hi i'm gina
welcome to oxford online english
in this lesson you can learn how to
sound more confident
when you speak english when we ask
students why do you want to learn
english
often people don't talk about their
language skills
they talk about their feelings
they say things like
i don't feel confident when i'm speaking
english
i'm afraid my english sounds bad
i want to feel better about my english
does this sound like you in this lesson
you can learn some simple effective tips
to sound more confident speaking english
we'll show you ideas that anyone can use
we have a saying in english fake it till
you make it
have you heard it if not can you guess
what it means
it means that confidence starts on the
outside
you need to act confident and sound
confident
even if you don't feel confident
so if you lack confidence when you speak
english
you have to fake it you have to act
confident even though you don't feel
confident
this is important to understand there
isn't some sort of
magical switch you can flip and suddenly
feel confident feeling confident
is a journey which will take time
and work remember
to improve your english confidence you
need
to accept that you might not feel
confident
right away that's okay
the first steps towards confidence
in your spoken english are on the
outside
so what can you actually do
when you're not confident in your
english you'll probably do
three things one
you'll speak too quietly
two you'll try to speak too fast
three you'll speak in fragments
using single words and phrases instead
of
full sentences for example
martin did you have a good weekend
nope not bad just stayed at home
did that sound or look confident
not really let's try again
hey martin did you have a good weekend
it was kind of boring actually i didn't
go anywhere
or do anything what about you
see the difference even though i still
had a boring weekend
and i didn't have anything interesting
to say
i was still able to sound confident and
comfortable
there are three things you can do here
but before you start i'd like you to do
something
record yourself talking in english
for one minute introduce yourself
and talk a little about your life go on
pause the video and do it now
then come back
listen to the recording how does it
sound
do you sound confident
next let's get back to what you can do
to sound more confident in english
first control the volume of your voice
confident people speak at a high clear
volume
you don't have to shout but your voice
should be
loud enough that anyone in the same room
could understand you clearly
secondly control the speed of your voice
when you're nervous it's normal to try
to speak
faster if you try to speak
too fast you'll sound less confident
and also make more mistakes
slowing down will help you in many ways
you'll sound more confident you'll be
easier to understand
when you speak english and
you'll make fewer mistakes
finally speak in full sentences
if you're not confident in your spoken
english you'll try to say
as little as possible to sound
confident you should show that you're
not
scared of speaking english so
use full sentences
now it's time to make another recording
even better
make three recordings each one should be
around
one minute talk about yourself
and your life like you did before
the first time focus on the volume
of your voice try to speak loudly
and clearly
the second time focus on speed
try to slow down and speak at a
clear controlled pace
the third time focus on speaking
in full sentences
listen to the recordings compare them to
the first recording
you made do they sound better
next try to use these points when you
talk english
in real life remember you might not
feel confident but you will sound
more confident if you sound more
confident
people will respond to you differently
try it you might be surprised how much
difference
these simple points make
when you see how people respond to you
you'll feel more confident in your
english
do you ever say things like this
sorry about my english sorry
i know my english is really bad
here's a question why
no seriously why say these things
what's the point
when you say things like this you get
two results
one you reinforce your negative feelings
by expressing them two
you show the person you're talking to
that you don't believe in yourself
and if you don't believe in yourself
why should anyone else
neither of these is a good result so
what's the solution very simple
stop apologizing for your english
it's a waste of time first of all
if you're talking to me and your english
is really bad
i can see that already i don't need you
to tell me
more importantly most people won't
judge you for your english
most people in the world aren't
interested in your english
at all
if someone's talking to you they're
talking to you
to be friendly or because they want
something from you
or because they're interested in your
ideas
they're not talking to you to see how
good your english is
and even if the person you're talking to
is judging your english
what can you do about it at that moment
nothing at all so why apologize
why feel bad it doesn't help
okay maybe you can't help feeling bad
though you shouldn't but you can control
what you say
don't apologize for your english
never apologize for your english
here's something about me i don't speak
tamil
or slovenian or hosa
not one word should i feel bad about
that
should i apologize and say hey i'm
really sorry about my bad tamil
i am my bad slovenian oh
i'm a terrible hosa too sorry about that
and sorry about my navajo and my finish
and my korean and okay martin okay
we get it
hopefully you see how unnecessary it is
now
even if your english is bad so what
don't be sorry go get better instead
never apologize for your english
i want you to do something for me
pause the video and write down three
situations where you would feel nervous
about speaking english
have you got three situations what are
they
maybe you wrote something like this
talking to a native speaker
making a speech in front of my class
making a presentation at work
now for each of your three situations
i want you to create three different
levels
easy medium and hard
what do we mean here let's take the
example
of talking to a native speaker
many english learners have told us that
they feel nervous
talking to english speakers so
we need three different levels of this
situation
easy medium and hard
here's a suggestion easy
say hello to a native speaker
medium introduce yourself to a native
speaker
and ask one to two questions
hard have a five minute conversation
with a native speaker
okay so what now go out and do them of
course
start with the easy challenge repeat it
several times if you want then
go to the medium challenge again
you can do it more than once finally
try the hard challenge
of course this isn't something you can
just do
this might take you days or weeks
also the exact challenges you
set yourself will depend on your english
level
and your situation the key points
the easy challenge should be really easy
something that's not a challenge for you
at all
the medium challenge should make you
think
that's difficult but i can do it
the hard challenge should make you think
can i really do this
let's do another example let's take the
idea
of making a presentation at work
we need three challenges easy challenge
ask a question or make a point in a
meeting
medium challenge make a short
presentation
to a small group hard challenge
volunteer to make a longer presentation
to a big group
again these are just examples you should
think carefully about your challenges
because they should be personal to you
so let's review you have three
situations
which make you feel unconfident
for each situation you should have three
challenges
easy medium and hard
make a list of your challenges and
put it somewhere in your home
when you complete a challenge and you
think you did it well
cross it off your list
imagine crossing off your first hard
challenge
think about that feeling
wouldn't it feel good wouldn't it feel
good to know that
you did something that you thought was
too difficult for you
you're not there yet you should start
small
build up gradually remember
this isn't a quick fix this might take
weeks
or even months when you finish
your first nine challenges set yourself
nine more start again
you might not be able to do every
challenge
you know what it doesn't matter you'll
be
doing something and taking action which
will help you
to build your confidence in your spoken
english
look at one more practical tip
writing about your thoughts and feelings
in a diary or a journal can be very
helpful
first imagine a situation
you have a group of english-speaking
colleagues
they're all friends with each other you
never talk to them
you just talk to your other colleagues
in your language
you want to talk to your english
speaking colleagues
but you don't feel confident enough
at this point take out your journal
and write down all the worst things that
could happen
take your biggest fears about the
situation
and put them into a list
for example they'll laugh at me
they won't be interested in what i have
to say
i won't be able to say one word in
english when i speak to them
i'll feel stupid and useless
what next go and talk to them of course
if you want you can make a challenge
ladder like we did in part four
set yourself easy medium
and hard challenges and work through
them
after you talk to them next to your list
of fears
write down what actually happened when
you spoke to them
for example
of course it's not certain that
everything will go well
maybe sometimes your fears will come
true
but you'll find that most of the time
the things you're afraid of don't happen
by writing things down like this you'll
be able to see how your
fears are just in your head you'll see
that reality is often a lot more
optimistic
than you are writing down your feelings
like this
will help you understand that other
people
aren't judging you and your english
this way you can feel more free and
confident
when you speak english do you have
any other advice to help people feel
more confident
speaking english let us know
in the comments
thanks for watching see you next time