If you want to improve your fluency, you can do it by speaking English every day on your own.
There are many things you can do to improve your English by yourself. I know it's hard to find an English speaker to practice with so I'm here to help.
As you might know, I created a FREE guide that teaches a variety of ways you can practice thinking (and speaking) in English. It's called, Learn How To THINK In English ~ The 7 Day Challenge ~
Since I've received such great feedback on my guide, I wanted to give you even more help in finding new ways to practice your speaking and pronunciation every day.
I've created a list of 5 different things you can do on your own to get you speaking at least once a day!
5 Ways To Practice Speaking On Your Own Each Day
1) When you first wake up in the morning, plan your entire day in English. Start by saying,
Today is going to be a GREAT day!
First, I'm going to...,
then, I'm going to...
After that, I'll...
then, I think I'll...
Next, I'll...
For lunch, I'm going to...
Then, I'll....
After..., I will...and then...
Here's an example:
"Today is going to be a GREAT day! First, I'm going to put on my gym clothes and do a workout; then, I'm going to take a nice hot shower. After that, I'll have my breakfast; then, I think I'll plan my week while I enjoy a coffee. Next, I'll get ready and go to work. For lunch, I'm going to eat something really healthy, like a salad and some fruit. Then, I'll work hard to get all my work done on time. After work, I will go home and make a delicious meal for my family and then spend some time with my children.
Now it's your turn to give it a try!
YOUR TASK
a) Think about all the things you MUST do that day and say them out loud.
b) Be sure to include at least one thing you really ENJOY doing. You deserve to do at least one enjoyable thing every day.
2) Learn a song in English.
a) It's best to choose a song you've heard before and that you really like. Listen to it and try to hear what some of the 'lyrics' are.
'Lyrics' = the words that are in a song.
Then look up the lyrics on the Internet. AZLyrics is a pretty good website, you can check it out here by clicking on the link below:https://www.azlyrics.com/
b) Once you've got the lyrics, listen to the song a few more times while reading the words. Listen to how the singer pronounces the words, then try to imitate it. This will help you with your pronunciation.
c) Lastly, sing along with the song. Fantastic, now you know a new song in English!
3) Find an English text to read and practice reading out loud every day.
To read something 'out loud' = you read something so other people can hear you. It's the opposite from reading in your head, where nobody can hear you.
It could be a children's book, a blog post, a newspaper, an article you find on the Internet, a novel or book from the library, anything at all.
You don't have to read the 'whole' thing out loud, but at least the equivalent to 2-3 pages of a book each day. Plus, reading is one of the very best ways to improve your grammar and expand your vocabulary.
4) Tell a story to yourself in front of a mirror.
Think of a story that you know really well in your own language and tell it to yourself in English while looking in the mirror. Don't worry about grammar, just focus on expressing your thoughts and the movements of your mouth when you make different sounds.
If you don't know a word, try to describe it instead.
Here's an example:
If you don't know the word 'chair', you could say, "the thing you sit on that's usually made of wood."
5) Tongue twisters.
This is a great way to practice your pronunciation and to help you with any sounds you might confuse or have difficulty pronouncing.
For example:If you're from Japan, tongue twisters with 'L' / 'R' or 'S' / 'SH' will really help you and if you're a Spanish speaker, tongue twisters with 'B' / 'V' might be very useful.
Here are some great links which provide many different tongue twisters:
1) https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=yB_1VNQazNo
2) http://www.tongue-twister.net/en.htm
3) https://www.engvid.com/english-resource/50-tongue-twisters-improve-pronunciation/
4) https://www.fluentu.com/blog/educator-english/esl-pronunciation-tongue-twisters/
(scroll down the page a little until you find the part that says, 28 Tough Tongue Twisters for Specific Tricky Sounds.)
REMEMBER: This is something you have to work at every day. If you practice regularly, you will definitely see a difference.
If you've found this helpful, feel free to share it with anyone you know who'd like to improve their English speaking skills.
Get my FREE download if you don't have it already and start learning how to THINK in English today! You can also subscribe to my YouTube channel for my latest videos right HERE!
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Happy Learning!
Jennifer