What’s in a paper?
When the Roman senator Caius Titus stated that “verba volant, scripta manent”, he was not only showing the world how shrewd a politician he was, but he was also foreshadowing what was to come.
Let us take a moment and ponder on it.
Does the expression “take my word for it” still work?
How many of you would actually enter into an agreement without having any documents that testify to what has been agreed upon?
There is absolutely no denying that, with so many doing their utmost to hoodwink others, the written word carries a lot more weight than it has ever done before.
Universities are no exception. The governing body should, or rather ‘must’, ensure the veracity of your claims prior to putting that stamp on your paper and therefore approve your application.
Imagine this scenario: you try to enrol in a course in another country and, when asked about your English abilities, you claim, with your head held high, to be a proficient speaker. Needless to say, if answering that simple question in an oral form were the only requirement, then everyone in the world wishing to study abroad would suddenly become an excellent speaker of English.
Hence the need for tests and certificates. And why these have now become of paramount importance.
TOEFL is one such example. Set up in 1964, this test aims to provide an assessment of your command of the language and, surprise surprise, put it on paper.
The certificate you are awarded would then enable you to apply at any academic institution around the world; it being particularly requested in the U.S.
Fret you must not, seeing as EC Malta English School offers a tailor-made TOEFL course.
This is an ongoing course, run throughout the year, and it aims to acquaint the students with the intricacies of and the tricks in the exam. On account of the nature of TOEFL, we have found that the best way of running this class is that of being practical, rather than relying too much on theory, as may be done elsewhere.
What does this mean?
Put simply, it means that the teachers on the course make use of actual test papers and teach the theory through the material you are tested on. This is to say that you will be guided through test papers and be made aware of techniques that will help you be successful, such as: how to avoid falling into the traps present in the reading paper, how to structure a good essay, how to answer the questions in the speaking component, and so on and so forth.
In any case, yes, certificates are absolutely indispensable in the modern world. These do, in fact, corroborate what you ‘claim’ by offering proof of that claim in black on white. And EC Malta’s TOEFL course is there to help you obtain this crucial requirement without having to struggle on your own.