TOEFL Prep Course

January 28

Sylvia Plat 1963 Belj ar 1st novel just published Aerial agreed
1982 20 years after death published collective poems Pulitzer prize.

Writing about importance of knowledge vs. relating to students

The concept of creating a productive learning environment requires both knowledge and
relationship between the teacher and students.
However, the relationship has a bigger role because without having relationship, the knowledge
cannot be conveyed in a productive way to the students. Human requires catalyst of feeling
good and confident about the situation to allow a smooth flow of information and digesting the
content.
Without having the excellent knowledge, there are times that there is lack of clarity for certain
answers, however with proper relationship of teacher and students they can solve the unknown
answer in course of time.

January 30

TED talk (app knows how you feel)

45 action units
facial muscles distinguishing smile from smirk
Potential use of this application: web based ordering, customer satisfaction survey,
psychological analysis for people who don’t express themselves especially kids, people of other
languages, people with mental illness,

Listening test 1:
Test 1: electoral college pres, and vice pres, most votes from public, most votes from electoral
college, person chosen by party, pledge for president, # electors = # senators, 2 senators per
state, 530 electoral votes in US, vote early November, meeting in December choosing, same for
vice president, declared pres may not have major vote, over represent in less populated states,

Listening test 2:
Research proposal grant -> more focused statistical analysis, clearing up by computer centre ->
statistician, make it meaningful form, proposal before Friday, clear data
How you haven’t defined your subjects, oral fluency test to have the same linguistic level, class
in 20 min, go through the comments, bring it tomorrow morning.
February 4th:
Homework: p143 to 154
Also for paraphrasing / summarizing page 59 to 61

I know how to do sound design

skill to create sound for the visual elements of a movie

It is important because without having a tailor-made sound, the movie sound is not dramatic
enough and not engaging even if the visuals and subject is good.

The sound elements that are used in the movie: backgrounds, sound effects, dialogue, foley (for
instance recording and matching footsteps because in real movie recording you barely hear
them as if it is silent.

February 6, 2019

travelling or living abroad surprising culture shock differences but not limited to mindset,
behavior, practices, styles of communication. Cultural practices and traditions
Those stay long may face reverse cultural shock when coming back.

Chile arriving early friend’s barbeque 9 am came an hour later

dating and marriage - stay together and even raise kids without marrying

Mike is messy directing a short film raining and supposed to film outside project due in two
days thinking changing the last scene to indoor scene most important part of the scene
supposed to be out. Waiting till tomorrow makes editing too tights and no guarantee for the
weather.
solution one changing the scenario to Indoor vs. outdoor, solution 2 wait till tomorrow
(weather)

For speaking based on the lecture, use 30 percent of time as general but 70 percent the
specific information in the lecture within the given time frame of 60 seconds (20 sec general
vs. 40 sec. detail).

Feedback:
1- Content (to be able to cover the points)
2- Stress / Intonation
3- Grammar / vocabulary / structure

Read the rubrics, time yourself, listen, take notes, speak while recording yourself, listen to the
recording and see if you highlighted everything needed for higher score of rubrics (good
vocabulary, good structure, reasoning, etc.)
L1.
1- alternative medicines advocacy is never confirmed, we need to put it under the same
investigation as medicines under development.
2- brain has this tendency to interpret vague images as specific ones.
3- the savagery of the Mongols was moderated because they were living on tribute and
only prosperous subjects were to provide tribute.
4- the technique of repeating the initial consonant sound is alliteration that is the common
poetic device.

February 11, 2019

Homework:
- Assignment #1 (due tomorrow!!!!!!!)
- Page 117, 118, 119 for Connecting Ideas between sentences
- Building Supporting skills page 120-121 (photocopy)
- Page 382 - #5 and #6 on top
- Page 379 Practice with Cohesion
- Page 326/327/328 steps 1 to 6 toward the recorded speech from session #2 (writing the
transcript)
- Record the speech for the class we found interesting, transcribe it, refine it, and then
record it again and send it to Ebru.

