The TOEFL Preparation class practiced independent and integrating writing this past week. The following essays are examples of the two integrated essays we wrote in class within the prescribed time limit.
For the TOEFL integrated essay, students are given 3 minutes to read a passage; they then listen to a lecture on the same topic, and are given 20 minutes to plan, write, and edit their essays.
As the reading passage reappears on one side of the computer screen while they write on the other, students were reminded not to simply copy phrases from the passage into their essays. It's important to paraphrase and say everything in their own words to make it clear that they understood the passage and show that they can express their ideas well.
This integrated essay is from page 428 of the DELTA'S Key to the TOEFL iBT Advanced Skill Practice textbook.
The reading passage in this set of materials discusses
Method Acting, which requires an actor to immerse himself in all aspects of the
character he is playing. The professor in the listening passage, on the other
hand, cites problems with this type of acting and says why he doesn’t agree
with this method.
The professor first mentions that the playwright or the
script writer is the person who creates the character. The actor’s job is
merely to convey the writer’s message. According to the professor, it is not
the writer’s job to interpret how a character feels as this has already been
done by the writer. This is in contrast to the reading passage which mentions
that the actor has to interpret a character when using Method acting.
A second feature of Method acting is the expectation that
actors draw from their own experiences to produce the emotions of the
characters they are playing. The professor disagrees with this concept as he
thinks that actors who have never experienced certain emotions, such as those of
a murderer, would not be able to accomplish this as they would have nothing in
their past to draw from.
The professor also maintains that instead of spending time
working on the emotions or “living the part” of the characters, as the reading
discusses, actors should be trained in certain skills, instead, such as
speaking clearly, projecting, and body language. Extra commitment is
unnecessary for actors. In fact, the professor speaks of one actor who didn’t
sleep or bathe for a whole week to practice Method acting. The professor said
that this was definitely going too far.
