English needed
Obviously, if anybody wants to apply to an American college or university, the language is going to be a crucial part of the process. Even though in the U.S. there are people that speak any language of the world, English is required. The student will have to be able to meet the basic language requirements and able to have an interview in the American embassy in English.​
How much you need to know
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The English language ability is measured by standardized tests.
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You do not need to be completely fluent in the language as long as you fulfill the minimum required test scores.
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Coming to study in the United States is often influenced by the want of improving English language abilities.
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Each college or university has its own minimum score requirements.
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Most people are surprised by the English level needed to come to study in the United States because they think that being %100 fluent is a requirement. The online newspaper “US News” said that the average minimum TOEFL score for American universities is 78 out of 120.
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If the student does not obtain the minimum score, assisting and ESL academy is always a good option to learn the language and adapt to the American culture more smoothly.
Standardized Language tests
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Standardized tests to measure English skills. This is the most common requirement to certify the fluentness of students when applying to American educational institutions. They are equivalent, which means that none of them ‘look’ better than the other.
Toefl
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Focused on English communication skills especially in academics.
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Taken on the computer.
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Around 4 hours.
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More likely to be preferred by American universities.
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Almost entirely multiple choice.
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The student might need to be able to think analytically to weigh up the differences between their options.
Ielts
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More common in English academies.
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Taken on paper.
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Around 2 hours and 30 minutes.
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International language test, meaning that you can use either UK or US spelling.
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Typing questions such as short answers, gap-filling, and short essay tasks.
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It requires more use of memory and draws on broader comprehension skills.
How to learn it
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Learning a new language is a difficult but not impossible goal to achieve. Even though it is never too late to learn one, it is easier for younger people to adopt a second language (or third or fourth…). This rule is emphasized with children, they have more time to learn, fewer inhibitions, and a brain designed for language learning. Therefore, we could say that the younger a person starts learning a new language the easier it will be.
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Even though it is easier to learn another language at a younger age, students can still come to the United States and learn English here.
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Despite the difficulties of learning a new language without the resources to pay for English classes, there are still students that learned the language online. They can start by watching videos, listening to music, or playing videogames.​
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Something helpful to start learning a new language is to hear about the experiences of other people who have done it already.​
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~If you have an experience that you would​ like to share, send us your story~
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In the
United States
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There are several institutions in the United States that provide ESL (English as a Second Language) classes for international students, some of them are academies focused specifically on English classes such as WESLI or ALA. ​The benefit of these academies is that they can usually replace TOEFL/IELTS scores.
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Other institutions are technical colleges. For this kind of institution, there is usually not a TOEFL/IELTS requirement either if enrolling in the English intensive programs, and the only requirement to start taking degree classes is to finish a certain amount of credits dictated by a placement test.
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Finally, some 4-years institutions also provide English as a second language programs and they all have different requirements and processes to continue with your educational career after finishing them.
In Chile
"I learned to speak English by watching movies and videos on the internet with Spanish subtitles and by playing games in English. My first encounter with the English language was around the age of 4 when my parents gave me a computer toy that had English words in it, and I would learn them and say the words out loud. But when I really started to learn was when I was around 7 or 8 years old when my parents bought our first computer, so at that time I started to watch a lot of YouTube videos and I came across this American comedy channel called Smosh. I really enjoyed watching Smosh and I would watch the videos with Spanish subtitles so when I was watching the videos I was trying to figure out the translation of the words that the guys were saying, I started to learn more and more words and suddenly I realized that I didn't even have the need to read the subtitles. Also, my cousin and I played many games on the internet and we would always play them in English. So basically the way that I learned to speak English was just by association because I was always trying to figure out what the English-speaking people were saying and I didn't even notice when I started to actually understand what people were saying in the movies and videos. Finally, when I got into middle school we had English classes and there I learned about English grammar and that really helped me to become a fluent speaker".