Spoken English Class 1 | How to Speak Fluent English - Beginner to Advanced Speaking Practice — Transcript

Full transcript

1. 0:09hello everyone and welcome back to
2. 0:12english with lucy today i have a spoken
3. 0:16english class for you
4. 0:18i have got eight tips that will help you
5. 0:21to master spoken english
6. 0:24if you apply these tips to your everyday
7. 0:28life you will really notice a difference
8. 0:30and you will become more confident and
9. 0:32more comfortable speaking english
10. 0:35my first tip is to get to know the parts
11. 0:39of your body that you use whilst
12. 0:42speaking english this might sound a
13. 0:45little odd
14. 0:46but trust me on this one
15. 0:48if you don't understand which parts of
16. 0:50your face
17. 0:52tongue and throat are used when speaking
18. 0:55english then how will you ever be able
19. 0:58to correct your pronunciation mistakes
20. 1:01watch yourself in the mirror whilst
21. 1:03speaking english is a common tip that
22. 1:05many teachers give
23. 1:06however i think you should go one step
24. 1:09further than this
25. 1:10you absolutely need to analyze what your
26. 1:14lips
27. 1:14tongue throat
28. 1:17face in general is doing when you speak
29. 1:20english
30. 1:21you need to find a close up video a
31. 1:24zoomed in video of a native speaker or a
32. 1:28speaker that you admire speaking in
33. 1:30english
34. 1:31you then need to record yourself up
35. 1:34close
36. 1:35preferably at the same distance
37. 1:38speaking the same sentence
38. 1:41analyze the way your lips move in
39. 1:44comparison to their lips
40. 1:46analyze how far they stick their tongue
41. 1:48out or maybe they push it right back in
42. 1:50their mouth
43. 1:51what are you doing with your tongue this
44. 1:54started a big learning curve for me when
45. 1:57i was learning spanish
46. 1:59i started to really analyze
47. 2:02spanish speakers tongues they might have
48. 2:04found this quite weird when i was
49. 2:05watching them speak looking at their
50. 2:07tongue instead of their eyes but i
51. 2:10realized that when in english we say da
52. 2:13with the tongue inside of our mouths
53. 2:16it's quite a delicate sound the spanish
54. 2:18speakers in the area i was living in
55. 2:21would stick their tongue out a little
56. 2:23bit more
57. 2:25like that
58. 2:27by listening alone i would never have
59. 2:29realized that but by watching and
60. 2:31analyzing i managed to transform my
61. 2:34pronunciation and you can do the same
62. 2:36with english
63. 2:38you should also analyze the voice
64. 2:41quality
65. 2:42how much voice do we allow to escape
66. 2:44through our throats compare it to yours
67. 2:47as well
68. 2:48if you are serious about improving your
69. 2:50pronunciation and your spoken english
70. 2:52then you do
71. 2:53need to be very critical about what you
72. 2:56are speaking at present and work towards
73. 2:59correcting it
74. 3:00tip number two is to combine reading and
75. 3:04listening
76. 3:05thus improving your pronunciation
77. 3:08perhaps you will know by now that a way
78. 3:11a word is written in english
79. 3:13normally gives very little indication as
80. 3:16to how that word is pronounced in
81. 3:18english in many languages across the
82. 3:21world the way a word is written
83. 3:24tells you and shows you exactly how that
84. 3:26word should be spoken
85. 3:28this is not the case in english and it's
86. 3:31part of the reason why
87. 3:33english pronunciation and english
88. 3:35speaking is so difficult for learners
89. 3:39i have found a really good method that
90. 3:42has helped so many of my students
91. 3:45take a book that you have already read
92. 3:47in english or a book that you would like
93. 3:49to read in english i have got a fair few
94. 3:52recommendations in the description box
95. 3:54down below and read that book again but
96. 3:57here's the important part whilst
97. 4:00listening to the audiobook version on
98. 4:03audible if you listen to a word
99. 4:06as you read it your brain will start
100. 4:09making connections and the next time you
101. 4:11hear that word you'll know how it's
102. 4:13spelt and the next time you read that
103. 4:16word you'll know how it's pronounced
104. 4:19it's such an effective method and the
105. 4:21best part is you can get a free audio
106. 4:24book that's a 30-day free trial on
107. 4:26audible all you've got to do is click on
108. 4:29the link in the description box and sign
