TOEFL / IELTS Exam Preparation

Plan to Pass TOEFL 2026

Jane Birkenhead, March 13 2026

The new TOEFL 2026 exam is different. But you know this already! Do you also know that it requires a completely different approach to exam preparation? This new exam is less about exam strategy and more about English proficiency. In other words, you can't just be good at TOEFL, you need to be good at English to get the scores you

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Fluency in English

Get Better at Speaking English

Jane Birkenhead, March 11 2026

There’s a very simple exercise you can do to improve your fluency in English -> If you make the effort to do this several times a day, and if you repeat this daily, then you’ll soon notice an improvement. When you’re trying to get better at speaking English, it’s easy to convince yourself that you’re working hard. You might spend time reading,...

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Fluency in English

Use Shadowing to Improve your English Fluency

Jane Birkenhead, February 17 2026

Shadowing is an excellent way to improve your fluency in English. Shadowing (or Delivery Shadowing or English Shadowing) is when you listen to a fluent English speaker and copy what you hear. That's it! You don’t worry about grammar structures or vocabulary as you’re speaking. You just concentrate on how the language sounds and imitate

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Fluency in English

Why /ed/ Endings are Difficult to Pronounce

Jane Birkenhead, February 6 2026

A lot of my Workplace and Business Communication clients have difficulty with the pronunciation of /ed/ verb endings in English. It’s a problem that isn't limited to any particular language group and for many of my clients, the error is fossilized. I’m going to explore this pronunciation feature here but rather than merely repeating the rules, I...

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English Vocabulary

Use Collocations to Build English Fluency

Jane Birkenhead, January 12 2026

Do you notice anything strange about these four expressions? 🟠 Say the truth🟠 Do a mistake🟠 Say my opinion🟠 Give an exam They all have a verb + determiner + noun combination so they are grammatically correct. But a fluent English speaker would say they "sound wrong". This is probably the most frustrating feedback that an English learner can...

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Writing

Teaching Writing to Reluctant Writers

Jane Birkenhead, November 7 2025

I've always enjoyed writing. I come from an education system where learning to write was an important part of the curriculum and where writing, including creative writing, was taught daily. So writing has always been part of my life. However, I understand that many people don't like writing and the burden of having a writing section forced on...

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Studying Strategies

Take a Break. Your Brain Needs It!

Jane Birkenhead, October 22 2025

If you're doing anything which requires learning a skill, it's important to understand how to work with your brain and not against it. There are many areas where this may be the case (like music and sport) but let's focus on improving your English as one particular skill. Improving your English proficiency involves a combination of knowing what...

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TOEFL / IELTS Exam Preparation

TOEFL 2026: What we Know. Will it be Easier or Harder?

Jane Birkenhead, August 18 2025

TOEFL 2026 is going to be very different from the current version of the exam. The changes that ETS has announced for TOEFL iBT share some features with other English proficiency tests such as Duolingo and IELTS so it’s definitely a nice upgrade. But before we consider difficulty, let’s take a quick look at the new exam

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TOEFL / IELTS Exam Preparation

Changes to TOEFL and New Pharmacist Score Requirements

Jane Birkenhead, June 6 2025

Two major changes occurred in the TOEFL world last week. ETS announced updates to the format of the TOEFL iBT exam and the NAPB revised the score requirements for pharmacists. These are both major developments and will affect many students. Let's break down what these changes mean in reality and how you might need to adapt your TOEFL studying to...

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TOEFL / IELTS Exam Preparation

What to do the Day Before your Exam

Jane Birkenhead, May 29 2025

It’s perfectly natural to feel nervous the day before big exams. I’m sure you’ve taken many exams in your professional lives and you know that feeling only too well. If you’re getting ready for an English proficiency exam like TOEFL or IELTS, then how you prepare in the last couple of days before your exam can definitely affect the

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