ENGLISH MADE 4U

LET´ S LEARN AND SPEAK UP

PRO

SPEAKING TIPS:

 PROVIDE NATURAL DESCRIPTION OF WHAT YOU ARE DISCUSSING

 DEVELOP YOUR ANSWER AND SUPPORT WITH A SENTENCE AND EXAMPLES RATHER
THAN REPEATING YOURSELF
 MENTION EVERY KEY WORD IN THE QUESTION IN YOUR ANSWER

https://www.toeflresources.com/speaking-section/toefl-speaking-samples/

https://www.bestmytest.com/blog/toefl/new-toefl-speaking-topics

USEFUL SENTENCES
 Useful sentences for making factual statements
1. It's common knowledge that...
2. It's a fact (that)..
3. Anyone will tell you..
4. Everybody knows that...
5. It's a well-established fact that
6. Few people would deny that..
7. It's no secret that...
8. I think we can all accept / agree that..
9. It is generally assumed that...
10.It has been scientifically proven that...
September 18th, 2023
 LISTENING TYPES OF QUESTION –

https://ielc.co.id/en/tips-and-tricks-to-get-a-high-score-toefl-listening-section/

https://www.ets.org/toefl/test-takers/ibt/about/content/listening.html

https://www.bestmytest.com/blog/toefl/toefl-listening-question-types

about the listening exam:

 Conversations are followed by five questions, lectures by six
 Contains two parts, three passages in each part for a total of six passages
 Four academic passages and two conversations
 Conversations are between a student and a campus worker (usually a professor)
 Lectures will last at least four minutes (and it will feel like an eternity)
 Expect 34 questions in total

If you can recognize the type of question you have to answer, you’ve already won part of the
battle. Understanding the question type will give you hints and clues as to what to look for and
which responses to eliminate.
If you’re still getting questions wrong, you may have…

1. Heard some challenging vocabulary words

2. Misunderstood the topic of the lecture (or conversation)
3. Misinterpreted the tone of the lecturer (or speaker)

REMEMBER:

To feel confident, rather than time restricted, it’s important to start training yourself to stay
calm and answer questions when under pressure. That’s why you should start out giving
yourself plenty of time. Focus on improving your listening skills first, then worry about time.
DON´T FORGET TO SET A TIMER
After you have mastered answering in less than 60 seconds, try to do it in less than 45 seconds.
This will help you sharpen your skills and reduce your anxiety about the clock on test day.

Weekly study plan

TUESDAY: READ CLASS NOTES AND TAKE THE LISTENING PRACTICE ON

https://drive.google.com/file/d/1DFxttFbCsIKMfntYP7c3rp19OUA8yCnx/view

WEDNESDAY - Review the Tuesday practice answers. Identify incorrect choices and why
you got them wrong.

THURSDAY - Try to transcribe one of the passages of Tuesday practice test . Identify 5
words, phrases, or sentences that you had trouble understanding. You can check
pronunciation on https://youglish.com/ ( this link will show you the possible diferente
accents)

FRIDAY – choose one lecture and one conversation from the link below to practice :

https://www.examenglish.com/TOEFL/toefl_listening.htm

SATURDAY- Review answers and try to transcribe one of the passages of Friday´s practice.

Choose 5 to 10 difficult words or phrases and make up sentences with them. Then check for
pronunciation on https://youglish.com/

SUNDAY - RELAX AND PLAY WITH THE APPS, WATCH NETFLIX OR LISTEN TO A
PODCAST YOU LIKE

DETAIL QUESTION

September 14th, 2023

Since I was a kid, I have always had the dream OF workING in a creative area. I thought that I
would follow an architecture career because SINCE I WAS A CHILD I WAS TOLD THAT I draw
very well. When I became an adolescent, I realized I was really interested in design, especially
creating products for the fashion area. Since THEN, my dream job and purpose of life HAS
BEEN to build a career as a designer focused on fashion, but not restricted to it, having also the
possibility of expanding my creativity to other areas such as furniture and interior design.

