3 Smart (and FREE) Ways You Can Improve Oral English Skills
Have you been studying English for years but still struggle to speak fluently?
This is the biggest challenge faced by most English learners. Spoken English Practice focuses on solving this challenge by helping English learners discover smart ways to improve Oral English skills.
In today’s post, we are discussing a few free methods you can use to improve Oral English skills and expand linguistic muscle memory.
Try these at home and let us know whether you feel more fluent!
Watch YouTube Videos
YouTube is a great free resource to get your ear familiar to Native English accents.
If your goal is to improve Oral English skills, you need to first be able to understand Native English speakers when they talk at a normal speed. (normal speed is key).
Watching native speakers on Youtube, whether it is on a late night TV show or a standup comedy show, helps your brain get familiar with English.
This is a YouTube video we use in our Oral English classes
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Additionally, you can develop an appreciation for the rhythm of the language as it is meant to be spoken.
Don’t force yourself to learn too much when watching YouTube videos.
Instead let the learning be passive.
You will be surprised how much new sounds and words your brain retains! Overall, this is a great way to improve Oral English skills at home for any English learner.
Another great tool to use immerse yourself in “Real English” is late night talk shows. For example, Jimmy Kimmel or Trevor Noah are great neutral accents to watch.
We use these videos often in our Spoken English Practice course.
Find English Speaking Partner
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The trick to mastering Pronunciation
The English language is challenging to students due to the complex pronunciation, as well as the abundance of rules related to pronunciation.
Many students get flustered when it comes to silent letters in words such as, “thumb”, “flour”, “honestly”, “hourly”, as well as the ‘gh’ sound in words like “through”, “laugh”, and “cough’.
It is impossible to learn all these variations by memory.
So you have to train your ear to pick up variations in pronunciation and develop the habit of paying attention to pronunciation of native speakers.
Expand your Vocabulary everyday in small doses
Learn new words every day but don’t try to memorize big word lists at once. Get yourself a notebook and a dictionary, and write out a few words and their definitions, as well as their use in a sentence. Then be sure you understand their context by using them in conversation. This is how you form an active vocabulary.
Focus on everyday English, not just words related to a specific subject. Sometimes we get students who only want to improve Oral English skills in one area – E.g. Real Estate Business or Medicine. This is the wrong approach. If you want to truly improve Oral English skills, you need to expand vocabulary overall.
With only 2 memorized words a day, by the end of the month you will have gained more than 50 new words to include in your ever-expanding vocabulary.
Free eBook – How to Improve English Speaking in 7 Days
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Start Speaking English early as possible
The only way to really improve Oral English skills permanently is by peaking English a lot till your brain gets used to “processing English” naturally. You can’t improve Oral English skills just by learning grammar and memorizing vocabulary.
Many new learners of English avoid speaking because they are embarrassed to sound stupid, but speaking confidently and practicing regularly are the only tried and tested methods for getting better. Join an English Speaking Club where you have to talk or practice speaking in front of the mirror to start. If you can find native speakers to practice with, then great. Focus on pronouncing words clearly and speaking as much as you can. Slow down if you have to and use simple words. Most importantly, don’t let fears about imperfect grammar stand in your way.
Want to Improve Oral English skills? Try our unique Conversational method
How to start speaking English with an Oral English teacher?
The key is to find the right type of Oral English teacher.
Our advice is to avoid the traditional English teacher type or the elocution teacher type.
You must find an English Speaking teacher who acts more like a conversation partner or a speaking partner.
Students who are learning English speaking need the most help in gaining confidence to explore the language.
The teacher’s role is like a football coach, encourage the students to push themselves, take chances, fall over if need be and they will gain confidence needed to excel.
Most traditional Oral English teachers will try to teach you grammar rules or ask you to memorize vocabulary.
Try to avoid this style of learning because it will take years for you to start speaking English.
Work with a teacher who is your English speaking partner.
Developing confidence to speak English more often
The most common aspect of English that students struggle with is having confidence to speak and make mistakes.
We have come across many students of English that have tremendous amounts of vocabulary but are unable to transfer it into conversations.
ESL students sometimes spend years and years memorizing whole dictionaries.
For example, we had one student who had spent two years memorizing a Chinese to English dictionary.
He often lacked the confidence to try to speak and when he would attempt an English conversation, he would struggle.
The fear of making a mistake will make him nervous.
It is this obligation to perfection that renders many students afraid to speak and make mistakes or sound silly.
That is why the Spoken English practice conversational classes put emphasis on understanding rather than perfection.
Why You Need to Practice Speaking English
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This means, rather than correcting every small mistake, our English speaking partners will encourage continued conversation.
They will only correct when the speaker makes a large error or is difficult to understand.
Our conversational approach will build the student’s confidence and encourage more natural flowing speech.
As the student progresses or if the student is at a higher level, the teacher will alter which mistakes need to be noted and corrected.
This free talk English speaking method will allow for students who are new to speaking to not be overwhelmed and demoralized with an avalanche of corrections and present advanced students with corrections that fine-tune their speaking abilities.
