This Workshop is Under Construction
AOK Basic Skills Project
Portland, Maine
E: kirkjohnb5@gmail.com
W: www.aokbasicskills.gratis
2021-11-20
Re: Workshop – An Overview of the TOEFL-iBT for Students in Levels A2-C1, with Free Websites for Self-study
Dear Director ………………
I’m a semi-retired ESOL teacher over 65 and lived in Ecuador for over 10 years before recently relocating to Portland, Maine in the U.S. I am the director of AOK, a charitable educational effort and my retirement project that was connected to my English school in Quito. AOK is not an organization. It specializes in teaching life skills. During the past three years, I have written 20 AOK Basic Skills Workshops and before the Pandemic presented many of them throughout the Ecuadorian Sierra. One of them is An Overview of the TOEFL iBT.
Workshop summary
The TOEFL-iBT in N. America and the IELTS in Europe are the two major exams for determining a student’s English ability for the university level. The TOEFL is also accepted by most European universities and those in Australia.
In the AOK overview of the TOEFL, I briefly explain how the four sections of the test – reading, writing, listening and speaking – are set up. I also explain what score is adequate for different types of situations and majors. The overview also provides a chance for students to answer questions from a sample of a subtest from each section and a strategy to do so.
I also offer two free annotated archives. One has a list of websites for practicing for the TOEFL-iBT; the other has a free 50-page archive with many free sites and some free courses that help students improve their basic English skills.
Of course, Conversation is difficult to practice alone on a website, but when students enter the B1 level, they can begin to speak with other students from around the world at a nominal cost. I also explain how to do this. The AOK archives can help the students to improve their own favorite list of study sites. These sites can serve to supplement the English courses students are taking in their secondary school or university.
The long-term purpose of the workshop
The long-term objective of the workshop is to encourage the United Nations to provide an Independent Language Learning (ILL) website that includes practice for the TOEFL. The website would support its 2030 Sustainable Development Goal No. 4: Quality Education.
With permission, I do this by asking the students to complete voluntary and anonymous evaluations of the workshop that include the question: “Do they consider a U.N. ILL website a good idea?” To date I have over 1,000 informal evaluations for the different workshops I offer.
Registration
Because the materials I use are written for non-commercial purposes, I do not charge for the presentation. I was registered the National Human Talent Directorate in Ecuador…
Sincerely,
John B. Kirk, Director
W: kirkjohnb5@gmail.com