hello everyone and welcome back to
english with lucy today i have a spoken
english class for you
i have got eight tips that will help you
to master spoken english
if you apply these tips to your everyday
life you will really notice a difference
and you will become more confident and
more comfortable speaking english
my first tip is to get to know the parts
of your body that you use whilst
speaking english this might sound a
little odd
but trust me on this one
if you don't understand which parts of
your face
tongue and throat are used when speaking
english then how will you ever be able
to correct your pronunciation mistakes
watch yourself in the mirror whilst
speaking english is a common tip that
many teachers give
however i think you should go one step
further than this
you absolutely need to analyze what your
lips
tongue throat
face in general is doing when you speak
english
you need to find a close up video a
zoomed in video of a native speaker or a
speaker that you admire speaking in
english
you then need to record yourself up
close
preferably at the same distance
speaking the same sentence
analyze the way your lips move in
comparison to their lips
analyze how far they stick their tongue
out or maybe they push it right back in
their mouth
what are you doing with your tongue this
started a big learning curve for me when
i was learning spanish
i started to really analyze
spanish speakers tongues they might have
found this quite weird when i was
watching them speak looking at their
tongue instead of their eyes but i
realized that when in english we say da
with the tongue inside of our mouths
it's quite a delicate sound the spanish
speakers in the area i was living in
would stick their tongue out a little
bit more
like that
by listening alone i would never have
realized that but by watching and
analyzing i managed to transform my
pronunciation and you can do the same
with english
you should also analyze the voice
quality
how much voice do we allow to escape
through our throats compare it to yours
as well
if you are serious about improving your
pronunciation and your spoken english
then you do
need to be very critical about what you
are speaking at present and work towards
correcting it
tip number two is to combine reading and
listening
thus improving your pronunciation
perhaps you will know by now that a way
a word is written in english
normally gives very little indication as
to how that word is pronounced in
english in many languages across the
world the way a word is written
tells you and shows you exactly how that
word should be spoken
this is not the case in english and it's
part of the reason why
english pronunciation and english
speaking is so difficult for learners
i have found a really good method that
has helped so many of my students
take a book that you have already read
in english or a book that you would like
to read in english i have got a fair few
recommendations in the description box
down below and read that book again but
here's the important part whilst
listening to the audiobook version on
audible if you listen to a word
as you read it your brain will start
making connections and the next time you
hear that word you'll know how it's
spelt and the next time you read that
word you'll know how it's pronounced
it's such an effective method and the
best part is you can get a free audio
book that's a 30-day free trial on
audible all you've got to do is click on
the link in the description box and sign
up
then you can download one of my
recommendations give it a try it really
works tip number three is another
reading one but it's practice speed
reading
this isn't such a common technique but i
think it should be
it's a really good way of improving your
fluency so how fluently you speak
english your velocity so that's how
quickly you speak english and also it
will help with your connected speech how
you join one word to another or one
sound to another in english
you need to find a text that you'd like
to read this text can accommodate your
level honestly i recommend using
reputable news sources and news websites
if you want to practice your informal
speech then you could find a blogger you
like who writes as if they're chatting
to a friend
read the text aloud and time yourself as
you're reading it
then
read that text aloud again and try to
beat your previous time
you can repeat this as many times as you
want but i find after four times
four
after four times i'm getting pretty
bored of the text this will help you to
familiarize yourself with the common
sounds in english
a step further would be to record
yourself and to send it to your language
instructor
or to use it as a topic in your next
language lesson tip number four is a tip
that has been massively important for me
as a native speaker so i can only
imagine how important it could be for
you it is to prepare
your monologues and stories that you are
likely to repeat
in advance
i'm talking funny stories you want to
tell at a dinner party i'm talking about
your elevator pitch i'm talking about
your answer to what do you do for a
living or where do you come from these
common questions that you get asked
again and again and again prepare your
answer have them up your sleeve that's
the way we say to have something
prepared to have it up your sleeve if
you're an advanced speaker and you're
more worried about keeping people
interested or making people laugh then
prepare your funny and interesting
stories
i first thought about this when i was
dating this was a long time ago
and i remember that i
would get stuck and i wouldn't know what
to talk about so i always felt good and
confident if i went into a dating
situation with my best stories and i my
most interesting things to say up my
sleeve it was funny because when i met
my husband-to-be i had all these stories
and interesting things to say up my
sleeve
and it all went out the window
conversation just flowed without any
effort but i understand that speaking
english
speaking a second language can be very
nerve-wracking it's just like dating in
my opinion
and you do want to have these things
prepared
tip number five is focus on
pronunciation
over grammar now there will be some
teachers out there watching this and
thinking oh my god
what
this is honestly my opinion i think that
bad grammar habits are much easier to
correct than bad pronunciation habits
i would say that it's much easier to
understand somebody speaking with great
pronunciation
but bad grammar
than hearing someone speak with perfect
grammar but terrible pronunciation
i've met so many students that know
every single grammar rule they even can
sometimes correct me but their
pronunciation they just they got to a
certain level and then they found it
very very difficult to improve they are
able to improve with specific help
professional help but it could have been
so much easier but from a very very
young age they were taught bad