WRITING AND SPEAKING PRACTICE

 PARTS OF NA ESSAY

INTRODUCTION= introduce the main topic

MIDDLE PARAGRAPHS (BODY OF THE ESSAY):

SUPPORTING IDEA 1

SUPPORTING IDEA 2

...

CONCLUSION

In a paragraph:

TOPIC SENTENCE

SUPPORTING SENTENCE

CONCLUDING SENTENCE

NOTE:

USE TRANSITION WORDS BETWEEN THEM

Support your ideas with argument and examples

WRITING AND SPEAKING PRACTICE

September 12th, 2023

Toefl preparation

Things you need to know about the exam

You can find at : https://www.gograd.org/toefl-guidebook/#:~:text=The%20exam%20is%20divided%20into,listening%2C%20speaking%2C%20and%20writing.&text=The%20reading

%20section%20assesses%20reading,to%20literature%2C%20science%20to%20psychology.

 Duration
 Number of sections
 Rules and regulations
Things you need to know and practice

 Types of questions for each section

 The amount of time for each section
 Identify your weakness so you can improve them
 Review grammar and learn new vocabulary daily
 Writing practice will help you improve your speaking skill

READING AND COMPREHENSION SECTION

Tips for the exam

 Read the questions before the text so you can have a clue of what you need
to find and focus on that
 Underline proper names and dates
 Keywords that may lead you to identify basic information that answers to wh
questions like WHO,WHERE,WHEN,WHAT,HOW, WHY
 The answers are found following the order of the questions
Be careful
Words with multiple meaning ( identify the function of the word)
Phrasal verbs
Idiom expressions or collocations
*they can confuse you and you end up misinterpretating

You need to know

 Linking words
 Synonyms and antonyms
 Prefixes, sufixes...
 Word functions
 Verb tenses and structure
 Word formation

Reading strategies
Skimming Identificar assunto geral do texto
scanning Leitura rápida e objetiva

use a strategy for each type of question

inference questions:
identify the paragraph that relates to the question ( look for clues like synonyms ,
similar words, key words or collocations related to the question)
don´t let the sentences trick you. There will be sentences stating true facts found in
the text, but that doesn´t mean it is addressing the question itself

vocabulary questions
1- If you don´t know the meaning of the word in question , try picking up clues
about it in the text. You may find another sentence using different words and
collocations to support that statement.

2- Reread the sentences surrounding the word they’re asking about. Sometimes,
you can get away with one sentence, but if you have time, a sentence before
and after may provide a clue.
 3- Restate the sentence, inserting your own word(s). Don’t worry about the
answer choices at this point. Just find a word or a phrase that makes sense.
4- Locate an answer choice that fits your definition. Suppose you came up
with decorate for this step. In the five answer choices, you see beautify, which
matches your definition well enough.
5- Insert your answer choice into the sentence. If it fits, you’re done. If not, try
another word.

Rethorical purpose question

Because the answer to this question is not directly stated in the reading passage, you
need to understand the main point of the paragraph and how the referenced
information is related to the main point of the paragraph in order to solve this type of
question.

1. Read the question carefully and understand what you are being asked
2. Make sure you understand the whole paragraph.
3. Look for transition words. These often are a huge clue to why the author included
certain information.
4. Consider the big picture of the paragraph. Usually, the question is related to the
big picture of what the paragraph is trying to present.
5. Use the process of elimination. Answers are often incorrect if they are too extreme
(words like none, never, forever, always, etc.), if they are not mentioned, or if they
are untrue according to information in the paragraph.

Factual and negative factual questions

Factual Information questions ask you to recognize information that is
explicitly stated in the text. These may include facts such as major
ideas, supporting details, or definitions. Negative factual information
questions are similar,
except that, instead of only one answer being true, three of the four
answers are true, and you have to determine which one is false.

1. Don't automatically select an answer just because it contains

words or phrases from the paragraph. Make sure you carefully
evaluate each option to determine if it is correct.

2. For the Negative Factual Information questions, remember that

 you're looking for an answer that either isn't in the paragraph, or
directly contradicts information in the paragraph.

Essential Information (Sentence Simplification) Question

The question will ask you to choose which of the 4 answer option sentences is equal to
the highlighted sentence.

