Real ESL

Are you afraid of writing? Don’t be. Have a little fun. Think of it as a kind of lying (lying=not telling the truth) that you’re allowed to do.

For some people, writing anything in English, especially a TOEFL essay, makes them break out in a cold sweat (to break out in a cold sweat = to get scared, to get nervous, to be afraid quickly). Fortunately, it’s not as hard as you might think (hard=difficult).

Vocabulary:

Verbally – by speaking
Standard – normal, average
A good listener – someone who knows how to listen well and cares about what others say
To be fired from your job – when your boss says he doesn’t want you to work there anymore
Options – possibilities, choices, future paths
To come over – to come to someone’s house
It was a mess – it was very dirty

To Review:

You can start the first paragraph with a hook if you can think of one. A hook pulls the reader in (to pull the reader in = to make the reader want to read more). The word ‘hook’ comes from fishing – if you are fishing, you have a hook on the end of your fishing line, you put bait (bait = food to feed the fish) on the hook and the fish bites. You want your reader to bite. Some good hooks are a quotation from someone famous or someone you know (you can lie about this), a shocking statement and a question. After the hook, your first paragraph must introduce your basic opinion/thesis and your two main points or your two main reasons.

In your second paragraph, you need to write your first main point in a new way. You can give one extra line of explanation, but then you need a detail. This is very important. Many people forget the details. There are four main kinds of details: a personal story, a detailed example (just like a personal story, but you aren’t claiming it happened to you), a statistic or scientific study. The first two are the easiest because you can make them up (to make something up = to create something, to lie about something).

In the third paragraph, you do the same thing as you did in the second paragraph with your second main point.

In the fourth paragraph, you repeat your main points in a new way and come to a conclusion about what that means for you.

In the above video, I give you an example of this. You can practice the basic structure and ideas for a TOEFL essay by speaking.

The Basic Elements You Need For Your TOEFL Essay – Example:

Question: What are the most important qualities in a best friend?

Paragraph One – A best friend must be a good listener and a kind person.

Paragraph Two – A best friend must know how to listen. If you are fired from your job….

Paragraph Three – It’s important to choose a best friend who is kind. When my grandmother died, my best friend came over with flowers, she made me camomile tea and cleaned my kitchen….

Paragraph Four – Having a best friend who thinks about my feelings and knows how to listen is important …. (Summary)