Hello lovely students and welcome back to English with Lucy.
In today's lesson, I'm going to show you how you can improve your English speaking
skills alone.
That's right, just you, yourself, maybe a
smartphone or a computer might help too.
Whether you're a beginner just starting
out or an advanced learner looking to level up your fluency, you're definitely
going to get something out of today's lesson.
To help you further, I've also created a
free PDF that has all of the different exercises broken down for you in a really
clear way and there is a list of additional resources that will help you
get the most out of your daily speaking practice.
If you'd like to download that, just
click on the link in the description box, you enter your name and your email
address, you sign up to my mailing list and the PDF will arrive directly in your inbox.
And then after that you've joined my PDF
club, you will automatically receive all of my free weekly PDFs along with all of
my news, course updates and offers.
It's a free service and you can
unsubscribe at any time.
Okay, the exercises and techniques that
I'm going to give you today will definitely boost your speaking skills but
if you want a more structured approach to improving your English, you need to
consider LanguaTalk.
LanguaTalk is a brilliant platform where
you can find ideal teachers to help you improve your target language.
That might be English, it might be Spanish, French, Japanese, whatever.
I started using it, and it was so incredible that I became a part of the
company so technically, that means I'm sponsoring myself in this video.
My husband and I are both using LanguaTalk, I'm learning Italian and Will is learning Spanish.
(Lucy speaking Italian)
We love both of our LanguaTalk tutors because they don't just have a deep
understanding of Spanish and Italian, the languages we're learning, but they make
our lessons really fun too.
Because the classes are one-on-one, we
get so much personalised speaking practice.
They teach us things that you just
wouldn't learn in grammar books.
If you would like to learn English or
another language in the same way as us using LanguaTalk, I have got a special
discount for you.
You can get a $10 lesson credit by using
the code SPEAKING10.
Your first trial lesson is usually free
and then you can apply that $10 discount
to the next lesson for the first time with
LanguaTalk.
You activate the code by messaging
the LanguaTalk support team after your first
purchase.
The link and the information are in the
description box. I hope you love it as much as I do.
Okay, let's get back to it.
We will begin our lesson with a really
fun yet effective warm-up: tongue twisters.
These are great for practising those more
challenging vowel and consonant sounds and they are perfect for all levels.
They help you to improve your pronunciation by forcing you to repeat
tricky sounds.
The idea is to start slowly and then
gradually speed up as you gain confidence.
This repetition helps to train your
English-speaking muscles and will get your tongue used to making English sounds.
First up, a tongue twister for beginners, designed to help you practise the voiced
/b/ sound and the unvoiced /p/ sound.
Here it is slowly.
Big bears play before painting pictures.
Notice how my lips close to make the /p/
and /b/ sounds.
In fact, the only major difference
between these two sounds is that /b/ is voiced and /p/ is unvoiced.
When a sound is voiced, your vocal cords vibrate.
Another way to check if you're accurately
making these sounds is to put a piece of paper or a tissue in front of your mouth
like this.
We generally expel more air with unvoiced
sounds, so the paper should move more when you make the /p/ sound and stay still
when you make the /b/ sound.
I look a bit strange doing that, don't I?
Okay, now it's your turn.
Try pausing the video and repeating the tongue twister three times, getting
gradually faster.
Okay, are you ready for the next tongue twister?
Pay attention to the /θ/, /ð/, /s/ and /ʃ/ sounds.
This one is tricky.
The sixtieth sheikh’s sixth sheep’s sick.
Whoa.
Pause the video; try saying that 3 times fast.
How did you find it?
These exercises are a great way to warm
your mouth up and get ready for more speaking practice.
Okay, now I'm going to share some of my favourite methods and exercises that you
can start doing today that will greatly improve your English speaking ability.
I'm going to share activities that are suitable for B1, B2, C1 and C2 levels.
I have got a recommendation for A1/A2 learners.
I have put them in the PDF.
I'm focusing on intermediate to advanced learners today in this lesson.
Let's start with B1 to B2, the intermediate exercises.
The first activity I've got for you is explain it like I'm 5.
This is a really unique challenge.
It's all about clear communication using
simple vocabulary.
You have to pick a complex topic, maybe
something related to one of your hobbies or work, and you have to explain it to a
five-year-old.
The goal is to make your explanation as
simple and clear as possible.
As Albert Einstein once said, if you
can't explain it simply, you don't understand it well enough.
So here we are, putting this idea to the test.
This exercise is a fantastic way to
practise using straightforward language and breaking down complex ideas.
It also helps in mastering the art of clear and effective communication.
Try explaining a concept like why is the sky blue in the simplest terms.
You might say the sky looks blue because of how sunlight reflects off the air.
You can also record your explanations, and you could even send them to other people
you know who are learning English to check if they understand.
Give it a try with a topic you're passionate about and we can't practise
speaking in the comments section, but we can practise your communication skills.
I would like you to explain something to me like I'm 5 years old in the
comments section.
I'd like you to take a really complex
topic, break it down, make it simple so that I can understand.
That's your homework for today.
Okay, next activity: storytelling with prompts.
This is great for any creative people out there.
In this activity, you're going to use
random images, objects, or online story prompt generators to spark your
creativity and imagination.