1- Understand the sentence and all its essence . You need to assure you pick up
the main ideas and purpose of the sentence.
2- Be attentive, you need to choose the sentence with the closest in meaning,
that is you cannot exclude any essencial information.
3- Make sure the sentence you choose cover all the relevant message. Eliminate
the ones that don´t

Sentence insertion question

you will be asked to decide where a new sentence best fits into the reading passage.
It tests your ability to understand the grammatical connections from one sentence to
another.
1- You need to be able to identify the type of information the paragraph is
holding: contrast/ additional information/ explanation/ supporting a
statement...
2- Look for clues of linking words at the end of the previous paragraph or/and at
the beginning of the following one.
3- Read it all together to check if there is a logic in the sequence you´ve chosen

Complete the summary question

you are given a summary statement of the reading passage and 6 answer options. You
need to drag and drop 3 answers that represent major ideas or contain important
information from the passage

1- Remember the question is about the MAJOR IDEAS,not secondary or

superficial .
2- The 3 correct options will NOT have the exact wording of any sentence in the
passage.
 3- The other 3 will have errors in detail, or state an unimportant concept.
Eliminate any sentence that is lacking relevant information.

Complete/fill in a table
you will see 2 or 3 categories in an empty table. From the options provided, you must
select which ones correctly belong to each category. There will also be 2 options that
won't be used. There will either be 5 or 7 correct options depending on the question.
It tests your ability to organize major ideas of the reading passage and important
information. It also tests your understandings of cause-effect relationships and
compare and contrast relationships.
1- Read the question and the options first .
2- Any answer choices that contain information that did not appear in the passage
are automatically incorrect. Be careful, all of the distractors will contain some
correct information
3- all of the answer choices may contain correct details from the passage, but the
distractors may present that information incorrectly or include new
information. You should read the passage and each answer choice carefully to
see whether they exist in the passage or if they change or add details.

Weekly study plan

Wednesday:
1-READ THE CLASS NOTES WITH THE READING STRATEGIES AND TIPS FOR EACH
QUESTION
2-GO THROUGH THE LINK https://www.bestmytest.com/blog/toefl/toefl-reading-
question-types TO IDENTIFY THE TYPE OF QUESTIONS AS TO MATCH WITH THE
APPROPRIATE STRATEGY FOR EACH. YOU CAN TRY ANSWERING WHILE APPLYING THE
NOTES.
Thurday
1- https://www.examenglish.com/TOEFL/TOEFL_reading1.htm (you will choose 1
ONE of the Reading tests , identify the type of question to choose the best
strategy, set a timer according to the number of questions you are about to
answer. (example: start by giving yourself 20 minutes to answer 10 questions-
but of course in the future, you need to decrease this number)
2- Identify your mistakes and understand what made you choose the wrong
answer in order to avoid in the future
 3- Find any word or vocabulary you didn´t know and make up sentences with
them.
Friday
1- CHOOSE ANOTHER TYPE OF ANSWER TO PRACTICE FROM THE LINK
https://www.examenglish.com/TOEFL/TOEFL_reading1.htm
you will choose 1 ONE of the Reading tests , identify the type of question to choose
the best strategy, set a timer according to the number of questions you are about to
answer.
2- Identify your mistakes and understand what made you choose the wrong
answer in order to avoid in the future
3- Select 10 words from the test and find their synonyms and antonyms.
Saturday

1- Print and take the mock test Reading section (remove the answer sheet
before you start) :
https://www.ets.org/pdfs/toefl/toefl-ibt-reading-practice-sets.pdf

do it in your own pace without any help . take note of the time you
start and the time you finish it

Sunday
Simple extra activity to ease your mind:
Easy though effective Extra practice
Apps:
elevate ( with brain challenges to improve you Reading speed, increase vocabulary
and estimulate quick thinking)
ewa.english – Oxford book Reading along where you can listen as you read
and click on the words you don´t know to find out what they mean
link:
newsinlevels.com - News from all around the world. You will expand your
vocabulary to other fields than the ordinary. Quick passages written in 3 different
levels. You can compare the 3 different ways of telling a story while learning new
words.