0:00 How to improve your English Speaking and Fluency SHADOWING 0:04 In todays lesson youre going to:

Learn what SHADOWING is 0:12 Learn WHY its so useful for you See a demonstration of HOW its done. 0:21 Enjoy! One of the biggest things that people ask 0:25 me is how do I get really get at speaking fluently like a native speaker does. 0:34 Its actually much, much easier than you think. 0:39 First, listen to a lot of English. If you want to get good at speaking English then 0:46 you must get good at listening to English first. 0:50 Good speakers are good listeners Second, pronunciation is very important. If 0:59 you find it hard to speak smoothly, it might be because youre pronouncing words badly. 1:05 Third, you need to get a lot of English speaking practise. 1:10 Of course, as you get better at speaking, your pronunciation will also naturally improve, 1:16 but it works the other way too Improving your pronunciation will improve 1:20 your fluency A LOT! This is because 1) things become smoother to say but more importantly 1:29 because 2) you will become more confident with your speaking! 1:33 Lets talk about ENGLISH SPEAKING PRACTISE Sometimes its hard to do, isnt it? 1:43 People always say to me: but this isnt an English speaking country 1:47 ? there aren't many opportunities to speak with people in English! 1:53 Maybe thats true, but there are many ways to practise speaking English!

1:59 Today Im going to introduce you to one of those ways.will help you move mouth and 2:03 train your muscles to speak English fluently. This technique will help you move your mouth 2:06 and train your muscles to speak English fluently. And the BEST thing about this method is 2:14 You can practise speaking fluent English and English pronunciation at home by yourself 2:21 by using the same materials as you use for your listening practise! 2:29 I always recommend to people, these wonderful graded reader books from penguin 2:37 I own A LOT of these books!! CD 2:41 (I used the same kind of books to learn Japanese) These books are really amazing, because they 2:52 also come with a CD thats REALLY well recorded. This CD has a recording of the whole book. 3:01 First, listen to the CD as many times as you can. 10 times, 20 times ? as many times as 3:07 you can. How is that going to help you with your speaking 3:12 and pronunciation? You can use a technique called 3:17 shadowing Many people have heard of this but dont 3:24 actually use it. I recommend you start, because its a very good way to get good at speaking! 3:33 Heres what you do First you listen to your CD as many times 3:41 as you can. Next, take your book and read it. This is 3:48 a good chance to use your dictionary to look up any words or phrases you dont know.

3:55 This will also help you learn a lot of new vocabulary 3:58 kind of like two birds with one stone! Now go back to the CD and listen to it one 4:07 more time. Next, this is where the good bit starts! You 4:12 start training your mouth to speak fluently. Shadowing means to shadow the CD, that 4:19 is, to speak with and copy the CD. You should be listening carefully to: pronunciation, 4:26 rhythm, tone, and copying those things as closely as you can. 4:26 pronunciation rhythm 4:28 tone and copying those things as closely as 4:35 you can. Make your voice sound as close to the speaker 4:40 on the CD as you can. Ok, Ill demonstrate. 4:47 I have my book. I have my CD. Ive listened to it several times. 4:53 Here we go Listen. Could we be quite quick? Harry 5:03 said. Certainly, sir. I wont be long. 5:08 The assistant took out some paper and put it around the box. There, he said. 5:13 Thats great. I havent quite finished, the assistant 5:16 told him. He took out a bag. I dont really need a bag Harry said 5:24 nervously. I can put it in my pocket See? Its that easy! 5:35 You should aim to finish the whole book. But thats going to take a long time, so dont 5:42 try to do the whole book at once. Just five minutes at a time is probably enough. 5:49

Any difficult sections, go over those sections again and again and again. Dont just do 5:56 them once. Keep on practising them until you get it perfect. 6:02 And then, when youve got a section perfect go on to the next section. 6:07 Keep on going until youve finished the book. 6:10 Thats going to take time, but thats OK! 6:14 its not about finishing quickly! When youve finished the book, and youre 6:21 really good, you can take this a step further by getting rid of the book! 6:28 Do exactly the same thing but without the book. Use the CD, and practise speaking with 6:36 it. Speak as the CD speaks. For example 6:45 Its quite difficult at first ? even for me! But Thats ok, because you practise 7:46 again and again. What shadowing does is get your ear really 7:51 listening, not just to whats being said, but to the tone, rhythm and pronunciation 7:58 ? all of the fine details. Of course this is great listening practise 8:04 too! The second thing Shadowing does is train your 8:07 mouth to move in the right way (motor skills). You cant just hear a word, know it and 8:15 say it You have to teach your mouth and muscles how 8:19 to move properly. OK! Thats it! 8:25 any questions? Comments? Feedback? Leave me a message! 8:30 (dont forget to subscribe!)