thewaysofstudyenglishs

This is the VOA Special English Education Report.

We answer some questions this week in our series on getting into an American college or university.

The first question has to do with our recent discussion of English language tests. Vo Ngoc Toan from Vietnam would like to know about the TOEIC-- the Test of English for International Communication.

Graduating students and alumni at a job fair in New York

The Educational Testing Service administers the TOEIC. It says the test measures the language skills of people working in an international environment.

American colleges and universities accept scores from the TOEFL and often the IELTS. If you missed our report on these tests, you can find it at our Web site, voaspecialenglish.com. Click on Foreign Student Series.

Tahir Mahmood from Pakistan asks how to improve his English before taking these kinds of tests. Well, you can start by looking for ways to use English as much as you can. Watch American movies and TV shows and read books in English. Look for English speakers to talk to.

The Internet has a lot of free resources for English learners. Visitors to voaspecialenglish.com, for example, can read, listen and watch programs on many different subjects.

The United States Department of Education recently launched a free Web site designed to help immigrants learn English. The site is called USA Learns. The address is u-s-a-l-e-a-r-n-s dot o-r-g.

Next, a question from Turkey: Hasan Eker asks about getting a postdoctoral position in the United States. This is work generally done by a person who recently earned a PhD, or doctor of philosophy degree. The National Postdoctoral Association in Washington, D.C., has information about international postdocs on its Web site. That address is nationalpostdoc -- all one word -- dot org.

And, finally, we have questions from Iran, Afghanistan and Indonesia about how to pay for an education through loans or jobs. There are rules that restrict the kinds of jobs that foreign students can have while studying in the United States. But stay tuned. In the next few weeks, we will discuss financial aid as we talk about the costs of an American education.

And that's the VOA Special English Education Report, written by Nancy Steinbach. I'm Steve Ember.

Lisenning English MP3

This is the VOA Special English Education Report.

What do you think is the most popular subject of study for international students at colleges and universities in the United States?

How many of you thought of engineering? Seventeen percent of foreign students, or one out of six, studied engineering during the last academic year.

But the Institute of International Education says twenty percent, or one in five, studied business and management.

Two fifth-graders, seated, learning the basics of business administration during a month-long program at an elementary school in San Francisco, California, in 2007

The GMAT is a computer test that measures reading, mathematics and writing skills. You have to write two essays in sixty minutes.

An organization of business schools, the Graduate Management Admission Council, is responsible for the GMAT. Four thousand programs around the world, it says, use the GMAT as an important part of their admissions process.

But just as students compete on tests, tests also compete. In fact, the GMAT could offer a good case study for a business class. The council's Web site points out that the Educational Testing Service has recently been marketing its GRE test to graduate schools of business.

The council presents reasons why business schools should use the GMAT instead of the Graduate Record Examinations, or GRE. Most importantly, it says the GMAT was designed by business schools for business schools.

The GMAT costs two hundred fifty dollars, which is a lot. But the council says that is because the test can be taken almost every day of the year at more than four hundred centers around the world. Almost two hundred of these are outside the United States.

Students can learn more about the GMAT at mba.com.

Now, another question: Which countries do you think send the most students to the United States for higher education? The Institute of International Education in New York says last year's top five were India, China, South Korea, Japan and Canada. The United States, it says, received a record six hundred twenty-four thousand international students. The number was seven percent higher than the year before.

And that's the VOA Special English Education Report, written by Nancy Steinbach. Our Foreign Student Series is online at voaspecialenglish.com. I'm Steve Ember.

Lisenning English MP3

This is the VOA Special English Education Report.

For the past two weeks, we have talked about the SAT and ACT college admissions tests and the GRE for graduate school. This week in our Foreign Students Series, we move on to English language tests.

Most American colleges and universities accept one or both of the two major tests. One is the Test of English as a Foreign Language, known as the TOEFL. The other is the International English Language Testing System, or IELTS.

The TOEFL is given in one hundred eighty countries. The competing IELTS is given in one hundred twenty-one countries.

One million people each year take the TOEFL, says Tom Ewing, a spokesman for the Educational Testing Service. Same with the IELTS, says Beryl Meiron, the executive director of IELTS International.