1. I admired my high school history teacher for several reasons for instance he could
explain historical events as if he were telling a story.
2. I enjoyed doing quiet activities like playing chess, although (but / whereas) my brother
preferred more physical activities like football.
3. Our teacher would walk around the classroom looking at our work while we were busy
on our individual projects.
4. The rain poured down for several days. As a result, (Consequently) the river banks in my
city overflowed.
5. I took as many science courses as I could. For instance, I studied biology, chemistry,
biochemistry, and physics.
6. The rain forest provides us with many products. Although, the forests are being cleared
for crops.

Page 379 exercise

1- Because
2- Even though
3- Therefore
4- Another
5- but
6- Finally
7- Unfortunately
Trowel is a hand tool with a flat bottom and pointed blade which is used in masonry to spread
mortar or plaster on the wall or floor evenly.

class: indigenous awareness course

intriguing and informative
shocking stories
important for Canadians to know
to connect to a society that need the most help demographically
to have a spiritual experience and see the nature and life from a different perspective
to build respect and humbleness

Uses:
consciousness raising for current societal problems and relationship with history
learning about connection of human and nature for instance dependency on plants and animals
to eat
to build respect and humbleness that is useful in anyone’s day to day life

Teacher who influenced

Organic chemistry teacher

Inaccuracy Wrong candidate (eye sight) computerized easy to read

easier touch voting
people counting vote (human error) computerized avoid human error
Expensive and long process to fix error Computer counting efficiently and fast
Complex tasks already practiced at banks and highly sensitive communications

Lecture:
- Not easy for people who are not used to the computers (people who can’t or can’t
afford) they could cast the wrong vote or be discouraged to vote
- If human error in programing, the errors can be far more serious
thousands of votes instead of a few
- No physical vote to recount so computer recount is impossible
- Banking and such are used daily and heavily, and they needed to be improved to
become reliable. With low frequency of voting cycles a year it is hardly sufficient to
develop confidence to trust the computerized voting.
Exercise S15:

I really liked my organic chemistry teacher because he was really passionate about the subject
and knew how to engage the students to pay attention to not only the science of chemical
bondings but also to understand the interesting forces that bring the atoms together. It was like
a magic. The way he was teaching it was so passionate. It really became like a magical time, I
think not only for me but also for majority of the students in the class, and uh.. I remember that
very vividly and really admire the style he had to teach and the way he taught us that course.

Regarding the class that I have taken, and it was important to me was the one full week of
indigenous awareness class. It was about basically increasing our knowledge about indigenous
people in Canada, and what they are going through, and the relationship between historical
occurrences happened to aboriginal people and how those historical occurrences contribute to
create today’s problems in the society. I feel I have built compassion for them, and I am aware
of my actions and thought to not judge them as if that they created their own problems and
they get what they deserve. I feel I have become a better person and a more conscious person
and feel more responsible about social issues in the society.
Thoughts for something I like (Music):
Music in any form is something that really affects me deeply. As a child, I was always drawn to
hearing sounds and tunes even something vague and far. I had a sense of remembering the
tunes even if I didn’t know who the composer or name of the song was. I really liked to become
a musician, and it just never worked out for me being busy with many things in life. My parents
weren’t into music at all and it took me a while to gain my independence and started taking
piano classes in my 20s although we didn’t have a piano. I was using the educational center’s
piano and later had a digital keyboard which wasn’t giving me the proper tone and response.
So, I gave up till just a few years ago I started playing saxophone. I had a flute in the past and
had a few lessons and because of the similarity of flute and saxophone I was able to get into it
easily.
Now I’m taking saxophone lessons and looking forward to take my TOEFL and register for the
music program at the University of Calgary.

