How to Learn English
I get a lot of messages from English learners. One of the most popular questions is, “How can I improve my English?” After 8 years of teaching English, I still don’t have a complete answer for that question, because the answer depends on the person asking the question and his/her current level of English.
One thing I have discovered is that most English learners need to change the way they learn English.
Many English learners think they need to memorize grammar rules and memorize lots of new words. They think that reading should be difficult because if it’s not difficult, they won’t learn anything.
That’s how many people learned English in school.
Is that how you learned English? Now, as a result, you know a lot of grammar rules and you know a lot of words, but you struggle to put a sentence together and you can’t understand natural spoken English.
You are not alone. This is very common.
You need to become an independent English learner. You need to learn how to learn English.
1. There is no magic secret to learning English. Stop waiting for one.
I get the feeling that many English learners want me to tell them a secret. They think that once they know this secret, it will be easy for them to learn English quickly.
There is no quick and easy way to learn English. It takes a lot of time and a lot of effort, because there are a lot of things to learn!
The easiest and quickest way to learn English is to learn English like you learned your native language. (Your native language is sometimes called your mother tongue.)
You didn’t learn your native language by memorizing grammar rules. You didn’t learn your native language by talking to other people who were also learning your native language. You learned your native language by listening to the people around you: your parents, your family, people on TV, people in movies. You may have learned some grammar rules in school, but you could already speak your native language by the time you started school. Over time, you improved with more listening and reading, and a lot of practice.
That’s what you need to do in English.
2. Stop memorizing and obsessing over grammar rules.
Native speakers don’t memorize grammar rules. In fact, in some English-speaking countries, we don’t even learn grammar rules in school! I had never heard of a gerund or the present perfect tense until I started teaching English.
Of course, you need to understand English grammar. You need to understand how English grammar is different from grammar in your language. The worst thing you can do is think in your language and then try to translate that into English. Your sentences end up sounding strange and unnatural in English.
For example, in Latin languages like Spanish and Italian you don’t need to say the subject of the sentence because it’s part of the way the verb is conjugated. I hear a lot of Spanish and Italian speakers say in English, “Is good.” What is good? “Is good” sounds fine in Spanish and Italian, but it sounds lazy in English, because an English sentence needs a subject. That’s important to know!
However, not everything in English can be explained by rules. Sometimes, when the question is “Why?” the answer is “Because that’s the way it is.” Asking “Why?” or obsessing over small details and exceptions to rules is not going to help you improve your English.
Native speakers don’t always follow grammar rules anyway.
I am not going to publish many grammar posts on this website anymore. I want students to focus on learning sentences instead of rules. I closed the comments on existing grammar posts on this website because so many English learners were worrying about small details and it was taking up a lot of my time answering questions that were not going to help anyone improve his/her English.
You will learn more English grammar by reading and listening, not by memorizing grammar rules.
3. Focus on core vocabulary and collocations.
You need to learn vocabulary, but memorizing long lists of words is not going to help you improve your English.
First, learn the right words. There are over a million words in English, but some words are more important to learn than others.
Ninety percent of everything that native speakers say and write comes from just 7000 words. That’s not a lot compared to the total number of words in English.
These 7000 words are the core vocabulary of English. These are the words you need to learn.
Next, you need to learn the words that go together, like “throw a party” or “pay cash (for something).” These are called collocations. Collocations are words that go together in a way that sounds natural and correct to a native English speakers.
The most important thing to know about collocations is that English collocations are very different from collocations in your language. That’s why you can’t just translate words from your language into English. We don’t say “make a party” or “make sports” in English. The collocations in English are “throw/have a party” or “play sports.”
When you look up a new word in a dictionary for English learners, like the Macmillan Online Dictionary or Merriam-Webster’s Learner’s Dictionary, it will tell you the collocations for that word, too.
