Enhance Your Speaking Skills (Strategies I-V) I am going to share with you some of the strategies I advice my students to take to improve their speaking skills. Strategy – I Slow Down Your Speed of Speaking You may be a fluent speaker in your mother tongue, but that may not be the case while attempting to speak in English. Though it is true that getting across your point is more important than perfect speaking, yet one has to keep in mind that making a good impression on the audience is also important. It is completely acceptable, if you speak more slowly and more clearly. It would help you not only in pronunciation but also in word selection. Strategy – II Speak, Speak, Speak It is said that practice makes a man (woman) perfect. Therefore, there is no better way to improve spoken skills than speaking as much as possible. Do not be shy. Be confident and speak as much as possible to as many people as you can! Don’t feel conscious if you make mistakes. The more you practice, the more you improve your pronunciation and achieve fluency. Strategy – III Be A Good Listener Too Listen for what to say and how to say. Sometimes, when speaking a foreign language, we are so focussed on what we are saying and whether it’s correct or not, that we forget to listen to what is being said by others. It’s important that we pay attention when others speak so that we are able to pick up words and grammar, which we may use later. Listening is actually a great resource for speaking. Listen to news bulletins or songs to improve pronunciation. Strategy – IV Try to Read Aloud I am sure you love to listen to the sound of your own voice. So, why not use this to improve your speaking? Take a book, a magazine or a newspaper and read aloud to yourself. This is an excellent way to improve pronunciation as you only focus on the words you speak without bothering about grammatical structure. Note down any new words you come across and find out what it means. This adds to your vocabulary. Strategy – V Use Technology Technology is literally available at our fingertips now. Your smartphone can be a very useful tool for learning a language. Use it to record yourself speak and play it back to hear how your English sounds to others. Try to find your mistakes and work on rectifying them.