pronunciation
or they weren't corrected on their
pronunciation the focus was only on
grammar and that focus needs to switch
i'm not talking about having a perfect
accent you don't need a perfect accent
you just need to be clear and
understandable when you speak it will
make you feel more confident when people
move to an english-speaking country they
are most likely embarrassed of their
pronunciation than they are their
grammar bad grammar can make it not so
easy to understand someone but bad
pronunciation can make it impossible to
understand someone
so big tip focus on pronunciation
tip number six is to try and think in
english i have made an entire video
about this topic but it's such a big
topic
some people find it very easy to think
in english and some people find it near
impossible to think in english if you
want to be able to speak english
fluently without even thinking then you
need to train yourself to think in
english a good way to start doing this
is to have a little english narrator in
your head
choose someone's voice that you like i
know a lot of people use emma watson's
voice they have her speaking in her head
this is normally females but for a
couple of hours a day or even a couple
of minutes a day
have
your little chosen person emma watson or
whoever it is
narrate in your head everything you're
doing i am washing the dishes i am
picking up the spoon i am putting it on
the table oh no i don't like that what
have i done
just chat to yourself as you would in
your own language but in english
something weird might happen after a
while you might automatically start
thinking in english and you might even
start dreaming in english they say that
you are really really becoming fluent if
you start dreaming in a second language
and a very weird thing can happen you
can start dreaming about your friends
and family that don't speak your second
language speaking in your second
language i've had my parents telling me
to do stuff in spanish and i've just
woken up very very confused
another point still related to the topic
of thinking in english is to be
constantly on the search for new words
new phrases and new vocabulary
keep a note app on your phone or a
physical vocab book and when you are
idle or not doing something for example
commuting to work or
at work
look around think what don't i know in
english and if you see something for
example lamppost
curtain
then note it down and make a point of at
the end of the day
finding out what that word is in english
number seven
this tip
is very helpful
because i know a lot of you
just want to learn one specific accent
well this tip is speak with a variety of
native speakers who all have different
accents
so tempting to just focus on one accent
but you will be doing yourself a
disservice
the wider the variety of people that you
speak with the more flexible your brain
will be when it comes to understanding
speech
a great example is my poor mother she
struggles so badly when it comes to
understanding
different accents
it's funny and it can also be insulting
to the speakers sometimes but i'm
talking scottish accents irish accents
spanish people speaking english
she is surrounded by mainly english
people she speaks with people who all
speak the same accent and she really
really struggles i however have been to
many different countries and i've had
students from all over the world i've
lived in different locations and i find
it very easy to understand
different accents
we've got the same genetics we've had
the same upbringing to a certain point
but because i listen to speakers with
lots of different accents
i am able to understand and she isn't
thank you mum for letting me use you as
an example she does find it funny she
really struggles but it might happen to
you as well if you just focus on a clear
rp accent then you will struggle to
understand a glaswegian accent or an
australian accent or an accent from the
deep south of america
many of you will be thinking great i
would love to speak to loads of native
people but i don't know how to speak to
them well i have a couple of suggestions
number one is of course attend english
classes group english classes
number two is attend expat meetups
expats are people who have left their
home country to live in another country
a lot of them will have meetups because
they want to speak with other people
that speak their language and have a
taste of their own culture their home
culture well you can also try going to
those and seeing if you can mix with
them and speak their own language with
them you'll find a wide variety of
accents because they've normally come
from all over the world you can also use
italki's language partner feature i've
spoken about this quite a lot this is a
free feature where you can find a
language partner to practice with if you
speak a language that the partner wants
to learn and the partner speaks a
language that you want to learn you can
do a tandem i think it's called in some
countries
a language exchange
i've left a link to that in the
description box
some people find it quite hard to find
native speakers that want to speak their
language especially if you come from a
country where everyone wants to learn
english but it isn't as popular for
english speakers to learn your language
you could perhaps consider paying for a
private language tutor italki's prices
are really really good per hour
yeah they're very very affordable i
would recommend i've used them myself
and number eight
if you cannot find native speakers with
whom to practice
then just find like-minded people
a really great resource is facebook
i never thought i'd be recommending
facebook but honestly
facebook groups are fantastic for
finding like-minded people and for
helping each other out if you have a
question about english if you want
someone to analyze the way you speak
there will probably be someone on a
facebook group that will be willing to
help you
i'm on lots of facebook groups for many
different reasons facebook groups for
wedding planning facebook groups for
being a farmer's wife
lots of them and there are so many
helpful people i'm a member of some
english groups as well i'm not going to
tell you which
but i will often respond to people's
questions
anonymously there are also some good
forums on websites like reddit
and places like that
right that is the end of my lesson those
are the eight tips for spoken english
don't forget to check out audible the
link is in the description box you can
click that and claim your free audiobook
and don't forget to connect with me on
all of my social media i've got my
facebook my instagram and my twitter
and i shall see you soon for another
lesson
i'm only one minute from finishing i'll
see you in a sec oh could you just hang
out the duvet
the duvet's in the wash would you mind
just hanging up
thanks han
[Music]
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