She says two thousand colleges and universities in the United States now recognize the IELTS. Schools might accept it only for undergraduate or graduate admission or both.

The IELTS is a paper test, while the TOEFL is given on paper only in places where a computer test is unavailable.

The TOEFL paper test costs one hundred fifty dollars. It tests reading, listening and writing. A separate Test of Spoken English costs one hundred twenty-five dollars.

The computer version is called the TOEFL iBT, or Internet-based test. The price is different in each country, but generally falls between one hundred fifty and two hundred dollars.

The TOEFL iBT and the IELTS both measure all four language skills -- listening, reading, writing and speaking. But with the IELTS, the speaking test is done separately as a live interview. You speak with an examiner who is certified in ESOL -- English for speakers of other languages.

Everyone takes the same speaking and listening tests. But there is a choice of two kinds of reading and writing tests -- either academic or general training.

IELTS International says the test measures true-to-life ability to communicate in English for education, immigration and employment. Institutions in Britain and Australia jointly developed it.

The cost is different in each country. But Beryl Meiron says the price in local currency is generally comparable to about one hundred sixty dollars. The IELTS Web site is ielts.org. The TOEFL Web site is toefl.org.

And that's the VOA Special English Education Report, written by Nancy Steinbach. Our Foreign Student Series is online at voaspecialenglish.com. I'm Steve Ember.

Lisenning English MP3

This is the VOA Special English Education Report.

March Madness is the name for the busy championship season in American college basketball. But March also means another kind of madness -- the nervous wait for admissions letters from colleges and universities.

This week in our Foreign Student Series, we jump ahead to the subject of where to live. Housing policies differ from school to school. Some schools have limited housing or none at all.

Dormitory buildings might house a small number of students or many hundreds. Some dorms have suites. A suite has several bedrooms, a common area and a bathroom. Other dorms have rooms along a common hallway. Two, three or four students might share a room.

A dormitory at the University of South Carolina in Columbia

Different groups and organizations such as fraternities and sororities might have their own houses where their members live. And there is often housing for married students.

Some dorms are nice, others are not so nice. But many students say they like the chance to make friends and be near their classes.

Cost is another consideration. Dorms can cost less than off-campus housing. But school-owned housing can also cost more, though the price may include meals.

Here are some questions to ask before making a decision: How much privacy can a student expect? Will the school provide a single room if a student requests one? Will the school provide a special diet if a student needs one? And are any dorms open all year so international students can have a place to stay during long vacations?

Kirsten Kennedy, housing director at the University of South Carolina in Columbia, says all first-year undergraduates there have to live in a dorm. After that, they are free to seek other housing.

Students can apply to become resident assistants after living in the dorms for a year. International students can also apply to become resident assistants after a year in the dorms.

Working as a resident assistant in student housing is one way to help finance an education. At many schools, RAs earn money as well as get their room and meals for free or at a reduced price.

And that's the VOA Special English Education Report, written by Nancy Steinbach. Our Foreign Student Series is online at voaspecialenglish.com. I'm Steve Ember.

Lisenning English MP3

This is the VOA Special English Education Report.

Being a new student in school can be a little scary. Being a new student in a new country can be even scarier.

A college or university's international student office is a good place to start getting to know the school and the country. This week in our Foreign Student Series, we talk about support services for international students in the United States.

Members of the International Students' Assembly at the University of Southern California

U.S.C.'s Office of International Services says the number of students this year is about seven thousand five hundred. The University of Southern California has more than thirty-five thousand students total.

The Office of International Services helps explain student life at the university. It also organizes programs to help foreign students feel more at ease in their new surroundings. For example, there are trips to explore the Los Angeles area.

Most American colleges and universities have a similar office that helps international students. These offices look for ways to get students involved in school life and make American friends. Their job is not always easy. International students often want to spend their free time with friends from their own country or group.

India, China, South Korea, Japan and Canada sent the most students to the United States during the last school year. Next came Taiwan, Mexico, Turkey, Saudi Arabia and Thailand.

