<p>Ive never lived in an english-speaking country. I took toefl (my first time) last month and got a 23 at speaking section. Please tell me/ give me advice how to improve my speaking ability!!!</p>
<p>The truth is that I hope I can get accepted by one of the ivies. Studying abroad hadnt been my plan since may of this year. In other words, Ive started preparing for sat, sat2, and so on since may. Im still working hard on them (also my midterms), which means that it is out of the question for me to spend hours in front of the tv set and watching American movies.</p>
<p>Any other suggestions??</p>
<p>Ive heard talking to myself is a good method. But how can I know if my grammar is correct and if my expression is clear enough by this way??</p>
<p>Plzz help me!!!</p>
<p>Btw, please dont say anything discouraging. Everyone knows how hard it is for international students to get into the ivies. I do, too. Anyway, Im determined to give it a try. I just want to pursue my dream. Thanks =))</p>
<p>First, a 23 on the speaking section might be high enough. The TOEFL requirement is a pass/fail test to see if your English is deemed good enough to function in an academic environment. Once you are over the bar, no one cares if you scored 101 or 111. Colleges know that your English will improve dramatically once you arrive in the US.</p>
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Talking to yourself might be a good approach if you are struggling to spontaneously express yourself in English. It gives you more practice expressing your thoughts in English and it helps you build everyday vocabulary if you make an effort to use a dictionary every time you don’t know a word. (By the way, I would encourage you to use the Google test with every new word you get from a dictionary: google a phrase with the word in context, e.g. “shopping at the mall.” If you don’t get a lot of hits, it’s probably not the word you are looking for or your grammar is off.) </p>
<p>However, talking to yourself won’t fix your grammar or pronunciation. If you are concerned about grammar, you need to work with a tutor. If you are concerned about your accent, you could try an accent reduction program (check Amazon); make sure to get one for Standard American English, not British English. </p>
<p>The bad news is that language acquisition takes a lot of time and practice. Simple grammatical errors might be easy to fix, but it will take you a while to build an active vocabulary, modify your accent or communicate more fluently. Significantly raising your speaking score might not be a realistic goal given your time constraints.</p>
<p>You could try reading a lot of English books, talking only in English, listening to songs only in English and watching movies only in English.</p>
<p>If you are accepted into an Ivy, you’ll most likely be exposed to all this anyway. Immerse yourself COMPLETELY in American culture, and you’ll make the transition a whole lot easier!</p>
<p>Listen to American radio stations online (with news and stuff like that of course)! It really helps me sticking to American English instead of swichting back to the German accent :)</p>