<p>Dear reader...
I am a foreign student, and I come to U.S.when I was 12 years old. Now, I am 18 years old ,and going to be a senior next year, but I am still struggling on my english skill. Well, even though I took some AP classes, but my english skill is not good enough. AND MY SAT SCORE IS LOW...VERY LOW.</p>
<p>There are two areas that I struggle the most -Speaking and Writing-
Well, I am not very talktive or sociable among the people ,and I am always quiet. So, I think it hurt my speaking skill. Recently I had a interview for a job and the guy who did the interview still question about my english like he is not sure whether i can speak english(Yeah, that is how bad my speaking skill is)</p>
<p>Next is my writing skill. I have trouble when I write my essays, and I spend like 3 to 4 hours to write an essay. As a result, I do not like writing essays (I always prevent it). </p>
<p>And now I realize that I must solve these problem because these problems could undermine my college life.
PLEASE PLEASE, GIVE ME AS MANY SUGGESTIONS AS YOU CAN!!
Thank you very much</p>
<p>I am a born-and-raised American, so I am afraid I cannot offer you any suggestions on improving your English. However, I do want to congratulate you on your efforts and wish you luck in solving your problems. I cant imagine how hard it must have been to come here without a complete mastery of the language. I hope everything turns out great for you!</p>
<p>It sounds/(looks?) like you're a Far Easterner. If you have any close friends or relatives who speak both your native tongue and English fluently, you might want to practice with them. Use a mix of both languages, and slowly mix in more and more English. It also helps to watch TV/movies and listen to the radio, so that you can learn what "sounds right" and what doesn't. In addition, do a lot of reading out loud. That way, you can work on your pronunciation while reading something that is (should be?) also grammatically correct.</p>
<p>If you are a Far Easterner (correct me if I'm wrong), then the parts of grammar you will have the most difficulty with are plurals and conjugation. I believe neither of these exist in Oriental grammar. So, focus on these aspects of grammar first, perhaps asking for the help of a teacher at your high school.</p>
<p>EDIT: Don't worry too much about your SAT CR/Writing scores being too low. If you explain that you've only been in the US for 6 years, admissions will probably overlook those scores, even if they are in the 400- range.</p>
<p>i have a friend who moved to America from Israel and she learned English incredibly well by... watching TV.</p>
<p>watching the news or educational broadcast can help because, on these programs, speakers enunciate and speak correct modern grammar. hearing the way things are correctly spoken is a great way to learn what is correct grammatically.</p>
<p>i came to US at age 13 (beginning of 8th grade) and i am 17 right now (going to be senior). i have the same problem. i managed to pull off an A for ap english but my general english isn't top notch and hence low CR score. still, many people congratulate me on how quickly i learned english (which i don't quite get it myself) so i will try to help you.</p>
<p>what i think is important is
1. don't ever take ESOL. that thing slow you down like no other.
2. i know it is really hard to talk to people at the beginning. i once believed everyone wanted to hurt me or something, but the important thing is to try. start with hi or good morning. then the rest can come out easier. speaking skill will only help is you try to speal
3. talk to your parents in english. if they don't completely understand what you say (like my parents), don't mind them, keep speaking in english.
4. if your english is not THAT bad, which i assume isn't judging from your writing, watch some bit sophisticated TV programs like those in discovery, history, natural geographics, etc. or listen to news for some time every day. i think TV can really help non-native speakers.
5. read books. reading still isn't my favorite activity, but find a book you might enjoy. increase the level of book each time you complete one. i remember the first english book i ever read was "henry and mag-something," a picture book about a boy and a dog.
