Overcome your speaking problems!
Speaking
As an English teacher, one of the common questions that I get from students every day is about speaking the language. Lots of them say that they can understand me, but they have serious problems in speaking part. As we all know practice makes everything perfect and this is completely true when the issue is English. The more you practice, better you get at using the language you are learning.
We have lots of speaking classes in our language schools, but of course they are not enough. Speaking a language can't be achieved in 2 hours lessons a week, it should be in every second of our life. Talking about this solution is easy, but how can they achieve this in daily life? There are some basic tips that can help our students to overcome their speaking problems and feel more confident in public.
Talking to a mirror
If you are all alone at home and no-one can say a word in English to you, mirror can be your best friend. Don't feel like you are getting crazy, it is all normal. Improving your speaking is not that easy and it takes a lot patience and work to get some good results at the end. You may ask yourself some questions and answer them back. If you keep doing the same thing again and again, you will surely be successful!
This is a hard way to get better at speaking. If you have a flatmate who can speak English better or in the same level with you, you can make some rules at home. I usually recommend my students to speak English with all possible people around them. Even using some simple phrases like asking for water can make a huge positive impact on their speaking levels, so this is another great tip.
Listen and repeat!
As we all know, listening and speaking are linked to each other. One of the best things to improve speaking skills is to listen then repeat the words. There are lots of songs which can be quite understandable for our students. They might be encouraged to listen to some songs in English and repeat the same phrases to memorize them effectively. I am sure, they will love this exercise.
When students learn some phrases and repeat them all the time, they will learn how to read them automatically and use them when it is needed. Some students complain about understanding the songs. They should be informed that some rap songs can't be understood as they are sung too fast and they usually tend not to use correct grammar in songs, so they are not preferable when our aim is to improve listening and speaking.
Talking to foreigner online
There are lots of websites where you can find people to chat. If you are open to new friendships whose aims are same with you, you can try to talk to them online. This way of speaking activity will help you a lot as you can learn daily phrases from your online partner. I am sure, it will be more fun to practice your speaking skill with another student without thinking about grammar much.
When we get to grammar point, it is essential to encourage them not to think about grammar a lot. As our students are usually worried about grammar, they may not be fluent in speaking the language they are learning. When we worry about grammar less, we can be better at speaking. In addition to this, students usually try to translate all the words from the sentences they create in their mother language. However, it is not a good way of speaking fluently in English, students must learn how to create their sentences in English. This is what we call as thinking in English.
Education
If you have any tips to share with me and other educators, you are welcome to point them out in comment section. Sharing is caring.
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Thanks for those tips. I can easily converse on a one to one basis, but as a public speaker, I am hopeless. Unfortunately failing at this has made it more difficult to overcome my own anxieties .
I hope, you will get over your problems! :)
Thanks
This is a great list of ways to become better speakers. I have my students do presentations often. I want them to learn to be comfortable speaking in front of a group as it is a valuable skill. We go over talking in front of mirrors and listening and re-reading. It is key for them to become comfortable with the content so that they can focus on the delivery.
Having your students do presentation is another great way of improving speaking skills!
This is totally reasonable because making the sounds perfectly is not easy if there is not enough practice.
One thing that can happen when people is able to think in English, is that they have dreams where everyone speaks English. I bet you have had one of those.
I have had lots of them! :)
I used to have serious problems with my spoken language in English due to short tongue up to the age of a teenager. I was often laughed at by my classmates then. I went on a journey for about half a year to rectify on my own. One of the most effective ways that you have mentioned is listen and repeat which I mainly used this method. I will listen to newscaster and imitate their pronounciation. I would never be able to become a teacher if I had not rectify my spoken language problem. Perhap it is really God's abundantly grace that have guided me what I needed to do to fulfill my future destiny as a teacher. Thanks for sharing this article!
I didn't know that you are a teacher! :)
@teachblogger I have been a teacher for about 20 years. I mainly teach Mathematics nowadays.
that is really cool! :)
Great article @teachblogger, There are a lot of language problems, most affect the articulation of words or are caused by motor difficulties in the muscles involved in speech. God bless you always.
thank you so much for your contribution, @saracampero
One of my weakness is verbal, I'm really poor in terms of speaking in English.
I find this post helpful and it gives me motivation to improve. :)
I am glad that it is useful for you!
thank you for your support!