Your challenge is to create and narrate a
short story aloud using these prompts.
You should focus on adding rich details,
vivid descriptions and lively dialogue to build a complete narrative.
This is like the opposite of the previous activity.
I don't want simple anymore.
I want complex and creative.
This exercise enhances your creative
thinking and helps you focus on creating sentences in narrative tenses, which is
really good if you want to share anecdotes.
You also get a wonderful vocabulary boost.
I've got a great resource for generating story prompts, and I put that in the PDF,
so make sure you download that.
I will give you a quick example.
Let's say the prompt is a mysterious letter in the mail.
Imagine who sent it, why and what happens next.
Narrate your story, incorporating the descriptions of characters, their
feelings and some settings.
easier, you can write a few notes on what you'd like to say before you speak and
then say your story aloud.
To make it slightly more challenging, you
can set a timer for 1 to 2 minutes to give yourself time to think before you speak.
If you want to make it super challenging, start speaking immediately with no prep.
I find this hard in English, I really do, so it is a real challenge.
The next exercise is actually my favourite one in this section.
I strongly recommend keeping an audio diary.
There are so many benefits and let me
explain how it could work first.
It's as simple as making a cup of tea or
coffee, sitting down and having a relaxed chat with your phone.
I know it sounds a little odd but stick with me on this.
Talk about your day; talk about your thoughts or experiences.
It shouldn't be a stressful exercise, it's about practising your English in a
conversational way.
On WhatsApp, you can send messages to yourself.
I send WhatsApps to myself all the time when I want to remember something.
Each day, commit to sending a 1-minute audio to yourself.
It can be really nice to look back over too.
As you narrate your diary, if you stumble
upon a word that doesn't come to mind in English, jot it down in your native language.
At the end of your entry, look up the words using an online dictionary tool.
My favourite is the Oxford Learner’s
Dictionary and pay attention to their pronunciation.
Usually, they show both British and American versions of the pronunciation,
which is awesome.
Then you can just try your sentence again
with the new English word!
Another interesting thing that you can do
that can check how easy you are to understand is to use something like your
notes application.
Click on the little microphone icon and
your speech will be dictated in written form while you're recording it.
And this will give you immediate feedback on your pronunciation.
Look, it's not going to give you pronunciation feedback, but it will give
you an indication as to whether you are speaking clearly or not.
If the phone can understand you, that's a good sign.
But remember, don't worry if it doesn't understand you too well.
I love this activity because it's all about integrating English into your daily
life, actively using new vocabulary and expressing coherent, fluent thoughts.
It's practical, it's reflective and it's really beneficial for enhancing your
spoken English.
After a few weeks of audio entries, it
will become a habit and something you kind of look forward to each day.
And the really cool thing is that if you are recording it on WhatsApp or something
like that, you can track your own speaking progress.
You'll be able to listen to your entries from one, two or even six months ago and
see how far you've come.
Let me know if you try this method and
how you find it.
Okay, let's move on to C1 to C2, more
advanced activities.
First up, I want to explore the world of podcasts.
This is an increasingly popular medium for storytelling and sharing ideas.
And I would like you to create your own podcast episode!
Imagine you've been invited onto a podcast to discuss a topic you're
passionate about.
Prepare some questions you expect to be asked about this topic,
then record yourself answering these questions as if you were in a live interview.
This exercise allows you to practise articulating your thoughts clearly on
subjects that you're really enthusiastic about.
And the important thing is to listen back
to your speech.
Alternatively, you could find a podcast
on a topic you really enjoy and you can listen carefully to the interviewer's questions.
Pause after each question and answer it as if you were the interviewee.
This tests not only your comprehension but also your ability to respond
thoughtfully in real time.
It's a good thing to practise in your own
language as well.
Then hit play and listen to the actual response.
My final exercise of the day is an advanced version of the
explain it like I'm 5 activity.
I call it teach it!
Think about a hobby or skill that you're proficient in and imagine that you have
to teach this to someone else, but entirely in English.
It could be anything you do on a regular basis, cooking a specific dish, playing a
musical instrument, practising yoga.
The key is to break down your skill into
teachable, understandable segments.
I used to do this all the time when I was
actively learning Spanish.
You would not believe the amount of
Spanish cooking shows that I have hosted in my kitchen with no one watching,
I sincerely hope.
When you teach something, you have to
understand it deeply and be able to explain it.
Doing this in English will not only expand your vocabulary related to your
hobby, but it will also improve your fluency and your ability to convey
complex ideas clearly.
It's an awesome way to apply your English
skills in a practical, real-world context and the best thing to do is to record
yourself teaching.
It's hard to watch back sometimes, but no
one else has to watch, and you'll really catch errors that you don't even know
you're making.
Okay, that brings us to the end of our
session today.
I hope I gave you some food for thought
on how to practise your speaking alone.
I've only touched on a few exercises
today, I've included a lot more in the PDF, including some lower-level
activities and some more at C1 and C2.
I've also got that list of resources and
links for you to use.
Just click on the link in the description
box to download that.
In the description box, you also have all
of the information on how to access LanguaTalk and claim your $10 discount.
I will see you soon for another lesson.