TOEFL Speaking - section 1

ScottsEnglish

In the first speaking section, you have 15 seconds to read a personal topic question and prepare it (you may take notes), and then you need to speak for 45 seconds about the topic. Read the following topic and then speak about it for 45 seconds.

Did you have a favorite place as a child? Where was it, and why was it your favorite?

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As a child, I lived in a village. Once a week a big public library in the city sent a book bus around to all of the villages. For my village, it was on a Wednesday afternoon. I had to walk for about 20 minutes to get to the bus through a small forest, but inside the bus was magic. There were shelves on each side with rows and rows of books. I can still remember the feel of the air conditioning inside after walking in the hot sun, and the smell of paper. The librarians were always very nice checking in the books I returned and giving me advice on new books to check out. I could even request books from the main library in the big city.