I'm currently teaching two groups of M1 students who will be taking the TOEIC (Test of English for International Communication) in March. Of course, we do regular practice tests in class, but I wanted to find some online materials which could be used for self-study. After doing some research, I came across a series of seven YouTube videos produced by Kenton County ESL (one for each section of the test). There are three videos for the Reading section, and four videos for the Listening section. Some of the videos are quite long (up to 52m), but each section of the test is explained in detail, and there are plenty of useful tips as well as sample questions based on the TOEIC's own Examinee Handbook.
NOTE You can download a complete free TOEIC Listening and Reading test (with answers) from Cambridge English ELT.
I used this great little Yahoo! News video as part of a lesson about gadgets with my EM Normandie students. After working on the video, and doing a questionnaire, I got them to work in pairs to come up with an idea for a new household gadget and present it to the class. You can find a Word version of the transcript along with a glossary, the questionnaire, and details of the presentation activity here. I also did a PowerPoint, which you can download
here.
TRANSCRIPT
I’m not lazy, just selective. I’m not willing to make something unless it’s easy, cheap, and super-useful. So in this episode of Upgrade Your Life, handy gizmos you can make for under a buck. Starting with — eeuuww —toothpaste mess in the bathroom. Cheap and easy solution — clean out a pump bottle. Fill it with toothpaste. It holds multiple tubes, which is nice, and now no caps to deal with, no dribble from the tubes … neat and tidy. One note — make sure you clean out that pump bottle well.
Staying with cleanliness, the back of your desk is a mess. Sure, you can buy fancy organizers for cords, but the cheapest way to do this: binder clips. Clip on the desk, thread the cords, you can even flip the handle to lock them in place. Genius!
Next, listening to music on your phone, but the speakers just aren’t loud enough. Solution — keg cup. Classy, right? Cut a slice out, place the device inside and it’s louder. How much louder? Well, as a tech reporter, I always have my decibel meter on hand. And the keg cup makes it ten to twelve decibels louder. This is great for music, speakerphone calls, and it also works with your iPad if you’re watching video.
Now the whole touchscreen thing is great, but sometimes you just want a stylus, the feel of a pen. Of course, you can go out and buy one but you can also make one using just a pencil, some cotton, tape, and a candy bar wrapper. Cut the candy wrapper, wrap the pencil, put the tape up high so your fingers will directly touch the wrapper. This totally works in a pinch, but if you’re gonna be doing a lot of fine work on a touch screen, spending eleven dollars for a real stylus is probably a good idea.
If you’ve ever had kids, or a geeky boyfriend, you got a tub of this stuff lying around. How about making a key-holder system? Drill hole, insert key-ring, attach to base, and voilà. Also cool, adding personalized little figures to watch over your keys.
Finally, every once in a while, you have a half a bag of chocolate chips left over. Solution — take a plastic bottle with a wide mouth, cut it, thread the bag through the neck, and now you’ve got a screw top for the occasional chocolate chip indiscretion. Thanks for watching. For Yahoo! News, I’m Becky Worley.
Movember is a moustache growing charity event held during the month of November each year that raises funds and awareness for men's health. This is a slide presentation I produced for a lesson about Movember with my EM Normandie students.
In the presentation, you'll find some screenshots from the Movember website, a 'moustache quiz', and some pictures of media coverage of Movember. There's also a role play activity at the end, which you can download here as a Word file. I also used the wonderfully funny Movember Song.
This is a great topic for business students since it covers topics such as public awareness campaigns, buzz marketing and word-of-mouth marketing, event marketing, merchandising, and so on.
I'm pleased to announce that the Business Words iOS app I created for learning business vocabulary is now available for free in Apple's App Store. So don't delay, download it today!
DESCRIPTION Business Words is ‘hangman’ type game aimed at students or professionals who have a good level of English but wish to improve their vocabulary in the field of business and management. Business Words is also a useful resource for anyone preparing for a professional exam such as the TOEIC (Test of English for International Communication). The game uses a database of 2,000 words and is similar to the game of hangman. Players have to find the missing word in a sentence relating to a specific business topic by guessing individual letters. Each game lasts 10 minutes, and the aim is to score a maximum number of points. The words and sentences are organized into 12 topic areas: Economy, Law, Industry, Trade, Marketing, Human Resources, Banking, Travel, Retailing, Finance, Communication, and Technology. There is also a ‘Mixed Bag’ featuring words from all categories. Translations of all words are given in French. The author of Business Words is Jeffrey Hill, who teaches English at the Ecole de Management de Normandie in France.
VERDICT A totally awesome 5-star app (even if I do say so myself!).
COMMENT This app was released in July 2011 when it cost €1.59. It's now being offered free for a limited period of time as part of the EM Normandie's admissions campaign.
Here at the Ecole de Management de Normandie (Normandy Business School), we offer courses in English for students from around the world. The Connexion, a newspaper for English-speakers living in France, had an article about our business courses in English in their August issue. Click on the image below to read it.
