TOEFL, TOEIC, IELTS and TEFL

A.      TOEFL

TOEFL singkatan dari Test of English as a Foreign Language yaitu tes bahasa Inggris sebagai bahasa asing. TOEFL dipakai untuk mengukur kemampuan seseorang dalam bahasa Inggris. TOEFL diperuntukan bagi mereka yang hendak sekolah ke negara-negara English-American, seperti Amerika Serikat contohnya. Ada tiga macam pilihan tes:

a.       PBT (Paper Based Test), yaitu kamu mengerjakan tes TOEFL di atas kertas. Materi tes biasanya meliputi listening, reading, dan structure.

b.      CBT (Computer Based Test), yaitu kamu mengerjakan tes TOEFL langsung di komputer. Materi tes biasanya meliputi listening, reading, structure dan ada tambahan writing.

c.       IBT (Internet Based Test), yaitu tes TOEFL kamu mengerjakan tes TOEFL langsung di komputer yang terhubung ke internet. Materi tes biasanya meliputi listening, reading, structure, writing dan ada tambahan speaking.

Adapun rentang skor TOEFL sebagai berikut.

·         Skor TOEFL PBT: 310 – 677.

·         Skor TOEFL CBT: 30 – 300.

·         Skor TOEFL IBT: 8 – 120.

Skor TOEFL berlaku selama 2 tahun. Jika lewat dari 2 tahun, kamu harus mengambil lagi tes TOEFL. Untuk bisa mengajukan beasiswa kuliah di luar negeri, skor TOEFL kamu minimal harus 550 (PBT).

B.      TOEIC

TOEIC adalah singkatan dari Test of English for International Communication, yaitu tes bahasa Inggis untuk komunikasi internasional. TOEIC lebih khusus diperuntukan orientasi pekerjaan. Jika kamu ingin bekerja di luar negeri atau perusahaan asing di Indonesia, maka kamu harus memiliki sertifikasi TOEIC.

Materi tes TOEIC hanya listening dan reading. Tipe soal-soal TOEIC biasanya mengarah ke bisnis. Adapun rentang Skor TOEIC adalah 10 – 990.

Agar kamu dapat bekerja di luar negeri, usahakan skor TOEIC kamu lebih dari 450.

C.      IELTS

IELTS singkatan dari International English Language Testing System, yaitu program tes untuk menguji kemahiran dalam berbahasa Inggris.IELTS biasanya digunakan untuk mengurus visa luar negeri, studi/sekolah ke negara-negara English-British (seperti Inggris dan Australia misalnya), pindah kewarganegaraan, dsb.

Ada dua versi IELTS: Academic Version (versi akademik) dan General Training Version (pelatihan umum):

·      Versi akademik diperuntukan mereka yang akan masuk perguruan tinggi dan para profesional seperti dokter atau perawat yang akan bekerja di negara pengguna British English.

·      Versi pelatihan umum diperuntukan mereka yang akan bekerja atau keperluan imigrasi (seperti pindah kewarganegaraan).

Materi tes IELTS ada 4, yaitu:

a)      listening (30 menit )

b)      reading (1 jam),

c)       writing (1 jam), dan

d)      speaking (12-15 menit).

Secara keseluruhan, tes IELTS membutuhkan waktu sekitar 3 jam. Rentang skor tes adalah IELTS: 1 – 9. Jika akan digunakan untuk keperluan sekolah ke Inggris Australia, Kanada, Selandia Baru maka skor IELTS yang dibutuhkan adalah 5,5 ke atas.

D.      TEFL

“TEFL” is the acronym for Teaching English as a Foreign Language, or simply, English language instruction for non-native speakers. Also known as Teaching English to Speakers of Other Languages (TESOL), English Language Teaching (ELT), and teaching ESL (English as a Second Language). The field of TEFL/TESOL represents one of the fastest growing educational fields in the world. The field presents thousands of excellent professional opportunities for teaching English abroad in all corners of the globe to native and fluent English speakers who earn their TEFL/TESOL certification.

