DEV Community: ohDev

How I Practice TOEFL Listening — and Why I Built DailyWordtoon

ohDev — Sun, 27 Sep 2026 13:25:40 +0000

I built DailyWordtoon because I kept seeing the same problem among TOEFL learners:

They know they need to practice English, but they don't have enough time to study every day.

And listening is especially difficult.

You can read an English sentence several times and understand it perfectly. But when you hear the same sentence once in a real conversation, you may suddenly think:

"Wait... what did they say?"

That's why I wanted to build something that makes TOEFL practice short, focused, and easy to repeat every day.

In this post, I'll share how I recommend practicing TOEFL Listening and how I designed DailyWordtoon around this approach.

Don't Try to Understand Every Word

One of the biggest mistakes I see in listening practice is trying to catch every word.

You don't need to translate everything in your head.

Instead, try to understand the structure of what you're hearing.

For a campus conversation, for example, ask yourself:

Why are they talking?
What problem does the student have?
What does the other person suggest?
What is the important information?
What will probably happen next?

This is much closer to what you actually need to do during a TOEFL Listening task.

That's also why the Listening practice in DailyWordtoon focuses on understanding the message, rather than simply testing whether you can recognize individual words.

Short Practice Is Easier to Repeat

I used to think good test preparation meant studying for a long time.

But for listening, consistency matters a lot.

If you only practice when you have one free hour, you may end up practicing much less often than you planned.

So I designed DailyWordtoon's Practice section around short sets.

You can finish a set, check your answers, review your mistakes, and move on.

A typical session can fit into:

a commute
a lunch break
a coffee break
10–20 minutes before bed

The idea is simple:

Don't wait until you have enough time. Use the time you already have.

Always Review Your Mistakes

Doing listening questions is only half of the process.

The more important question is:

Why did I get this question wrong?

When you make a mistake, try to identify the reason.

Maybe you:

didn't recognize a word
misunderstood the sentence
missed an important detail
confused two answer choices
forgot information from the beginning of the conversation

This is why DailyWordtoon gives you an opportunity to review your answers after each practice set.

The goal isn't just to know that an answer was wrong.

The goal is to understand why.

Use Transcripts as a Learning Tool

Here's one of my favorite listening practice techniques:

Listen first. Read later.

Don't look at the transcript immediately.

First, listen and answer the questions.

Then check your answers.

If you missed something important, look at the transcript and find the exact sentence you didn't understand.

Then listen to it again.

The sequence becomes:

Listen → Answer → Check → Read → Listen Again

This is much more useful than simply reading the transcript from the beginning.

DailyWordtoon includes listening transcripts for this reason. I wanted learners to be able to move from "I didn't understand that" to "Oh, that's what the speaker actually said."

Vocabulary Still Matters

Of course, listening isn't only about listening.

If you don't know enough vocabulary, comprehension becomes much harder.

But I don't think vocabulary should always be learned as isolated word lists.

For example, instead of only memorizing:

assess = evaluate

it's more useful to see it in a sentence:

The researchers assessed the results of the experiment.

Then when you hear assessed in another academic conversation, the word is easier to recognize.

This is one reason DailyWordtoon combines vocabulary learning with TOEFL practice.

I also added AWL (Academic Word List) vocabulary because academic vocabulary appears repeatedly across university-related English.

Learn Words in Context

This is also the idea behind the "Wordtoon" part of DailyWordtoon.

Instead of giving learners a giant list of definitions, I wanted vocabulary to appear in stories, situations, and memorable contexts.

A word is easier to remember when you can connect it with:

meaning + situation + sentence + image

This doesn't replace traditional vocabulary study.

It simply gives learners another way to remember words and recognize them later.

And that recognition is particularly important for listening.

You don't have time to stop and think about a word during a listening passage.

You need to recognize it almost automatically.

Practice and Practice Tests Are Different

I also made a deliberate distinction between Practice and Practice Tests.

Practice is for learning.

You can:

complete a short set
get immediate feedback
review mistakes
replay difficult sections
read the transcript

Practice Tests are for testing yourself.

The experience should be closer to the actual TOEFL testing process, with fewer interruptions and a more realistic sequence of questions.

So my recommended progression is:

Practice → Review → Practice → Practice Test

Don't use full practice tests as your only form of preparation.

