Category Archives: ETS

Five more reasons to hate ETS

Posted on 04/02/2009 by alexcase

I got a bit of a rise out of someone (probably) associated with ETS, the people responsible for the language teaching travesties that are TOEFL and TOEIC, last time I laid into them. So, let’s see if we can’t carry … Continue reading →

Posted in ETS, HLT magazine, TOEFL, TOEIC | 8 Comments

New Teaching English Reviews and Articles Dec 08 Part Two

Posted on 01/01/2009 by alexcase

Before I get onto the shameless selling of my own articles, I’d like to thank all TEFL.net book reviewers from 2008 (Kelly Quinn, Lara Promnitz-Hayashi, Dave Allen, Janis Crolla, Stephen Lodziak, Nicholas Whitely, Katie Cordes, Joshua Antle, Kaithe Greene, Paula Swenson, … Continue reading →

Posted in CLIL, EFL exams, ELT publishing, Error correction, Error correction games, Grammar, links, Materials, Teaching English in Asia, Teaching English in Japan, TEFL, TEFL games, TEFL reviews, TOEIC, Writing | Tagged | 3 Comments

The truth about TOEFL

Posted on 22/11/2008 by alexcase

“TOEFL- Test of English with Fluency Lacking- A test of English in which you can get full marks without speaking one word. Originally developed only for people who have physical problems with their voice box, eventually having been through an … Continue reading →

Posted in EFL exams, ETS, links, Teaching English in Asia, Teaching English in China, Teaching English in Japan, Teaching English in Korea, Teaching English in Taiwan, TOEFL | Tagged | 1 Comment

Live by tepid spirit*

Posted on 17/10/2008 by alexcase

I write my “15 ways…” articles and teaching ideas in the spirit that even if what I put in there is painfully obvious, sometimes seeing something written down can help clarify an idea that was floating round somewhere at the back … Continue reading →

Posted in Alternative teaching techniques, BULATS, Cultural differences/ cultural training, EFL exams, ETS, IELTS, Konglish, Linguistics, applied linguistics and SLA, links, Oxford University Press (OUP), Pronunciation, Teaching English Abroad, Teaching English in Asia, Teaching English in Korea, TEFL, TOEIC | Leave a comment

IELTS, TOEIC, TOEFL, FCE, CAE and CPE worksheets, articles and tips

Posted on 09/09/2008 by alexcase

Have done a bit more tedious reorganisation so that you don’t need to do so much tedious searching, and you can now find all the links to my stuff on said topics elsewhere on the internet as well as my … Continue reading →

Posted in CAE, Cambridge First Certificate, Cambridge Proficiency, EFL exams, English for Academic Purposes, ETS, IELTS, IELTS Academic Reading, IELTS Speaking, links, Listening, Materials, Photocopiable worksheets, Reading, Speaking, TEFL, TOEFL, TOEIC, Usingenglish, Vocabulary | Leave a comment

The British government learns what any TEFLer could have told them

Posted on 25/07/2008 by alexcase

…ETS is crap! I mean really, you’d only need to look at one TOEIC test, an exam that claims to test all skills but has no speaking component, or its history to see that ETS is a company that has … Continue reading →

Posted in EFL exams, ETS, TOEIC | Tagged | 11 Comments

The alternative EFL jargon dictionary Part 12

Posted on 10/07/2008 by alexcase

SLA- Second Language Acquisition- The theory that you are guaranteed to learn a language if you just spend enough money on it STT- Stupid Talking Time- How long you should let a student talk after you realize they’ve got completely … Continue reading →

Posted in Linguistics, applied linguistics and SLA, TEFL, TOEFL | Tagged , | 5 Comments

The Alternative ELT Jargon Dictionary Part 10

Posted on 12/06/2008 by alexcase

BIELT- The British Institute of English Language Teaching, set up with the goals of establishing a framework of professional qualifications and a professional code of practice. It failed. BULATS- EFL testing euphemism for “bollocks” Cloze-

Posted in BULATS, Eliciting, Error correction, Grammar, Linguistics, applied linguistics and SLA, TOEFL, TOEIC | Tagged , | Leave a comment

TOEIC and other TEFL News

Posted on 20/05/2008 by alexcase

According to an article today in the Korea Times, of the 10,000 people who applied for the 70 new recruit jobs available in the Korea Exchange Bank this year, “Twenty-nine applicants scored full marks in TOEIC, and 1,086 scored over … Continue reading →

Posted in EFL exams, links, Teaching English in India, Teaching English in Japan, Teaching English in Korea, TOEIC | Leave a comment

The disadvantages of teaching in Japan

Posted on 18/05/2008 by alexcase

“My first two years in Japan were spent teaching English… The students… studied English- or should I say, English was taught in their presence. Nothing ever seemed to sink in. Years of classes and endless tests and still they couldn’t … Continue reading →

Posted in becoming a teacher trainer, British Council, Business English and ESP, Cambridge Delta, CELTA, Cultural differences/ cultural training, Dave Sperling's ESL Cafe, Eikaiwa, English Teachers in Japan, Functional language, JALT, Materials, Mixed ability classes, Pairwork and groupwork, Problem students, Teacher forums, Teaching English in Japan, Teaching low levels, TEFL, TEFL career planning, TEFL working conditions, TOEIC | 22 Comments