How to PRACTISE English if NO ONE around you SPEAKS good English BEST TIPS
hello everyone and welcome back to
english with Lucy today I am going to
talk to you about how you can practice
your English even if you don’t live in
an english-speaking country it’s the
number one complaint from my students
how an earth can I practice and improve
my English if I don’t have any native
English speakers around me well I have
eight recommendations for you let’s get
straight into it
tip number one is to join a language
club sometimes called a language cafe
and if there isn’t one near you you need
to start one be the person that makes
the change you can do it for very little
cost or no cost at all it can be
completely free to do all you need to
think about is the why the where and the
who why is why are you doing it what are
you going to be practicing maybe you
want to chat just completely in English
maybe you want to do activities together
or do homework together or maybe you
want to set the baits and have real
in-depth discussions in English it all
depends on the level that moves me on to
who who is going to come put posters up
launch it on Facebook bring your friends
first so you’re not the only one there
and then of course the where where are
you going to hold it well there are lots
of free places where you could hold it
you could try asking your local library
you could try asking a cafe do you mind
if on a quiet day you know say like a
Tuesday lunchtime we have a group of us
here and of course we’ll buy a coffee
each or something another good place to
try is a local church or religious
center they more often than not will be
very happy to help you develop your
skills for free number two is join an
online language challenge this tip has
been sponsored but it’s very very
relevant we are in a new decade so now
is the perfect time to really go for it
with your English fluency and this is a
fantastic option if you are looking for
daily practice with native speakers but
you don’t have any around you what if I
told you that you could improve your
confidence and your fluency in just
three months and earn up to a 100
percent
refund this opportunity is called the
lingo to sprint promotion formerly known
as then go to language marathon you can
join the sprint in English Spanish
French German and business English and
you take a class every day for 3 months
that’s 30 classes per month if you do
the super sprint and 15 classes per
month if you do the regular sprint
I’ve tried lingo to myself and I was
blown away by the experience and lingo
des is now an authorized linguist kill
agent for Cambridge Assessment English
which is a huge accolade and should help
you build a lot of trust all teachers
are qualified native speakers and you
can take classes at your convenience
anytime anywhere as long as you have a
stable internet connection group sizes
are really small with an average of just
three students per class you study a
structured curriculum and all of your
learning materials are provided the
sprint starts on the 29th of January
2020 and finishes on the 27th of April
2020 you have to participate in an
agreed number of classes each month to
succeed you can take only one class per
day every day now originally the gates
to the sprint were going to close on the
19th of December but lingo giving you
more time so now make sure you sign up
before the 27th of January after
registering for the sprint you
automatically sign up for a three-month
long subscription but you can get 10
euros off your first month by using my
code sprint 140 upon registration you
agree to make one payment per month for
three months breaking down that total
cost however and this is the exciting
bit if you complete the sprint by
following the rules and attending and
participating in every class you will
receive a 100% refund how motivating is
that graduates of previous lingo de
language challenges have said that
properly reading the rules is the key to
getting that refund more than 20,000
people have participated in six similar
language challenges over the past three
years for many it has completely
transformed their lives allowing them to
travel all over the world and advance in
their career they shared their
life-changing experience with lingo
and you can check it out on their
website which is linked down below and
you can also have a look at their
Instagram page for more inspiring
stories so do you want to transform your
English speaking skills and your
confidence quickly click on the link in
the description box and sign up using my
code sprint one for two for 10 euros off
your first month best of luck
now number 3 I don’t want to just give
you generic advice like watch TV listen
to the radio because you know that what
I’m going to do is recommend you a
specific app that you can use to immerse
yourself each day in spoken English and
most importantly spoken English at a
variety of levels and speeds and with a
variety of accents it’s the BBC sounds
app I’ve linked it down below but it
depends on your operating system and
where you are in the world you should be
able to listen to most podcasts and a
lot of radio programs from wherever you
are in the world bear in mind you won’t
have access to everything this app is
full of radio programs podcasts little
mini clips all in spoken English
covering all different topics whether
you like talking about music or you like
listening to science documentaries crime
documentaries discussion podcast by your
favorite sports people it’s excellent
it’s my go-to app I listen to it all the
time now your interests are probably
different to my interests I listen to a
lot of consumer programs where people
phone up and complain about the price of
peas in the supermarket things like that
it’s just chewing gum for my brain but
I’d love to recommend programs like The
Archers this is if you have a more
advanced level of English this is a
radio soap opera and it’s got a variety
of different accents in it there is also
a children’s section on there which
would be good for your children but also
if you have a slightly lower level and
you like to hear things that are I’m not
going to say more simplified I’m going
to say easier to understand then that
could be a really good option for you
there are lots of short programs for
chilled
short stories it’s a really really good
idea to listen to children’s programs if
you are struggling with understanding
adult programs so the BBC sounds app
it’s really good let me know if you find
something that you really like and share
any programs that have really helped you
improve your English in the comments
