Method To Help You Speak English
What’s your best method for learning to speak English? In today’s episode I list 3 methods that you might be using today or you might be considering to use in the near future! Hope you enjoy today’s episode! Cheers :)
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Transcript
Hey guys, you are listening to the English Made Simple show, this is episode number 154, number one hundred and fifty four, numero ciento cincuenta y cuatro.
Hello, hello, how’s it going amigos y amigas? Welcome everyone, my name is Milena from www.www.englishmadesimple.net and I am your personal English coach here at English Made Simple, trying to teach you how to speak English and how not to speak English.
Let’s dive straight into today’s show.
In today’s show we are going to learn pros and cons (advantages and disadvantages) of 3 different methods when learning to speak English.
But first let me ask you this question: Do you ever say to yourself: I will never speak English!
When you try to speak in English you just become frozen, unable to articulate yourself in English.
I do remember my experience when I was learning Spanish about 3 years ago now. I had been preparing to travel to South America for 6 months and I remember I said to myself, I will just learn Spanish by myself. I was a bit stubborn then! Anyway, I said to myself, I know all the Shakira songs, I had been watching telenovelas without the subtitles, I should be fine. Right? Wrong! When I finally moved to Chile to stay with my now husband, I was surprised at how many people did not speak English well. I mean just going to the shop… I kind of expected the shop assistants to be able to speak in English to me… because I was lazy….ahem. Most English speaking travellers make this mistake. And I was one of them. So cliché!
Anyway, going back to my story, if you had listened to my earlier episodes like episode 1 or 2 – you would’ve known by now that I couldn’t even order a cup of coffee in Spanish.
I know so embarrassing.
My ego was crushed.
I used to just freeze when I was trying to speak to the waiters. I was also relying on my husband to order for me. Which was ok in the beginning but I should’ve just tried doing it myself. I would’ve learnt to speak Spanish much quicker.
Quiero un café por favor. Duh!
And then the whole experience just reminded me of my first time trying to speak English in New Zealand.
It was just hard, I found it extremely hard to speak in English and I just wasn’t that confident.
But, you know what, I did something that did help me a lot.
What helped me start to speak in English was listening, observing other people how they talk, ‘copying’ phrases that I hear people around me use and of course repeating those words and learning how they used them. I would try to incorporate those phrases in my daily conversations.
No doubt you have tried different methods in the past to help you speak English. Maybe you are developing new methods right now.
Some of the methods you might be trying right now are:
· Trying to learn English by yourself – getting lost in the endless sea of YouTube videos – there are heaps of them, right? Too many. How do you choose?
· Buying textbooks to help you learn grammar
· Attending a course or getting a private tutor
Let me ask you this, which one of these methods is more effective for you?
Let’s look at the first one.
· Learning English by yourself – reading books in your area of interest or learning English by watching TV or YouTube
Reading books in English is a great way to expand you vocabulary. Actually this is how native speakers increase their vocabulary as well! So I definitely recommend reading in English. Read something you enjoy because you will most likely memorize new words or the phrases you read.
One downside of this, or one disadvantage of this is well, you still can’t speak English. When will you use this newly acquired vocabulary? When will you use these new phrases you just read in the book?
Also, watching TV is great, I still watch telenovelas without subtitles. I just don’t want to forget Spanish, so it’s important that I feed my mind with songs and movies in Spanish.
Watching TV in English is a great way to improve your listening skills and also to increase your vocabulary. Definitely keep doing this! It does help!
One downside though is, well do you understand what they are saying on TV? Half of it is full of slang and colloquial language. You need to have a dictionary next to you to understand what they are saying on TV.
Don’t get me wrong, this is still a great way to learn English.
Thanks to the Internet, you can now watch YouTube videos and learn English. There is a lot of information out there, how do you know which one is right for you. You can lose yourself in those videos and spend endless hours of watching them. But it still doesn’t help you speak English…
Again, don’t get me wrong if you have time and patience then this is definitely one way to go about learning English.