Here are some collocations that I have used in this blog post:
(it) depends on
put (something) together
a lot of
in school
as a result
obsess over
follow a rule
focus on
4. Read. Everything. Anything.
This is the part that English learners often avoid because they can’t find something to read at their level, or they think reading has to be difficult.
When I was studying French, I thought reading had to be difficult if I was going to learn anything. I thought that I needed to learn as many new words as possible. This is not true! You should not be reading a book that has more than one or two new words per page.
Again: You should not be reading a book that has more than one or two new words per page.
Reading isn’t fun or interesting if you have to stop and look up new words in a dictionary every sentence. If there are more than one or two new words on a page, you won’t be able to remember those words or, worse, you will mix up the meanings of the words.
When you read for fun, you learn English without even realizing it. You get used to natural English sentence structure. You can understand new words without having to look them up in a dictionary.
This is where I will be focusing my efforts now. I will help you find interesting books at your level that you can read for fun.
5. Listen. To everything. Anything.
Listening to a native speaker for just 15 minutes a day can make a difference, even if you don’t understand everything the speaker is saying. (Fifteen minutes is the minimum amount of time you should be listening to English. More is better!)
Obviously it is more enjoyable if you can understand what the speaker is saying, but even if you can’t understand what the speaker is saying, you are still learning something about spoken English: You are getting used to the rhythm of natural spoken English.
You are also learning to match sounds with words. The pronunciation of an English word often does not match the spelling of that word. You can’t look at an English word and know how it is pronounced. In English, you need to hear the word to know how it is pronounced.
If you don’t know the correct pronunciation of a word, how will you know when you hear that word? You will think you are hearing a different word.
When you encounter a new word, look it up in a dictionary for English learners, like the Macmillan Online Dictionary or the Merriam-Webster’s Learner’s Dictionary. Click on the speaker icon to hear someone say the word. Try to imitate what you hear. Both dictionaries also include the IPA transcription of words, so if you know the IPA, you will now how to pronounce the word.
The best way to learn is to listen to a native speaker while reading the words, and then try to imitate what you hear. The best way to learn is to listen to the English Teacher Melanie podcast, my series of listening lessons.
6. Speak. Write. Try not to make mistakes.
Listening and reading are inputs, information that you receive and take in. Speaking and writing are outputs, information that you produce from inputs. You cannot speak or write in English without listening or reading first. You need to listen to English and read English before you can speak or write in English.
In the blog post 4 Truths About Learning English, I said that native speakers don’t care if you make a mistake. This is true. It’s OK to make a mistake.
Try not to make mistakes all the time. Try your best to say or write something properly. If you are not sure of the spelling of a word, take the time to check a dictionary.
If you make the same mistake over and over, it becomes a habit. Habits are very hard to change or break. It becomes very difficult to improve your English if you first have to change what you know. Your brain gets used to speaking or writing English, even if you’re doing it wrong. It’s difficult to train your brain to do something differently.
I have taught many students who said they wanted to improve their English, but they didn’t want to change the way they already spoke English, even if they were wrong. It’s very hard to change the way you speak English, even if you’re wrong, if that’s the way you have spoken English for a long time.
In English-speaking cultures, it’s rude to correct someone’s mistakes. A native speaker who is not a teacher will not tell you or correct you when you make a mistake. This is important to understand.
In a perfect world, everyone learning English would have their own English tutor who could correct their mistakes. It is possible, however, to learn English without you’re own private teacher.
You need to read. You need to listen. You need to focus on core vocabulary and collocations. You need to be an independent learner.
Beginner English Online Resources
I get a lot of emails and messages from beginner English learners who need help. My website is mainly for intermediate & advanced English learners, but I know that English can be very overwhelming for beginners. I have put together a list of free online resources to help beginners get started.
If you are a beginner, if you know someone who is a beginner, or if you teach beginners, here are some free resources that may be useful to you. All of these resources are in English.
Videos
Hungry for English [American]
“We want you to learn to speak English in the same way that we all learned to speak our native languages as babies – by hearing it instead of reading it.”