6. read magazine, newspaper, etc
7. sing in english =)</p>
<p>as for the essay (especially the school ones), bug your teacher! and talk to your friends who is a great writer. Just when they help you, try to make it yours.</p>
<p>I came to US when I was 12 from Japan, and I do/did have similar problems like you do. IMO, I think seira gave really good tips of how to improve your English, so I don't have a lot of things to say, but I can give you some advices...</p>
<ol>
<li>Read! Especially summer is the best time to read. I've done this last summer, and I was much prepared for Honors English before the summer. I'm planning to do this again this summer; I just have to stop being lazy:)</li>
<li>Seek help from your English teacher. I don't know about yours, but I had an excellent English teacher for my freshman and sophomore year and she had helped me and I think my writing ability had improved a lot.</li>
</ol>
<p>Speaking and SAT are things I'm still struggling on (although I'm a rising junior so I still have a time for SAT), so I can't give you a decent advice. But what I can say about speaking is probably this: Talk Slowly! Even though you have a thick accent, people can hear you better if you talk slowly. For someone like me, who came from Tokyo and my grandma speaks twice as fast as I do, people point out that I talk really fast, so I'm guessing that's the problem with my speaking.</p>
<p>I don't think I helped you a lot, but I wish you have a good luck!</p>
<p>Hey I have a similar problem, but I guess I came earlier. I came from China 8 years ago. I suppose my English speaking and writing skills are decent and can pull off high 500s in CR and Writing. On my PSAT sophomore year, I scored in the low 400s on CR and Writing (>_< shame) During the summer and the school year I read tons of books and studied SAT words. This helped me A LOT! I got over 100 increase on both CR and Writing.</p>
<p>Like what someone else has mentioned, if you explain to the colleges that you are a new immigrant, I'm sure they'll let you pass on the writing and reading scores.</p>
<p>this post is really motivational. I can't really offer much help but know that there are other options (i.e., the TOEFL exam). I actually don't know much about it, aside from it's a test that non english speaking foreign students often take. At any rate, I wish you the best of luck! :D</p>
<p>I came to the US from Sweden four years ago, and learned English essentially from scratch. I took the SAT in March this year and scored a 740CR and 720W, without a minute of studying. I don't mention this to gloat, only as an example of a success story.</p>
<p>The things that helped me most in my progress were books, music, and movies: books for spelling, grammar and vocabulary; song lyrics for simple comprehension; movies and TV for comprehension and pronunciation. </p>
<p>For me, I think the single most useful resource was the Harry Potter series--they were too captivating for me to put down, and complex enough that I could learn from them. It sounds silly, I suppose, but I suggest you try it if you haven't already. ;)</p>
<p>I'd write more, but it's past two in the morning and I really should be getting sleep. Feel free to ask me if you have any more questions.</p>
<p>wow you really have impressive CR and writing score! my CR was 630 and writing was 650. i'm aiming for a bit higher. how did you prepare for the SAT?</p>
<p>i agree that harry potter was a good read. usually it's really hard for me to get into a book, but harry potter, i read nonstoply and finished in 2 weeks.</p>
<p>You can always take the TOEFL (I think thats how you spell it) instead of the SAT. I know many good schools allow it (MIT and Caltech do). Then all you need to do is get a high score on the SAT II's. If you take ones like math and science, you shouldn't have any problem.</p>
<p>NorthWestLover - I already answered in more detail, but no, I'm not. I'm taking a prep course in the fall, and I'll be damned if I don't manage double 800's then. (Math is a completely different question; there I just want to break 700.) Arrogant much? Of course...but I'm the girl who peruses Strunk & White for personal entertainment. I've worked for it.</p>
<p>thisyearsgirl: wow; based on your posts and writings, I thought you were a native speaker.</p>
<p>I came to the U.S. when I was in 2nd Grade, yet my writing style is still not what I desire it to be...Any suggestions on how to improve and update my vocab? <em>your vocabulary is awesome</em></p>
<p>You got a 720W? Man, I would think that you'd be scoring in the 790's...I'll probably get something in the 600's...:(
P.S: What does mitigate mean? I don't intend to ask too many questions, but what was your math score, if I may ask?</p>
<p>^I got screwed over on the essay. I can't write coherently in 20 minutes.</p>
<p>To improve vocabulary, I always suggest reading. You don't have to keep a dictionary by your side; you can probably figure out most words from context. Keep a list of words you like, and find ways to use them in conversation or in writing. This part was easy for me because I loved the language and wanted to know everything about it.</p>
<p>My math score was an unimpressive 660. I made a lot of stupid mistakes (forgetting how to calculate the area of a circle was one of them) and ran out of time near the end. I may get it up to a 750, but I don't think I can manage higher.</p>
<p>I don't mean to sound weird, but what's your thinking process? How do you learn things? Do you repeat things over and over like the vast majority? Or is there a secret to learning fast and accurately?</p>