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Master Your English Speaking Skills

You have been struggling with learning English for five years, or even ten years. However, you cant
even speak English to foreigners when you bump into them in street. Why?
That might be because the method you use is wrong, or the amount of time you spend on studying is
not enough. It is certainly true that speaking is the one of the most important skills you need to
improve while learning a language. Here are ways you can make use of to push your English
speaking skills to a new high level.
1. LEARN VOWEL AND CONSONANT SOUNDS IN ENGLISH.
The Phonemic chart is a list of the different vowel and consonant sounds in English. Learning how to
make these sounds and then using them to pronounce words correctly will really help you speak
English clearly.
This is a great resource from the British Council:
http://www.teachingenglish.org.uk/article/phonemic-chart

2. LEARN AND IDENTIFY SCHWA

- Schwa is the name for the most common sound in English. It is a weak, unstressed sound and it
occurs in many words. It is often the sound in grammar words such as articles and prepositions.
Getting the schwa sound correct is a good way of making your pronunciation more accurate and
natural. The phonemic symbol for this sound is //
Ex: To survive the cold weather you have to make thorough preparations.
For further information: https://www.teachingenglish.org.uk/article/teaching-schwa

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3. LEARN ABOUT WORD STRESS.

When words have more than one syllable, we stress one or more of them. Stress might be in the first/
second/ third or fourth syllable varying in each word.
We can use dictionary to figure out where the stress lie, and then practice pronouncing the words
with more attention to the stress.

4. LEARN ABOUT SENTENCE STRESS.

- Sentence stress refers to the word or words we stress in a phrase of a sentence. When we stress a
word, we help the listener understand what is important. If we stress the wrong word or dont
stress the key word, the listener may get confused or not realise what is important in the
sentence.
- Sentence Stress Rules: The basic rules of sentence stress are:
1. content words (main verbs, nouns, adjectives, adverbs, negative auxiliaries) are stressed
2. structure words (pronouns, prepositions, articles, conjunctions, auxiliary verbs) are unstressed
3. the time between stressed words is always the same
Here is one example that we can try on:
Helen: Have you seen that new film with Tom Cruise?
John: No, but I saw the last one he was in. It was terrible!
5. LEARN ABOUT COMMON INTONATION PATTERNS.
Intonation (when the pitch of the voice goes up and down) is complex in English but it is very
important as it expresses the feeling or emotion of the speaker.

You can practice with this guy: https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=GPcBJfBTlNo

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6. CHOOSE AN ACCENT YOU LIKE AND IMITATE IT.
Accent is a way of pronouncing the words of a language that shows which country, area or social
class a person comes from. Different countries have different accents when their citizens speak
English. You should try the one you like best and stick to it whenever you speak English.
Lets watch a very interesting video clips about English accents:
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=VAWt0OJ65Bc
7. USE CONTRACTIONS MORE.
Contractions make your speech more efficient because they save time and energy. Say should not
and then say shouldnt: which is easier to say?
Try this video: https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=OvaXnJqrdcg

8. LEARN ABOUT LINKING SOUNDS.

In connected speech, words are usually linked together smoothly without a break between them.
Normally, a consonant sound at the end of a word is linked to a vowel sound at the beginning of the
next word.
Here you can find further information: https://www.englishclub.com/pronunciation/linking-3.htm

9. LEARN SHORT AUTOMATIC RESPONSES.

Many of our responses are automatic (Right, OK, no problem, alright, fine thanks, just a minute,
youre welcome, fine by me, lets do it!, yup, no way! youre joking, right?, Do I have to? etc.)
Collect these short automatic responses and start using them

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10. LEARN EXCLAMATION WORDS AND FILLERS.

Watch this video or study this list of 100 common exclamations here.
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=gz-pfiO6lyA
http://www.dailywritingtips.com/100-mostly-small-but-expressive-interjections/
11. REPLACE REGULAR VERBS WITH PHRASAL VERBS.
A phrasal verb is a combination of a verb and preposition, a verb and an adverb, or a verb with both
an adverb and a preposition.
A phrasal verb has a meaning which is different from the original verb. That's what makes them fun,
but confusing. You may need to try to guess the meaning from the context, or, failing that, look it up
in a dictionary.

A website offering a wide variety of phrase verbs:

http://grammar.ccc.commnet.edu/grammar/phrasals.htm
Example:
run across = find by chance
I ran across my old roommate at the college reunion.
12. LEARN ABOUT COLLOCATIONS.
A collocation is a group of two or more words that generally go together. These groups sound natural
to native speakers of English, whereas other combinations just sound unnatural.
A very useful website for consulting collocation: http://www.ozdic.com/
For example:
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Im catching the fast train (NOT quick train)
Shall we have some fast food? (NOT quick food)
Im going for a quick shower. (NOT fast shower)
Lets have a quick meal before we go to the theatre. (NOT fast meal)
13. IDENTIFY FIXED AND SEMI-FIXED PHRASES AND PRACTISE THEM.
Fixed phrases usually contain between 3 and 7 words and include items like:
Ex: to be honest, in a moment, on the other hand
A website having more than a thousand of phrases:
http://broadskyblog.blogspot.com.es/2012/11/over-1000-of-most-common-fixed.html
14. PRACTISE TONGUE TWISTERS.
Tongue twisters are phrases designed to improve your pronunciation of particular sounds.

Try these phrases:

The big bug bit the little beetle
She sells sea shells
I saw Susie sitting in a shoe shine shop.
How much wood could a woodchuck chuck if a woodchuck could chuck wood?
15. RECORD YOURSELF SPEAKING ENGLISH

- Listen to a recording of a fluent English speaker (a short audio file)

- Record yourself repeating what they said.
- Compare the difference and try again.

Humans are natural mimics so you will find yourself getting better and better. This is a
remarkably effective way RECORD YOURSELF.
A useful tool for recording: https://soundcloud.com/
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16. READ ALOUD, ESPECIALLY DIALOGUE.

Reading aloud is not the same as speaking naturally. Practise for 5 or 10 minutes a day and you will
begin to notice which sounds are difficult for you to produce. Find transcripts of natural dialogues,
and practise acting them with a friend, you will also learn common phrases which we use when
speaking as well.
A useful tool: http://www.teacherjoe.us/NYBJ.html
Lets try: Oh, I didn't know that! Well, let's go inside and take a look. Hey, look at all the cool stuff
here! Hmmm... Maybe I should buy an MP3 player while I'm here ... Or maybe a new mobile
phone...

17. SING ALONG TO ENGLISH SONGS

The lyrics to pop songs are often conversational so you can learn lots of common expressions by
listening to them.
Some beautiful songs you can sing along: http://www.esolcourses.com/topics/learn-english-withsongs.html

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Now, heres your CALL TO ACTION.

1. Learn Vowels and Consonant sounds in English
2. Learn and Identify Schwa
3. Learn about word stress
4. Learn about sentence stress
5. Learn about common intonation patterns
6. Choose an accent you like and imitate it
7. Use contractions more
8. Learn about linking sounds
9. Learn short automatic responses
10. Learn exclamation words and fillers
11. Replace regular words with phrase verbs
12. Learn about collocations
13. Identify fixed and semi-fixed phrases and practice them
14. Practice tongue twisters
15. Record yourself speaking English
16. Read aloud, especially dialogues
17. Sing along to English songs

ng k hc: 0962 60 8801 04 6260 3948

a ch: S 18 Trn i Ngha Q Hai B Trng H ni