JenniferESL [American]
“English for Beginners! No scripts. No actors. Real lessons. Real learning.”
Jennifer is an English teacher who is teaching her friend Natasha to speak English. This is an ongoing series of lessons, so check the list often for new lessons!
Mister Duncan [British]
This list of video lessons is more for elementary & intermediate students, but they are a great way to learn new vocabulary. All his videos include subtitles (text).
Vocabulary & Grammar
ESOL Courses – Online course for beginners [British]
ESOL Courses – Online English lessons, exercises, games and quizzes for beginners [British]
Helping You Learn English – English course for beginners [American]
Learn English Online – Online course for beginners [British]
The Most Common English Words
100 most common words in English (video)
1000 most common words in English: [Esl.about.com] 1-250, 251-500, 501-750, 751-1000
1000 most common words in English (in alphabetical order)
Verb Forms
Perfect English Grammar – Memorize the past simple & past participle forms of irregular verbs
Macmillan Dictionary – Test your knowledge of irregular verb forms with the ‘Irregular Verb Wheel Game’
Reading
Read Theory – Read, listen, & answer questions
Super Easy Reading – Read, listen, & do activities
Simple English Wikipedia – 90,000 articles written in simple English!
How to Improve Your English Pronunciation
“How can I improve my pronunciation?”
This is one of the most common questions I am asked. I wrote this post to answer that question, and help you improve your English pronunciation! Good pronunciation is essential for speaking AND understanding spoken English. Below is a list of my best tips for improving your English pronunciation.
1. Decide which accent you want to speak with.
There are many different kinds of English accents. The two most common are British and American. There are many different accents even within British or American pronunciation, but most learning materials will help you learn either a standard British accent or a standard American accent.
American pronunciation and British pronunciation are completely different. The consonant sounds are the same (except for the T sound and the R sound after a vowel), but the vowel sounds are very different. The British accent has more vowel sounds, and some vowel letters are pronounced differently.
On this website, I teach general American pronunciation.
2. Learn the IPA and the individual sounds of English.
The International Phonetic Alphabet (IPA) is a collection of symbols that represent the different sounds of a language. When you know all the sounds of English and the symbols that represent those sounds, you will be able to pronounce any word in English. [Click to tweet this!]
American Pronunciation:
An Introduction to the IPA
British Pronunciation:
BBC Learning English
Interactive IPA Chart
3. When you learn a new word, learn how to pronounce it correctly.
Say it right the first time.
The more times you say a word incorrectly, the harder it becomes to learn to say it correctly. You’ve developed a bad habit, and it takes a long time to break a bad habit! This is why it is so important to learn the IPA and use dictionaries specifically for English learners. [Click to tweet this!]
For example, let’s pretend you are reading a book and you see: outrageous. How do you pronounce this word? Use dictionaries specifically for English learners:
MW Learner’s Dictionary
MacMillan Online Dictionary
Both of these dictionaries show you the IPA phonetic transcription of the word, including which syllable you must stress: /aʊtˈreɪʤəs/
Next to the IPA transcription of the word, you can see a picture of a red speaker. When you click on this icon, you can hear someone say the word.
4. Try to imitate spoken English.
To imitate means to copy someone or something, to do something the same way, or to do the same things as someone else. Do you really like the way someone speaks English? Try to copy the way they speak.
Do you ever try to make fun of someone from another part of your country by imitating his accent? That’s what you need to do in English!
This is a great activity to try: Close your eyes while you’re listening to something in English, like a podcast, a TV show, or a movie. Listen carefully to what the speaker is saying and try to make the same sounds. Hear the sounds, don’t try to see the words. Choose a word or sentence, and listen to it many times.
Try to imitate the sounds that native speakers make.
5. Record yourself.
It’s important to hear what you sound like speaking English so you know what you need to improve! You can compare what you sound like to what you want to sound like. For example, you can record yourself reading a sentence from one of my podcast episodes. Then, listen to me say the same sentence and compare your pronunciation.
