An ESL blog

I had a chance to look at an ebook of English conversations. It contains more than 100 situational conversations. I believe its a great resource for English learners. As an introductory offer its been sold for $25 for limited period.

Mostly new language learners think that lack of words is the main obstacle in speaking but the truth is lack of phrases is the main reason behind not to speak a language thoroughly. By knowing lots of phrases our language usage can be improved a lot. This book is worth the price. Go and have a look here. English Conversations.

When we are into something new we always looking for some recommendation from some one we trust. It is easy when it comes to general things like buying a car, moving to a new home, renovating a house, but I don’t think we can get answers easily for starting a blog or choosing a web host.

I remember when I registered my first domain. I was so doubtful about giving away my personal details. I registered one only after I got a recommendation from one of my friends. Its a simple thing but I’m sure people are out there in this situation. Web hosting guide is a great tool for those who are looking for recommendation. The beauty of their service is you can find out a service provider that just meet your need. For example if you are looking for a web hosting provider who charge $5/month to host your blog/web site. There are more than 50 hosts available for your criteria. It’s that simple.

This is the screen shot of the tool for doing the search. In addition to this search feature there are listings of hosting providers with specific plans.They also have a web hosting quick start guide which would be a great help for the beginners.

I believe that rapid growth in internet and web will cause a gap between who are most familiar with web related information and those who are beginners. Web hosting Guide is a great tool for finding a host for a beginner as well as an expert.

I found some papers when I was organizing my drawer yesterday. They are the papers I wrote some interview tips when I was preparing for my internship interview. They are just ordinary tips you can hear often in career workshops or find in interview guides. But I remember how helpful they were for me when I needed some kind of advice.

1. Research the company you’re going to be interviewed.
2. Carefully review the job announcement to identify the skills knowledge and abilities essential for the job.
3. Prepare some potential interview questions and answers based on your research and review.
4. Get some general interview questions and answers in addition to that.
– What’s your strength?
– What’s your weakness?
– Where do you want to be in 5 years from now?
5. This step is more helpful but not every one has the opportunity. If you know any one who is working already in a similar position you are applying for (doesn’t matter which company) ask her the questions she faced in the interview.
– If you can’t find any one try to get some interview guides related to the field.
6. Practice your interview with someone playing the role of the interviewer with the all the questions.
7. Prepare one or two questions to ask the interviewers in case you are given a chance.
8. Know everything what you have written in your resume and take some copies when you go to the interview.

It’s great to having a reference source handy when you prepare for an interview or writing a resume.

Some career specific interview resources:

Pharmaceutical Sales Interviewing Tools

Teacher job interview tips

Investment Banking Interviews

I have received couple of emails asking about TOEFL preparation courses offered in Canada after I wrote about preparing for TOEFL post . I didn’t take any courses because they are very expensive, instead I prepared myself using various materials(CDs and books). I found some additional resources while I was searching for some books on the internet.

Peterson’s TOEFL success is also on the amazon bookstore for $25, but in the publishers site there are more books specific to each area writing skills, reading skills and TOEFL vocabulary. In addition to TOEFL they provide resources for various exams like GRE,GMAT, LSAT, NCLEX ,MCAT and MAT. Canadian users can take advantage of strong Canadian dollar by buying in US dollars.
Study Guides :

Master the TOEFL Writing Skills

Master the TOEFL Reading Skills

Master the TOEFL Vocabulary

Here are some tips from Peterson’s TOEFL guide.

Prepare with a Practice Test
Practice tests are an ideal way to begin your preparation. They’re affordable and will give you instant results to see how you might score if the test were today. You’ll learn your strengths and weakness, and be able to develop a personalized study plan. Try prepping with Peterson’s practice tests for the TOEFL.

Approach the test with a plan
Spend enough time preparing that you know where your strengths and weaknesses lie. Having this kind of understanding can help you decide where to focus your energies. Work first on questions that deal with your strengths and make sure to answer them correctly. Then move on to questions that are more challenging for you. The only way you’ll be able to use your time wisely is to know where your abilities are beforehand.

Be well-rehearsed
Practice makes permanence! If you set aside time in a quiet place to take some practice exams, you’ll be ready for the rigors of sitting in a chair and focusing on test material for a few hours. You can also use this opportunity to assess where you need to spend more time studying.

Be ready for test conditions
It’s a good idea to dress in layers and bring a sweater or sweatshirt because the temperature in the testing room may be warmer or colder than you anticipated.

Reading Comprehension
Skim the passage first to get a sense of the main idea. You can always go back and look up specifics. Answer the questions that ask about vocabulary words and details first. Then work on questions that ask you about the main idea or require you to make inferences.

Structure and Grammar
Think about the simplest, clearest way to express an idea. If an answer choice sounds awkward or overly complicated, chances are good that it’s wrong.

Speaking and Listening
Become as familiar with the English language as you can, including learning vocabulary words and idioms. Practice working with the language in everyday life; this will help you become more comfortable with it and understand it better.

Writing
Planning for a few minutes before writing will help you to write a more focused and organized essay. It is also important to develop your ideas and express them clearly, using examples to back them up. Although the essay doesn’t need to be grammatically perfect, try to make as few errors as possible. Always save a few minutes at the end to proofread.

Follow this link to Prepare For The TOEFL Test
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Update : 2007 – 2008 list of Universities which accept TOEFL results for English competency.

I always think about how other people think about me. But it is not easy to ask other people and find out. Who is going to tell our not so positive traits on our face?. Encharacter offers a solution for us. It has pretty simple interface. After the sign up we can send email requests from that site to our friends and family. Any one who goes to that unique address given to us can rate our personality traits.(whether we are friendly,lovable,honest …etc etc). From all of the ratings each character displayed as percentage. I found this tool very cool to play with.