Korean Job Discussion Forums

[Missile Command Kid]

Ah, Korea: the land of the last minute planning. I was asked tonight at 9:30pm whether I'd be willing to prep the director's daughter for the TOEFL speaking exam in six hours over the next two weeks - starting tomorrow at 3:00pm. Fair enough. I really don't mind doing it, especially if I'm going to get paid, but if I've only got six hours, what can I do that will help to get results ASAP? I've been using the Longman books (Beginner through Advanced) for teaching my pre- and normal TOEFL classes, and I can do six hours' worth of lessons if it comes to that, but I'd like to do something else that can make a difference if at all possible.

So: if you had six hours with which to help a college student for the TOEFL exam, what would you do?

[laogaiguk]

Six hours isn't really enough to raise anyone's English level by enough to make a difference. To be honest, with that amount of time, you can review what she knows and teach her the most important things for the test. You can't do anything about the English level, but you can teach her how to take the test. That "might" raise her score some.

[sock]

Yeah, I'd focus more on effective strategies, what her personal test-taking strengths & weaknesses are, etc. How can she build on what she's already got and smooth over what she doesn't have?

She's already memorized as many words as she can--now it's going to be putting them to use under pressure. I think that would be a far better use of 6 hours' time than anything else. Whatever you do, aim to help her increase her test-taking and speaking confidence--that alone can really help the worst English speakers and undermine the best ones.

[Missile Command Kid]

There are six discrete portions of the speaking test - two independent and four integrated. I'm thinking that it might be a fair use of time to run through all six different sections, asking her to answer multiple questions in each period. Thoughts?