Part III – Short Conversations

Tip: Read the question first so that you know what to listen for.

 

Woman: I’m afraid we’re going to have to cancel today’s meeting.
Man: Yes, I heard that the vice-president is not feeling well.
Woman: I hope she will be able to go with us on our trip to Paris.

 

Why is the meeting being cancelled?

(A) The vice-president is going to Paris instead
(B) The woman doesn’t like meetings
(C) One of the participants is sick
(D) The trip has been postponed

 

Answer: The meeting is being cancelled because the vice-president is ill. Therefore, choice (C) is the best answer.

 

Click here for more tips!

By Dara Colwell

(Dara Colwell has taught English for nearly 15 years in Europe, Britain and the United States. She has worked with multilingual groups from all over the world, helping students achieve greater proficiency for both professional and educational purposes.)

 

When trying to improve your language skills, it is difficult recognising the best method to follow. While there are thousands of websites out there suggesting what you should do, teachers’ feedback and ideas come from first-hand experience with our students. We know that students are not robots with never-ending energy, and so we push for studying “smart” rather than mere studying.

 

Learning a language is not something that happens overnight. It takes time. So my advice is: make learning a habit and keep at it daily. The more practice you have with a particular grammatical structure or new vocabulary, the easier it will be to remember and reproduce. Think of it like training for a marathon: a little each day helps you build up your stamina and capability for the big race.

 

Secondly, define your learning goals clearly – identify

• why you are learning
• the areas of weakness where you need to improve
• and how soon you need to see results.

Take a test like the TOEIC test to identify your current competence, and then attend language classes to improve your skills; the next time you take the test again, you should see an improvement in your score. Then you know your efforts have been successful.

 

A few other tips that might help:

• Find friends to study and speak with
• Read materials that interest you: newspapers and books will keep you motivated and interested, AND improve your skills
• Listen to music and watch films to understand rhythm, speech patterns and improve your vocabulary
• Keep a daily journal where you write down things – this will help improve your vocabulary, and practice written structures. It is also an invaluable resource when you take a test that evaluates your essay-writing capabilities
• Use the Internet, it’s an unlimited resource for language learners
• Finally, be patient with yourself

By improving your language skills gradually, you will also perform better on a language test because the same ideas apply. Studying for a language test isn’t like studying other subjects. Language is not something you can “cram” in the night before (like historical facts or chemistry equations). Only constant and daily exposure will strengthen your skills.

 

The best advice I can offer students is practise, practise, practise. The results you will see, whether you are just beginning to learn English, or studying for the TOEIC test, will be worth it! Make learning a hobby, not a chore.

ETS Europe has launched a new exciting online product, the TOEIC® Practice Online: Speaking and Writing, that helps candidates prepare for the TOEIC® Speaking and Writing tests, while providing targeted practice on different English language skills.

 

TOEIC Practice Online: Speaking and Writing is a resource designed to improve the “productive” (speaking and writing) skills of candidates preparing to take the TOEIC Speaking and Writing tests (available in Europe from October 2007). A comprehensive and flexible test preparation tool, this new online resource provides comprehensive training in speaking and writing, skills that require cohesive, targeted practice.

 

Read on for more details, including how to buy the product....

ETS and ETS Europe conducted a series of workshops in 2006 to benchmark TOEFL and TOEIC test scores to the Common European Framework of Reference (CEF).

 

The CEF provides a common basis for describing the skills needed to reach different levels of language proficiency, and is used by language instructors, educators, curriculum designers and agencies working in the fields of language development.

 

The CEFR provides a descriptive context that may be used to interpret the meaning and practical significance of scores on language tests. If a test score can be one of the levels of the CEFR, what that score means and what candidates with at least that score are likely to be able to do becomes clear.

 

The executive summary of the benchmarking report is now available – you can use the tables in the document to find out what your TOEIC score means in the context of the CEF. Click here to download the summary.