It's probably every immigrant's wish to speak English like a native speaker. I've had that desire merely at 10 years old when I first immigrated to Canada and I've contemplated on quick ways to improve my speaking skills since then. Now I'm at a point where my English is better than my native language and I am here to share 3 practical ways of improving English speaking skills.
1. Expand your vocabulary (resources provided)
To be able to speak any language, you need some foundational knowledge. One effective way of doing so is to dedicate some time in memorizing English words that will help you formulate sentences. My recommendation is to memorize 30 words per day including sample sentences in which those words are utilized. For instance, if you learned a new word like, "discombobulated", you would memorize its definition as being in a state of confusion and utilize it in a sentence such as, "I've never been so discombobulated about these concepts." Now I want to emphasize that you learn to use these in sentence structures otherwise you are left with the knowledge with no practical use.
I find it that it helps you memorize more effectively with the use of flashcards. You can either use physical ones or use digital ones like those provided by Quizlet.com/en-gb.
Now, after searching through the web quite profusely, I've selected my top personal favourite website that has a vocabulary list organized in multiple PDF files (see picture below): https://www.heylama.com/blog/free-pdf-english-vocabulary-lists. The picture below shows a portion of this website which I want you to refer to for your vocabulary list. It is sorted in terms of levels & difficulty, A1 being easiest to C2 being most challenging. Skim through them and pick ones you think are going to be of most use to you. They also contain multiple sample sentences per each word, which I recommend you to memorize as well.
2. Watch short clips, podcasts, and TV shows
By short clips, I'm talking about the Reels on Instagram and Youtube where people who have lived abroad a long time share and teach some of the common expressions native speakers use. Make sure to repeat after what they say and try your best to copy their exact pronunciation since that's how native speakers would sound like. If you haven't realized yet, speaking skills will only improve if you speak!
I refer to podcasts as any online conversations or lectures that are both wholesome and educational. One of the most popular ones you might already be familiar with are the TED Talks where some of the well-known speakers come on stage to share their ideas on a specific topic. Try finding ones that aren't too technical, but ones that may be related to psychology and sociology as they might be slightly easier to understand and digest and better suited for learning commonly used English expressions. Some of the TED Talks I'd recommend you start with are as follows.
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=eIho2S0ZahI (How to speak so that people want to listen | Julian Treasure)
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=1DwuF-J2t64 (Challenge yourself to step out of the norm | Khanh Vy Tran | TEDxVinschoolHanoi)
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=80UVjkcxGmA (How I Overcame My Fear of Public Speaking | Danish Dhamani | TEDxKids@SMU)
There are lots of TV shows you can select to watch on Netflix, Disney+, Youtube, and even Amazon Prime. Pick genres of your choice whether it be horror, comedy, romantic comedy, action, etc. Some of my personal favourites were The Office, The Big Bang Theory, House, and The Witcher. What I recommend you to do is to turn on the subtitles so that you can match the spoken words to the written words on screen, so that you can recognize these words elsewhere and be able to roughly pronounce as you first heard it. Also feel free to pause once you come across sentences you like and simply try saying it to yourself. As Rap Monster from BTS testifies, what's helped him most at getting better in speaking English was through watching Friends.
3. Phone calls with native speakers
There are lots of language exchange apps available which you can use to your advantage. Although I haven't exactly used it myself, Lingbe looks like a pretty promising app which allows you to call native speakers of the language you want to learn, and have a casual conversation with them. Visit their official website to find out more about them: https://www.lingbe.com/.
Also, check out this website which recommends a list of apps or websites where you can freely practice your English-speaking with others: https://www.betteratenglish.com/practice-speaking-english-free.
They pretty much recommend italki as one of the best apps to meet both native and non-native speakers to practice English with. Also, if you want a quick, free access to conversations in English, Free4Talk.com is another website they recommend as well. If you've used any of these, please feel free to share your experiences in our Forum!
Final Words
I've shared with you some of the practical ways to improve English speaking skills, hopefully with some helpful resources which you can put to use. Now, obviously it is important to have a strong foundational knowledge for you to speak English well but it doesn't mean that you can't practice speaking just because you don't. Those two things go together and should grow together, and so I want to challenge you to continue challenging yourself to speak regardless of your confidence levels. I guarantee that continued practice will pay off in the end!
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