TIPS FOR LEARNING OR IMPROVING SPOKEN ENGLISH
To hear exactly how to say, 'What's your name?' go to; http://genkienglish.net/mynameis.
If you want a British accent practise speaking using different mouth positions until you can do it. Try recording yourself and comparing it to a British speaker on TV. Check these out for sources:
http://www.usingenglish.com/links/Listening/
http://www.usingenglish.com/links/Sp...Pronunciation/
For Chinese speakers learning English
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QuickSpeaker 根据在外国旅游或生活中常遇到的不同场景，分为20大类，超过3000条日常用句，每条句子都包含专业的翻译及纯正的英语发音，通过您的手机,让您真正做到随用随学，沟通随时随地 !
http://www.quickspeaker.com
HOW TO GREET PEOPLE IN ENGLISH
From Italki member CherryHi / Hello
How are you?
I am fine thank you
What's up? (very informal, probably with close friends)
How are you doing? (very informal)
Very well, thank you. And you? (formal)
Fine / Great (informal)
Good morning / afternoon / evening.
It was a pleasure seeing you.
Goodbye / Bye.
See you (later).
Later (very informal )
Another way to put it :
How are you ?
"Fine thanks, and you?"
"Fine thanks, what about yourself?"
"Not bad." Or "Can't complain."
When meeting people for the first at work for example ,which is quite formal , you can say:
I'd like to introduce myself. I'm Antman from
--* Company's name for example*
Nice to meet you . I 'm Peter M from
-
Pleased to meet you. I'm Peter M from ----
Introducing a friend to a work colleague: * a little formal as well*
"Sarah, have you met my colleague Antman?" or
"Sarah, I'd like you to meet my colleague Antman
"Pleased to meet you, Antman." Or "Nice to meet you, Antman."
See you ;)
For conversation practice , go up to Italki's home page and click onto Language Partners to find a native speaker. If the chat system doesn't work go onto to MSN on Yahoo or Hotmail. Try the free SKYPE program
www.skype.com Other Italki members have also suggested: http://www.mebeam.com and www.paltalk.com
You can improve your spoken English in the following ways.
1. Read a lot and in a loud voice.
When you find that there is a word and you don't know its right pronunciation, you can go to www.webster.com and you can check to see if you have the right pronunciation.
Here a variety of sites provided by Italki member Cherry to help you speak better English:
- http://www.englishryan.com/ ( this is an audio video supported site for learning English , it helps you to listen and speak better ).
- http://www.english4today.com/usr/video/ytv/.
- http://www.englishpartneronline.com/
- http://freelanguage.org/learn-english/goals/speak-better-english.
Start reading simple children's books or fairy tales as they are the easiest to understand.
2.Talk with English native speakers near your home / at your work place or via Italki . Ask them that if they notice that if you say something wrong or pronounce a word in a wrong way to please correct your pronunciation.
3.Concentrate while you are talking and use the the correct tense (past or present or future) eg I AM pleased to see you today.
present Yesterday I WAS pleased to see you.
past Tomorrow I WILL BE pleased to see you.
future 4, Improve your listening skills, because listening will help you to imitate English speech patterns and to speak correctly. Please refer to my other post 'Improving your listening skills' for more tips.
Italki member Cherry has provided the sites below on how to use idiomatic expression in your speech. Be careful, as sometimes they can sound quite strange coming from a non native English speaker!
Here are some sites including English idiomatic expressions:
http://www.english-test.net/esl/english-idiomatic-expressions.html
http://www.englishdaily626.com/slang.php
http://esl.about.com/library/glossary/blglossary_a.htm
5.You can watch English movies with subtitles in your own language so that you can listen to speech patterns and pronunciation.
As inspiration, have you looked at The Daily English Show? Italki member Froopy wrote that it is a short video made by a New Zealand woman living in Japan, and is for language learning.
http://www.youtube.com/profile?user=thedailyenglishshow&view=videos&sort=v
6.Vocabulary is always the most important thing, so improving your vocabulary should always be your highest priority. If you know the words, you are going to have it much easier to understand what people are saying, otherwise it can get very frustrating.
So for example, http://www.flashcardexchange.com/ or www.byki.com are two valuable sites.
Expose yourself to the spoken language as much as possible by watching dvds or television or radio, it is very useful, even if you might not understand what they are talking about at all, over time it usually gets easier.
From Italki member OlliBE AWARE OF CULTURAL DIFFERENCES E.G. BODY LANGUAGE ETC. THAT MAY DIFFER FROM YOUR OWN CULTURE: CHECK OUT THESE WEBSITES
http://www.amazon.com/Taboos-Around-World-Roger-Axtell/dp/0471595284/ref=pd_bbs_sr_1?ie=UTF8&s=books&qid=1231102134&sr=8-1and the sequel called Gestures: The Do's and Taboos of Body Language around the World http://www.amazon.com/Gestures-Taboos-Language-Around-World/dp/0471183423/ref=sr_1_2?ie=UTF8&s=books&qid=1231102235&sr=8-2by Roger E. Axtell.