The easiest way to record yourself is to use your smartphone or tablet. You can use the camera to take a video of yourself. You can also find recording apps in the Apple app store and Google Play.
If you don’t have any recording software on your computer (like Windows Sound Recorder or GarageBand on a Mac), you can use a web-based audio recorder:
audioboo
Vocaroo
SoundCloud
You may also be able to find a cheap digital voice recorder at your local electronics store.
6. Listen to the English Teacher Melanie Podcast.
Each episode of my podcast includes a story and a pronunciation tip. The pronunciation tip explains a feature of natural spoken English. You can read the words to the story while you listen to the story, so instead of seeing the words, you can hear the words and match the correct sounds to the words.
You can listen to the story at a slow speed and at a normal speed. You can get used to the sounds of natural spoken English.
7. Read & Listen to Pronunciation Books.
Here are the two books that I use to understand and teach American pronunciation. Check your local library for these books. If you attend a private language school, ask if it has these books. If you live in a large city, look for these books at an English bookstore. You can also buy these books online from Amazon.com.
Mastering the American Accent – Lisa Mojsin
This is quite possibly the greatest book on American pronunciation for both teachers and advanced learners! It does not go through every sound like the book below does, but it focuses on the things that will help a non-native speaker speak with a standard American accent: difficult consonant sounds, linking, syllable and word stress, intonation, and the difference between casual and formal speech. At the back of the book there is a native language guide that explains what speakers of different languages, like Chinese, Spanish, Russian, etc., need to focus on. The book also includes 4 CDs so that the learner can listen to someone saying almost every exercise.
English Pronunciation Made Simple – Paulette Dale and Lillian Poms
This book explains each individual sound in standard American English, as well as all the other elements of spoken English: rhythm, stress, intonation, consonant clusters, plurals, contractions, past tense verbs, etc. This is a great book for teachers to use as a classroom textbook as there are a lot of exercises teachers will find useful in the classroom. It is better for teachers than for students, as the 2 included CDs don’t say all the words and exercises. This book also helps to learn the IPA as it uses the IPA symbols to help explain American English pronunciation.
8. Practice for at least 30 minutes every day.
Let’s be honest. You can’t improve your pronunciation if you don’t practice, practice, practice! Your pronunciation will not magically improve just because you’re speaking English. The sounds of English may be very different from the sounds in your language. It may be difficult and even uncomfortable for your mouth to make some of the sounds in English.
You need to practice with a purpose. [Click to tweet this!] Practice the sounds of English until they feel as natural and comfortable as the sounds of your language. It won’t happen overnight, but gradually your pronunciation will improve.
9. Get Used to Feeling Uncomfortable.
One of the biggest problems for English learners is feeling uncomfortable when making the sounds of English. You have been speaking English your way for a long time. It feels natural to you. When you try to improve your pronunciation, it doesn’t feel natural. It feels strange making new positions with your tongue and lips. Learn more about it here.
Learn more speaking tips in my free ebook 7 Secrets to Better English when you join the email list:
The Ten Best Tips to Get a High Score on the TOEFL iBT!
The TOEFL is one of the most difficult tests you will ever take in your life! Here is a list of ten things that will help you get the highest score possible on the TOEFL iBT, and fulfill your dream of studying at an English-speaking university.
1. Make sure you understand the TOEFL!
The TOEFL (Test of English as a Foreign Language) is an English proficiency test produced by an American company called ETS. It is a test that measures your English reading, listening, speaking, and writing skills, and your ability to succeed at an English-speaking university.
This is the structure of the TOEFL:
Each section has a score of 30, for a total overall score of 120. You don’t pass or fail the TOEFL. Each university requires non-native speakers to get a specific score. Sometimes universities require a specific score for each section of the test, for example 24 out of 30 in the speaking section. Before you begin studying for the TOEFL, it’s a good idea to know the score that you need to achieve.