109. 4:31up
110. 4:31then you can download one of my
111. 4:33recommendations give it a try it really
112. 4:36works tip number three is another
113. 4:38reading one but it's practice speed
114. 4:41reading
115. 4:42this isn't such a common technique but i
116. 4:45think it should be
117. 4:46it's a really good way of improving your
118. 4:49fluency so how fluently you speak
119. 4:51english your velocity so that's how
120. 4:53quickly you speak english and also it
121. 4:56will help with your connected speech how
122. 4:58you join one word to another or one
123. 5:01sound to another in english
124. 5:04you need to find a text that you'd like
125. 5:06to read this text can accommodate your
126. 5:09level honestly i recommend using
127. 5:12reputable news sources and news websites
128. 5:16if you want to practice your informal
129. 5:18speech then you could find a blogger you
130. 5:20like who writes as if they're chatting
131. 5:23to a friend
132. 5:24read the text aloud and time yourself as
133. 5:27you're reading it
134. 5:29then
135. 5:30read that text aloud again and try to
136. 5:33beat your previous time
137. 5:35you can repeat this as many times as you
138. 5:37want but i find after four times
139. 5:40four
140. 5:41after four times i'm getting pretty
141. 5:43bored of the text this will help you to
142. 5:46familiarize yourself with the common
143. 5:48sounds in english
144. 5:50a step further would be to record
145. 5:52yourself and to send it to your language
146. 5:54instructor
147. 5:55or to use it as a topic in your next
148. 5:58language lesson tip number four is a tip
149. 6:01that has been massively important for me
150. 6:04as a native speaker so i can only
151. 6:06imagine how important it could be for
152. 6:08you it is to prepare
153. 6:10your monologues and stories that you are
154. 6:13likely to repeat
155. 6:14in advance
156. 6:17i'm talking funny stories you want to
157. 6:19tell at a dinner party i'm talking about
158. 6:21your elevator pitch i'm talking about
159. 6:24your answer to what do you do for a
160. 6:25living or where do you come from these
161. 6:28common questions that you get asked
162. 6:30again and again and again prepare your
163. 6:32answer have them up your sleeve that's
164. 6:35the way we say to have something
165. 6:37prepared to have it up your sleeve if
166. 6:39you're an advanced speaker and you're
167. 6:41more worried about keeping people
168. 6:43interested or making people laugh then
169. 6:45prepare your funny and interesting
170. 6:47stories
171. 6:48i first thought about this when i was
172. 6:50dating this was a long time ago
173. 6:53and i remember that i
174. 6:55would get stuck and i wouldn't know what
175. 6:56to talk about so i always felt good and
176. 6:59confident if i went into a dating
177. 7:01situation with my best stories and i my
178. 7:05most interesting things to say up my
179. 7:07sleeve it was funny because when i met
180. 7:09my husband-to-be i had all these stories
181. 7:12and interesting things to say up my
182. 7:13sleeve
183. 7:14and it all went out the window
184. 7:15conversation just flowed without any
185. 7:17effort but i understand that speaking
186. 7:19english
187. 7:20speaking a second language can be very
188. 7:23nerve-wracking it's just like dating in
189. 7:24my opinion
190. 7:26and you do want to have these things
191. 7:27prepared
192. 7:29tip number five is focus on
193. 7:31pronunciation
194. 7:33over grammar now there will be some
195. 7:36teachers out there watching this and
196. 7:38thinking oh my god
197. 7:39what
198. 7:41this is honestly my opinion i think that
199. 7:45bad grammar habits are much easier to
200. 7:48correct than bad pronunciation habits
201. 7:52i would say that it's much easier to
202. 7:55understand somebody speaking with great
203. 7:57pronunciation
204. 7:58but bad grammar
205. 8:00than hearing someone speak with perfect
206. 8:02grammar but terrible pronunciation
207. 8:06i've met so many students that know
208. 8:08every single grammar rule they even can
209. 8:10sometimes correct me but their
210. 8:12pronunciation they just they got to a
211. 8:14certain level and then they found it
212. 8:16very very difficult to improve they are
213. 8:18able to improve with specific help
214. 8:21professional help but it could have been
215. 8:24so much easier but from a very very
216. 8:26young age they were taught bad
