Speaking and Writing Strategies for the TOEFL iBT part 36

Appendix - 339 Argument-Counter Argument Essay 1. Zoo Essay - range score: 4.0-5.0 Show-Support Essay Animal Behavior Essay - range score: 4.0-5.0 Organization point-by-point √ block Progression general-specific √ specific-general Development- Summarization introduction √ body √ conclusion √ Unity- Synthesis topical √ grammatical √ Language Use- Paraphrasing word choice √ idioms X sentence variety √ Organization point-by-point block √ Progression general-specific √ specific-general Development- Summarization introduction √ body √ conclusion √ Unity- Synthesis topical √ grammatical √ Language Use- Paraphrasing word choice √ idioms X sentence variety √ Integrated Essay Ratings 340 - Appendix x Speaking Task One 1. Travel-and-Learning Prompt - range score: 3.5-4.0 2. Work-and-High-School Prompt - range score: 3.5-4.0 3. People-Living-Longer Prompt: range score: 3.5-4.0 1. Technology Prompt (car) - range score: 3.5-4.0 Organization deduction √ induction Progression general-specific √ specific-general Development introduction √ body √ conclusion √ Unity topical √ grammatical √ Language Use word choice √ idioms X sentence variety √ Delivery fluency √ automaticity √ pronunciation √ Organization deduction √ induction Progression general-specific √ specific-general Development introduction √ body √ conclusion √ Unity topical √ grammatical √ Language Use word choice √ idioms X sentence variety √ Delivery fluency √ automaticity √ pronunciation √ Speaking Task Ratings Appendix - 341 Speaking Task Two 1. Exercising Prompt - range score: 3.5-4.0 2. Airport Prompt - range score: 3.5-4.0 3. Cook-or-Ready-to-Eat-Meals Prompt - range score: 3.5-4.0 4. Shopping Prompt - range score: 3.5-4.0 4. Homeschooling Prompt - range score: 3.5-4.0 Speaking Task Three 1. Organic-Food-Policy Prompt - range score: 3.5-4.0 Speaking Task Four 1. Animal Behavior Prompt - range score: 3.5-4.0 Speaking Task Five 1. Professor-Forgets Prompt - range score: 3.5-4.0 Speaking Task Six 1. Animal Behavior - range score: 3.5-4.0 342 - Appendix x _________________________________________________________________________________ _________________________________________________________________________________ _________________________________________________________________________________ _________________________________________________________________________________ _________________________________________________________________________________ _________________________________________________________________________________ _________________________________________________________________________________ _________________________________________________________________________________ _________________________________________________________________________________ _________________________________________________________________________________ _________________________________________________________________________________ _________________________________________________________________________________ _________________________________________________________________________________ _________________________________________________________________________________ _________________________________________________________________________________ _________________________________________________________________________________ _________________________________________________________________________________ _________________________________________________________________________________ _________________________________________________________________________________ _________________________________________________________________________________ _________________________________________________________________________________ _________________________________________________________________________________ _________________________________________________________________________________ _________________________________________________________________________________ _________________________________________________________________________________ _________________________________________________________________________________ _________________________________________________________________________________ _________________________________________________________________________________ _________________________________________________________________________________ _________________________________________________________________________________ Notes Audio Scripts - 343 Sample Lecture – Big Oil Companies On the contrary, oil companies do more harm than good. For starters, big oil eliminates jobs to increase profits. Last year, oil companies reduced their work force by 25% while profits were up 50% percent. This trend does not appear to be changing. Also, oil companies avoid paying taxes by moving overseas. One company, Hamilton, moved to Dubai to reduce its U.S. corporate tax rate. How does this help our roads and bridges? Worse, petroleum products are the number one cause of global warming. Every day cars pour billions of tons of CO2 into the atmosphere. CO2 has been directly linked to the greenhouse effect. The evidence is clear: Oil companies do more harm than good. Track #1 Audio Scripts 344 - Audio Scripts s Sample Lecture – Downloading Internet Music It happens every second of every day all over the world. One click and that new song—the one you didn’t pay for—is on your iPod. You may think it’s legal. After all, downloading music is fast and easy, right? Think again. It goes without saying that downloading music off the web without paying for it is a crime. I know. I know. Some will argue that “It’s my democratic right to download music without paying for it.” Nonsense. The internet might have started out with the intention of being a democracy but, believe me, those days are long gone. The internet these days is about two things: information and money. Big money. One of the biggest money makers on the web is music, and music is protected by law. If you download U2’s latest album, let’s say, and you don’t pay for it, then you are breaking the copyright law that says U2 owns that music. It is their property and you just stole it. If you want to listen to U2, you’ve got to buy it, no ifs, ands or buts. Also, the artist has a legal right to get paid for his or her work no matter how or where it is downloaded. How would you like it if somebody were stealing your music? This is exactly what Napster was doing. Napster was the first peer-to-peer music sharing web site. Musicians, however, took Napster to court for not paying royalties, money owed each time a song was downloaded via Napster. Napster argued that it was just helping friends share music. The courts disagreed. Napster paid a big fine and is now a pay site. Moreover, illegally downloading music off the web is not a privacy issue. If you break the law by illegally downloading music, you are a criminal. I’m sorry, but you can’t have it both ways. You can’t break the law and hide behind the privacy issue. The law is clear. Criminals have no right to privacy. Period. It bears repeating that downloading music without paying for it is a crime no matter what anyone says about “the freedom of cyberspace.” Just because downloading music is fast and easy doesn’t mean