Easy ways to improve your English speaking

Take a deep breath, then speak slowly.

Easy ways to improve your English speaking

Three simple strategies can quickly boost your English speaking fluency. Most people don’t know them because they are not usually taught in English classes. English classes focus on your message, what you are trying to say: the meaning of your words. What classes don’t teach is how to make your speech into pleasing English sounds. When you think about it, speaking and singing are similar (as rap and hip hop music also demonstrate.) Though singing is more poetic, our regular speech also contains rhythms and patterns which help listeners understand the overall meaning.

The first strategy is based on the fact that both speaking and singing rely on breath. If we have insufficient breath, then our vocal production will suffer. So before you start speaking (or singing), exhale all your old air and take in a deep breath of fresh air. When your inhalation is complete, then begin your first words. You will have a reservoir of breath to use for a whole sentence. Just like filling up your gas tank before a trip, fill up your lungs before speaking. Breathing also calms our minds and gives a few moments to select our first words. When it’s your turn to speak, try exhaling and inhaling before you begin. Try this for a few days and see if it works for you, like it does for most of my students.

The second strategy is selecting the correct speed. Most of my students initially believe they need to speak fast. Humans talk faster when excited or stressed, but very rapid speech is hard to understand and remember. Since we live in an exciting and stressful world, people are excited and stressed all the time but that does not make them more fluent. Newscasters and sportscasters on television have to speak fast, but that does not make them easier to understand. When the President gives an important speech, he speaks slowly and clearly. Even native English speakers cannot speak correctly while speaking too rapidly. Even if they could, listeners would have trouble keeping up with them.

Non-native speakers face an additional challenge. Their brains are already wired for their native language. Our very thoughts and concepts are shaped by our first language. Additional languages can never be processed as efficiently as the original language that shaped our minds after infancy. Some people learn to overcome this, but most of us need to slow down while speaking in a foreign language. We have to work harder and be more careful than we need to in our first language. Usually I am able to convince students that slower is better. After all, once you speak perfectly you can always work on increasing your speed. See if speaking more slowly feels more comfortable and sounds better to others. Try recording yourself speaking fast, and then repeating it slowly. Which sounds better?

The boxes on the bottom contain a sentence. The other boxes identify the various phrases used to construct the sentence.

The third strategy is to speak in phrases. A phrase is a group of words that are related, such as several adjectives and a noun: a big, black, hairy dog. All types of words can appear as a part of a phrase. English classes stress words and sentences, but spoken English sounds more like a series of phrases with a longer pause at the end of each sentence. A sentence is a group of words that express one complete thought, while phrases only express certain aspects of that one complete thought, such as subject, verb, object, etc. Related words in a phrase need to be spoken together, with a brief pause at the end of each phrase. In written English, sometimes this brief pause is marked by a comma (,). But even if there is no comma, pausing at the end of a phrase helps the listener digest the words before you go on to the next phrase.

Students tell me that in Asian languages, all words have equal space between them. Therefore they never considered varying the spaces between the words in the manner I suggest. Though difficult to demonstrate in writing, try this exercise. Try recording yourself saying the words separately, like a list:

The

Big

Black

Dog

Ran

Quickly

Down

The

Street.

Ask yourself, what is the subject? What qualities does it have?

What did the subject do? How did he do it?

When, where, why did the subject do the action?

Now speak the sentence as three phrases. When you read this sentence, pause briefly at the end of the first two phrases and a little longer after the final one (the end of the sentence.)

The big black dog…ran quickly…down the street……….

Speaking in phrases also allows you to regulate your breath better, helping you stay calm and focused.

If you listen to audio books, the readers always speak in this manner. Try imitating a passage from your favorite audio book. Even if your grammar is not perfect or if your vocabulary is not great, you can still sound better speaking English by changing your behavior. Sounding better will give you more confidence, even if you need to keep learning new words. Try learning 10-20 words each week. In one year you can learn 500-1000 words. Since most people, even native speakers, only use around 1000-2000 words in every day conversation, you can double or triple your vocabulary over time. Let me know if you find any of these three strategies helpful. Also please send any suggestions or recommendations you can offer. Oh yes, practice, practice, practice!

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How to improve your English pronunciation of consonants: B & P

Previously I wrote about exercises to master pronunciation of vowels in English. Vowels (a,e,I,o,u, maybe y) all are open-mouth sounds. Lips, teeth, and tongue usually do not touch. The shape of vowels is round. All the other letters in the English language are consonants. I can easily remember 5-6 vowels in order, but not 20-21 consonants. To remember consonants, I recite the alphabet and delete the vowels. By that system I skip over the first letter of the alphabet, which is also the first vowel. The first consonant is the second letter, “b.”

