studying for CPE

My CPE prep classes have already started and I am pretty happy with them. However, no matter how good the teacher is, it is inevitable to always be haunted by that feeling...you know that voice inside your head which tells you: it's so hard and you are not even close to be prepared for this test. And actually, by now, I'm wondering if it is ever possible to really feel like you are prepared for the test. Each part of the test brings about obstacles almost impossible to overcome: what if I exceed the 2 minutes time in the speaking part? what if the writing is about something I know nothing about? what if the Use of English test is full of those texts on business and biology which I simply don't understand? groan...I'm starting to feel depressed already, and I'm going to take the test only in December!!

However, this is not the time for despair: something can still be done - namely, exercise!

Luckily people in cambridge are fully aware that they are preparing a very difficult (impossible?) test, and they are willing to help us. Of course, I know they write books which are meant to help us getting prepared - and they sell it at a high price, knowing that it is almost impossible to pass the test without these books. However - strange as it may sound - they are also willing to help us for free!! yeah, you got it: no costs whatsoever! Isn't it very solidary of them?

• The first website I recommend is ExamEnglish, which is good not only for the exercises it provides, but also because it helps getting a better/bigger picture of what all of these Cambridge and Toefl tests are about. This way you can find out if the test you want to take will actually help you in achieving your goals.
• The second website, very familiar among Cultura Inglesa students and teachers, is Flo-Joe. The website describes itself as "the place on the web for Cambridge exam preparation". If you are taking the Toefl, some exercises might still be helpful, but the test is really different. Flo-Joe can be very helpful if you are planning to take FCE, CAE or CPE as it provides many many many exercises. It is specially useful to prepare for the reading, writing or Use of English parts of the test.
• ETS, which is the organization that oversees the major American tests (GRE, SAT, G-Mat, etc.), is also responsible for Toefl. The new Toefl is now IBT, which stands dor Internet Based Test. The ETS website provides some helpful tips and question samples for you to get prepared for free. However, if you really intend to take the test, it is advisable that you either buy the book with the Cd-Rom (which gives you a better idea of how the test will look like) or pay for the online preparation. The cost will be pretty much the same.

If you do as much exercise as you can, I think you have good chances to get a B in the test :)

Does it matter what you write?

Strange question to start my post for this week...but writing every day is not easy! eventually, you run out of things to say! That`s why I started reading more....the newspaper doesn't really help much, actually. The Washington Post, in fact is dedicating half of its pages to the campaign - which, I admit, is one of the most important things in the country now. I decided to read some of the NY Times pages and I was reading a pretty interesting essay written by Colson Whitehead, "I write in Brooklyn. Get over it." In the essay the writer talks about his job as a writer seen from a Brooklyn perspective. At the beginning he states that writing in rooklyn is not really much different than writing anywhere else, but little by little he goes into those details that make you see why Brooklyn is somehow different. Writing in different places, then, really does make a sort of a difference. Now, a question tormented me while I was taking the TOEFL preparation course a couple of months ago: Does it matter what your write? According to titles, the timing and the importance with which they rate the contents of you essay, I would say it doesn`t really matter. So, how can the TOEFL be a good way to prove your English skills at university level? ecause in real life we mostly write for a purpose...and what is important is the message we want to convey....or is it the way we convey it? Being a good writer, of course, means conveying an important and deep message in a proper, accurate (however exuberant) way. What aout eing a good TOEFL taker? Is it of any importance at all what is inside of our heads? What we think and believe? No...what matters is the correctness, accuracy, cohesion and coherence of our English. Well, I guess this is what people want to know: regardless of what we want to say, can we at leat say it properly and in a way that it can be understood? Now, I have a question: how can we be motivated to write an essay, if we don`t have anything to say on the subject? Or if we have to write things we don`t really believe?Or if we do not have enough time to put our thoughts together in a way that they will mean something? Is this fair to the students? Do we not deserve to think and plan our essays before start writing them? many many doubts occurr to me when I think of the TOEFL. However, I still want to get good grades on the test...corss your fingers, ok?

My TOEFL classes

And here I am, still in the United States but once again behind a desk, in front of a blackboard...yeah, you got it!! I started studying again (thank God!). Today I had my first class, with new classmates who are completely different from my previous ones.

But wait, let`s start from the beginning! It`s been ages that I haven`t written one single word about my life here and this post has started at the very least without any context (oh, my gosh!! what did I do with my 5-year linguistics classes?). Let`s start again: I am taking TOEFL classes at LADO for the second time. From October to December 2007 I took classes in this same school, but in the Silver Spring building. Since they seem never to have TOEFL classes at Silver Spring, I decided to come to Washington DC LADO and take my next level here. So far, it seems it`s been a good choice. The class is much bigger (12 students, I think). Most of them are au pairs like me, and they come from all over the world: Russia, Poland, Germany (of course!), France, Peru, Macedonia, Moldova, Mongolia. For a change, I`m the only representative for Brazil (and Italy, only nobody know it yet). Also, the atmosphere in DC is nicer...I`m really excited!

In this first class, beside meeting the classmates, I met my teacher, Mark Stoneman, who seems very nice. He started the class with a nice talk about the course and our needs, but he grabbed the chance to give us a lot of homework (read this, read the news every day, read that, write a journal, write every day, listen to npr, watch pbs, etc.). This is why I decided to come back to my blog: see if I can leave short posts every day, so that I can get what Mark called "fluency in writing". It shouldn`t be hard since I really enjoy writing, specially in English. Besides, my post will be back to its first and main objective: making me improve my English writing skills.

Of course, not everything is nice about my classes in DC. The main prolem is time: I will have to wake up really really early to get there on time. I hope it`ll work...but this is one of the reasons why i`m so tired i can`t wait to lie down and fall fast asleep. I have pleny of other things to write about, but I think it is enough for today.

C ya tomorrow :)