6 thoughtful #1 and #2 speaking questions

1. God tells you that you have a choice: you can live life as a homeless beggar or as a wealthy corporate executive whose company will pollute the environment and ruin the lives of its workers. Which life would you choose?

2. Super technologically advanced aliens come to Earth. They need manual laborers on their planet. Even the most brilliant Earthling is not competent to work high level jobs on their planet so you will be stuck at a menial and physical job there, but you will be able to witness a spectacular new world (but not participate in it). Would you stay on Earth or go with the aliens and become a laborer?

3. In an upcoming election both candidates really suck. You can't stand either of them, but you feel you should be a good citizen and vote. How will you decide which person to vote for? Should you not vote at all?

4, You are in a bar and the bar-tender goes into the kitchen. You see a guy walk behind the bar and pour himself a free beer. What will you do? 

5. In a play by Jean Paul Sartre a young man, during World War 2, feels he should fight against the Nazis who have occupied France. Yet, his mother is very ill and needs him to care for her. What should this young man have done - fought or cared for his mother (there was no possibility of hiring someone else to care for the mother)?

6. In the short story Billy Budd, Billy is a young, innocent sailor who accidentally kills a brutal officer who is physically abusing him. You are Captain Vere, captain of the ship. According to naval law, Budd must be executed - there are no exceptions to this: the killing of a first officer requires execution. Yet, most of the crew begs you to show mercy and not execute Budd because he was being abused and the death of the officer was an accident. If you pardon Budd, you may lose your naval career. What will you do?

Please enjoy a crazy video of Steve Goodman singing: Men Who Love Women Who Love Men

Daniel Gauss - the TOEFL King

More challenging Topic 1 and 2 TOEFL practice speaking questions

There are two new schools in your neighborhood – one has a traditional curriculum and grading system, but the other offers a new program where there will be no tests and learning will be fun and based on what a child is motivated to learn. Which school would you say is better for a child?

Describe the best way to catch a mouse.

You are the coach hired to create a new soccer/football team. Should you focus on developing a good offense or defense initially?

Describe the one quality every leader should have.

Describe something you don’t need in your neighborhood and would like to see disappear.

Describe what you would do if a group partner in an academic project won’t participate with the group.

Your flight has been delayed 5 hours, and you are stuck in an airport. What will you do?

Which is better: an easy-going parent or a strict parent?

Will books disappear because of the internet?

A person you know threatens suicide, and you kind of believe he/she may do it. Describe what you will say or do.

You are a park ranger. A bear has killed a man because he tried to take a photo of its cub (baby) even though there are signs saying that everyone should stay away from the bears and especially their cubs. People point out the bear to you and demand that you kill it. Should you?

You catch a burglar in your house and you have a gun. According to the law, you have the right to shoot and kill him. You see that he was carrying rope and intended to tie you up. What would you do?

Your boss invites you to go deer hunting and tells you that the government wants 50 deer in an area to be killed because the deer population has become too extreme for the deer’s own good. Will you go hunting?

10 thoughtful #1 and #2 TOEFL practice speaking questions

Is it better to be a big fish in a small pond or a small fish in a big pond?

Do you think a company should provide free exercise facilities, or is it up to the individual to find his/her own health club?

Should women be allowed to breast feed their babies publicly, or does this cause too much embarrassment to potential observers?

Have smart phones enriched our lives or have cell phones reduced the quality of our lives?

Describe your last frivolous (unnecessary) purchase.

What should a parent do if he/she notices that his/her child seems to be gaining too much weight?

NASA is looking for volunteers to go to Mars and work as farmers. If they wanted you, would you go? (You can take family members with.)

If you spoke English perfectly, which language would you like to learn next?

Describe one negative factor in society that can be attributed to the advertising industry.

Should universities give extra consideration to students who come from poorer backgrounds or should universities just take the best performing students?

12 More Type 1 and Type 2 Speaking Questions

Describe a hobby that you can make money from?
(for example, coin or stamp collecting)

Would you prefer to use the library or the internet for a research paper?
(I would choose the library since the knowledge gained from books is more reliable than most web sites and, actually, books are often grouped together by topic, so it can be easier to obtain all the books you need at one time.)

What personal trait do you want to be admired for?
(Honesty, being a hard-worker, a problem-solver, being compassionate...)

Would you prefer a multi-choice or essay test?
(Multi-choice requires more memorization while an essay test requires the processing of information. So you are choosing between a tedious but easy process or a more meaningful but more difficult process)

Describe a place which has great meaning for you?
(It could be personal meaning: your grandmother's house - or historical meaning: the tomb of Alexander Hamilton.)

Should you stay at home after college or move immediately?
(Do you value independence or financial security?)

Should the national anthem be played before a baseball game?
(Do you think politics should be removed completely from sports?)

Describe a situation that helped you realize you were stronger than you thought.

Other than passing the TOEFL describe a situation that would make you feel very satisfied.

Are art and music are more important than vocational (job) studies?

If you could only do one thing a day to get exercise, what would you do?

Competition is generally good or bad?

Daniel Gauss

How to answer TOEFL speaking question 3

Example of academic policy reading passage:

The Office of the Dean of Liberal Arts and Sciences would like to announce that starting with the current freshman class, there will be an 'African American Experience' course requirement. In order to graduate, each student will be required to take one three-credit course dealing with this topic. Various academic departments will be collaborating to design various courses to help students meet this requirement. LAS has made this decision because the African American experience has been traditionally neglected in US history text books. Furthermore, recent developments in US history reveal lingering racial tensions and conflicts and LAS feels its students should be aware of the causes of contemporary historical conflicts as well as possibilities for resolving them.

Example of a dialogue between two students concerning this new policy decision:

Joe: I'm really upset about this new African American experience class.

