How I can improve my speaking skills

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President Barack Obama giving a speech
Many of my students find speaking English difficult. Let me tell you you are not alone. There are a lot of learners of English around the world who find speaking daunting.

This post is about how to improve your speaking skills for the oral exam.

You are not expected to deliver a speech like Barack Obama so be realistic about what you can achieve.


Some tips

  • Listen to real English as much as you can.
  • Find a native speaker and set up a tandem partnership. You can agree to speak in English one day, and in Spanish another day. Native speakers don't tend to correct your mistakes, but if this is very important for you, make sure you ask your partner to correct you at the end of your meeting.
  • Record yourself on your mobile phone. Choose one topic and talk about it. Then, listen to your recording and analyse your mistakes. First, you can make a note of your pronunciation mistakes, then your grammar mistakes, vocabulary and finally analyse your hesitations (why you became blocked at a particular point).
  • Once you have corrected your mistakes, you can record yourself again.
  • Practise intonation, sentence and word stress. Visit the BBC pronunciation page and practise as much as you can.
  • Memorise new words and phrases and say them aloud to practise pronunciation.
  • Make sure you know how to read the phonemic transcription of a new word. You can use an online dictionary.
  • Can you remember how to pronounce the word daunting. This is a word that I wrote at the beginning of this post. Check its pronunciation again.
  • Finally, don't expect others to do your job. It is your responsibility to improve your speaking skills. Stop and reflect what aspects you need to work on (fluency, accuracy, expanding your language structures and vocabulary, pronunciation)

Listen to this BBC programme

Better English is about how you can become a fluent and confident speaker of English. You will hear learners of English from around the world and a teacher who specialises in teaching speaking, Richard Hallows.


 Episode 1
a) Listen to some speakers from different parts of the world talk about what they find difficult about speaking English. Make a note.

b) The programme presenter, Callum Robertson and the teacher trainer, Richard Hallows, discuss what you need to do to become a successful speaker of English. Make a note.

The recording is about 9 minutes long, but let me tell you, you won't get bored.

I would appreciate your comments regarding this programme. I'm quite happy to upload more tips and listening material about speaking skills if you find this useful.

Have fun!



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