section number four is find native
speakers in your area now I know that
this whole video is about what do I do
if there are no native speakers but have
you tried searching in the right way
when Brits British people or Americans I
don’t know English speakers go abroad we
do like to meet and congregate we
normally call ourselves expats
expatriates expats and this is something
that you might not have searched for
before you might have searched British
people in my city or something like that
but I remember when I lived in Seville I
was part of a Facebook group called
expats in Seville something that a
non-native speaker would never think to
search for so if you want to attend
events with other expats and meet
experts then I would recommend searching
on Facebook for expat groups so expats
in and then your city your town or even
your country
lots of expats will be wanting to learn
the native language of the country they
are living in
so these Facebook groups would be a
great place to post and say look I am
looking to improve my English and I’d be
more than happy to help you with my
language it’s worth a try and at the
very least you can attend the public
events that everyone is welcome to that
would be posted on these expat groups
big tip there now tip number five could
be linked to the previous one actually
it’s find a language partner and speak
only via whatsapp voice notes now I’m
going to say that when you are looking
for a what’s that partner or any sort of
online language partner please be safe
don’t just ask anyone use an official
place it’s not safe there are lots of
nasty people out there who are looking
for girlfriends and boyfriends not
which partners do not give your mobile
number to anyone that you do not fully
know and trust so take a native English
speaker that you know and then when you
communicate with them ask that they only
send you whatsapp notes and you send
them what’s that voice notes in return
the reason that this is great is because
you can replay and replay and replay
until you understand them but unlike
written English it helps you with your
pronunciation as well you know now from
me that the way a word is written in
English doesn’t give you much indication
as to how it’s pronounced that’s often
the two things are not aligned and the
good thing about replying with voice
notes is that if it goes wrong you can
stop it and rerecord it’s a great step
to use before having proper
conversations and phone conversations
with native speakers means you’ve got a
little bit more time to process things
and time to think
number six is use a pronunciation tool
if you haven’t got someone who you can
ask how do I pronounce X then use a
pronunciation tool and honestly I am not
offended but when I get messages saying
sorry how do you pronounce X I just
think well you can find this out for
yourself very easily I’ve given lots of
examples of pronunciation tools that you
can use online so maybe use them first
and then if you’re totally confused
still then ask your native speaker the
one I recommend is Oxford learner’s
dictionary because they show you how to
pronounce things in both British English
and American English and they show the
phonetic transcription so you can listen
to them and compare them and see how
they differ in the transcription as well
it’s an excellent tool I’ve linked it
down below I know there are lots out
there this is the one I always use and
it’s the one I use when I’m planning my
videos number seven if there really
isn’t anyone around you then you talk to
yourself and I’ve recommended this
method before in a how-to start thinking
in English and stop translating in your
head video when I’m actively trying to
learn another language I talk to myself
in that language all the time whether it
be in my head or whether it be out loud
luckily I work from home and I work
alone maybe my neighbor thinks I’m a bit
weird I can also hear a lot of what he
does
he does anything a great one is when
you’re cooking pretend you’re running a
cooking show I am putting this in the
pan I am chopping that it will just help
you get used to stringing sentences
together and help you get used to just
chatting mindlessly conversation will
flow better if you can talk to yourself
easily and the last one number eight
this is one step on from talking to
yourself record yourself speaking in
English you know when you’re a child and
you finally hear yourself speaking on a
recording for the first time and you
think oh my word I sound so different I
remember that feeling well we’re often
not that in tune with how we actually
sound how we think we sound is very
different to how we actually sound and
so in your head you might think that
you’re pronouncing things correctly but
in reality you might not be so sometimes
recording yourself reading a passage
just take something from the news or
something from a blog if you want a more
relaxed tone you can then use that to
analyze how you sound and pinpoint
pronunciation mistakes and perhaps
grammar mistakes it’s a really really
good one I’ve done it to myself multiple
times and I was shocked at the mistakes
that I was making that I thought I
didn’t make in Spanish and actually when
I watched back my video is when I’m
editing them or when I’m you know
approving the edits on them I do make so
many mistakes that I shouldn’t as a
native speaker they’re just natural
mistakes a lot of you point them out it
normally happens when I’ve not exactly
planned what I’m going to say because I
don’t use an autocue or anything I just
say it from the heart I have a guide
script down here and yes
looking back at the videos I do notice a
lot of little mistakes natural ones I’m
not worried about them it doesn’t mean I
have poor grammar or poor pronunciation
it just means that I’m a human but
hopefully you’ll be able to use that
technique to improve your own language
skills right that’s it for today’s
lesson I really hope you enjoyed it and
I hope you can take some of these tips
and apply them to yourself don’t forget
to check out the lingo to sprint
promotion you can get 10 euros off your
first month by using my code sprint one
for two the
is in the description box and please
feel free to share any other
recommendations and tips that have
really helped you in your past
experience in the comments section down
below don’t forget to connect with me on
all of my social media I’ve got my
facebook my Instagram my Twitter and my
personal channel Lucy Bella Earl I’ll be
posting my Q&A on there soon
I know a lot of you have responded to
that I will see you soon for another
lesson
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