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Welcome to the 6th episode of the ALsensei English 2.0 Podcast! On this English podcast, I help you express yourself more naturally and smoothly. We go beyond the words and phrases and talk about how to make your English sound more natural, proper mindset, and success principles.
On this episode of the English 2.0 Podcast, we handle the following points:
Q: “It will rain” vs. “It will be rainy”
Tips: 5 Ways to Create Speaking Opportunities For Free
Pronunciation Point: 3 Commonly Mispronounced Words
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4 replies to "Episode 6 | 5 Ways to Create Speaking Opportunities FOR FREE"
Hello.
I took TOEIC S/W TEST today. My weak points are listening and finding necessary informations. In the test, I had to respond to telephone caller. As I haven’t telephoned to natives, I couldn’t catch appropriate informations. The caller spoke so fast for me(of course,she spoke normal speed as a native), I was confused and I couldn’t respond well. I think I need to speak natives in various situations. So, today’s your episode is interesting for me. I’ve thought for long time that I need to go to English conversation school to speak natives and that is the only opportunity. Your episode helps me to find new situations. I can’t do all 5 ways, but, I’ll start to try one of them.
Thank you.
Hi Misa,
I haven’t heard of too many people who have taken the TOEIC S/W test. Thanks for your sharing your experiences.
Yes, if you are finding it difficult to keep up with native speed, it probably means that your exposure to native English is still limited. That’s exactly the reason I chose the topic of creating opportunities for this episode of the podcast. I don’t expect everyone to do all five. My hope is that students just start to be more creative when looking for ways to practice English while in Japan.
I’m glad it was helpful!
Good luck!
Good evening.
Thank you for your reply.
As you say,taking TOEIC S/W test may be rare. I think TOEIC test means always TOEIC listening and reading test for Japanese. I heard many people,especially high school teachers and students, thinks TOEIC Test is necessary for university entrance examinations. They look to believe that high score reflect good English skill. I’ve believed so until I attended the TOEIC seminar.
I was surprised and shocked at the content of that seminar. It said as follows.
If you have some techniques, you can score good points.
There is no necessity to read and understand whole sentences.
Each category has trends, so you should focus on them.
These points may be true, but, if it’s so, what is the aim of TOEIC? I asked the instructor whether the high scorer can speak English well and can communicate others. The answer is yes and no. He said that Japanese believe too much that high score is high quality of English skill, but it’s not true.
After the seminar, I decided to take TOEIC S/W test to check my communication skill. Of course, I have to improve listening and reading, I take TOEIC L/R test,too. The balance of these 4 skills is important. My balance is insufficient and unbalance.
I wrote too much. My message must bother you. I’m sorry.
Hi Misa,
Yes, there are many myths about TOEIC. I have to agree with the instructor of the course. If you really want to know how TOEIC relates to communication, you have to analyze what the test really is. And my answer is that TOEIC (regular) is a test of Listening and Reading COMPREHENSION. It just tests how well you understand English (the INPUT side). Unless you take the S/W test (the OUTPUT side) the TOEIC test is NOT a good measure of English speaking ability at all.
In addition, with the time limitation, you have to take that into consideration while you’re taking the test. Therefore not only are you testing your English comprehension skills, but also your TIME MANAGEMENT skills. This is where techniques really help you get a good score. I suggest taking many practice tests WITH A TIMER so that you get used to the timing and manage yourself better.
With tests like TOEIC, you always need to consider, “Why am I taking this test?” If you have a valid reason in your mind, that’s great. If you can’t think of any real reason (“I’m taking the test because my boss told me to” or “Because everyone else takes it”) then it is a complete waste of time and energy. I agree that the balance of the 4 skills is important but the main question is “FOR WHAT REASON or PURPOSE?” As always, thanks for your message Misa!