“Last August one of the high school students I tutor returned from South Korea. He’d had TOEFL training there over the summer and had scored a 47 on the test in August. He messaged me immediately upon his arrival in the US. ‘I need you to help me score an 80 on the TOEFL, and I’m scheduled to take the test in one month.’ I freaked. This was a diligent student, but his English wasn’t great. I’d only helped him with his homework in the past. And now he wanted to jump over 30 points on the TOEFL and in one month?! Was that even possible?!
I hopped online as I had often done before. I desired to be a highly effective tutor. Was there training anywhere to be found? Now I fervently searched more specifically and typed in something to the effect of “ how to help someone raise their TOEFL score dramatically.” Up popped ESA. From the description, it seemed to be everything I had been looking for, so I immediately enrolled and sat there like a sponge soaking up every word. I managed to stay barely ahead of my student, who had now requested six hours of tutoring a week instead of the usual two. Every spare minute I was watching Jaime, and my children started to feel like she was part of the family!
Lee took the test the end of September and scored a 53, but his speaking had shot up to a 21 (from a 15)! He was disappointed with his overall score, but I was elated with his speaking! So we carried on. He took the TOEFL three more times after that, his score rising every time.
I cannot even begin to tell you of the pride and joy I felt watching Lee cross the stage at his high school graduation this May.
He wore honor cords and graduated with a 3.92 GPA from a local private school. He had reached his TOEFL goal in March, only seven months after we began serious preparation, and had received acceptance letters to many colleges, some even coming with scholarships. This fall he will be attending Michigan State.
Lee was in many ways my TOEFL guinea pig. I had tried helping other students prepare for the test, but I always felt ill-equipped and not real helpful. Jaime’s course was exactly what I had been looking for. I took notes like crazy and immediately put into practice what I was learning. I can not recommend this course highly enough!
I’m now looking forward to a new bunch of tutees in the fall, as well as an opportunity to teach at a TOEFL camp in January offered through the agency I tutor for. I hope to get more and more comfortable putting Jaime’s techniques into practice and seeing better and better score results for my students.”
– Hope Unverzagt