February 13, 2019

Listening test :
arcitechteure hazard home 20cent house synth mat
improved endagenred for owner or occ
asbestos
roofing / paneling long cancer
formaldhyde memory loss glue plywood damage to nerve wood preservatives potent fungicides
cerosys of the liver
paint lead poisoning cadmium more poisonous
fire toxic fumes more hazard than fire
for each synth there is a bio counterpart
recognize and safely remove and replace with natural

prof question? book title with asterisk -> books out of print -> reserve in the library
list of articles on 2nd page (on microfiche)
Dr. Burns at the reserve desk as well directly across the reserve desk
instructions beside each machine

Using connecting Ideas by using pronouns to avoid repetition

Exercise Page 321-322
Finding Inconsistencies
Exercise Page 323
Adding Cohesion
Exercise W4 Page 382 answer on page 567
Ex. S9
1. Wind and solar power are alternative sources of energy.
2. To get accepted into some universities, you have to send copies of your high school
diploma, letters of recommendation from a teacher who knows your work, and write an
essay starting why you want to study there.
3. Students tend to get out of shape because they spend a lot of time studying and
frequently eating a lot of junk food.
4. Rivers are polluted by factories and people dumping waste products and garbage into
the water.

Ex. S10
1. Since I frequently can’t find the definition of words I need in a dictionary, I’ve had to buy
specialized one and also use an encyclopedia that gives more detailed information.
using both of these resources, I can collection data for my course papers.
2. When I need to relax, I go out to my yard and practice woodcarving, which was taught
by my grandfather.
3. Many people enjoy reading fantasy stories about imaginary worlds which is also
common in popular movies.
4. To identify and count sample of small ground-living creatures, a pitfall trap which is a
glass jar put into the ground leveled at the rim is used.
February 20, 2019

Details part of the writing:

NOTE: Ideally three (at least two) body paragraphs for explanation of details.
Each have two examples.

Independent Writing Task

Page 387 to
Page 392: Mind Map
Page 393, 394: Introduction
Page 396 Ex. Improve Your Introductory Paragraph
Page 401 and 402, Adding details
Page 406 to 413 (analyzing essays)

Assignment #2 Page 414 – Choose 2 of the following topics and write an essay
- Make a mind map / outline
- Choose any of the two topics given on page 315 and write two essays
- Follow the steps presented on page 410-413

Also write topics to slide 30 of ppt.

Government expenditure for outer space discoveries is always a controversial topic. Many
people believe we need to spend the money for the basic needs. I believe while it is important
to fund basic needs in the society, there needs to be enough fund allocation for scientific
discoveries to extend our knowledge about the universe.

Universities give the same amount of money to their student’s sports activities as they give to
their university libraries.
February 25, 2019
Look to page 82 to 133 to pick a subject to give presentation about.
Homework: Author’s meaning P. 159 to 164.

March 4, 2019
Page 332 to 336 (Practice with Personal choice task)
Page 334 Exercise S20
outdoor sports or indoor sport
Although some people are fond of indoor sports, but I almost always prefer outdoor sports.
I feel closer to nature and it makes me feel good. For instance, when I go for hiking, not only
physically I am in a better state but also mentally I am feeling a sense of relief.
- fresh air
- mental break
- more adventures
- more varieties
- connecting to nature

The science or the arts

I prefer to pursue arts although most people like to be practical and study science.
- using my creativity gives me a sense of livelihood.
- I connect with my inner self and feel good.
- It’s more fun
- lots of interesting people are in arts program
- exciting group projects

Exercise Page 337

Transcription of The Sciences or The Arts:

I prefer pursuing arts to pursuing science that many people may find practical. For me what is
important is a creative flow and connecting to my inner self and I found that I’ll be having the
most joy out of working in artistic projects. For instance, when I’m composing a music that it
gives me a sense of livelihood and comping up with ideas give me a sense of purpose, and in
the group projects also it is a lot of fun and great experience, like interacting with other people
composing something together or coming up with the idea of performance. I think that’s who I
am.
Although many people may like to pursue science because of its practicality, I prefer to pursue
arts. For me what is important is to have a creative process that is initiated by my feelings for
instance when I am composing music, I have that initial feeling and thought. then when I write
it down and evolve it to become a full composition, it gives me a unique sense of joy but in
science you follow facts not your feelings. Also, it is a lot of fun to work in artistic group projects
for instance when I work with other people in a performance project and each person brings a
different creative idea, it becomes very satisfying when we link those ideas to shape the final
work. Overall, I have a personality that strives on artistic creativity.
March 6
Homework: Do one more Writing from a topic picked on Page 414
Do two of the speaking of the subjects practiced in the class pages 352, 353, and 354.