B is a difficult sound for many people. In some languages, the letter “b” is spoken like the English letter “v” as in “victory." By using simple exercises, you can quickly improve your consonant pronunciation. To speak b properly, you need to close your lips, and then suck them in between your front teeth. In this position, no air and little sound can leak out your mouth. Look in the mirror. You should not be able to see either your upper or lower lip. If you do not start in this position, the sound will not be correct.

Next, blow air into your mouth from your lungs to create pressure, then suddenly release your lips and let them explode outwards. You should be able to hear a popping sound, even if you make no noise with your throat. The correct pronunciation of b combines this explosion of air from between your lips with an “uh” sound from your throat: bbbbuuuuh.

Practice saying this sentence:

The boy hit the ball with the bat. Watch yourself in the mirror. Play around with how much pressure you need to make your lips explode outwards. After you master the b sound, you don’t need to suck in your lips as much as in the beginning. So why learn in this way?

Learning this way will help you make distinct sounds for “b” and “p” which sound very similar. However, for me, the sound of p has a different beginning position and different breathing. To start, the lips are puckered up, like in a kiss. Then, air is suddenly pushed about between the lips. With p, you must expel a lot more air. In fact, you can blow out a candle when you say the letter p. Speaking the letter b will barely make the candle flicker because much less air is being released. Now, some native speakers also suck in their lips as shown The Sounds of American English. This website shows anatomical pictures of the mouth and videos of each letter.

Try this: Peter Piper picked a peck of pickled peppers. (this is an old English nursery rhyme). Now, look in the mirror again and repeat these words:

Bat, pat, bet, pet, bit, pit, but, putt, Bat, pat, bet, pet, bit, pit, but, putt, Bat, pat, bet, pet, bit, pit, but, putt, Bat, pat, bet, pet, bit, pit, but, putt. This should give your lips a real workout. You need to hear and produce different sounds for these two consonants.

Quizzes for English language learning: test your knowledge

Today I learned how to tap into my large reserve of HTML quizzes, exercises, puzzles, etc. that students have enjoyed. Many are basic because most adult speakers of English make frequent basic, small mistakes. Therefore, reviewing these errors can help you eliminate them in your everyday use. These resources are all taken from websites, PDFs, and other documents that I have collected over the years. Since I did not create these resources, I humbly request that that you support the respective authors by going to their specific website.

If you look at the tabs above you will see two quizzes from http://a4esl.org/ Activities for ESL. They have many such quizzes, and lots of interesting information. I recommend this website highly because it is so comprehensive and seems to have no advertising. As days go by, I will continue to add tabs to the top of the blog so eventually readers can find all they need gathered right here. Please let me know if you have any requests! carignan.paul@gmail.com

I have found that even advanced learners of English as a second language often make simple, minor mistakes without noticing it. Using quizzes like these can help you if you want to improve your English fluency. You may want to review my posting "Back to Basics," which mentions other ways to strengthen your foundation of English knowledge. Sure, you need lots of vocabulary, but if you make simple mistakes then you will not be expressing yourself well in English.

Learning resources for English

General Education Development is a U.S. diploma equivalent to a high school diploma.

Many non-native English speakers function very well for working and living in the U.S. Even if they are college graduates, many have never studied the material tested by the GED (General Equivalency Diploma) test. Specifically the Language Arts portion of the GED requires reading comprehension, identification and correction of writing errors, and an essay.

GED curriculum also is provided for free in all high school districts, part of the federally funded adult education effort. Lots of resources, on line and in print, help people prepare. Students can pre- and post-test with sample tests as many times as they want before having to take the real test.

Even advanced speakers of English as a second language rarely receive this specific sort of instruction. Without it, progress in higher education is slowed dramatically because students do not understand entirely what they are reading and have no instruction or practice in writing.

The internet has many free resources for GED study. Some you might want to check are http://www.my-ged.com , http://steckvaughnadult.hmhco.com/en/gedtestmenu.htm , and http://adulted.about.com/od/gettingyourged/a/gedbooks.htm .

Slang, idiom, expression, argot, jargon, colloquialism: what is it?

To improve your knowledge of U.S. slang, this website is really good. Another good reference is the Urban Dictionary.