There are A LOT of resources available to help you learn about the test & help you study for the test. Here are some resources available on the ETS TOEFL website:
TOEFL Go Anywhere
TOEFL Tips
Sample TOEFL questions
2. Be prepared!
You should give yourself 6 months – 1 year to be fully prepared for the test, especially if you have never taken the test before.
- When you sit down at the computer to take the test, nothing should be a surprise. You should know every reading question, every listening question, every speaking task, and every writing task on the test. You should know exactly what you have to do to answer every question properly.
- You should also know the exact score you need to achieve for each university you want to apply to. (Some schools require just an overall TOEFL score, but some schools require specific scores in each section.) You should know exactly what you need to do get the required score.
- Do not try to prepare for the test alone. At the very least, you need a textbook:
| This is by far the best and most up-to-date textbook available. It thoroughly explains each section of the TOEFL and includes hundreds of practice questions and multiple quizzes. There are also 4 practice tests included in this book. (The CD needed for the listening, speaking and writing sections is also included.) |
- Even if you use a textbook, it’s really important to work with a teacher, either in a course or in private lessons. You need someone to help you with your pronunciation, and to assess how you’re doing in the speaking and writing sections. Talk to friends who have taken the TOEFL. Who did they study with? What score did they get? What would they have done differently? Check at a university or college near you. Do they offer a TOEFL course? There are also several TOEFL instructors online. Do you know anyone who has studied with them?
3. Read Everything. Listen to Everything.
I cannot stress this enough. When you are preparing for the TOEFL, it is not good enough to just listen to and read things that you enjoy and are interested in. You need to read widely to build your vocabulary. On the TOEFL you will read passages or listen to lectures on everything from astronomy and American history to psychology and biology!
- The TOEFL has teamed up with a company called Lexile to help you find books at your reading level. If you have taken a TOEFL practice test or the actual TOEFL and you know your reading score, you can type in your score and Lexile will suggest books in the topic of your choice at your reading level.
- Audible.com sells digital audiobooks that you can listen to on any computer or device. It also has a series of university-level courses that you can listen to called The Great Courses. Each course is a series of audio lectures. You can buy a course on science, history, economics, religion, or entertainment! [You need an Amazon account to join Audible.com.
- Three excellent resources on the Internet are BBC News, NPR, and VOANews. Many of the articles on the VOA and NPR websites also have .mp3 files, so you can also use the articles as listening lectures.
Here are some more resources to get you started:
Business
BBC – business
NPR – business
VOA News – Economy and Business
The Economist
Science, Health, and the Environment:
NPR – Science
BBC – Nature
BBC – Science and Environment
BBC – Health
VOA News – Science and Technology
VOA News – Environment
VOA News – Health
http://www.astronomy.com/
http://www.kidsastronomy.com/
Arts, Entertainment, and History:
BBC – Entertainment and Arts
BBC – History
NPR – Arts
VOA News Arts and Entertainment
- This is a book you may find useful to help you build your vocabulary and improve your reading skills:
| The 400 words are divided into 8 themes and 40 lessons. For example, in the ‘Money’ section, the lessons are: Financial Systems, Wealth and Social Class, Personal Property, Employment, International Trade. There are 10 words in each lesson, and each lesson contains definitions of each word, usage tips, and three exercises using the words. It’s available in paperback or for your kindle. |
- If you have just started studying for the TOEFL and it is difficult for you to read (or listen to) some of the resources above, that’s OK! There are still lots of resources available to you:
The English Teacher Melanie Podcast – Each episode is a short story about something that happened in my daily. I use core vocabulary and I speak naturally with a standard American accent. Each episode also includes a short pronunciation lesson.
ESLPod – The episodes are short dialogues on a variety of topics. The dialogues include great vocabulary, phrases & idioms. Each episode includes a slow dialogue, a discussion of vocabulary, and a fast dialogue. The transcript is also provided on the website.
