This is Part 3 in my series on using IELTS and TOEFL Test prep materials in general English classes, giving students practice in intensive speaking and extensive speaking. If you want to check out how I got from IELTS and TOEFL to intensive and extensive learning and read about some different reading exercises, check out part I. Part II is on Listening intensively and extensively.
The TOEFL Speaking Test mostly gives students practice in extensive speaking. Basically students are given a topic and they have to talk about it for …Continue

I recently posted about Intensive and Extensive Reading and now I wanted to discuss intensive and extensive listening and how you can use TOEFL or IELTS listenings to help students learn both techniques.
In our daily life we listen both intensively and extensively. When we are listening to an announcement about an upcoming fair or the sports scores on the radio, we tend to read intensively. That is, we are listening for specific information and details: When is the fair where will it be, and how much are the tickets. The …Continue

I was recently asked by a local school to talk about using IELTS and TOEFL exercises in the classroom, not only for students preparing for those tests, but also for those who are learning general English. It was sort of a strange topic and one that was difficult to address. Usually, I think that students who are preparing for standardized English language exams are served well by both test prep courses and general English courses, but the other way around didn’t make a lot of sense to me. However, in …Continue

Some fun games from Games for the Brain. This site is a pretty good resource for webdesigners, blogs and of course English teachers because it has some pretty well-made little games, including word games. And they can be embedded in a website or blog. Thanks to Free Technology for Teachers for this link.
Some of my favorite games for English language learners after the jump:

And a few timed games, so I’ll link to them instead of embedding them:What Did I Search For: Based on search engine results, guess what word …Continue

I’ve put up a few sample TOEFL essays here, here and some tips for writing essays here.
Now I’m going to try something slightly different. I’m putting up a sample TOEFL writing test question and I encourage readers to try to answer. Email your answer to walton [at] englishadvantage [.] com (replacing @ for at, obviously) and I’ll email you back comments and notes. I will also post the best essay up here, with a link of the writer’s choice. I’ll link to you blog, website, facebook profile, whatever you want.
Question:Do …Continue

A couple more sample tests I made. These are listening tests featuring yours truly on vocals! These are designed to be similar to the iBT TOEFL listening section but they are also great practice for general listening comprehension and understanding in English.
If you like these, check out my otherTOEFL resources

The English Language: An academic lecture
Changing Classes: A dialogue between a student and the registrar

Since TOEFL resources seem to be a popular topic around here, I thought I would post links to a few TOEFL reading tests I designed. They should be pretty similar to the iBT questions you would find on ETS’ real TOEFL. Check them out. Even if you aren’t preparing for the TOEFL, the tests should be good reading comprehension practice in English.
At the end, you will get a summary of how many you got right and how many wrong, and a chance to review each question. I tried to cover …Continue