ORAL PRESENTATIONS/ DEBATES/IMPROMPTU SPEECHES/ORAL BOOK REVIEWS
Pronunciation in Spoken English is very important. Students can learn Phonetic Symbols as each one has a special sound. Once you learn them you will be on your way to correct pronunciation. Unfortunately there are no set pronunciation rules for English.
http://www.bbc.co.uk/worldservice/learningenglish/grammar/pron/ to learn Phonetic Symbols and all about Pronunciation.
Your oral presentation depends on your audience!
What is your audience looking for?
What is the topic on which you will speak?
Is it meant to be serious or humorous?
Make sure that whatever the subject and whatever the audience, talk to them as if to an individual...
Look them in the eyes and make them listen by using persuasive words/phrases e.g. I am sure you'll all agree with me, how would YOU feel if......etc to get to their emotions.
Be sure that you are aware of what your body language is saying at all times.. be careful how you act, stand, hold your notes/cue cards. Your body speaks the loudest and can be understood by everyone in any language.
HELP IS AVAILABLE FOR TEACHERS AND STUDENTS.
There are 2 DVDS available for purchase for English teachers who want their students to enter Public Speaking contests. One DVD is the 2007 Victorian State final and the other provides professional development for teachers & students.
The cost is $AUS20 including postage and the order form is available from the VCAA website
VICTORIAN CURRICULUM and ASSESSMENT AUTHORITY
Go to: www.vcaa.vic.edu.au/excellenceawards/plainenglishspeaking/index.html
TIPS FOR MEMORIZING VOCABULARY USED IN DEBATES/TALKS/IMPROMPTU SPEECHES.
Use Mnemonics, which are techniques to encode the information in your brain through the use of; brightly coloured index cards,eg oral presentations, speeches etc formulas to remember that Gallipoli is in Turkey, write GT & association of facts with vivid or weird images.
AN EASY LESSON USING SPOKEN ENGLISH- INTERVIEWING EACH OTHER
For example tell the class that today we are going to be journalists & practice interviews
they can use a pen as a microphone Divide the students into pairs.Write the interview questions o the board that you want the students to ask each other, depending on their level of vocab, eg what's your name? where do you live? How many brothers & sister do you have etc. Each pair interviews each other and then writes down their friend's answer. Give them 10 minutes. Then each pair comes up to the front of the class and interviews each other. The class can vote for the best interview. That pair can leave class 2-3 minutes early as a reward.
ITALKI HELP IS AVAILABLE FROM NORMAN TO IMPROVE STUDENTS' SPOKEN ENGLISH.
Students can join Norman's forum: "The English Reading Club" http://onemansword.com/simplemachinesforum/
Just click on "Register" and fill in the information. There are also other Italki members there, he also runs a "live classroom" where he teaches English.
Norman also recommends a couple of good websites where you can hear them pronounce the words you want to learn in English:
http://www.elllo.org/ and http://www.howjsay.com/ and http://shiporsheep.com
USING MOVIES TO IMPROVE SPOKEN ENGLISH
This is an excellent site full of useful suggestions on how to Use Movies to Improve Your English Language Speaking Skills.
http://ezinearticles.com/?Using-Movies-to-Improve-Your-English-Language-Speaking-Skills-in-One-Week-
LANGUAGE GAMES AS A WAY OF LEARNING SPOKEN ENGLISH
1. Games- pair work- elementary and intermediate for learning English
http://www.italki.com/files/doc/f3aac893-0f32-402e-aae3-62eca86bbf80.htm
2. Games and Activities for learning English
( http://www.italki.com/files/doc/43202c55-8231-4200-8350-6deb5ea82b19.htm)
3. ENGLISH BRAIN STORMERS!
(http://www.italki.com/files/doc/49712d2c-9f1a-4ce2-9802-e3f2874915d5.htm)
4. ALOUETTE- Lyrics and Music to a game learning parts of the body for BEGINNERS.
English Translation: Alouette means "Lark", so you will find it is much harder to sing this song in English since "lark" has only one syllable, ... just sing Aloutte & then say the part of the body , as in the song. You might find this translated on the net in your mother tongue.
http://kids.niehs.nih.gov/lyrics/alouette.htm -
5. You can play SIMON SAYS which is similar to Alouette .
eg the teacher stands in front of the class & says: Simon says put your hands on your HEAD. If anyone gets it wrong they have to stand to one side. then you go through most parts of the body. The teacher can alter the pace of the game depending on the ability of the students.
6. You can also visit http://esl.about.com/od/advancedenglish/Learning_English_for_the_Advanced_Level_ESL_EFL_Advanced_English.htm
http://www.oup.com/elt/global/products/headway
DIFFERENCES BETWEEN BRITISH AND AMERICAN ENGLISH
Here's a good site that has listings for both dialects:
http://www.uta.fi/FAST/US1/REF/usgbdiff.html#b2a
MORE WEBSITES FOR LEARNING ENGLISH RECOMMENDED BY ITALKI MEMBER SOPHIE
http://www.bbc.co.uk/radio4/
http://www.elllo.org/
http://www.bbc.co.uk/worldservice/learningenglish/
http://news.bbc.co.uk/
http://www.usingenglish.com/
http://www.englishpage.com/
http://www.tolearnenglish.com/
http://www.oup.com/elt/global/products/headway/
http://www.flo-joe.co.uk/
http://wordweb.info/free/