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10 simple tips for improving and maintaining your English speaking skills.

 


10 tips for improving and enhancing your English speaking skills.

Many students are able to master the finer points of English grammar and vocabulary, but they often find themselves at a loss when it comes to actually having a conversation with native speakers. In reality, the only way to develop fluency in another language is through huge amounts of listening and speaking.

Here are a few tips for improving your English speaking skills.

1. Speak!

Be confident and speak as often as possible, to as many people as you possibly can! Don’t be shy to make mistakes! The more you practice, the better and more confident you will become in your pronunciation and vocabulary. Remember, speaking is a skill, like learning a musical instrument or new sport — the only way you can get good is to actually do it!

2. Read Aloud

Read the newspaper or a magazine out loud to yourself. You can even find a script from your favorite TV show and act it out! This is a great way to practice pronunciation, as you can concentrate on how your English sounds without worrying about sentence structure or grammar.

3. Record your practice conversations

After a conversation is over, take a moment to reflect: How did it go? How much do you think you understood? How comfortable did you feel with the subject matter? Did you encounter any unknown words? The mere act of thinking about it in this way will increase your confidence the next time you speak (and give you targeted things to work on, such as, vocabulary you didn’t understand).




4. Find an English-speaking conversation partner

It’s important to find a partner to practice with, ideally a native English speaker. If you live around English speakers try incorporating informal conversations into your daily life. If that isn’t an option, consider hiring a private tutor you can meet online via tools like Skype or Google Hangouts.

5. Use technology

A smartphone can be a powerful tool for learning languages. It can help you find reading material, converse with tutors, or even record yourself speaking!

6. Listen and learn

Listen to news bulletins and songs in English to listen to the pronunciation of words. You can also learn new words and expressions this way. The more you listen, the more you learn! Try copying what you hear to practice your pronunciation and learn which words in a sentence are stressed.

7. Learn a new word a day.

Choose a word you would like to work on and use practice it in different sentences. Use the word until you have learnt it and keep using it regularly.

8. Watch films and television

Watch movies, sitcoms, documentaries etc in English and pay attention to new vocabulary and pronunciation. This is the perfect way to learn general vocabulary in context as well as phrasal verbs, idioms and collocations. Also, have some fun trying to emulate the people and their voices, it’s a great way to practice and improve.

9. Do interesting activities in English

Take a cooking course, learn an instrument or join a debating, book or music club.  Anything you enjoy doing, make sure that you do it and communicate in English. Using English to talk about things you enjoy will make practicing a positive experience, especially considering that today, you can study almost any subject online, so even if you can’t find anything in the area where you live, you are sure to find something in the virtual world.

10. Use the audio function on an online dictionary or app.

Online dictionaries often have audio examples in both British and American English so that you can check your pronunciation and there are lots of great dictionary apps that you can take everywhere with you on your smartphone.

Everything that you need to know about conjunctions
Everything that you need to know about verbs
Everything that you need to know about pronouns
Everything that you need to know about prepositions
Tips for making vocabulary easier to learn

 

 

 

 

 

 


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