How to Improve Your Speaking Skills

hi everybody welcome back to top words

my name is alicia

and in this lesson we’re going to look

at 15 ways to improve

your speaking skills let’s get started a

really quick reminder before we start

there is free stuff for you to download

from the link below the video check the

youtube description to get these

there are free pdf cheat sheets that you

can find to work on your vocabulary and

your conversation skills

i thought that these would be really

good for this lesson this one is the

making a phone call cheat sheet

this one is 24 hour survival phrases

that includes lots of conversational

expressions you can use

so you can find these and more from the

link below the video check it out

okay let’s get to the video okay the

first tip is

learn words through phrases so learn

words through phrases what does this

mean

this means instead of studying one

vocabulary word at a time

and having that be your only way to

study vocabulary

it means study entire phrases study a

group of words at a time

so for example don’t study like

morning only study good morning or

how was your morning those kinds of

expressions so you’re not just studying

one word at a time and thinking about

how you need to link

that word to other words instead set

yourself up to know

how to put those words together by

studying a few phrases

at a time okay the next tip is to watch

your favorite video with subtitles

so when you do this choose a video or

maybe a movie that you like

and turn on the english subtitles for

that movie

so while it might be difficult to catch

everything that’s happening in each

scene

you can at least check the subtitles you

can check the information

as it’s being said so if you can’t catch

everything by listening

you can at least read the words on the

screen and understand these as kind of

units or as sentences that you can study

so again you’re not looking just at one

word

or maybe even two words together but

you’re studying things

as a phrase or as a question or as a

sentence

okay let’s go to the next tip the next

tip is to

think in the language you want to learn

think in the language you want to learn

this is a really really tough one

especially when you’re starting out and

it will take time so don’t worry

if you can’t do this right away but this

means as you go about your day as you

wake up and eat food go to school go to

work whatever

try to think spend some time thinking in

english

think in the language you’re studying so

this can be really really boring stuff

like thinking about what you’re doing

how could i express that in english so

think about those sorts of

everyday actions and activities and try

to express them

in english you can do this out loud to

work on improving your speaking skills

okay let’s go to the next tip okay the

next tip is to use

available learning applications use

available learning applications

so that means if you have a favorite

application

and app that you like to use to study

make sure you

use that so maybe you’ve downloaded our

application for example

thank you you can use that to work on

your speaking

you can do that by reading dialogues by

trying to

shadow conversations that you hear you

can also

just use your phone’s recording function

and record yourself

and then listen to it later that might

sound like a really simple tip but it

can help you a lot

so we sound very different when we’re

talking and we often don’t hear that

unless we kind of step outside our body

a bit and listen to ourselves from

outside

and recording your voice is a really

really good way to do that

so make sure you check out the apps and

the functions that you have on your

phone or your computer to do that

the next tip is to expand your

vocabulary by

reading expand your vocabulary by

reading so a common complaint from

learners

is they say i don’t feel like i have the

vocabulary i need to express

myself i know lots of basic words but i

don’t feel like i can say the things i

want to say

when the time comes in a conversation so

one way to do this is to work on

building your vocabulary

reading is a really great way to do that

so choose

things to read that you have a

connection to

they’re related to your hobbies to your

work to your studies whatever

choose things that are relevant so like

they’re connected to your life

and read those things and find the key

vocabulary words that people use

within your daily life activities and

try to remember those try to make those

the vocabulary words that you study and

practice so that you’re able to use them

when you speak in conversations

the next tip is to talk to yourself talk

to yourself

like talking to yourself sounds a little

bit crazy sure

but this is a great way to practice

speaking when there’s nobody around

you can just practice making the sounds

that you’re working on you can practice

saying sentences and questions you can

practice talking about your day

so for those of you that maybe don’t

have

somebody to practice with this can be an

excellent tip

and again as you talk to yourself you

can also record yourself and listen back

and i know a lot of people say i hate

the sound of my own voice i hate the

sound of my own voice

it’s only you you’re the only person who

is going to listen to that recording

and it’s to help you study and it helps

a lot actually this is something that i

do

when i need to improve my own speaking

skills so i highly recommend

this tip if you want to work on speaking

and improving your speaking so talk to

yourself

sounds weird but it helps okay next tip

is to

listen to recordings and repeat listen

to recordings and repeat

another word for this is shadowing

shadowing

so that means basically you listen to a

lesson for example like if you want to

listen to this video or you want to

listen to one of our lessons

you can listen to it and then quickly

try to say

the same thing that the speaker is

saying right after them

so if you’re using this video for

example it just means you try to repeat

the same things

i say now in just a moment so

shadowing like this the point of

shadowing like this

is to try to match the intonation and

the rhythms of the speaker in addition

to the pronunciation

so this can be helpful if you’re having

trouble like linking words together

on your own if you’re having trouble

building your own sentences

by shadowing after a native speaker you

can kind of get

a better feel sometimes for the rhythm

of how a language is supposed to sound

and how you can produce that language

yourself the next step is to prepare for

daily routine situations prepare for

daily routine situations

so that means like think about your day

and think about the things you need to

say

in your day and how you would express

those things in

english so for example when you greet

your co-workers or you greet

your fellow like classmates or whatever

how do you greet them how would you

greet them in english prepare something

for that