VOA Learning English – This section of the website has articles similar to the news section, but they are easier to read and the listening clips are much slower.
Listen a Minute– If you are still struggling with listening or vocabulary, this website will help you build up your skills.
If you are studying for the TOEFL, and you use some reading and listening resources that I have not mentioned, please tell me about them in the comments below!
4. Learn how to take good notes.
This is an essential skill you will need for the listening, speaking and writing sections of the test – AND a skill you will need later on at an English-speaking university.
In each section where listening is required, you can only listen to the clip ONCE! You cannot go back and listen to it again and again. You will then have to answer questions on what you heard (listening section), speak about what you heard (speaking section), or write an essay based on what you heard (writing section). Therefore you will need to take good notes! People who take good notes get higher scores on the TOEFL.
This is a skill that takes a lot of practice.
- Don’t try to write down anything and everything you hear. Don’t just write down words that you understand. Write down the essential information that you will need to understand the lecture later
- Use symbols and shorthand. Everybody develops their own system for this, but here are some suggestions: http://english-zone.com/study/symbols.html
- In tip #3 I told you about the resources available on the NPR and VOA websites. Those are great websites to use to practice note-taking as well. When you have finished listening, you can go back and compare your notes to the transcript.
- Another great resource you can use to practice listening and note-talking is Ted Talks. These are talks given on wide variety of topics from a wide range of speakers. They last anywhere from a few minutes to 30 minutes.
- If NPR, VOA and TED Talks are too long for you, practice note-taking with the shorter clips from Listen a Minute.
When you sit down to take the test, you will get 3 sheets of paper. Every time you put up your hand, the proctors are supposed to give you 3 more sheets of paper, but that doesn’t always happen. It may take a while for a proctor to see your hand, if they are paying attention at all. Use your 3 sheets of paper wisely! Don’t use all 3 pages on a single lecture or conversation.
5. Make sure your pronunciation is clear.
On the TOEFL, it’s OK to speak English with an accent. Your pronunciation doesn’t have to be perfect, but you need to speak clearly and be understood.
The speaking section measures three things:
- How well you answer the question and complete the task
- The grammar and vocabulary you use
- How you sound
My blog post ‘How to improve your pronunciation‘ has many more tips on things you can do to sound better. This is one area where it is important to work with a teacher or instructor. You need someone to tell you what you’re doing right and what you can do better.
When you are practicing the speaking task on your own, record yourself (most laptops and computers come with recording software). This is important for two reasons:
- You can hear yourself speak and evaluate your response
- You can get used to speaking to a computer! If you prepare for the test in a classroom or from a book, it may feel a bit strange talking to a computer.
Here are 3 videos from ETS that discuss the different speaking tasks.
Tasks 1 and 2
*Please note: several students have noticed a change in speaking task 1 topic. You may be asked to give advice to someone, which is different from what is discussed in this video. However, all the other information in this video is useful.
Tasks 3 and 5
Tasks 4 and 6
6. Get Used to a QWERTY Keyboard
The final section on the TOEFL is the writing section. You will need to use a QWERTY keyboard to type your responses into the computer. It’s called a QWERTY keyboard because the top row of letters starts from the left with the letters QWERTY. LOOK CAREFULLY!
Here’s what the TOEFL keyboard looks like:
You should practice as much as possible with a QWERTY keyboard.
Learn Touch Typing
Most people type by using the ‘hunt and peck’ method: you hunt (look) for the letter you need on the keyboard, and then peck (hit) it with a finger. When you learn touch typing, you will learn how to use all your fingers to to type WITHOUT looking at the keyboard! It’s a much faster method of typing, but it takes a lot of practice. Touch typing is not essential for the TOEFL, but it definitely helps you type faster.