In practical terms, when these terms are applied to the field of teaching English abroad, there is little or no difference between “TEFL” and “TESOL.” They are both acronyms that essentially mean the same thing: teaching the English language to non-native speakers. Likewise, in the vast majority cases, when it comes to teaching English abroad, a “TEFL certification” and a “TESOL certification” are the same and the terms are interchangeable.

On a more technical level, TESOL (Teachers of English to Speakers of Other Languages) is the term applied to the teaching of English to non-native speakers in native English speaking countries, so those who will earn degrees and work domestically in the field in the UK, Canada, Australia, Ireland, New Zealand, and South Africa and US will typically use the term “TESOL.”

E.       TEFL or TESOL Certification and requirements for getting a job teaching English abroad

To Teach English as a Foreign Language in a foreign country (non-native English speaking country), a TEFL Certification is typically required as schools and language institutes want to hire teachers who have received proper training. You don’t need to possess a degree in education, prior teaching experience, or even a college degree to get paid to teach English abroad. Private language schools abroad want to hire people who have received a certain degree of professional level training. Internationally recognized standards hold that professional-level TEFL certification must meet certain standards established by leading bodies in the field.

These standards include:

·         At least 100 hours of coursework;

·         At least 6-20 hours of practicum (live practice teaching and observation with actual non-native English speaker and NOT role-playing with fellow TEFL classmates);

·         An accredited curriculum from a recognized, independent organization within the field;

·         Instruction provided by a qualified instructor (who has an equivalent to a Master Degree in TESOL or related field);

·         It is also recommended that you take your TEFL certification course from an organization that provides comprehensive job search guidance.

Sources :

http://www.erlangga.co.id/pendidikan/7854-apa-beda-toefl-ielts-dan-toeic.html

https://www.internationalteflacademy.com/faq/bid/102043/What-is-TEFL-and-What-is-TEFL-Certification

Giving a personal presentation

First impressions last, there is often no second chance. The way you present yourself, your character, how you look, the language you use, the way you greet the person and the way you talk will all be judged by your prospective employer.

We are going to learn how to presentation, this is what you must to learn :

A.    How you speak

Think about how you come across. Are you being confident or arrogant? Are you surly or too quiet and timid? Do you speak clearly or do you mumble? Most employers are looking for a person who speaks politely and confidently.

B.     What you say

Your choice of words is vital, do not use slang or swear at all. Answer questions clearly and honestly and don’t waffle. Be aware of what you’re saying, who you’re saying it to and therefore the message that might be conveyed.

C.     Body language

Be aware of the messages you are communicating by the way you stand, greet a person and generally hold yourself. Stand confidently, shake the hand of the person interviewing you and sit comfortably rather than slouching.

D.    Cultural sensitivities

It is important you look the person interviewing you in the eye and maintain that eye contact while you talk with them. This shows you have confidence and respect them. However, many people within different cultures have different beliefs. People of indigenous cultures do not make direct eye contact, be aware of these sensitivities and they will be greatly appreciated as a mark of respect for that person.

E.     What we wear

Think carefully about what clothing to wear. Dress according to the type of job you are applying for. If it is a gardening job you are applying for, don’t go dressed in a tuxedo. But if the job is with an up-market clothing boutique, your favourite tracksuit won’t be the best choice either! The basic rule is to be smart and dress appropriately for the position for which you are applying. Try to see things from the employer’s point of view.

If you have body piercings, just be aware that a more conservative employer may not like that stud through your tongue or brow. It is advisable to take out visible body piercings and if you gain the position, then you can check with the employer if it is OK for you to wear piercings/personal jewellery.

Source :

http://www.careercentre.dtwd.wa.gov.au/FindingAJob/BePreparedAndGetOrganised/Pages/PersonalPresentation.aspx

Showing understanding and suggesting solutions

Showing  understanding and Suggestion solutions is suggest a solution to the problem, in which problems associated with problems or situations are analyzed and possible solutions proposed, together with the expected results / consequences. opinion of the author may be mentioned, directly or indirectly, in the introduction and / or conclusion.

Things to note :

1.       Each paragraph should begin with a topic sentence that summarizes what the paragraph is about.

2.       Precise words and phrases which links should be used to show the relationship between paragraphs and

3.       to connect sentences in a paragraph.