Maggie: Why? I think the university is right on top of things. This is definitely necessary these days with all the protests and events in the news.

Joe: Well, that's my point. This is a politically motivated class they are shoving down my throat. A few students start protesting on campus and I have to add one more class, it's ridiculous. The university is under pressure by protesters and I need to do what a bunch of trouble-makers want me to do. I should try to organize counter-protests.

Maggie: I think the protesters just brought an important and neglected issue to everyone's attention.

Joe: Also, what if Latino students start complaining? Or Asian students? Every time a different ethnic or racial group protests I need to take another course about that group? Nonsense. Let them fix the American history class so that I get the info I need, instead of tacking extra courses on. I want to know the truth so find a text book that helps me learn in the first place.

Maggie: Well, I'm looking forward to the class. 

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For the reading passage, it might be a good idea to simply talk about what is happening and why. ***So when you read, just read for what is happening and why.***

In this academic policy announcement from the Dean's Office, we learn that students, starting from this freshman class, will have to start taking an African American experience course. This is due to the fact that US history textbooks have neglected this topic and students need to know about what is causing current events.

Now transition into the listening section.

However, the male student in the dialogue strongly objects to this new policy initiative.

Now explain why he is upset.

First of all, he is upset because he perceives this new class to be politically motivated. He feels that the university is only trying to placate protesters. The university is not interested in providing the truth, but in making a group of trouble-makers happy. He implies that he is being forced to learn something only because of disruptive protests.

Secondly, he is concerned about the consequences of the university doing what protesters want it to do. He states that other ethnic or racial groups may also protest in order to change the curriculum. He asserts that the university should focus on the real problem instead: the US history text books. Instead of making him take another class, the school should find a history text that provides the truth.

Do you need a conclusion? Probably not (based on what I've seen elsewhere), but here's a quick one anyway:

Obviously the university is trying to address a controversial problem and this student's objection should be no surprise.

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How to answer TOEFL speaking question 5

Example of a dialogue:

Maggie: Hey Joe, you look so tired.

Joe: I am. I can't get any sleep.

Maggie: What's wrong?

Joe: My dorm roommate asked me for a favor. He said his dad was coming to town to visit him and the dad didn't want to spend money on a hotel.

Maggie: So you agreed to let the dad sleep with the two of you in your dorm room?

Joe: Yes, for one week. He sleeps on a blanket on the floor in our room; we have the two beds. And he snores. He snores like a wild animal! In fact, I think he snores louder than a wild animal. He wakes me up 6 or 7 times a night with his loud snoring. I can't take it any more.

Maggie: Well, just buy some earplugs. It's only for a week. And, you promised to help. Sometimes helping a person requires a little pain and sacrifice.

Joe: I bought some but I hate wearing them at night. They feel so weird in my ears. I have a little trouble going to sleep with that stuff in my ears and then it's hard to hear the alarm in the morning.

Maggie: Well, you look terrible. You have bags under your eyes. You need to tell your roomie to have his dad spend money on a hotel room or you'll just report him to the school and get his dad thrown out. 

Joe: I can't do that. I am stuck with him as a roommate. I don't want to sleep in the same room with a guy who hates me. That would be hell. I need to come back to my room for peace and quiet, not conflict. 

Maggie: Well, do something because you look bad.

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The key to answering a question number 5 is that both choices to solve the problem usually suck, but one choice is often slightly better than the other. Or, sometimes one choice is impossible and the only choice left sucks, but it is the only option.

In this case one choice is impossible: he can't offend his roommate because he lives with the guy. Therefore he cannot get the dad kicked out of the room or ask the dad to leave.

A good format to answer this type of question is: 

State the problem very simply.

State the two suggestions or options very simply (with no reasons)

State which option you'd choose and why (use reasons from the dialogue if you can)

State why you would reject the other option

Possibly make one concluding sentence or sentences

For example:

In this dialogue a student can't get enough sleep. As a favor, he has allowed his roommate's father to sleep for a week in their dorm room and the dad snores very loudly. The snoring wakes the student up a lot.

First his friend recommends that he should wear earplugs.

When Joe is hesitant to do this because earplugs are uncomfortable, she recommends that he simply ask the student to ask his father to leave, or he can report the dad to the school.

If I were Joe I would just wear ear plugs. After all, it is just going to be for a week and he promised the roomie he would help him. (notice you can often get your reason/s from the dialogue itself) Sure the earplugs are uncomfortable but he can sleep with them. He will just have to place the alarm closer to his bed.

Furthermore, the other solution is just a bad idea. He made a promise and if he backs out now his roommate will be very angry. If he reports the roommate to the school, this will create a horrible situation. 

In the meantime, if he suffers through this week, his roomie will really be happy and grateful to him. He just needs to suffer through this.

Formats and the TOEFL Speaking Section

One of the more frustrating aspects of helping people get high scores on the TOEFL is that sometimes I get students who have watched a lot of (stupid) youtube videos and who are convinced that they just have to memorize 'formats' and certain phrases to do well on the TOEFL.

Basically, it's tough to work with these types of students because they are looking for ways to cheat on the TOEFL exam instead of just fixing their English.

If you see some guy on youtube telling you that he has taken the TOEFL exam 20 times himself and is an expert on it and that all you have to do is memorize his phrases and follow his instructions, you would be an idiot to do that. The better your English sentence structures, the better your vocabulary, the better your score is going to be.

So should you ignore all formats?

No. Nobody 'just talks'.  Before any intelligent person speaks, he/she organizes his/her thoughts a bit. So I think if you look at the formats on this blog, you'll see that they are formats which help you to quickly and effectively organize your thoughts for answers.

I think the formats you find on this blog are, actually, among the most useful formats out there.

Daniel Gauss
English Teacher/Tutor
http://djg51qu.wix.com/gauss

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