How can you improve your speaking skills in your own time?
Many people struggle to develop their speaking skills. There are a number of reasons for this:
It’s a productive skill that requires one-on-one time with a teacher or native speaker
It’s time consuming and often requires feedback and direction
It can be intimidating, frustrating, and learners may feel embarassed when practising in the ‘real world’
So how can you work on your English speaking skills when you’re by yourself? Here are five ideas you can try:
Expand your Vocabublary
This can be done through reading, listening or using an app like uTalk or Duolingo. It can be helpful to have a vocab book in which you can write down new words after learning them for the first time. Revisit these words regularly. The more words you know the easier it will be for you to recall the right ones when you need them. It’s also a good idea to learn phrases so you have them ready to go: How’s it going? Thanks so much! What do you think?
Pick an English song that you like
Memorise the song and sing it to yourself. Studies (such as that by Ludke et al) have shown that singing in the language that you are learning can significantly improve your speaking skills in that language. When starting out, make sure to pick a song that is not too fast or complex!
Shadowing
Listen to or watch something and repeat sentences just after you’ve heard them. This is called ’shadowing’ and it is a useful way to start thinking about sentence stress and intonation. You can find a video on YouTube, Netflix or a Ted Talk on a topic that you find interesting. If you are a beginner or intermediate learner, it can be helpful to have the subtitles or read the transcript to help you. Don’t forget to note down any new vocabulary too!
Join an English Conversation Group
Find a buddy or join an English conversation group. If you’re based in the UK many local boroughs and councils host language cafés or conversation groups for ESOL (English for Speakers of Other Languages) learners. These are incredibly valuable as they provide a supportive learning environment, help create a sense of community and are a great place to find a learning buddy.
Try ‘Clear Pronunciation’
The most effective way to improve your speaking skills by yourself is to work on your pronunciation. Start by focusing on phonemes and working on minimal pairs - compare and contrast the sounds, and then start to produce them yourself. Once you’ve mastered the sounds of English, start practicing the sounds in speech - intonation, sentence stress, connected speech, etc.
Our ‘Clear Pronunciation’ programs can help you to do this by providing audio models, videos, exercises and real world examples. Clear Pronunciation 1 will help you pronounce the 43 sounds of English (English phonemes), and Clear Pronunciation 2 will help you put the sounds into action - focusing on natural, fluent speech. Try the free demo version to get started:
Are you a teacher or do you represent an educational institution? Our online English programs can help you streamline your curriculum and provide high-quality online resources to your students for remote study or blended learning. It can be hard to teach skills such as scanning for information in a classroom setting. Our online programs can help. Contact us for more information and to give your learners the tools they need to succeed.
References: Karen M. Ludke, Fernanda Ferreira, Katie Overy. Singing can facilitate foreign language learning. Memory & Cognition, 2013; DOI: 10.3758/s13421-013-0342-5