Here’s a short video that shows you where to put your fingers on the keyboard:
Once you learn the correct placement of your fingers, you can practice typing here:
Powertyping.com
Sense-lang.org
7. Learn how to write an English Essay
As I mentioned in tip #6, the last section of the TOEFL is the writing section. There are two writing tasks. The last task, and the very last thing you will do on the TOEFL, is type a 300-word essay within 30 minutes.
Practice this essay as much as possible!
- Learn the traditional form of an English essay
- When you start practicing this essay, don’t worry about time. Begin by taking as long as necessary to write a good essay.
- Once you are able to write a good essay, start timing yourself and getting faster at it, until writing a 300-word essay within 30 minutes doesn’t even worry you!
North American writing tends to follow the same form:
- Introduction – this introduces your essay, and tells the reader your opinion and what you are going to talk about in your essay
- Body – 2-3 paragraphs that support your opinion
- One paragraph = one thought; the first sentence of the paragraph explains what the paragraph is about, and the rest of the paragraph uses clear, specific examples to illustrate your opinion
- Conclusion – a paragraph that summarizes your essay
If you would like to practice on your own, the ETS website has a list of typical independent essay questions.
Here’s a video that explains how to structure your TOEFL independent essay:
(Essay topic: Some people prefer to live in a small town. Others prefer to live in a big city. Which place would you prefer to live in and why?)
Here’s a video from ETS that explains a bit more about the TOEFL independent essay.
*I disagree with one thing in this video: don’t write your outline on paper! Type your outline directly into the space where you’re going to write your essay. You can build your essay around your outline.
Understanding the traditional English style of writing an essay will help you in almost every section of the TOEFL. If you know that one paragraph = one thought, you can understand the structure of the reading passages better. You will also need to state an opinion and support your opinion with clear, specific examples in the speaking section.
Here are some more points to remember:
- Answer the question that’s being asked! Don’t try to change the question. If it asks you to make a choice, make a clear choice – don’t try to argue both positions. There is no ‘right’ or ‘wrong’ answer. Your essay is scored on how well you answer the question.
- Type your outline in the essay space on the computer! You waste time if you write it by hand and then type it.
- Keep it simple and be specific!
Here is another video from ETS that explains the first writing task, the integrated essay:
8. Practice, practice, practice.
This is the best tip I can give you. Students are always looking for a trick or a secret they can learn to help them do better on the TOEFL. This is it! Once you know the TOEFL inside and out, the only thing that can help you get better at it is to keep practicing it!
- In the book I recommended in tip #2, there are 4 practice tests
- The same publisher has another book with 6 more practice tests:
(This is the book + audio CDs)
- There are 4 practice tests available on the ETS TOEFL website (http://toeflpractice.ets.org/).Do at least one of these tests before you take the TOEFL so you can get used to taking the test on a computer
That is a total of 14 practice tests!
9. Learn how to relax!
You’re probably laughing at this tip, but this is very important! A lot of people find this test quite stressful. Let’s be honest: it’s not an easy test! It is important to remain calm and relaxed throughout the test.
Before the test:
- If possible, visit the testing centre ahead of time. Make sure you know where you’re going and how long it’s going to take you to get there. The last thing you want to do is get lost or stuck in a traffic jam on the way to the test!
- Don’t try to ‘cram’ the day before the test. Just relax and rest.
- Get a good night’s sleep
The day of the test:
- Eat a good breakfast!
- Before you leave your house and on your way to the test, make sure you warm up your brain! Reading something in English for 30 minutes (something you have read before – no need to stress yourself out before the test!) and listen to English. Make sure your brain is thinking in English before you start the test!
During the test:
- Take deep breaths throughout the test. Make sure your breathing is normal.
- There is a 10-minute break between the listening and speaking sections. Use this time to use the bathroom if you need to, eat a snack, and do some stretching to relieve the tension in your back and shoulders!
- If you miss a question or you feel like you didn’t do well in a section. Don’t worry about it. Just go onto the next section like it’s a new test. This is where being prepared for the test helps. For example, if you know how many questions you need to answer correctly to get your required score in the reading section, then missing one question is not a problem.