The office at U.S.C. also assists family members who come to the United States with international students. The family members can take English classes and go on trips to places like museums.

The Office of International Services also organizes other activities. For example, a State of the World Seminar takes place each semester. A group of international students and a professor discuss current social and political issues and take questions from the audience. The most recent seminar, held earlier this month, dealt with the Israeli-Palestinian conflict.

And that's the VOA Special English Education Report, written by Nancy Steinbach. Our series on studying in the United States will continue next week. Earlier reports are at voaspecialenglish.com. Click on Foreign Student Series. You can write comments and read what other people are saying. I'm Steve Ember.

Lisenning English MP3

This is the VOA Special English Education Report.

This week in our Foreign Student Series, we continue our discussion about grades.

Would you want a doctor who got high marks in medical school just for trying really, really hard? Apparently many college students would have no problem with that. They believe students are owed a good grade simply because they put a lot of effort into a class. Or at least that is what they told researchers last year at the University of California, Irvine.

Just sixteen percent thought it was OK to take that phone call. But sixty-six percent agreed that a professor should consider effort and not just the quality of a student's work when deciding grades. And forty percent thought they should get a B, the second highest mark, just because they did most of the reading for class.

The findings appeared in the Journal of Youth and Adolescence. The students were ages eighteen to twenty-five.

Some experts are not surprised that students often see no difference between effort and results. Social critics like to say that in children's activities these days, everyone gets an award just for trying, so no one will feel rejected. Or so it may seem.

Yet competition to get into the best colleges is fiercer than ever. Students may worry that low grades will keep them out of graduate school or a good job.

And there may be another explanation: pressure from parents to get a good return on the family's investment. These days, college can cost more than a house.

A former teaching assistant recently wrote to the New York Times about his experience with grade expectations. He would try to explain it this way when students asked for a top grade just for studying hard in chemistry class:

What if a baseball player came to spring training and worked harder than all the others, but still could not play well. Would the team accept him anyway, just because he tried so hard?

The students would say no. But most of them would still ask for an A.

And that's the VOA Special English Education Report, written by Nancy Steinbach. Tell us what you think about grades, and read what others have to say, at voaspecialenglish.com. Click on Foreign Student Series. I'm Steve Ember.

Lisenning English MP3

This is the VOA Special English Education Report.

This week in our Foreign Student Series the subject is grades.

Most American colleges and universities use the grading system of A, B, C, D and F. An A is worth four points, a B three points, a C two points and a D one point. Getting a grade like a B-plus or a C-minus adds or subtracts a few tenths of a point. An F is a failing grade worth zero toward a student's grade point average.

Students at Evergreen State College in Washington state

Evergreen State is organized into programs taught by teams of professors. Each program brings together different subjects and extends in length over two or three quarters. Students are required to do a major research project at the end of each program.

The professors write detailed evaluations of the students. These are combined with evaluations written by the students themselves. Students also meet with their professors to discuss their work.

The director of admissions, Doug Scrima, says employers and graduate schools like these evaluations, called narratives. He says they show more about the quality of students' work than traditional grades do.

Most teachers would probably agree that traditional grades are sometimes unfair. But professors at big schools say there is not enough time to write evaluations for each student in large classes. Some classes have hundreds of students.

Alverno College in Milwaukee, Wisconsin, is a small women's school that does not use grades. Kathleen O'Brien is the chief academic officer. She says letter grades do not effectively document learning or provide good direction to students. She says even at big schools there are classes small enough to give evaluations. But she says the American university system is not organized to accept this kind of change.

We will talk more about grades next week. But first, let us know how you feel about grades. You can submit comments on this story and find earlier reports in our Foreign Student Series at voaspecialenglish.com.

And that's the VOA Special English Education Report, written by Nancy Steinbach. I'm Steve Ember.

Lisenning English MP3

This is the VOA Special English Education Report.

This week, we visit four Web sites where students can learn about higher education in the United States.

Cappex.com -- c-a-p-p-e-x -- matches students with colleges and universities. Students create a profile about themselves and their interests. The site then suggests ten to twenty schools.

