Do you need to improve your English speaking skills,
but you don't have anybody to speak with?
In this video lesson, we'll talk a little bit about
how you can start practicing your speaking skills
at home. Together we'll go through
six different ways, six different things
you can do at home, alone, to improve and practice
Friends, this six different ways to practice your speaking
skills alone, at home, have been used by myself
to improve my fluency in my second language,
they are being used by many students in my online training
programs to improve their English speaking skills,
and also, many native English speakers use this
six different ways to improve their confidence
speaking in English in different situations. Now,
I know that some of you may be practicing your English speaking
and I would love to hear from you guys. Share with us in the comments
below this video, what exactly are you doing
to improve your English speaking skills alone at home?
So, how can you start practicing,
speaking English alone at home? Friends, the first way
that you can start practicing speaking English at home
is something that all of you should be doing, regardless
of your level of English. And that is shadowing.
If you don't know what the shadowing technique is,
it's when you listen. You listen to something, you listen to
an audio, maybe watching a movie, you're listening to somebody
speak, and you copy, you shadow.
You imitate. You say everything they are
saying. Friends, the shadowing technique is something
you can do alone. You don't need somebody to speak to,
what you need to do is to repeat, to say
exactly what the speakers are saying out loud
Now, I don't suggest you do this for half an hour, an hour a day,
all you need is about 2 - 5 minutes
of investive shadowing every single day. Shadowing
is something all of you should be doing, regardless of your level
and it does help with pronunciation, intonation,
and it will help you sound more natural when you do
have to speak with other English speakers.
Now, if shadowing isn't your thing, you don't really feel like copying,
immitating, or shadowing English speakers,
what you could do to practice your English speaking skills
alone, at home, is to simply talk to yourself.
Now friends, I know that some of you may think that
okay, talking to yourself, how is this improving my ability
to speak in English? Friends, as you know, when you
have to speak with other English speakers, you do have
to use various grammatical structures, and also
various words. And a lot of you may be
faced with that situation, where you simply forget
to use those words, when you forget how to use grammar.
Now, by talking to yourself, you could do this
at loud, you can do this in your head, what you are doing
is you are training your brain. You are training
you brain to use those words, you are training
you brain to use the grammar that you know,
to use it in a real life situation.
Yes, you are doing this by yourself,
but by you thinking, thinking about, okay,
maybe today, what am I going to do? I'm going to
the shops, today I'm gonna buy milk, today
I'm going to drive my car. Today I may go for a walk.
Try to keep it personal as it is always easier
to start with you and then expand out
but by doing this, you are training your brain to think faster,
to use what you know to construct sentences,
and simply to start speaking in English.
Now, talking to yourself may be difficult for you.
It is for some people, it's not for everybody, but if
you are really struggling to talk to yourself in English,
the third thing you could do to improve your English speaking
skills alone, at home, is to create
situations you may find yourself in in the future,
and talk about them out loud. So,
for example, today I need to go to the shop.
I'm not at the shops at the moment, but
I'm going to imagine everything I need to say while
I'm at the shops. So, I'm at the register, and I'm thinking...
Okay, hm, how can I pay for that? Can I use my debit card, can I use my credit card,
any milk, do you have any sugar? Create
situations you may find yourself in
in the future. In this example, I use the example
of going to the shops, but you could use different examples.
You can use situations such as at work,
maybe when you answer your phone, maybe when you're talking with
your boss, maybe you have an argument with a colleague, maybe at school,
talking to your professors, talking to other students, create
different situations you may find yourself in
in the future and talk about them.
Talk about them, imagine yourself in
those situations, using those words, those grammatical
structures you know, so when you do find yourself
in those situations, you can speak
in English. Now, if you don't feel comfortable talking to yourself,
shadowing, simply sitting on a couch,
or outside, whereever you are, what you could do is, you could talk
to yourself, but in front of a mirror.
Friends, talking to yourself in front of a mirror, looking at yourself
it helps you feel confidence. You see yourself
out there. You talk, you talk about
your daily life, what you're going to do today,
what you are going to do tommorow, maybe your goals,
what you want to do in the future. Simply, look in the mirror
talk to yourself about anything you like.
I do suggest you talk about things related to
you, and simply watch yourself. Watch yourself
speaking in English, watch how you move your mouth
are you moving your mouth, making sounds,
the expressions, native English speakers make. Talking
in front of a mirror will improve your confidence as you will see
the progress over time. You can also do this
before brushing your teeth, while waching your face,
at loud, about your day, anything that related to
you and be positive. Talk positively,
to yourself, in the mirror, and you will
see, by doing this consistently,
your speaking skills will improve. Now, it's also
very important to get feedback and critique
on your speaking skills. You do want to improve
One way you can do this, to give youself feedback
and critique is by recording your voice.
So, when you are shadowing, when you are saying sentences out loud,
while you are talking to yourself,
what do you do is record. You record,
say what you want to say, speak in English,
and then, after you say what you wanna say, compare,
try to give yourself feedback on what you've said.
On your pronunciation, compare to other
English speakers, native English speakers,
and say: Okay, how well did I do? Can I understand
myself, if my pronunciation okay,
what does my intonation sound like?
By doing this you are giving yourself feedback.
You will also be able to say: Okay,
what areas do you need to work on while shadowing,
while speaking to yourself, while speaking in front of a mirror,
you'll be able to focus on those negative areas
or those areas you have difficulties with,
on a daily basis. Another way you could be
practicing your English speaking sills at home could be by
reading. Reading a book out loud.
Reading is a great skill you should be developing also on a daily basis
to learn new words, various grammatical structures,
by reading out loud, you're forcing
yourself to move your mouth, to make sounds,
to pronounce words out loud, to say
a few sentences and to speak in English.
Reading out loud is something you could do with friends,
with family, with small children, it's a small
daily task you could make a part of your daily routine
simply to make it a habit, to move your mouth
and to practice speaking English alone, at home.
There you have it, friends. In this video lesson we've gone through
six different ways you can practice
your English speaking skills alone, at home.
Choose one way, or choose one tip
in this video lesson you like,
which best suits your daily routine, try
Remember friends, to join the discussion below this video, and tell
us exactly what are you doing alone, at home,
to improve your English speaking skills. If you like
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Help your friends learning English by sharing this video lesson
with them. Thanks for watching,
thanks for being here, and I look forward to seeing you