· The second method of learning to speak English is… by learning grammar.
Using traditional methods such as textbooks, dictionary, useful phrases and just learning grammar is a great way to enrich your vocabulary. I would still use these tools to start learning another language.
Although, I would only look at them once or twice and afterwards I would lose interest. This is just me. I get bored easily. I am the sort of person that likes to learn through immersion.
The book I bought to help me learn Spanish grammar is still sitting on the bookshelf at home collecting dust.
My husband makes fun of me when I try to speak Spanish, but I don’t care. I don’t have the fear of speaking anymore. That’s what matters to me. All I have to do is … well just have to deal with my husband now. And I will deal with him later.
Let’s be honest, grammar doesn’t help in real conversations, you just don’t have time to apply the rules that you find in a textbook or dictionary into your conversation.
This is why it is important to just speak, and not worry about your grammar!
Back when I was working in the corporate job, I had colleagues who spoke English with a not-so-perfect grammar. And there was nothing wrong with that.
They still had technical skills to do their jobs.
Ok so no dramas if you speak English and your grammar isn’t perfect. That can fixed easily!
And the last method of learning to Speak English that I wanted to mention to you is
· Getting a teacher, attending a course
I’ve taught in schools in Chile before and I have been a student myself, I attended a course in Chile when I was learning Spanish. And, I am so glad that I did.
I was in a new country, didn’t know anyone except my husband and I needed to meet new friends so I needed to have that face to face interaction. One way to meet new people is to attend a course.
What I am trying to say here is that you can’t compare what you learn with a teacher with something like watching an episode of Friends or watching YouTube videos.
Working with a teacher or a coach will give you results… fast. Faster than the other methods I mentioned in today’s episode.
When you are working with a teacher or a coach you get instant feedback on how you are doing…. This is an invaluable “experience” – getting the feedback on the spot will help you develop into a confident English speaker.
The way I work is different to the way other teachers work.
My method is different.
I have developed a speaking program that I am launching in the month of November. More specifically on 20th November.
I call it Speak Easy.
It is a 3 week program and the goal is to help you speak English without feeling embarrassed, without uhms…or getting tongue tied when trying to speak in English.
We will be using collocations and phrasal verbs in the program. There won’t be a grammar lesson unless it’s really necessary.
I am opening this program to 4 very cool, and very ambitious people who want to speak English and who want to learn it with me.
So guys, I am giving you an opportunity to speak English for 3 weeks. Actually 3 weeks is too long, you will be speaking English from day 1.
Just to give you an idea of what the program entails:
· We will be learning collocations and phrases
· Sharing short stories and being able to express your ideas in English
· Participating in conversations and learning to ask questions
· The goal is for us to speak English every day. It is a practical course, we will be using virtual media (the Internet, the phone, the whole lot!) so you can learn from the comfort of your own home or wherever you happen to be. You’ll get instant feedback from me
I just know this program will help you break all of your fears when speaking in English. I know it will improve your pronunciation and expand your vocabulary.
I designed this program because I wanted to make English a part of your life.
What you will learn in 3 weeks will empower you to speak English comfortably with native speakers, you will be using the same words that the native speakers use.
If you are serious about learning English and you are someone who likes to take action then the Speaking program is for you.
As I mentioned before, I like to work in small groups because I feel that’s when we learn the most.
I hope today’s episode has opened your eyes (and not just your ears) to learning English. You’ve been listening to me for a while now and I think it’s time for us to speak English!
I will be sending more information on this in the email and Facebook group. And, I will provide more details on the program in the next episode of English Made Simple.
This program is for you if you are serious about learning to speak English!
Thanks for listening to my speech today. I’ve been talking a lot. Haha
If you found today’s episode helpful, please share it with your friends. Remember, sharing is caring!
You’ve been jamming with Milena from www.englishmadesimple.net, you’ve been awesome today, let’s have a chat again soon. Until next time, hasta la proxima!