Sunday 30 January 2011

I Speak English... Do You?




How to become a more confident English speaker:
DUDE: Amer. For ‘mate’ or friend (tío)
DUH: interj. Used to express what is being said is too obvious

Practise where and when you can. Any practice is good – whether you speak to someone who is a native English speaker or not!

• It's important to build your confidence. If possible, use simple English sentence structure that you know is correct, so that you can concentrate on getting your message across.

Try to experiment with the English you know. Use words and phrases you know in new situations. 

• Read, read, read. It’s good to read aloud long texts, and listen to the CD if you feel you have to correct your pronunciation.

• Listen to English songs and SING! That also helps a lot to improve your pronunciation. There are millions of songs in English, for sure some you’ll find you like!

• Try to respond to what people say to you. You can often get clues to what people think by looking at their body language. Respond to them in a natural way.

Try NOT to translate into and from your own language. This takes too much time and will make you more hesitant.

If you forget a word, try to use a similar one or explain using other words you know well. Also you can say ‘ummm…’, or ‘er…’, until the right words come. This is better than keeping completely silent.

Don't speak too fast! It's important to use a natural rhythm when speaking English, but if you speak too fast it will be difficult for people to understand you.

Try to relax when you speak – you'll find your mouth does most of the pronunciation work for you. When you speak English at normal speed, you'll discover that many of the pronunciation skills, such as linking between words, will happen automatically.

Speak on and on... Your accent may be British or American, both are understood ( at least most of the time!)   :-)




8 comments:

Anonymous said...

I like it

Anonymous said...

I dislike in fact I hate it

Anonymous said...

I think it's fantastic

Toni M.M. said...

I don't understand people who dislike it but do comment!!... ¿?

+1, Sweeter ;-)

Carla said...

Hi everybody,

First of all, I'm going to say thank you for these previous advice, 'cos this evening I have my speaking test, so I really hope take advantage about them. You know I need to improve my speaking skills, so that this article is very interesting for me.

On the other hand, I'm very disappointed about the "strange anonymous", the second one, (I say "strange" because I'm quite sure that all of us surely know who is he/she, even could be a classmate) but here in this Blog, you can write your own opinion without identifying yourself. It seems a cowardly attitude of your part, it doesn't matter who you are.

I strongly believe that you've never commented before on this Blog and the first time that you write something, you do so anonymously and criticizing the work that a great Teacher makes in his Blog.

I agree with Toni, I don't understand your objetive writing this kind of stupid things (sorry), such as "I hate", this term is not the most correct, you may like this or perhaps not, but you can't hate it simply because it has been made with love and dedication (it’s only a matter of respect). You only want to hurt, but let me say you're in the wrong place. If you hate this, it's easy... Go out!

Sorry “Sweeter” for my mistakes and my comments, but I’m strongly disagree with some attitudes.

Au revoir mes amis, à la prochaine!

Carla

Dulce said...

Thanks Toni and Thank you Carla for your supportive comment...

But hey! Don't take this too seriously... Maybe it was someone who hates English or has to take the oral test these days, you know? and then is sooooo nervous that they had to say 'I hate it'-

I would have worried if they'd said, 'I hate you'- and even so, if they do...it's their problem- We must just ignore them, cowardice is cowardice and,usually, anonymous...

Hugs BOYS!
:)

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Pili said...

Really useful post, thanks! I'll link it to our intermediate 2 blog too.