or when you want to ask about dinner how

would you ask for dinner in english

so think about these things you know

you’re going to do

in your day and just prepare them ahead

of time it will save you time

and it will also make the other person

feel more comfortable right because

they’ll be ready for a natural question

the next tip is to try to practice your

speaking with a native

speaker try to practice your speaking

with a native speaker

this is challenging for many people i

know because they don’t have a native

speaker in their community

or they don’t have a native speaker to

connect with online

it might take some time to find that

person but

this is of course a hugely important

thing to do

so a native speaker does not mean a

teacher so just because a person is a

native speaker does not mean that they

are a teacher

in fact most native speakers probably

don’t know

all of the rules of grammar and they’re

not prepared to answer all of your

questions which is fine

but a native speaker does know what

feels

and sounds natural so they can help you

to make more natural choices with your

speaking

they can also help you to address any

questions that you might have about

pronunciation or maybe like vocabulary

choices

within a specific region so it’s

important to remember

that not every native speaker is a

perfect speaker but

they can help you a lot in helping you

sound more natural

the next tip is know your audience know

your audience so what does this mean

to know your audience means to think

about the person

to whom you are speaking so that means

don’t just think about you think about

the other person like

when you’re talking to someone else what

are they looking for in the conversation

are they talking to you to get

information are you study partners are

you co-workers

are you classmates what are their needs

so how do you meet their needs

how do you match their manner of

speaking so

please try to remember to think about

the other person in the conversation

as well the next tip is to ask for

feedback and reflect on it ask for

feedback and reflect on it so try to

think of someone in your community that

you can ask for

feedback about your speaking skills if

you don’t have a teacher

you can check out the online options

that we offer of course or maybe you

have

an online exchange buddy that you can

practice with but make sure to ask for

feedback

and when they give you feedback don’t

take it as criticism

so if someone says for example oh your

pronunciation of this

sound needs some work don’t feel

offended like

that feedback is intended to help you

improve so when you receive feedback

like that

think about how you can focus your

energy on improving those points so that

means please reflect

on that feedback and think about what

you can do to

integrate it so to integrate it means

how do you put that feedback

into your mind and put your energies

towards

improving that point all right the next

tip is to avoid

reading directly and try to use an

outline

avoid reading directly and try to use an

outline so

this tip is specifically if you need to

give a presentation

or if you need to like share some

information like a report

in a classroom so instead of just

printing a piece of paper and reading

directly from the piece of paper

like this in a classroom setting or if

you’re giving a speech or a presentation

try to print just an outline of your

main points

and then practice talking about those

things before

your speaking presentation before

whatever presentation you need to do

this will help you sound a lot more

natural it’s really

unnatural and it’s not very much fun or

and it’s not very interesting

to watch someone just read a report in

front of a classroom or to read a report

in a business presentation so instead of

doing that try to refer to an

outline throughout your presentation so

your outline

might be something like introduction uh

main points i want to talk about

and then you move on to the detailed

points you want to talk about and just

write a few words so that you can

remember the things that you want to

make sure you share with your audience

so again this goes back to that point

about knowing your audience in our

earlier tip

think about their perspective too the

next tip is

shadow language cds and then repeat what

you heard

shadow language cds and repeat what you

heard so

very very similar to the earlier tip

about repeating quickly after a native

speaker like when you’re watching this

kind of video

if you’re not comfortable using a movie

or using a video like this one

you can try using language learning

audio so maybe you have cds or maybe

you have podcasts or other lesson

content

that is at a slower pace and that is

easier for you to understand

you can practice shadowing with these

things too

you don’t have to practice with a native

speaker that’s

talking at fast pace you can also use

these slower

practice cds and practice audio files to

do your shadowing exercises so don’t

feel like you have to speak

super super quickly to practice your

speaking efficiently

practicing slowly is also okay keep

practicing regularly otherwise your hard

work will be wasted

keep practicing regularly otherwise your

hard work will be wasted so this one i

think is pretty clear

but it’s important for all aspects all

parts of learning a language

keep practicing regularly so that means

practice your speaking a little

bit every day if you just try to speak

for like an

hour one week it’s way too much so try

to practice speaking like one minute

today and then a minute and 10 seconds

tomorrow so keep building

keep working on things every single day

and you’ll see much better results in

the long term

all right let’s go to our last tip the

last tip is don’t give up and stay

positive

don’t give up and stay positive so that

means

please be kind to yourself so if you

make a mistake in a conversation it’s

not the end of the world if you forget a

word or if you say something funny

that’s fine it’s all part of the

learning process

please don’t worry about those sorts of

things you’ll get over them and you’ll

learn how to

improve so make sure that you always

continue moving forward and you keep

a positive attitude all right so those

are 15

tips that you can use to improve your

speaking skills of course if you know

some other

tips you can please share them with us

in the comments that will be very

interesting

if you have any questions or other

comments or maybe if you want to

practice making some example sentences

please feel free to do so in the

comments section of this video

also don’t forget to click the link in

the description and get some free

pdf cheat sheets that you can use to

practice improving

your conversation skills thanks very

much for watching this lesson don’t

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thanks very much for watching this video

and i will see you again soon

bye great work here’s a reward

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