You need focused practice before you need simulation.

My Simple Daily Listening Routine

If I were starting TOEFL preparation today, I would keep the routine simple.

20 minutes

5 minutes — Vocabulary

Review TOEFL vocabulary or AWL words.

10 minutes — Listening Practice

Complete a short DailyWordtoon Listening set.

5 minutes — Review

Check incorrect answers and listen again to difficult sections using the transcript.

That's it.

If you have more time, do another set.

If you only have 10 minutes, do one short set.

The important part is coming back tomorrow.

Why I Built DailyWordtoon

DailyWordtoon started from a simple observation:

A lot of TOEFL learners don't necessarily need more content.

They need a better way to use the content consistently.

There are already countless vocabulary lists, listening videos, practice questions, and test-prep materials online.

The problem is often putting everything together into a routine that is easy to follow.

So I wanted DailyWordtoon to bring several parts of TOEFL preparation together:

TOEFL Vocabulary
AWL Academic Vocabulary
Listening Practice
Reading Practice
Writing Practice
Speaking Practice
Practice Tests
Transcripts and review

And most importantly, I wanted the individual practice sessions to be small enough that you can actually finish them.

Final Thoughts

If you're preparing for TOEFL Listening, don't worry about studying for hours every day.

Start smaller.

Listen to something.

Answer a few questions.

Find out what you got wrong.

Read the transcript.

Listen again.

Learn the vocabulary you missed.

Then come back tomorrow.

That's the practice loop I had in mind when I built DailyWordtoon.

Listen. Practice. Review. Repeat.

If you're preparing for the TOEFL, you can try DailyWordtoon and see whether this style of short, focused practice works for you.

Try DailyWordtoon → https://dailywordtoon.com/

Thanks for reading — and good luck with your TOEFL preparation!

HEIC to PDF Without the Friction: Introducing HEICFlow

ohDev — Fri, 29 May 2026 06:24:33 +0000

If you use an iPhone regularly, you've probably run into HEIC files.

On the phone, everything works perfectly.

But the moment you need to actually use those images somewhere else, things get awkward.

Maybe:

a website only accepts PDF
someone can't open the HEIC image
you need to send multiple photos as a single file
or you're trying to upload documents captured on your phone

I kept hitting this problem often enough that I decided to build a small tool around it.

That's how HEICFlow started.

Why HEIC Can Be Frustrating

HEIC is Apple's modern image format.

It has real advantages:

better compression
smaller files
good image quality

From a storage perspective, it's great.

But compatibility still creates friction.

Many workflows still prefer:

especially when images move beyond your phone.

And in practice, most people aren't trying to "manage file formats."

They're trying to complete a task.

The Real-World HEIC Problem

Here are some situations I kept seeing.

1. Document Uploads

People use iPhones to photograph:

passports
receipts
application forms
IDs
paperwork

Then they hit:

PDF only

Now they need a quick conversion workflow.

Not an editor.

Not a design tool.

Just something that works.

2. Sharing Multiple Photos

This is surprisingly common.

Imagine:

travel photos
event pictures
screenshots
reports

Sending 15 separate images feels messy.

A single PDF is cleaner.

Easier to email.

Easier to archive.

And often easier for the recipient.

3. Workflows and Productivity

HEIC files show up in work too.

Things like:

meeting whiteboards
inspection photos
invoices
contracts
project documentation

Combining images into one PDF usually fits these workflows better than sharing raw files.

Building HEICFlow

I wasn't trying to build another all-in-one image suite.

There are already plenty of powerful tools.

Instead, I wanted something focused:

HEIC → PDF

Fast.

Simple.

Minimal steps.

No feature overload.

Just upload and convert.

So I built HEICFlow.

The current version focuses on a single workflow because I wanted to solve one problem well before adding complexity.

Current and Future Plans

Right now:

✅ HEIC → PDF

Planned next:

HEIC → JPG
HEIC → PNG
additional lightweight HEIC utilities

The idea is to keep HEICFlow small and practical.

More workflow tool than software suite.

Try HEICFlow

If you regularly work with iPhone photos and run into HEIC compatibility issues, I'd appreciate feedback.

You can try it here:

https://heicflow.org/

I'm especially curious:

What HEIC workflow frustrates you the most?