But Cappex President Chris Long says that there are no guarantees of admission. The site is free to students. Cappex sells advertising on the site to schools and companies.

GIRL: "I would recommend honestly taking Statistics 263 with Professor Alexander. He's absolutely wonderful, the class is a great class to take and I really enjoy it."
SECOND GIRL: "I chose this school because it's in the city and it's really great and the communication school is actually, I think, ranked in the top five?"
BOY: "Yeah."
SECOND GIRL: "It varies every year but it's ranked really high. And all the colleges. And you get like a really great, well-rounded education. And the kids are really cool. You meet really fun people."
BOY: "I came here because I didn't get into NYU."

Schools pay CollegeClickTV to come on campus. But founder and president Glenn Pere says schools do not approve or reject any comments. That does not mean the site will use whatever students say; Glenn Pere says they must give reasons for their opinions.

Zinch.com has video profiles produced by students themselves. Co-founder Sid Kromenhoek says it is a place where students can show their abilities and talents. The company says more than six hundred colleges pay to use the site to search for students. More than five hundred thousand high school students have profiles on the site.

Finally, we come to Unigo.com. Unigo offers college reviews, videos and other content created by students. Features include "unofficial campus tours" and advice for dealing with the recession -- oh, and of course, dating on campus.

The free site, supported by ads, has a team of full-time editors. The site was launched to the public last September by a start-up company led by its twenty-six year old founder. Jordan Goldman says the site is starting with two hundred fifty of America's top colleges and will add more.

Unigo, Zinch, CollegeClickTV and Cappex are just some of the sites for college searches on the Web. Others include MyCollegeOptions, CheckMyCampus and PrincetonReview.

And that's the VOA Special English Education Report, written by Nancy Steinbach. Our Foreign Student Series continues next week. The series is online at voaspecialenglish.com. I'm Steve Ember.

Lisenning English MP3

This is the VOA Special English Education Report.

This week in our Foreign Student Series, we look at financial aid that comes in ships. Scholarships, fellowships and assistantships.

But first we talk about financial aid of another kind: grants. A grant, unlike a loan, does not have to be repaid.

Memorial Stadium at Mizzou

This is the VOA Special English Education Report.

This week in our Foreign Student Series, we talk about the Fulbright Program. It sends Americans to study, teach or do research in other countries. And it brings people from other countries to do the same in the United States.

Fulbright grants are awarded each year to more than seven thousand people. These are graduate students, scholars, teachers and people in other professions. The United States government pays most of the costs. Foreign governments and schools help share the costs and provide other support.

Senator William Fulbright

The Fulbright Program is really a collection of programs. It represents a partnership of government agencies, private organizations and other groups around the world.

The Language Teaching Program, for example, brings teachers of English as a foreign language to work at American colleges and universities.

Another program gives forty International Science and Technology Awards each year to foreign doctoral students studying science or engineering.

The Fulbright Foreign Student Program helps graduate students and young professionals do research and study in the United States for a year or longer. Each year more than three thousand of these awards go to foreign graduate students.

The Fulbright Teacher and Administrator Exchange Program offers a true exchange -- meaning two people trade jobs for a time.

The countries with the most Fulbrighters in the United States this year are Germany, Pakistan, Chile, Indonesia and Turkey.

State Department official Marianne Craven says Fulbrighters not only want to learn, but also to help improve international understanding.

You can learn more about the different Fulbright programs by going online to fulbright.state.gov. Or check with a United States embassy or the Fulbright Commission in your country.

And that's the VOA Special English Education Report, written by Nancy Steinbach. This was program number twenty-one in our Foreign Student Series on higher education in the United States. The series can be found at voaspecialenglish.com. I'm Steve Ember.

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This is the VOA Special English Education Report.

We talked last week about employment rules for international students in the United States. Now we move to financial aid, which is often limited for international students.

American schools provided aid to almost half of foreign graduate students during the last academic year, but only ten percent of undergraduates.

Foreign students represent a valuable resource, especially when public colleges and universities face budget cuts by states. Foreign students pay the higher prices charged for students from out of state. Not only that, they can help schools increase their ethnic diversity.