Slang, idiom, expression, argot, jargon, colloquialism:
Either a printed or online dictionary will tell you what each of these words mean. Some definitions may differ, but these words all generally refer to language as it is normally used by native speakers. This everyday language differs from academic language in important ways. The vocabulary of formal, academic English language is quite fixed and slow to change. Words have well-defined meanings that change little over time. However, everyday English changes constantly. Words used today were unknown yesterday. Yesterday's slang sounds archaic today. Some idioms are completely arbitrary, like "P,U." Every American pre-schooler knows this means something stinks! What do the initial letter stand for? No one knows for sure.

One function of colloquialisms is to establish and maintain a community. The community is people who understand and use certain slang expressions, Insiders know the what it means to "pay lip service." If you are an insider, you can understand the intended meaning of the expression that lies beneath the meaning of the individual words. If you are outside the community, you may understand the words but not understand the underlying meaning they way insiders do. For example, the community of people born or growing up in the U.S. constantly use slang, idioms, and similar expressions which exclude non-native speakers. People outside the community cannot usually penetrate colloquial expressions very easily.

Another function of slang is to provide a platform for humor. Since the actual meaning of the expression may be the opposite of the literal meaning of the individual words, people using these kinds of phrases often have an ironic intent. To understand humor in English, non-native speakers need a broad understanding of the most common expressions. These expressions are known since childhood by native speakers but continue to baffle non-native adults.

One good way to discover these expression is to read a U.S. general interest magazine, such as Time magazine, Readers Digest, or National Geographic. If you have not lived all or most of your life in the U.S., though you understand the individual words and grammar, the overall meaning of the magazine articles remains elusive. That is because vital parts of the meaning are contained in the slang, idiom, expression, argot, jargon, or colloquialism used in speech and writing.

Please let me know your own experiences with English slang. How have you tried to learn common expressions and idioms? You can email me directly by clicking here. Also, please give me any feedback you can so I can keep improving. Thanks!

English not your native tongue?

For a long time English has used the word "tongue" (pronounced tung) to stand for language. Before the days of widespread literacy, this always meant the spoken language. Using the word tongue to stand for a whole language is not so surprising when you think about it. In English, if not all languages, our tongues play a vital role in shaping sounds. Language joins various sounds together to represent things, ideas or actions, for example. From another perspective, spoken language is simply an audible code to communicate.

To create sounds correctly, our tongues must be in constant motion. Of course, if you "wag your tongue" (like a dog wags its tail), you will be called a gossip. If someone uses crude or obscene language, they will be told, "Watch your tongue!" Without a mirror, watching your own tongue is pretty hard unless your tongue is very long. Try it!

While speaking English correctly, our tongues fly all over our mouths. Those born or growing up in the U.S. learn to move their tongues correctly as very young children. People born outside the U.S. learn English in schools which usually do not emphasize pronunciation. Since they do not learn as children, and do not study it in school, no wonder most adults have serious doubts about how they speak. Even if your eyes, ears, and brain all are expert in English, your tongue still needs to learn the complex dance necessary to speak fluently.

Because our tongues are muscle, simply learning new information is not enough to train it properly. Just like any muscle, the tongue must practice the correct forms over and over. At first this feels very uncomfortable because your tongue has not developed "muscle memory" yet. Also, you have probably tried to make the correct sounds many times but did not learn it properly in the first place. In this case, you first have to "unlearn" your old tongue memory, then re-learn the correct movements.

Read something very slowly out loud to yourself. Feel how your tongue moves, flexes, advances, retreats. This dance gives life to our language. This muscle shapes the music of our voices.

Fluent pronunciation with a digital recorder

All students of English want to improve how they sound, how they pronounce each syllable and word. Everyone understands and respects people who speak clearly and precisely, without sounding like a robot. In other words, everybody wants to sound natural even if they can never sound fully native. No one doubts that face to face live conversation with a native speaker is the best way to improve but many learners don't get much opportunity.

Overcome this obstacle in this simple way. These days, digital recording is available through smart phones (like iPhone or Android), laptop and desktop computers, and dedicated digital voice recorders. Use any voice recording method you can. Ask various native English speakers to help you out for a minute. Ask each to slowly read the same article, from a website, newspaper, book, magazine, etc. Ask them to read for one-two minutes and record them while they do so. Before you finish, check spot check to make sure your recorder worked properly.

On your own, simply play back the readings and try to copy their sound exactly. Read from the same article. Don't pay much attention to the meaning, just listen to the sounds. Try to imitate them exactly. Experiment with your mouth, lips, tongue, and teeth to see what shape is needed for each sound. Listen closely to vowels and consonants. With a recording you can privately repeat as many times as you need. After all, your voice is ultimate musical instrument. To get their best sound, musicians have to practice a lot. So get going now!

