Help on a prep class

[toeflsmeagle]

A cyber colleague sent me this question, but I think it's best to share the provocative wealth this questions represent. The salient passage:

"I'm preparing a syllabus for a toefl prep course that will last two sememsters and prepare classes of six students, who are know about low-intermediate, to take the test (next year I assume). Classes meet for eight hours a week. Any and all advice is welcome. One thing, how much attention should I give to general skills development, especially in the beginining? I'm thinking quite a lot. And I've found a text called "Interactions: Integrated Skills Edition" that looks good for that, any other suggestions as to texts are also welcome. Thanks"

Actually, I was thinking of using the Interactions Silver Reading 1 book, which just came out. I went to see a presenter in Seoul, Pamela somebody, who is the editor of the reading portion of the Mosaic/Interactions series. Looks like the whole Mosaic/Interactions line has been revamped for the iBT, and they're even using corpus linguistics to sharpen the series' relevancy. Love to check out this Integrated Skills edition of Interactions. Is it thematically-oriented?

I agree with giving a lot of attention to skills at the beginning. As they become more advanced, a thematic approach may work better. Any nods to content along thr way would be appreciated. Content is the gold that readers of nonfiction seek, so don't be shy if you know something about the topic of the reading.

Would welcome any and all comments for the sake of our colleague.