Some students are supported by their home university or government. A small number receive support from the United States government. Employers, private sponsors and international organizations also help some students pay for school.

A list of American colleges and universities that offer financial aid to foreign students can be found at edupass.org -- e-d-u-p-a-s-s dot o-r-g. The Web site also provides information and advice on scholarship programs. Never trust a program that charges for application forms.

Another helpful site about American higher education and financial aid is educationusa.state.gov.

About half of international students are in graduate school. The Institute of International Education in New York says thirty-one percent during the last academic year were undergraduates. The others were studying English or in training program.

In all, the United States has around eighteen million students in higher education. Last year, more than six hundred twenty thousand, or three and a half percent, were international students.

The United States, though, has the largest "market share," about twenty percent of all the international students in the world. But even as more and more students come to the United States, more and more are also going to other countries. So experts say the American share is likely to go down in the future.

The nearest competitor is Britain, with thirteen percent at last report. Other top countries for international students include France, Germany, Australia, China, Canada and Japan.

And that's the VOA Special English Education Report, written by Nancy Steinbach. Our Foreign Student Series is online at voaspecialenglish.com. I'm Steve Ember.

Lisenning English MP3

This is the VOA Special English Education Report.

This week in our Foreign Student Series, we discuss rules about getting a job while studying in the United States.

International students are permitted to work for the college or university they attend or for a business at the school. But the business must directly provide a service to students. You could work at the bookstore, for example, but not for a construction company that is building something on campus. Also, a foreign student cannot displace an American citizen in a job.

International students can work twenty hours a week while attending classes; more during school breaks. You can work until you complete your studies.

Students must also meet other conditions. They must have attended their American school for at least one year. Government approval is given on a case-by-case basis. Students must re-apply after a year if they want to continue an off-campus job.

Foreign students who will be attending graduate school can apply for some jobs before they come to the United States. A good example is a university job like a teaching or research assistantship.

Some schools pay their assistants. Others provide free education in return. Many do both.

Graduate assistants might teach, give tests, grade work, assist professors with research and hold office hours. Many universities now provide language training to foreign teaching assistants to help them improve their English. Some schools require foreign students to pass an English speaking test before they are permitted to teach.

International student offices at schools have to provide information on students each term to the Department of Homeland Security. Students who violate the terms of their visa -- for example, by working off-campus without permission -- could be sent home.

And that's the VOA Special English Education Report, written by Nancy Steinbach. Our Foreign Student Series continues next week. The earlier reports are at voaspecialenglish.com. I'm Jim Tedder in Washington.

Lisenning English MP3

This is the VOA Special English Education Report.

Governments are not the only ones having to re-examine their budgets. The financial crisis has many families concerned about how they will pay for college. This week in our Foreign Student Series, we discuss costs for higher education for international students in the United States.

Prices differ from school to school, but public colleges and universities usually cost less than private ones.

Norlin Library at the University of Colorado at Boulder

Tina Tan is the director of international student and scholar services. She says international students are paying a total of forty thousand two hundred dollars for this academic year. The university estimates that the cost for next year will increase by four hundred dollars.

The university does not offer financial aid to international students. This is generally true of American schools, especially at the undergraduate level. Federal and state financial aid can only go to American citizens.

The University of Colorado does, however, offer some help for international students. For example, it guarantees them the same tuition rate for all four years of undergraduate study. And it offers four scholarships for international students with special skills or talents.

Tina Tan says the federal government requires international students to show on their applications how they will pay for their first year of school. This evidence is a signed statement from whoever is paying for it, and confirmation from a bank or lawyer.

Some colleges might require international students to show that they can pay for all four years. But the University of Colorado requires only evidence of financial support for the first year.

Educational advisers say foreign students should keep enough money in a local bank to pay for at least two months of spending. Students have to consider not just tuition but also housing, meals, books and other costs including social activities.

Immigration rules restrict employment for international students in the United States. So what kinds of jobs are they permitted to have? That will be our subject next week.

And that's the VOA Special English Education Report, written by Nancy Steinbach. Transcripts and MP3s of the earlier reports in our Foreign Students Series are at voaspecialenglish.com.

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