A former student who graduated from NHSH around 8 years ago and is planning to study in the U.S. for his PhD degree came to visit me this afternoon. He asked me to clarify some doubts on the admission pages of University of Penn, a prestigious school in the States.
Then he described to me how difficult TOEFL-ibt is. For example, in the speaking part, one item goes like this:
First, read a passage within 45 seconds.
Second, listen to a passage discussing the same topic for 60 seconds.
Third, organize your notes for a few seconds.
Last, based on what you just read and listened to, talk about the topic for 60 seconds. A potential task is to compare and contrast the ideas in the two passages.
For another example, in the listening part, the testees listen to a 6-minute passage, be it a conversation or a lecture, and then answer 6 questions.
This is really different from the TOEFL I took to study in the U.S. many years ago. This TOEFL not only tests the four English skills but also our integrative ability.
As an English teacher, what I can do to help my students build up their English competence is create for them more opportunity to hear, speak, read, and write English. I believe if students are used to communicating in English, they will have more confidence when one day they need to take TOEFL.
P.S. At dinner, the student asked me an interesting question: How can one learn such good expressions as "broaden one's horizons," "enrich one's knowledge," "The beautiful scenery keeps drawing tourists back," etc. My answer was: read extensively, period.
(29')
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