successful manager
good boss
good parent
good neighbor
good friend
good teacher
good manager
good leader
good politician
good mariage partner
good actor
3. Grab an English Language Tourist Guide for your town/area
Pick a sight at random (have your buddy do it if you have help) and then say what you like, don't like about it and what makes it a good/ bad sight to show a tourist.
4. Write a list of as many sentences you can think of beginning with (or similar)
If I were .... I would or
I I had .... I would
5. Sit down and think of relatives, friends, acquaintances or neighbors who are very opinionated. If you get stuck for ideas, think "What would aunt Myrna say?" Remember, no one's interested whether what you say is true, false or your own opinion. All they want is answering the question, giving examples, fluency, structure, vocab and grammar. Aunt Myrna in your pocket can save the day when you're baffled.
6. Tape and interview or use an interview podcast and for every opinion given, stop the recording and argue the opposite view and give a reason why. (The subject doesn't really matter, and the position/reasons don't have to make sense as long as you argue them convincingly. e.g. "John's new single is bound to be a hit." >> "John's new single is unlikely to be successful. Mostly so because iI is not following the current music trends. The damaging first reviews in ceratin trade publications corroborate this evaluation.")
If you are having trouble, write the first few out until you get the hang of it.
Integrated
1. Find a podcast online. (Or take s.th from radio or TV) Listen to it then select one word or main idea and look it up in wikipedia. Select a block of text about 100 words long and describe how the audio relates to the Wiki article.
2. Develop cookie cutter mold sentences you can use for various topics with just inserting the subject at hand. (I don't like the Barrons' starter "In this set of materials..." myself, but if you don't find anything better...)
3. Make sure you have enough phrases to draw a connection between the reading and the listening sections. Looking at some TOEFL sample materials they are not THAT picky about it, and have a wider definition than others, but throwing in "as we learned from the reading passage" or "which forms the basis for the lecture" might just be the cherry on the cake you need. Sprinkle with a couple of "whereas", "as well as", "relating/ related", "further to" and other linking words at the right places.
4 Grab a text and underline a couple of words. Then try to describe them without mentioning related words. Same: Read an unfamiliar scientific article and describe what you can about one of the new vocab words in it without looking it up first. (E.g. "scientists studied a cell that transmitts information" = "neuron") That will train you to talk around vocab that you didn't hear propperly, don't know or can't pronounce.
General
If you have problems with getting stuck till your brain catches up, rather than with grammar and vocab, prepare a couple of filler sentences that work better than "um" "uh"
Examples:
meaning to say, and then, which is to say, leading us to, ("like" is a very American filling word, but doesn't work for everyone)
Got off topic and just noticed: "which brings us/me back to"
Uttterly lost: "at which point I've lost my thread of thought", "And here my train of thought derails" |
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TOEFLnIELTSLisa
New Member
Joined: 13 Aug 2007
Posts: 9
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