General English Proficiency Test (GEPT)

The General English Proficiency Test (GEPT) is a test of English language proficiency that was commissioned by Taiwan's Ministry of Education in 1999. The following Skill-Areas will be tested:

　 Listening

Understand general conversation in daily life situations and grasp the general meaning of public announcements, weather forecasts, and advertisements. At work, he/she can understand simple product introductions and operating instructions. He/she can catch the general meaning of native English speakers' conversations and inquiries.
　

Reading

Read short essays, short stories, personal letters, advertisements, leaflets, brochures, and instruction manuals. At work, he/she can read job-related information, company notices and operation manuals, as well as routine documents, faxes, telegrams and e-mail messages.
　

Writing

Write simple messages and narratives. He/she can write about things he/she has learned and use simple English to write about his/her own experiences or about topics with which he/she is familiar.
　

Speaking

Use simple English to discuss or describe general daily life topics, introduce his/her daily life, work, family, and experiences, and state his/her outlook on general topics. At work, he/she can ask and answer basic questions and can carry on basic conversations with native English speakers in social settings.

Interview with Jelling Lai, a student from Taipei, Taiwan

As I am an Indiana University graduate, I thought this would encourage students to enjoy learning English.
You will hear ( to read click on the transcript link) a long but interesting interview with Jelling Lai, a student from Taipei, Taiwan who studied her masters at Indiana University Bloomington, School of Public and Environmental Affairs. As you listen you will practice your listening skills.

To listen to the click on the link:

Student Stories Project: Jelling Lai

Read the transcript

Many thanks to Virgil T. DeVault Alumni Center| 1000 E. 17th Street, Bloomington, IN 47408-1521 |

The differences between the American and the British English!

Spelling has always been a problem in the English language even for native speakers. Most foreigners assume that native speakers always know how to spell a word but that’s not true. You may try to sound it out, but even then you may not get the spelling right . However, the more you read and write in English the easier it will get.

Spelling gets even more confusing if you encounter the differences between the American and the British English.

Below I try to given you some examples of the main differences between American and British English spellings :

• Some words in American English that end often end in -er (e.g. center, fiber, theater) end in British English in -re (centre, fibre, theatre).

• Other words in American English that end in -or (e.g. color, humor) usually end -our with in British English (colour, humour).

• Then verbs in American English that are always spelled with –ize (e.g. recognize)are then spelled in British English with either -ize or -ise at the end (e.g. recognize/recognise).

• On the other hand verbs in British English that end in -yse (e.g. analyse) are then always spelled -yze in American English (analyze).

• While in American English the l is not doubled verbs ending in a vowel (travel, traveled, traveler), in British spelling however, the l doubles when adding endings that begin with a vowel (e.g. travel, travelled, traveller).

• British English words that are spelled with the double vowels ae or oe (e.g. archaeology, manoeuvre) are just spelled with an e in American English (archeology, maneuver).

• Some nouns that end with -ence in British English (e.g. licence, defence) are spelled -ense in American English (license, defense).

· Some nouns that end with -ogue in British English (e.g. dialogue) end with -og in American English (dialog).

I hope that these examples are clearing up some of the confusions you have encountered while learning or reading English. I know we teach our students one spelling (in J.R. American School the American one) and then students ask me why it is suddenly spelled different some where else.

Study Resources on the Internet

Students kept asking me if there are any more links on the Internet to study English. Well, one very good page is Learning English from the BBC. Then if you want to practice your listening skills, Teacher Bills video page might be a good source. I know there are many more other ones on the Internet. However, most of my students are Taiwanese. For these students the page from the Municipal Hou-Jing Junior High School (後勁國中) in Kaohsiung English Department might be a good source. It has lots of exercise pages. Have fun and good luck in your studies.

ETS to start written, spoken English tests

Thursday, December 13, 2007
by The China Post Taiwan's leading English-language newspaper


TAIPEI, Taiwan -- The U.S.-based Educational Testing Service (ETS) will begin from January 2008 to prepare English skill tests in speaking and writing for enterprises in Taiwan, in a drive to improve English skills, the Taiwan representative of the ETS Taiwan branch said yesterday.

Wang Hsing-wei held a press conference in Taipei to announce the new tests, which are part of the Test of English for International Communication (TOEIC) targeting working people, alongside tests in listening and reading.

Wang said more and more local people need to speak or write in English at work, so the ETS developed the tests to meet enterprises' need for employees with English fluency, Wang noted.

The new TOEIC tests will be available for group applicants from January and for individual applicants from August, with the examinees required to take the tests on a computer, according to the ETC office.

What about my accent?

When I was learning Spanish or French as a student, I found that the best way to acquire a good accent was to imitate good models of the standard language. However, I also asked myself what does it mean “standard”? There is South American Spanish and then there is the Spanish from Spain. Both are slightly different. The same problem appears in French. Canadians speak different from the people in France.

You will encounter the same problem in English. There is the American English, the British English, Canadian English, the Australian English and so on.
Well, I just have to say I don’t think any accent will be ever a problem unless other people have difficulty in understanding it. And if you do find that other people don’t understand your accent, ask them which words are causing the problems and work on these problems.

However, if you still think you have to improve your accent, you should increase listening to the spoken English. Pay close attention to the meaning and the patterns of intonation. Then try to imitate this intonation.

So I would advise you to choose one or more of your favorite native English speakers (go with your preference) on the radio, on the internet, on audiotape or on video (check out Teacher Bill's videos) and spend as much time as possible listening and imitating what they say.
Make recordings of your favorite programs and then play them back in short sections. You should even try to record yourself and compare the pronunciation, stress and intonation patterns of the speaker(s) with your own.

However, if everyone can understand your accent already, then relax and just enjoy the chance to communicate in English!