Lips, tongue, and teeth all needed to speak English

Many sounds in English sound almost exactly the same in everyday conversation. Growing up in the U.S. we imitate our parents in how we shape our mouths to produce unique sounds. Actively engaging your cheeks, lips, tongue, and jaw will immediately improve your pronunciation. A lot of adults who learn English as a Second Language (ESL), have trouble mobilizing and coordinating their faces with the sounds they are speaking. Some hardly move their lips at all, as it they were paralyzed. Others try to talk so fast their mouths cannot keep up with their thoughts.

Lip readers can understand spoken language without hearing it because each sound has a unique facial configuration. That means that the meaning of the words is contained in the facial shapes. Because they are activated by muscles, the mouth parts acquire muscle memory they call upon whenever they need to make a specific sound. If you try to intellectually remember the sound, results are much poorer.

Say "P" pork. Your lips should be completely closed. Your tongue is in the middle of your mouth. You puff out your cheek a little bit, then release your lips in a small explosion- P. Now say "F" as in fork.  Now, though the other parts of your mouth are just like "P", your lips are not closed tightly against each other. Instead, your upper lip is pulled back, while your lower lip presses up against your teeth. Instead of the explosive "P" sound, the breath gradually escapes through the teeth to make an "F" sound.

Try some exercises for your mouth-- mouth yoga! Puff out your cheeks, makes faces like a little child, open your mouth as wide as you can, move your jaw side to side. Do this for a few minutes, and when you stop you can feel the blood tingling in your lips. As you practice you will become more aware of how your mouth and face is arranged. Many sounds require changing the shape of your face and mouth to produce. Others remain constant. What shapes are the hardest for you? What sounds are the hardest?

Feed the hungry while practicing English at freerice.com

I came across the Free Rice during my research on "games with a purpose" (GWAP). For every correct answer, the website donates 10 grains of rice to the UN World Food Program. Games have long been a fun and effective way to learn. Crossword puzzles are a game many enjoy that is also a fun way to learn new words and think about familiar ones. Sesame Street proved that children can learn and have fun at the same time. With the spread of computers and the Internet, teachers quickly adapted the new technology to instruction. Now, many websites and applications for children are both entertaining and educational.

Free rice is the newest entry in a long tradition of making learning fun. The best thing about a good game is that people enjoy playing it for its own sake. In other words, people enjoy facing and overcoming challenges, no matter how simple or repetitive. The popular game Tetris because people achieve satisfaction by increasing their skill. This satisfaction alone makes the game addictive to many. Such games have no other direct purpose than stimulation and satisfaction of achieving a goal.

One estimate suggests today 63% of people play some sort of game online. Games range from extremely simple tasks performed against the computer (computer card games, arcade games, Scrabble, etc.) to  extremely complex, massive multi-player games like Warcraft. Only a few our like Free Rice, because Free Rice offers more than simple self satisfaction of our competitive urges. This game, and other games with a purpose, provide an additional player incentive. This incentive allows players to become members of a global network of people who want add value to their recreational time.

For English language learners, Free Rice has quizzes in both vocabulary and grammar. The grammar quizzes are beginning and intermediate. Vocabulary is arranged in 60 levels, ranging from beginning to advanced. How advanced? Well, I had never even seen any of the words on Level 60! Best of all, you are helping feed the world's hungry, while having fun, and practicing English. Free Rice also offers quizzes to help learn German, Spanish, Italian, and French. Other subjects include math, chemistry, geography, literature, and art appreciation. I hope that more and more games with a purpose can help improve conditions worldwide.

Back to basics to improve your English

Back to basics means making sure you have a good foundation. Many non-native speakers can communicate more or less in English but fall short of their potential. For example, when reading an article, they miss part or even most of the meaning because of certain vocabulary words or expressions they do not understand. Vocabulary means knowing both small and large words. Knowing them means you can spell the word, pronounce word, and use it in a sentence correctly. If you cannot do this, you don't truly know the word. Try reading a child's book written in English. Unless you know every word, your knowledge remains less than that of a child born in the U.S. Small words like in, of, at, on, etc., are used in specific ways, as even young children master them by the time they enter school. Vocabulary is one basic that merits attention. Other basics to consider are grammar, study skills, reading comprehension, error correction, and writing. More on those to come!

It pays to increase your English word power.