4.       Use the technique is given in the beginning and end of discursive essays.

Showing understanding and suggesting solutions Business Result Pre-Intermediate Unit 15 Starting at the top one, take turns explaining your situation to your partner and responding to their suggestions about what you should do.

Situation 1 You’ve applied for three promotions and didn’t get any because your English isn’t good enough, but the company hardly ever pays for English courses. Your company rarely or never advertises jobs internally, and sometimes long after advertising them externally.

Situation 2 Your project manager only gives negative feedback. Annual appraisals don’t always happen, perhaps because the managers don’t like doing them. Some managers have bad communication skills.

Situation 3 You only got one week of training when you first joined the company, and nothing since then. I can rarely ask my colleagues questions because I am always out visiting customers. All my projects are very different, so it’s difficult to be an expert in all those different things.

Situation 4 People don’t work together as a team. There’s an Employee of the Month award, but it just makes people more selfish. All the situations above are actually in one company. Work together to decide how the company’s systems should be changed.

Useful Language

To express cause: since/because, in view of/because of/owing to/ due to (the fact that)…, The reason that …/why …/for… is that…

To express effect: thus/therefore/so/consequently, as a result/consequence, the result of … would be …, … would result in …

To express purpose: so that…, so as/in order (not) to …, with the purpose of/intention of (+ing)   

To express possibility/probability: It can/could/may/might…, It is possible/probable/(un)likely/foreseeable/certain that…, … is (un) likely to/bound to/certain to/ possible/probable…, The likelihood/possibility/probability of (-ing/noun) is…

Sumber :

https://tefltastic.files.wordpress.com/2012/04/showing-understanding-and-suggesting-solutions.pdf

Presenting (Giving a formal presentation)

Formal Presentations

Presentations give you the opportunity to share and receive feedback on your ideas and research findings. This page offers basic guidelines for organizing, designing, and delivering formal presentations. It also provides links for further discussion and examples.

A.      What you must know before you get started…

Know your audience. As an engineer, you will deliver formal presentations to different audiences who have varying levels of technical knowledge: undergraduates, graduate students, professors, university administrators, and supervisors and colleagues in industry. Anticipate what your audience already knows about your topic. If you are unsure how to address your audience, imagine having a conversation about your topic with a member of the audience. You would employ different diction and sentence structures to discuss your work with a fellow engineering student than you would to explain it to a marketing student, wouldn’t you? Ideally, you address audience members on a field of shared knowledge and then lead them to greater understanding.

Also try to anticipate your audience’s mood.  You should organize your presentation differently for a friendly audience than you would for a skeptical or hostile one. Generally speaking, a friendly audience will likely accept an early assertion of your main point, followed by supportive details.  A skeptical audience, however, responds more productively to a presentation of shared concerns, followed by a “delayed thesis,” or main point (Ramage & Bean, 1995, 164).

Finally, make sure you know your audience’s preferences for presentations. Does your audience expect or require PowerPoint or other presentation software? Does your audience, like Edward Tufte (2010), despise PowerPoint? Would your audience prefer other modes of presentation, such as displaying slides as Web pages (Olivo, 2006)? These types of questions may be difficult to answer for someone with little presentation experience, but doing some initial research into your audience’s expectations will make you a more effective presenter.

B.      Organizing the Presentation

Most presentations have three distinct sections: Introduction, Middle, and Conclusion.

1.       Draft the Introduction.

Think like a journalist: the introduction should explain the “who, what, when, where, and why” of your research.  The Middle will explain the “how.” Your title slide will convey much of this information. Fig. 1 shows a title slide that includes the “who, what, and where.” Make sure you attend to font size and color contrast so that your names are visible. Also, spell out the names of your university and department even though they may be obvious. If you receive external funding for your research, your title slide should identify the source of your support. At this stage, consider your Introduction as a rough draft. You will revise it later.

2.       Concentrate on the Middle and Conclusion.

Imagine yourself at the end of your presentation. What exactly do you want the audience to learn, or take away?  Engineering communicators recommend that you focus on 3-5 points per presentation (Doumont, 2009).  Yet at a busy conference, most of us can realistically remember only the main point of each speaker (Alley, 2003, 153.). Prioritize your points in order of importance.  Make sure all the information you include in the Middle of your presentation contributes to your most important point; too many unnecessary details will veil the important information. Select the most persuasive visual data to use as supporting evidence.

