How to Use Sticky Notes to Improve Spoken English
Hi! It's Lisa Scott with losemyaccent.com where I help you speak English clearly and
confidently and be understood more easily.
Now, I know that you've been working hard to improve your spoken English, hoping that
soon you will speak with more of an American accent. But there is so much to remember — pronunciation
patterns, word stress, intonation, grammar — it's enough to make you want to give up!
But don't despair! There are some simple tips and tricks you can use to boost your memory
and build your new English speaking habits more quickly.
In last week's video, we talked about using our senses to help us create new habits, and
today we will focus on the sense of sight.
Have you ever made a list of tasks you needed to complete? Did you find that just looking
at the list helped you remember to get those things done? That was using your sense of
sight to remind yourself to do something different — to finish a task on the list rather than
whatever else came to mind at the moment.
Have you ever used a sticky note to write yourself a message, and then stuck it somewhere
where you knew you would see it? That was using your sense of sight to remind yourself
to take action on whatever was written on the sticky note.
But how can that help me with my American accent, you may be thinking. You can't improve
your spoken English just by looking at a sticky note — or can you?
No, if you write on one sticky note "speak with an American accent" and stick it on your
desk, it probably won't have a great impact. But, remember when I mentioned last week about focusing
on one sound or goal at a time? Let's suppose you are working on the th sound,
as in think or thank you. I want you to take at least 10 brightly colored sticky notes
and write on each of them one word or picture that makes you think of the th sound. You
might write think on all 10, or 10 different words that start with th, or a picture of
a thumb. It doesn't really matter what you choose, as long as it reminds you to say the th sound
correctly.
Now, I want you to put those sticky notes all over your house where you will see them
as you go through your daily routines. Put one on the bathroom mirror, one on the bedroom
door, one on the refrigerator, one near the TV, one in your office, and so on. There is
no magic place to put them; the best places are the ones you visit most frequently. Every
time you see that sticky note, it will trigger a response in your brain of "Oh yeah, I need
to remember to say th." If you have the freedom at work to put several
notes up around your office, that is even better.
The more times you look at them in a day and practice, the more quickly the new sound will
become part of your everyday speech. After a couple of weeks, if you find that the notes
are blending into the background but you don't feel like you've completely mastered the sound
yet, then get a different color of sticky note, make them again, and put them in slightly
different places. That will trigger in your brain the response that something is different
and once again, you will pay attention to the notes and they will be a reminder to improve
your spoken English.
If you find that this technique works for you, then you can repeat it every few weeks
with a new sound or grammar point. Of course, you can use this sticky note technique for
any new habit you want to establish, even if it has nothing to do with speaking English.
You could even make a family game of it, with each family member having a different colored
sticky note and a different habit. Challenge each other daily to remember to use your new
skills!
But maybe you are one of those people who just doesn't see visual details, and you could
walk right past a flashing neon sign without seeing it. If that is you, I still want you
to give this a try. Be sure to get the neon, brightly colored sticky notes and not the
pale yellow ones. If you can still walk past them without seeing them, maybe visual cues
are not the best way for you to remember new things. And that's okay, because we are all
created differently and I'm going to teach you several other ways to remind yourself
of your new skills. Next week, we'll be talking about how some
people can use listening to bells and alarms to improve their spoken English. Until then,
practice with those sticky notes! I'll see you next time!