The  IELTS  Test Center in  Vancouver  area,Canadais Simon Fraser University. One is within the SFU main campus, the other is in the Harbour Center in downtown Vancouver. Tests are usually administered on Saturdays or Thursdays, at least once a month.

At Franklin, TOEFL iBTwriting practice essays is a cumulative project, each essay increasing the strenghs and reducing the weaknesses seen in the previous effort.

Improvement can be seen in a student's writing in as little as three essays, and often by the tenth essay, major and permanent improvement is obvious.

In Franklin'sTOEFLiBT Writing Workshops, essay correction consists of far more than a few comments scribbled on a page. OurTOEFLessay revision classes involve in-depth discussion among the writer, the teacher and other students about the choices made in the essay and strategies to avoid making future mistakes and improving the overall quality of the nextTOEFLiBT writing essay.

SAT Integrated Lesson 1 (Short Passage)

Read the following excerpt from Nikola Tesla's autobiography My Inventions (1919).

From childhood I was compelled to concentrate attention upon myself. This caused me much suffering, but to my present view, it was a blessing in disguise for it has taught me to appreciate the inestimable value of introspection in the preservation of life, as well as a means of achievement. The pressure of occupation and the incessant stream of impressions pouring into our consciousness through all the gateways of knowledge make modern existence hazardous in many ways. Most persons are so absorbed in the contemplation of the outside world that they are wholly oblivious to what is passing on within themselves. The premature death of millions is primarily traceable to this cause.

Assigment 1

Select the best answer for each of the following questions.

• Autonomous
• Gregarious
• Ponderous
• Reticent
• Solipsistic

2. In retrospect, how does the writer understand his inclination toward self-examination?

• Arduous not propitious
• Auspicious and enlightening
• Edifying if harrowing
• Grueling but salutary
• Strenuous yet agonizing

• Antecedent
• Embryonic
• Incipient
• Precocious
• Untimely

• People are too immersed in rumination
• People are preoccupied with extrinsic phenomena
• People are heedless of the jeopardy intrinsic to introspection
• The state of knowledge in modern society is precarious
• There is a general want of subjective experience

• Subjective experience is discrete from one’s impressions of external experience
• Introspection alone cannot make the world a better place to live
• Solicitude about external experience is common among the oblivious
• Subjective experience is necessarily pernicious in modern society
• Lack of contemplation is a corollary of impressions formed by introspection

Assigment 2  

Read the appended background information on Nikola Tesla, asking yourself the following questions:

In what way did he contribute to modern society?

In what way was he an icon and/or iconoclast of the ethos of modernity?

What was the nature of his successes? Of his failures?

If he were alive today, what advice might he give a young adult such as yourself?

Which of his feats or quotes most interests you?

Assigment 3

Write an Essay in response to one of the following two questions, making reference to Tesla as an illustration or as an inquiry-premise.

1. Can that which makes us suffer ultimately contribute to our success?

2. Can society as a whole benefit from introspective individuals?

Try to use at least 3 of the words from the Reading Exercise Word List in your essay.

Assigment 4

Review the Word List from the Reading Exercise and complete the Vocabulary Review Exercises.

Agonizing, Antecedent, Arduous, Auspicious, Autonomous, Cascade, Corollary, Cursory, Deluge, Discrete, Edifying, Embryonic, Enlightening, Extrinsic, Gregarious, Grueling, Harrowing, Heedless, Incipient, Inestimable, Intrinsic, Introspection, Inundation, Jeopardy, Oblivious, Pernicious, Ponderous, Precarious, Precipitous, Precocious, Propitious, Reticent, Retrospect, Rumination, Salutary, Solicitude, Solipsistic, Spate, Strenuous, Superfluous, Torrent, Undulating, Unremitting, Untimely, Want

SAT Vocabulary Building Gizmos (Consonant Nonsense 1)

What would an ephemeral zephyr be?

• A poem written in reverse
• A momentary breeze
• An infinite meadow

SAT Vocabulary Building Gizmos (Hairsplitting 1)

What is the meaning of eradicate (e- "out" + -rad- "root")

• destroy
• grow
• derive

SAT Vocabulary Building Gizmos (Root Transplants 1)

What is the meaning of elucidate (from "light")

• explain
• ask
• deprive

The IELTS TEST is administered once or twice every month in the Greater  Vancouver  Area. The  IELTS test dates can be found here on the SFU website.

At FELCVancouvercampus, our  TOEFL iBTpreparation  programs are structured around the format of the TOEFL iBTreading tasks. We use a variety of  TOEFL  prep. materials, includingTOEFLreading comprehension passages of superior quality developed in-house by ourTOEFLiBT team.

We focus on expanding students' background knowledge so that they are familiar and comfortable with a wide range of topics that are most frequently tested in TOEFL iBTreading section, including the Sciences, Social Sciences, Business and the Arts.

OurTOEFLiBT reading  comprehension classes are an excellent opportunity to encounter new vocabulary in context. By narrowing down the words to their roots, and simultaneously opening up the concepts into clusters of synonyms, students have a deeper understanding of what they are reading. We also draw attention to sentence structures that students can use for tasks of the TOEFL  iBT  writing section.

TOEFL iBT Speaking can be one of the most difficult part of the test for ESL students.

Our TOEFL iBT prep. classes are a friendly mix of outgoing students who aren't afraid to speak and shier students who still lack a bit confidence in their English.

However, after a bit of time at Franklin, even shy students are eager to speak up and communicate in English.

In class, we practice the TOEFL iBT  Speaking Section questions as they will appear on theTOEFLiBT, using the practice questions to increase students' TOEFLvocabulary and  TOEFL  related knowledge.

Andrea has been with us teaching theTOEFLiBT speaking section and reading section since 2006, and she is loved by all her students. Click  here  to read more about this outstanding TOEFL iBT  instructor.