3.       Organize your argument and support.

First, avoid your computer (Grant, 2010). Instead, write down your points on note cards and organize the cards, so you can see the entire structure at a glance and make changes quickly. If you begin this work on presentation software, you risk wasting time on slide design details. This process will also help to remove unnecessary information that does not support your main points. It will be earlier to throw away a notecard that you scribbled on than to delete a slide that took you an hour to perfect.

Repetition helps you to emphasize important information. If you want the audience to remember a point, allude to it early, present the information as clearly as possible, and repeat your point in the conclusion.

4.       Finally, return to your Introduction.

Review all the material in your draft, including your title.  Make sure your Introduction explains why your work is important—and why we should pay attention to you. Also explain the larger context of your work (or the “big picture”) for the least technically knowledgeable member of the audience; that person could have the most power or money to help you. If your presentation will last longer than 5 minutes, provide an overview slide to outline the contents. You can use the overview to explain your scope: what you will discuss and what you will not.

C.      Designing the Slides

As an undergraduate, you will normally use PowerPoint for your slide designs, but you should know its limitations. Remember three principles:

·         Slides should support your message, not act as a substitute. If you watch the talks on Ted.com you will notice that the focus is on the speaker, not the slides. Watch Dr. Kristina M. Johnson (Fig. 2), an engineer and the former Under Secretary for Energy, discuss the Clean Energy Economy for 20 minutes at the Institute of International and European Affairs. We do not need slides to understand what she is saying.

·         Visual presentations and written reports speak different languages. In other words, don’t simply cut-and-paste words and illustrations from your reports onto the slides. Consider how your presentation audience differs from your reader, and how you can use the language of visual presentation to advantage. Fig. 3 shows another slide from the student presentation featured above in Fig. 1. Here, the authors show at a glance how decision-making factors (in blue) match their more specific goals in designing the production facility.

·         Keep the slides simple. The more complex your material, the easier you should make the presentation for the reader.  As Doumont puts it, “maximize signal-to-noise ratio” (2010).  Neuroscientist Stephen Kosslyn observes that “audience members can only typically handle four ‘perceptual units’ (a word, phrase or picture) at a time” (Grant, 2010). Avoid long bullet lists, complex flow charts, and tables full of fine detail. Pay attention to the size of words and images. Alley recommends keeping the font side no smaller than 18 points (2003, 116).  What if you need to show the fine detail? Make a handout.

D.      Practicing the Delivery

·         Create note cards.  Even if you are asked to “present a paper,” don’t plan to read the entire paper out loud. Outline it on cards, legibly stating the major points. Make sure you know your sources for all your information. If you are using presentation software, the sources should be cited on the slide. If not, list the source on your note cards. You may be called on your sources during the Question and Answer period.

·         Practice in front of friends—not just the mirror. It is amazing how quickly your brain will disregard the 10 hours of practicing you did at home when faced with another human being. A real audience, however small, will help give you a sense of the “nerves” you will experience and alert you to lapses in clarity or design flaws in your slides. Practice maintaining eye contact as much as possible. Practice twice, and note your improvement. If you are soft-spoken, practice in the largest lecture room possible. Ask a friend to sit in the back row so you can practice voice projection.

·         Visit the location if possible.  For presentations on campus, you should be able to visit the room beforehand. Note the size of the room and where you will stand. If you are presenting in a large lecture hall, check your slides for visibility from the back row. Test the projector and screen controls and arrange for technical support if necessary.

·         Remember Murphy’s laws. Prepare for your laptop to crash, for the projector light bulb to blow out, for your partner not to show up. If you are presenting outside the University, prepare a backup plan to deliver your talk from memory, with handouts.

·         Anticipate questions and challenges. Be ready to elaborate on each major point. Prepare to support your sources, your methods, and your conclusions without appearing to go on the defensive.  If you do not know the answer, say so.

Sources :

https://engrcomm.che.utexas.edu/che-333t-engineering-communications/formal-presentations/