How to Practise Your English Speaking

If you don't live in an English-speaking country, and you don't have friends or family to speak
English with, where can you practise your English speaking skills?
It's easier to have a conversation if you have a reason to speak something to talk about. These
ideas all give you a reason to speak with another person.
Start a film or book club
Invite people to discuss a film that you all watch together, or a book that you are all reading.
Prepare questions before, to help people talk about specific aspects.
Volunteer to help other people
Does your town or company often welcome foreign guests? Can you offer to translate for them?
Or perhaps you can offer to help children or students with their English homework.
Take part in a film conversation
Watch a film on DVD, and decide in which part you can speak with the film character. Listen to
what the character says (and the reply) then rewind, and either mute or pause the DVD after the
film character speaks. Take the other character's role, and reply to the first character. You can
also find film scripts on the imsdb site. Print it out, then practise taking a role in the film.
Use skype
Chat with other people in the penpal forum via Skype. You can get to know them first by writing
to them, then invite them for a conversation.
Take English lessons
This is the most expensive option, but paying for private or group lessons is a good way to
regularly practise your English. If you have a job, maybe your company can also arrange lessons
for you.
Before you start speaking
- Try to plan what you want to say. Make sure you know the most important words or technical
terms that you'll need.
- Practise standard expressions. For example, "Pleased to meet you", or "How are you?" Getting
these expressions right makes you feel more confident to continue the conversation.
- As well as concentrating on what you want to say, also concentrate on listening to the other
person. Give your full attention, and make sure you understand by using clarifying expressions
such as "Sorry, do you mean" or "I'm sorry, but I don't understand. Can you repeat that
please?" Don't forget: being a good speaker also means being a good listener. People will want to
have conversations with you if they know you're interested in what they say!

Speaking English With Other People

Nothing helps your speaking more than practising with others. In a controlled environment (i.e. a
classroom) speaking English with others is relatively easy, as you're probably practising
particular expressions or vocabulary.
But in the outside world, lots of things can go wrong. Maybe you don't understand the other
person or maybe they don't understand you. Maybe it's the subject you're talking about which
is difficult, or maybe the other person uses a lot of slang or English idioms that you don't
understand. Here are some phrases you can use when there are communication problems.
You don't know the word
Don't let the conversation stop. If you don't know the word, try to say it in another way. Define
it, give an example, or give a synonym.
For example, if you can't remember the word "mug" you can try these:
Definition: "It's something you can drink coffee from."
Explanation: "It's made of china. You use it for drinking coffee."
Synonym: "It's like a cup, but bigger."
The other person doesn't understand you
You'll probably guess that this has happened from the blank look on the other person's face.
Ask a question such as "Do you know what I mean?"
Or use a rephrasing phrase, such as "Let me say that again", or "Let me put that another way."
You run out of things to say
A conversation is a two-way thing. The easiest way to get the other person to contribute is by
asking a question.
You can try a short question like in this example from our page on how to keep a conversation
going:
"We tried out the new Chinese restaurant last night."
"Did you?"
Or you can ask a more direct question, such as "What do you think?" or "what's your opinion?"
You don't know how to end the conversation
Some conversations should be short. For example, asking someone for directions, giving
directions, asking for information in a shop are all situations where the conversation comes to a

natural end. In these situations, a simple "Thank you" (where the typical response is "You're
welcome" or "Not at all") shows both people that the conversation is over.
But in other situations, you might just be chatting, with no particular purpose. End the
conversation with a phrase like "I'd better get going" or "I think that's my bus / train" (if you're
waiting for public transport, say) to end the conversation naturally.

How to keep an English conversation going

t can be difficult to keep a conversation going. Even if you understand what the other person is
saying, you can feel "blocked" or "frozen" when it's your turn to speak. The words or phrases
you need don't often come quickly enough to mind.
The more opportunities you can get to use and speak English, the easier it is to find the right
words when you need them. Take every chance you get to use your English! See How to practise
your English for lots of ideas to find speaking opportunities.
But there are other ways to help keep the conversation along. The "secret" is that you don't
actually need many words to do this!
Here are some ways to make you sound like a fluent, confident speaker of English without
saying very much:
1. Show interest in the other speaker
You don't need to say much. Often just one word is needed to show you are interested and
listening. Try "Really?" (with a rising intonation), "Right" or "Sure". You could even show you
are listening with a non-word such as "Mmm" or Uh-huh".
"I hate watching rubbish on the TV."
"Right."
2. Use a short phrase to show your feelings
For example, "How awful", "Oh no!", "You're joking", "What a pity" etc.
"My neighbour had a car accident yesterday."
"Oh no!"
"Yes, but thankfully he wasn't hurt."
"Mmm."
3. Ask a short question
You can use an auxiliary verb to make a short question which will encourage the other speaker to
keep talking:

"We tried out the new Chinese restaurant last night."

"Did you?"
"I'm going to Barbados next week on holiday."
"Are you? Lucky you!"
"It's snowing again."
"Is it?"
4. Repeat what the other person said
Do this especially if the other person has said something surprising.
"He won 200 on the lottery."
"200!"
"I'm going to Barbados next week."
"Barbados!"

ow to avoid silence in English conversations

Sometimes you don't know what to say in a conversation. Perhaps you don't have any words to
express yourself, or you haven't understood the other person. Or perhaps there isn't anything left
to say! In all these situations, it's important to avoid being silent, so here are some words and
expressions to use.
When you don't understand
"Sorry, I don't understand."
"Sorry, could you repeat that?"
"Sorry? I didn't get that."
Looking for words to express yourself
You don't want to be completely silent, but you need time to find the words.
"Well"
OK"
"So"
You can even make some "noises"
"Hmmm"
"Uh-huh"
"Umm"

To agree with the other person

You want to show that you agree, but you don't have anything else to say.
"Yeah."
"Right."
To change the subject
You've all given your opinion, and now you want to talk about something else.
"Anyway,"
"Well, as I was saying"
"So, back to "
"So, we were saying "

Better English speaking skills

mproving your English speaking skills will help you communicate more easily and effectively.
But how do you become a more confident English speaker?
Practise where you can, when you can. Any practice is good whether you speak to someone
who is a native English speaker or not.
It's important to build your confidence. If possible, use simple English sentence structure that
you know is correct, so that you can concentrate on getting your message across.
Try to experiment with the English you know. Use words and phrases you know in new
situations. Native English speakers are more likely to correct you if you use the wrong word
than if you use the wrong grammar. Experimenting with vocabulary is a really good way of
getting feedback.
Try to respond to what people say to you. You can often get clues to what people think by
looking at their body language. Respond to them in a natural way.
Try NOT to translate into and from your own language. This takes too much time and will
make you more hesitant.
If you forget a word, do what native English speakers do all the time, and say things that 'fill'
the conversation. This is better than keeping completely silent. Try using um, or er, if you forget
the word.
Don't speak too fast! It's important to use a natural rhythm when speaking English, but if you
speak too fast it will be difficult for people to understand you.

Try to relax when you speak you'll find your mouth does most of the pronunciation work for
you. When you speak English at normal speed, you'll discover that many of the pronunciation
skills, such as linking between words, will happen automatically.
Remember, when speaking English

Try to become less hesitant and more confident.

Don't be shy to speak the more you do it, the more confident you'll become.
Remember to be polite use "please" and "thank you" if you ask someone to do something for
you