The difference a good TOEFL score can make...

One of the genuinely thrilling aspects of the work I do with TOEFL speaking and writing online has to do with the real difference a good TOEFL speaking and/or writing score can make for people's lives.

I see this most commonly with the people I help achieve the (very challenging) scores they need to attain entry into good university programs abroad, but also with professional licenses to practice things like pharmacy and physiotherapy in English-speaking countries (especially the US). A TOEFL speaking score of 26 can mean the barriers to getting an internship and green card are finally overcome. Qualifications of this kind are absolutely life-changing for the students involved, and knowing I played even a small part in that is thrilling and humbling at the same time. There are some examples of what a profound difference this can make here.

However, now and then I get news from students and teachers that makes what I do feel even more special. I got an early Christmas present today in the form of an email from a teacher in Brazil who has been using my TOEFL Speaking Mentor program to help her students there:

  

Thanks Jason,
Actually, I'm an ESL teacher here in Brazil, and have used your site to help prepare a couple students for their TOEFL tests.  I'm proud to share that they earned a 97 and a 100 on their tests- 26 and 23 on the speaking sections, respectively.  Just so you know how much deeper your website goes than just helping earn a certain score-  the first student, Gustavo, is a surgeon here, who is now able to go to Canada to study in a fellowship there and then return to the Northeast of Brazil as the only lung transplant surgeon in the whole region....  until he does this, many lung patients who cannot travel have no other choice but to succumb to their illnesses.  It should be an honor to play a role in such an important development in this country!
I really appreciate the services your website offers, and will definitely be a returning customer in the future.  Merry Christmas to you too!
Rebecca Engle

  

 

Wow! I've just helped a Brazilian surgeon get the score he needs to study in Canada, so that he can then return and become Northeast Brazil's only lung transplant surgeon! The thought that helping a student like this can actually save lives and make a real difference in the world is - well, it makes me realize what an honor teaching can be as a profession!

My heartfelt congratulations to Gustavo and his dedicated teacher Rebecca, and thank you for giving me such an awesome early Christmas present!

  

:-)

~ Jason

Comments

[Betty C.]

Excellent New Year's post on your site and Happy New Year to you! I was thinking of emphasizing the TOEIC on my incipient teaching blog, and was interested in finding that you write one about the TOEFL. I better do a little more checking around...

Anyway, I thought "teaching to a test" might be a boring and definitely non-trendy blog topic, but you seem to have made something out of this site!