217. 8:28pronunciation
218. 8:30or they weren't corrected on their
219. 8:32pronunciation the focus was only on
220. 8:35grammar and that focus needs to switch
221. 8:38i'm not talking about having a perfect
222. 8:41accent you don't need a perfect accent
223. 8:45you just need to be clear and
224. 8:46understandable when you speak it will
225. 8:49make you feel more confident when people
226. 8:51move to an english-speaking country they
227. 8:54are most likely embarrassed of their
228. 8:56pronunciation than they are their
229. 8:58grammar bad grammar can make it not so
230. 9:01easy to understand someone but bad
231. 9:03pronunciation can make it impossible to
232. 9:05understand someone
233. 9:07so big tip focus on pronunciation
234. 9:11tip number six is to try and think in
235. 9:16english i have made an entire video
236. 9:18about this topic but it's such a big
237. 9:21topic
238. 9:22some people find it very easy to think
239. 9:24in english and some people find it near
240. 9:26impossible to think in english if you
241. 9:29want to be able to speak english
242. 9:30fluently without even thinking then you
243. 9:33need to train yourself to think in
244. 9:35english a good way to start doing this
245. 9:38is to have a little english narrator in
246. 9:41your head
247. 9:42choose someone's voice that you like i
248. 9:44know a lot of people use emma watson's
249. 9:46voice they have her speaking in her head
250. 9:48this is normally females but for a
251. 9:50couple of hours a day or even a couple
252. 9:52of minutes a day
253. 9:53have
254. 9:54your little chosen person emma watson or
255. 9:56whoever it is
256. 9:58narrate in your head everything you're
257. 10:00doing i am washing the dishes i am
258. 10:02picking up the spoon i am putting it on
259. 10:04the table oh no i don't like that what
260. 10:06have i done
261. 10:07just chat to yourself as you would in
262. 10:10your own language but in english
263. 10:12something weird might happen after a
264. 10:14while you might automatically start
265. 10:17thinking in english and you might even
266. 10:19start dreaming in english they say that
267. 10:22you are really really becoming fluent if
268. 10:26you start dreaming in a second language
269. 10:28and a very weird thing can happen you
270. 10:30can start dreaming about your friends
271. 10:33and family that don't speak your second
272. 10:36language speaking in your second
273. 10:38language i've had my parents telling me
274. 10:40to do stuff in spanish and i've just
275. 10:42woken up very very confused
276. 10:45another point still related to the topic
277. 10:48of thinking in english is to be
278. 10:50constantly on the search for new words
279. 10:53new phrases and new vocabulary
280. 10:56keep a note app on your phone or a
281. 10:59physical vocab book and when you are
282. 11:02idle or not doing something for example
283. 11:04commuting to work or
284. 11:06at work
285. 11:08look around think what don't i know in
286. 11:10english and if you see something for
287. 11:13example lamppost
288. 11:15curtain
289. 11:16then note it down and make a point of at
290. 11:18the end of the day
291. 11:20finding out what that word is in english
292. 11:23number seven
293. 11:24this tip
294. 11:25is very helpful
295. 11:27because i know a lot of you
296. 11:29just want to learn one specific accent
297. 11:32well this tip is speak with a variety of
298. 11:35native speakers who all have different
299. 11:39accents
300. 11:41so tempting to just focus on one accent
301. 11:46but you will be doing yourself a
302. 11:47disservice
303. 11:49the wider the variety of people that you
304. 11:51speak with the more flexible your brain
305. 11:54will be when it comes to understanding
306. 11:56speech
307. 11:58a great example is my poor mother she
308. 12:01struggles so badly when it comes to
309. 12:04understanding
310. 12:06different accents
311. 12:07it's funny and it can also be insulting
312. 12:10to the speakers sometimes but i'm
313. 12:11talking scottish accents irish accents
314. 12:15spanish people speaking english
315. 12:17she is surrounded by mainly english
316. 12:18people she speaks with people who all
317. 12:20speak the same accent and she really
318. 12:22really struggles i however have been to
319. 12:25many different countries and i've had
320. 12:27students from all over the world i've
321. 12:29lived in different locations and i find
322. 12:31it very easy to understand
