Does anyone have some practical tips for teaching the popular and revised TOEIC exam? I want to avoid a dry "drill and kill" approach to
the standardized exam, but I have only had limited success using the textbook "Target Score" from Cambridge. I'm using my own conversation book, Compelling Conversations: Questions and Quotations on Timeless Topics, for supplemental conversational exercises, but the students really need a far more specialized text to improve their test scores. Other suggestions?
As some of you know, the Test of English for International Communication contains several sections. This multi-hour exam, although designed in the United States by ETS to test English skills in the workplace, has become extremely popular in Europe and Asia as a validator of English speaking, listening, and reading skills. White collar professionals expect to take it, and a few points can mean the difference between getting hired or being overlooked for a job or promotion. For worse or for better, it's seldom used in the United States outside off college campuses. The standards also far, far exceed the language requirements for naturalization as a United States citizen.
If you have had experience teaching a TOEIC class, please share your tips. I'm feeling a bit under-prepared and don't want to disappoint my students.