Keep Calm and Speak English

1. Talk to your friends and fellow students in English.

Think about the people you have a good relationship with. This includes your friends, colleagues and family members.

How many of them speak English better than you? How many have a similar fluency level?

If there are cool people in your life who speak English, ask them to practice with you. Set up coffee dates and Skype appointments. Chances are, they’ll be eager to talk to you since this benefits them as well.

As an ESL teacher, I’ve discovered that most of my students have at least one family member or close friend who speaks english more fluently. Yet they never practice together.

Chatting (talking casually), even if it’s just typing, can help with your conversation skills. If you decide to chat in English online, be sure to use good grammar and spellings instead of using online salng.

Here’s the thing about the internet: While chatting, you usually don’t want to make the other person wait. This means that you’ll try to come up with answers fast. Internet connections are fast these days, so you can still look up words you don’t know and answer your chat buddies swiftly (fast). This assists (helps) you to think in English, making you a faster speaker in the long run.

If you’re using Skype, you can actually speak too. You don’t even have to turn on your camera if you don’t want to. The important thing is that you’re practicing your conversation skills!

2. Don’t worry too much about accuracy, but don’t completely ignore it either.

Worried about speaking correctly in your new language? Too much concern (worry) about speaking correctly might stop you from engaging in conversations, so you’ll need to relax a little. However, being too laid-back (relaxed) about this won’t help you in the future.

I had one student who was a lot more confident in his speaking than all his fellow students, but he never paid attention to his mistakes. At the end of the term, his confidence was still high but his accuracy hadn’t improved.

Why is this bad? He had the grammar of an intermediate-level student and the speaking skill level of an elementary-level student. He was so confident that he did not care when he messed up (made mistakes). This meant that he would never figure out (learn) the right way to say things. If you want to speak English casually and not use it in your professional life, and you don’t care about advancing to a higher level of English, this is okay. But you’ll need to really consider (think about) what your goals are with English.

3. Stay in an English-speaking country whenever you can.

If you have the time and money, it’s a great idea to go on vacation in an English-speaking country. You’ll have to practice English for the length of your stay.

However, not every country, city or town filled with English-speaking people is a great place to practice English.

Go to towns and cities that have very few people from your country and other tourists. This way, you won’t pick the easy way out when you feel uninspired, shy or lazy. If there are many people speaking your native language (not English) in your destination, try to avoid these foreign communities and interact with locals instead. When speaking with other people from your home country, insist that you both speak in English if possible.

Picking cheaper destinations means your money will last longer and you can spend more time abroad. So, maybe you should avoid London or New York if money for travel is limited. The pricier (more expensive) places also tend to be more touristy, so that’s one more reason to avoid them. It’s a win-win! 

4. Talk back to the television.

While you’re watching movies or television shows in English, you’ll have some great chances to practice English listening and speaking skills.

Because most TV shows rely on continuity, they’re bound to repeat certain things. Pick a TV show or a movie you already love and don’t tire of watching. Since you already know what’s going to happen and what everyone will say, you won’t have to worry about understanding anything. Watch once and just practice paying attention to dialogue (conversations) and how people speak. Pause at regular intervals to emulate (match, typically by imitation) their tone and pronunciation. Repeating what people say will help you sound more natural.

Do this regularly. You can even record your own voice to catch any mistakes you make while practicing.

But there is one problem with using movies and TV shows to learn English. They can be REALLY hard.