323. 12:33different accents
324. 12:35we've got the same genetics we've had
325. 12:37the same upbringing to a certain point
326. 12:39but because i listen to speakers with
327. 12:41lots of different accents
328. 12:43i am able to understand and she isn't
329. 12:46thank you mum for letting me use you as
330. 12:48an example she does find it funny she
331. 12:51really struggles but it might happen to
332. 12:53you as well if you just focus on a clear
333. 12:55rp accent then you will struggle to
334. 12:58understand a glaswegian accent or an
335. 13:00australian accent or an accent from the
336. 13:03deep south of america
337. 13:05many of you will be thinking great i
338. 13:07would love to speak to loads of native
339. 13:08people but i don't know how to speak to
340. 13:10them well i have a couple of suggestions
341. 13:12number one is of course attend english
342. 13:14classes group english classes
343. 13:17number two is attend expat meetups
344. 13:20expats are people who have left their
345. 13:22home country to live in another country
346. 13:25a lot of them will have meetups because
347. 13:27they want to speak with other people
348. 13:29that speak their language and have a
349. 13:31taste of their own culture their home
350. 13:33culture well you can also try going to
351. 13:36those and seeing if you can mix with
352. 13:37them and speak their own language with
353. 13:39them you'll find a wide variety of
354. 13:41accents because they've normally come
355. 13:42from all over the world you can also use
356. 13:45italki's language partner feature i've
357. 13:47spoken about this quite a lot this is a
358. 13:50free feature where you can find a
359. 13:52language partner to practice with if you
360. 13:54speak a language that the partner wants
361. 13:56to learn and the partner speaks a
362. 13:58language that you want to learn you can
363. 14:00do a tandem i think it's called in some
364. 14:03countries
365. 14:04a language exchange
366. 14:06i've left a link to that in the
367. 14:07description box
368. 14:09some people find it quite hard to find
369. 14:11native speakers that want to speak their
370. 14:12language especially if you come from a
371. 14:14country where everyone wants to learn
372. 14:16english but it isn't as popular for
373. 14:18english speakers to learn your language
374. 14:20you could perhaps consider paying for a
375. 14:22private language tutor italki's prices
376. 14:25are really really good per hour
377. 14:28yeah they're very very affordable i
378. 14:30would recommend i've used them myself
379. 14:32and number eight
380. 14:34if you cannot find native speakers with
381. 14:36whom to practice
382. 14:38then just find like-minded people
383. 14:41a really great resource is facebook
384. 14:45i never thought i'd be recommending
385. 14:47facebook but honestly
386. 14:49facebook groups are fantastic for
387. 14:52finding like-minded people and for
388. 14:54helping each other out if you have a
389. 14:56question about english if you want
390. 14:57someone to analyze the way you speak
391. 14:59there will probably be someone on a
392. 15:01facebook group that will be willing to
393. 15:03help you
394. 15:04i'm on lots of facebook groups for many
395. 15:06different reasons facebook groups for
396. 15:08wedding planning facebook groups for
397. 15:10being a farmer's wife
398. 15:12lots of them and there are so many
399. 15:14helpful people i'm a member of some
400. 15:16english groups as well i'm not going to
401. 15:18tell you which
402. 15:19but i will often respond to people's
403. 15:22questions
404. 15:23anonymously there are also some good
405. 15:26forums on websites like reddit
406. 15:29and places like that
407. 15:32right that is the end of my lesson those
408. 15:35are the eight tips for spoken english
409. 15:39don't forget to check out audible the
410. 15:41link is in the description box you can
411. 15:42click that and claim your free audiobook
412. 15:46and don't forget to connect with me on
413. 15:47all of my social media i've got my
414. 15:49facebook my instagram and my twitter
415. 15:52and i shall see you soon for another
416. 15:53lesson
417. 15:55i'm only one minute from finishing i'll
418. 15:57see you in a sec oh could you just hang
419. 15:59out the duvet
420. 16:01the duvet's in the wash would you mind
421. 16:02just hanging up
422. 16:04thanks han
423. 16:07[Music]
424. 16:23[Music]
425. 16:28you