Since my TOEFL speaking practice was set aside for reading practice last session, this time I planned for Ozan, who said he hadn’t seen samples of the exam, get a look at what I’ve heard from students are the most challenging sections. Thanks to some awesome resources on englishclub.com, you can see sample exam sections for each skill. On the speaking page it has 2 sample “familiar topics” that students listen to, then given a specific question based on the recording, must speak and record their answer. There are 4 more responses required based on more academic discussion or lecture. We spent the hour working through the samples, choosing one question from each part (3 total). Ozan seemed overwhelmed and sighed, saying it was much harder than he expected. I assured him he was months away from his exam and had so much time to prepare. Since the exam sections gives students 20 minutes total for the whole speaking section, it seems especially daunting, but we spent time replaying the recordings multiple times so I could point out parts that led to drawing a response. Then we played back (along with reading the transcript) of the sample response and discussed that answer; finally, I asked Ozan to think of his own response, pushing him to just speaking more quickly and off the cuff in response to the question versus thinking over proper grammar and word choice in his head first. I think it’s important just to get his confidence up and assure him that most of the time, he can communicate just fine without over thinking it. We only had a few minutes left to look at the speaking section but the format is similar, only students answer questions about the recordings they hear. I believe the biggest issue is comprehending what they are listening to when they can’t pause or replay- there’s just one chance to catch what they’re saying, and I think that just adds more stress to these sections of the TOEFL.
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