March 11
Reading Mini-test 2 page 173

March 18, 2019

Read Exercise R10 page 183 (Except) then Mini-Test 3 page 193
Exercise W33 on page 417 for paraphrasing
Exercise W35 / 36 on page 420 / 421

Integrated Writing Skills:

List the main points in our own words
Unique word or phrase in quotation marks
Organize notes in a meaningful way.
DON’T INTRODUCE IDEAS THAT ARE NOT IN THE PASSAGES
Budget time properly: 20 min. to organize (2 to 3 minutes), write response (14 to 15 min or so) ,
and make minor corrections (2 to 3 minutes)

Peptic Ulcer
The concept of damage to the liner of the stomach with increased stress and unhealthy food
choices create a condition

W35
Summaries
illegal settlement from rural for jobs scrap material make shift shelters water supply drainage
etc
1- The Shanty town has become illegal settlement of people who came from rural areas
and live in shelters made by scrap materials where it may become a permanent
residential area.
2- Henry Ford museum 1929 Michigan redesigned to show the changes evolution of
roadsign fastfood diner recreational 1960 to todays’s mobile home 108 cars of changes
in design displays cars recreational vehicles

Henry Ford museum demonstrates historical evolution of car design, signs of the facilities to do
with cars, and recreational vehicles.
March 20, 2019
Exercise W37 Page 421
Read answer to W39 #2 by Rodrigo and give feedback based on rubrics and analyzing responses
on page 424.
There is no conclusion to the writeup. The topic needs to highlight the idea of animal behavior
prior to the earthquake in an unbiased way and then make detail information about both sides
of the story, and then reach conclusion whether this concept is valid or not, but in the writeup
the idea starts as if it is known that the argument of animal behavior change prior to
earthquake is not valid. It is not clear what the reading points out versus what the speaker
points out. For instance, it is written “In addition, some studies showed that after a natural
disaster, people can remember just what happened before it”. It should have been something
like “the reading is pointing out that people find strange things happen before earthquake.
However, speaker is pointing out that strange things are always happening, but people tend to
remember things during the disasters and draw a conclusion to create a relationship between
those happenings and the disaster. Therefore, this argument is not valid.
The writing for mentioning China and Japan is not accurate. The reading is only mentioning
China. Also, the writing should mention this and then compare it with what the speaker is
pointing out that they found there were fore-quakes happened prior to the main earthquake
that was the source of the warning rather than animal behavior change.
Overall, it seems that the writeup has lack of coherence that is required for level 5 and 4,
therefore it will be a level 3 result. However, if the writeup was more organized, by means of
the content it could fall into level 4 because it is allowed to have some degree of vagueness,
inaccuracy and minor omissions in level 4 score. Level 2 is when the response significantly
misrepresents the overall connection between the lecture and the reading which is not the case
here. Therefore, it is higher than level 2 score.

Page 429 W44 Ex. #1 reading starting with investigations, ... do the integrated writing.
March 25, 2019
Practice with making inferences and drawing conclusions
Page 199
Do the exercise R16 #6 to #10 on page 203.
Ex. R19 page 208, 209 (done)
Ex. R20 page 209, 210 (done)
Homework: Ex. R21 Page 211 & Mini test #4 (page 213)

March 27, 2019

April 1st, 2019

Continue R24 Exercise Organise information into charts
on page 224, 225, 226, Mini Test 5 page 227
Grammar Articles Exercise G22 on page 126

Page 224
#3
Ringtaw
D, E (A)
Fortification
A (E), C

#4
Artificial Resort
A, D
Traditional Resort
C, E

#5
Creatures found to exist
D, E, H

Creatures That Perhaps Don’t exist

A, B, F, I

#6
One of the first four stages
A, D, G, (I)

Final Stage
C, E, F, H
Mini Test 5
3.
Xerophytes
B, D, F, H

Phraetophytes
(C), E, G, I,