Remember, you can always take the test again!
10. Take the test at least twice, if not more.
No one will ever know your TOEFL score unless you tell them. The university you want to attend won’t know if you’ve taken the test once or 10 times. They will only know the score you tell them. Don’t worry if you get a low score the first time – no one will ever know but you! You can keep taking the test as many times as you need to.
Students rarely get the score they need on the first try. Taking the TOEFL can be a quite shock the first time you try it:
- The test goes by very, very fast!
- Some test centres are very large with lots of people taking the test at the same time. There is a lot of noise and a lot of distractions.
- Someone may have started the speaking section while you are still listening. You might be trying to write an essay while the person next to you is doing the speaking section.
- You may not be able to get the proctor’s attention to get more paper or to get help with your computer
UPDATE: (April 2014
The FAQ section of the ETS website now says:
… you can retake the test as many times as you wish, but you cannot take it more than once in a 12-day period. If you already have a test appointment, you cannot register for another test date that is within 12 days of your existing appointment.
This is very important to understand! You can only take the test ONCE in 12 days. If you take the TOEFL, you will have to wait 12 days until you can take the test again! Plan accordingly.
What to expect on test day:
http://www.ets.org/toefl/ibt/test_day/bring/
http://www.ets.org/toefl/ibt/test_day/expect/
http://www.ets.org/Media/Tests/TOEFL/pdf/14235_TOEFL_testmap.pdf
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Have you taken the TOEFL? Please share some of your tips in the comments below!
Make English a part of your life!
Have you ever thought or asked a teacher one of these questions?
How can I speak English fluently?
How can I improve my spoken English?
How can I speak better English?
These are the most common questions I am asked! In this article, you’ll learn some simple changes you can make to your life to help you improve your English.
Move to an English-Speaking Country.
This is the easiest and the fastest way to learn English. If you are serious about learning a language, take any opportunity you can to spend time in an English-speaking country (for a long period of time, not just one or two weeks). Living with, working with, and speaking to native speakers all day every day will improve your English very quickly.
For many people, this is not possible. So, what you need to do is …
Make English a part of your life.
If you can’t go to an English-speaking country, you need to create an English-speaking environment & lifestyle as much as possible!
- When you get up in the morning, listen to an English radio station, watch an English TV channel, or read an English newspaper
- On your way to work, listen to English music, English podcasts, or English radio stations (in your car or on your phone)
- Speak English to everyone and everything: your family, children, friends, co-workers (if possible), pets, plants…
- After work, watch English TV shows and movies (it’s OK to watch with English subtitles if you need to!)
Whatever you do during the day, do it in English!
- Write something in English! Even if you only write one sentence a day, this will help you focus and THINK in English. Write it in a diary. Start your own blog. Use Twitter, Facebook or MyEC. Just start!
- Do you like to cook? Use English cookbooks.
- Do you like clothes and fashion? Read English fashion magazines.
- Do you like to know what’s going on in your country? Look for English newspapers and magazines that talk about local or national issues in your part of the world.
- Use an English day planner or calendar (or set your phone/email calendars to ‘English’)
- Change all the settings on your phone, on your computer, on Facebook/Twitter/YouTube to English
Think of it this way: if you decide to live a healthier life, you don’t say “I’m going to live healthfully for 2 hours every day, from 4 p.m. to 6 p.m.” When you decide to live healthfully, you do it all day long, every day, as much as possible. If you decide that you want to become fluent in English, you can’t say “I’m going to be fluent for 2 hours every day, from 4 p.m. to 6 p.m.” It’s something that you have to do all day every day as much as possible!
Every little bit helps!
Lots of little things add up to big things. The more you listen to and read English, the more comfortable you become with it and the easier it is to remember new words. You get used to the sounds of English and you can imitate them when you speak!
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