you have the right to steal it. Track #2 Audio Scripts - 345 Sample Lecture – Teleconferencing We Americans assume that all business cultures are like ours. Nothing could be further from the truth. Many Middle Eastern and Asian cultures prefer to do business face-to-face. Discussing business over tea or while having dinner is an integral part of the business process in these cultures. Such traditions help develop mutual respect and trust not only between business partners but between international employees working for the same company. Unfortunately, in the rush for convenience and cost saving, Americans fail to appreciate that not all business cultures view teleconferencing as the ultimate business solution. The article goes on to say that blue chip companies saved an average of $40 million dollars last year by cutting travel costs. What the article doesn’t tell you is that for every dollar saved by cutting travel costs, these same companies paid two dollars to upgrade their intranet systems. Teleconferencing might be fast and easy but it’s certainly not cheap, especially when companies need to continually upgrade their computer systems if they want to stay competitive. Some would argue that teleconferencing is the perfect tool for problem solving, especially when operating under a deadline. Yet how do you know if the information you are receiving is timely and accurate? A good example is the American who called up a colleague in Japan. Because the Japanese colleague was new and did not want to lose face, and because the American was his boss, he told the American exactly what he wanted to hear. The American believed he had the solution to his problem only to realize later that the information was not accurate. Track #3 346 - Audio Scripts s Task #1 – Legalizing Marijuana Once again the issue of legalizing marijuana raises its ugly head. And once again those in favor of legalization are beating the same old drum. The most common argument you hear for legalizing marijuana is that the government can tax it like alcohol and tobacco. Sounds like a good idea, right? The only problem is the numbers. That $100 billion dollars mentioned in the article? Sounds big. It is, on the state level. On the national level, however, it’s just a drop in the bucket. Anyone who thinks that we will pay off the national debt by legalizing marijuana is misinformed. It would be better to increase the tax on gasoline, say fifty cents per gallon. That way the government could tax the majority of the population not a minority of drug users. The article argues that by legalizing marijuana, the crime rate will go down. I’m afraid this just won’t happen. Organized crime will wage an all out war to control the growing and manufacturing of marijuana both in America and in their home countries. There is simply too much money for the cartels to suddenly disappear. Worse, these same cartels, once they become legitimate, will ship marijuana into those countries where marijuana is still illegal. This, in turn, will only increase violence in those countries. The author of the article concludes by saying that it’s her right to smoke marijuana. Fine. Go right ahead. However, this is where I draw the line: This country is already addicted to too many drugs, from alcohol to tobacco to prescription drugs. Yes, you have the right to poison yourself as you please, but you don’t have the right to throw gasoline on a fire that is already burning out of control. That fire is the drug problem in America, and it is only getting worse. Track #4 Audio Scripts - 347 Task #2 – Christopher Columbus Christopher Columbus. For Americans, that name is as famous as Macdonald’s and Microsoft. And for good reason. Many Americans believe that Columbus’ voyage to America in 1492 represents the birth of this nation as we know it. In that light, many would argue that Columbus is the original founding father. History, I’m afraid, paints a very different picture. Contrary to what the article says, Columbus was not fleeing the tyranny of European kings. Far from it. The fact is Columbus was a businessman employed by the King of Spain. What exactly was Columbus’ job? To find a route “to the Indies” and bring back “gold, silver and spices.” What did Columbus get in return? Ten percent of everything he brought back. No. Columbus wasn’t “leaving the old in search of the new.” His purpose was profit. As for Columbus being the symbol of progress, nothing could be further from the truth. By 1492, the year in which Columbus “sailed the ocean blue,” North America had already been discovered. In the eleventh century, Vikings had arrived in eastern Canada long before Columbus ever showed up. If anything, Columbus was late to the party. What’s more, Columbus didn’t even set foot on American soil. He made landfall in the present-day Bahamas, then went on to explore present-day Cuba and the Dominican Republic. This brings us to the last point. Contrary to public perception, Columbus is not a symbol of “life, liberty and the pursuit of happiness” as the article contends. Remember, Columbus was a businessman after his ten percent. The only problem was he failed to find any “gold, silver or spices.” Instead, what he found were people. Determined to get his ten percent, Columbus took twenty-five Indians back to Spain with him and sold them into slavery. This, then, is Columbus’s true legacy: the birth of slavery in the new world. Track #5 348 - Audio Scripts s Task #3 – Online Schools I’d like to start off by talking about the article I handed out for homework. The author begins by stating that online universities are not as convenient as advertised, especially if you are on the go all the time. Look, just because it’s online doesn’t mean it’s easy, all right? It’s a university and universities are hard work. Don’t blame the school just because you failed to fit the course work into your busy schedule. That’s like saying the new car you bought crashed all by itself while you were driving it. Also, it goes without saying that if you are going to invest a lot of time and money in your education, then you should at least research those schools you are applying to. Make sure they are certified and have track records. The fact that the author’s friend discovered only later that his online school had a bad reputation tells me more about the friend than it does about the school. Obviously, this individual did not look before he leapt. Once again, it is too easy to blame the school when the problem lies with the individual. The last point the article makes is the teacher-student ratio. This is perhaps the biggest knock against online schools, the fact that students get less time with professors. But wait. Isn’t that the whole point of online learning? To work independently, with instructors there only when you need them? Many online courses operate like this, especially MBA courses. These courses are tailor-made for self-directed, independent-minded students who now exactly what they want, and how to get it. Track #6 . war to control the growing and manufacturing of marijuana both in America and in their home countries. There is simply too much money for the cartels to. look before he leapt. Once again, it is too easy to blame the school when the problem lies with the individual. The last point the article makes is the teacher-student