STEP

Learn academic English by reading or listening to interesting articles!

What is STEP?

STEP lesson activities are interactive quizzes that resemble reading and listening comprehension materials on standardized tests.

Reading is one of the best ways to learn vocabulary. Written content usually uses more vocabulary than spoken language. Thus, students can read and listen to STeP, which stands for Standard Test of English Practice, to prepare for taking standardized tests produced by the publishing and test taking industry

Why should students and teachers use STEP to learn and teach English?

STEP is beneficial for students for many reasons. First, it is a great way to practice taking standardized tests. Students can develop test-taking skills like skimming, scanning, answering questions, as well as listening and reading. Also, STEP lets students encounter more high-level vocabulary that is common for academic and business English. Finally, STEP offers many interesting stories that help students learn about the world

Learn the Vocabulary

Students can create personalized bilingual vocabulary lists using ER central.com. Students can copy and paste the transcript into Text Helper on ER central.com. From there, students can identify the more difficult words in the text and learn their meaning. This tutorial shows how to do this.

Study Plan for Listening

First Listening

Because this activity aims to help students do well on standardized tests, students should listen to the audio and take the listening quiz. First, students should preview the questions in the quiz. Then students should play the audio and take the quiz as they listen. Students can check their answers after they finish.

Second Listening

Now, students should play the audio and read the text for review. Students can hear and read what they may have missed in the first listening.

Study Plan for Reading

First Reading

Before they read, students should preview the questions for the quiz. Then students should read the text. They can answer the questions while they read by toggling between the two tabs.