Tuesday, January 20, 2009

Final Blog

YOUR STUDY HABITS
You have been doing the Language Development course one year. For the last semester, especially, we've practiced independent study. Independent study can often be more effective then studying in a class, because we can study at our own pace and focus on our own goals and interests. But if you don't have good study habits, you will be less effective.
Think about your study habits this semester. Copy and paste the following and answer: always / usually / seldom / never . You may add comments, if you like.

-Be ready, awake, and motivated
-Choose fun or interesting activities that are a little difficult (not too easy or way to diffucult)
-Preview the title or any picture to focus
-Try to listen or read once & then test yourself
-Listen or read many times to focus on any new language
-Focus only on common, useful words
-Review often (especially vocabulary)

SETTING NEW GOALS
Learners who make realistic goals and work hard to achieve them learn much faster. Please think of your goals and answer the following. Be specific.

-Have you made progress to reach your goals this year?
-Have your long-term goals for the future changed?
-How often do you plan to study on your own during vacation? During school time (next school year)?
-What are you going to study? NetAcademy/Web sites (Ferris Lab) /Books
-What skills are you going to study?

Remember you have until the end of January to continue your Independent Study Blog.

Tuesday, January 13, 2009

TOEFL-type questions

TOEFL (PBT) reading questions are usually one of the 5 types of questions.

Main Idea

Main Point

Details & examples

Vocabulary

Making inferences

Other:

· locating referrents (it, they, this, he, she, etc.)

· determining purpose

The answer choices are usually as follows:

-the right answers use different words with the same meaning

-the wrong answer using the same words

-an almost true answer

-a totally wrong answer

TOEFL STRATEGIES:

1. Understand organization of article

2. Be aware of the above question and answer types

3. Read title, headings, thesis, and topic sentences

4. Keep track of the time and don't leave any blank

5. If you running out of time, vocab questions may be quickest to answer

Friday, January 2, 2009

Independent study report

Please copy this and fill this out for each activity you do. (If you review an activity you already did, just enter the skill, site, level, & topic):



Skill: Site:

Level (if any): Topic:

Main point and/or Your Score (if any):

Key language points to review (words or rules):

Lesson Rating: :( :/ :I :)

Comments: (too easy / difficult / good level / interesting / boring / (not) effective)

_____________________________________

Do this once each study period:

Self-evaluation: * * * * *

Study time: minutes

Comments:
(studied hard / hardly studied / concentrated / slept! / messed around / studied smartly / studied without thinking / studied intensively / reviewed / thought about my goals / thought about my progress)