By honing your English language skills, you can improve how well people respond to you. Conversely, using incorrect words, pronunciation, and grammar only create roadblocks to communication, mutual understanding, and respect. Some believe that long, uncommon words and complicated sentence structure will enhance their image, while the opposite is generally the case. In fact, "less is more" when it comes to language. Lincoln's Gettysburg Address is just one example history provides.

We have to crawl before we walk

Today my job was to listen to a senior IT engineer read from one of his kids' books. His children are about 3 and 5 years old. As usual, these books were written simply and accompanied by colorful illustrations. The engineer has lived in the U.S. for 26 years, but was born in Asia. He realized that he did not feel confident reading the book to his children. He knew he could not pronounce some words properly. He could guess the meaning of some words but others drew a blank. Finally, even if he knew all the vocabulary, he could not read the sentences in a flowing, fluent manner. Instead he stopped frequently, added syllables not in the actual text, or neglected words that actually were there.


His books are intended for children 6 years and under. On each page there was at least one play on words, a pun. This frustrated dad could not recognize or chuckle at word play intended for young children! This dad has a sincere motivation that gives him the confidence to master kindergarten-level reading. Best of all, once he masters the simple language of childhood, his communication skills at the workplace will increase without much additional effort. As they saying goes, we have to crawl before we walk.

Read my lips

When spoken clearly and accurately, English requires numerous lip configurations associated with unique sounds of the language.  Position of teeth, tongue, and jaw are equally important. Producing spoken language requires the cooperation of the whole lower face. During production of the sound, either the mouth parts change or remain constant. Sometimes, all but one stay constant.

People who have a hearing disability can learn to understand spoken English by "reading" lips. Of course, more than just lips are required to shape the unique sounds of English. Enough information is embedded in simply shaping the correct sounds to allow people to understand speech even without hearing. Some people are naturally good at "reading lips," but anyone can be trained. The audible speech and visible mouth shapes mirror the same message. This redundancy of communication channels ensures the meaning is conveyed accurately.

What do English language learners want from a tutor?

Students want specific outcomes when they pay for individual instruction, just as when they pay for a meal at a restaurant. No instructor can guess in advance what even one student wants, let alone students in general. Only students can identify their own motivations. Then, they can express these motivations to the instructor. Only then should the instructor start to form any concept or approach to engaging the student.
You can see by my ratings, that I have mostly succeeded in accomplishing what the student wants. If I only knew for what reasons some students did not rate me highly, I would be able to work on improving that area. Without that input, I must try to discover my weak points on my own, through self-examination. In what ways do I fall short? What are my strong points? By asking these questions often I try to discover what each new and continuing student wants, each time we meet or interact.

What can you give away and keep yourself?

Knowledge is the answer. I can give away my knowledge without limit, while still retaining it completely. Just as one candle lights another without diminishing its own flame, knowledge can be transmitted without bounds.

Speaking English as a Second Language

Most of my students studied English from textbooks in their native country. Some can read and write basic English well but few have practiced pronunciation or conversation. Fluent spoken English takes a lot of practice. In the past, audiotapes provided a model of learners. Later, VHS videotape language instruction we introduced. Today, learners can buy instructional DVDs, watch YouTube, or use numerous websites to develop their speaking skills.

Watching TV or cinema does not improve English fluency at all in my opinion. After all, this dialogue is all scripted and rehearsed in all dramas. Characters in drama sometimes speak in eccentric ways. Vocabulary in drama tends to be most basic, so even less educated people can enjoy it. When you keep in mind that literacy in the US has declined, you can be sure that less common words are not used in popular media. Finally, do you want to speak like yourself or like some actor in a drama?

A better idea is to use a webcam to video yourself speaking, then play it back. This way you can make sure you are shaping your mouth correctly. Simply read from a book or magazine while looking at the camera. Many laptop computers have build in cameras. Smartphones all have at least one camera, and newer phones have front facing cameras as well as the original lens on the back. I have an inexpensive Logitech webcam attached to my desktop computer at home. You can spend as little or as much as you want on a webcam, or simply load video files from your phone or digital camera.

The best way to improve your English speaking skills is the oldest, traditional method: conversation with a native-speaker who can correct even minute problems. Lately I am working with students one on one, so I can provide individual attention.

Not a native speaker? No problem!

I am starting this blog because so many non-native speakers want to take their English communication skills to the next level. I don't have time to meet with them all individually, so I decided I can share some useful techniques with more people. Unless you were born here or came as a child, English is one of the hardest languages to learn. Though you know basic English, you miss the meaning of many expressions, and don't know how to put words to your own ideas and feelings. My students have taught me so much over the years and I hope if you are reading this blog you can share your experiences with me, to improve my understanding.