Believe me – there is one solution to this problem! Trying to find out how to improve your spoken English in a short time?
Just speak to your friends in English as much as you can.
Stumble, fumble, have a good laugh, but don’t stop trying. Let them correct you, there is no shame in it. After all, you are a student who is trying to improve your spoken English yourself!
Just keep speaking, the more you speak, the fluent you will be. Do not worry about not being able to find the correct words when speaking. It will go away with time.
Improving English all by yourself shouldn’t be stressful because if you get stressed, things will not improve.
Let me tell you from my experience!
My English was never fluent and yes, I did try a lot to improve my spoken English. All of a sudden I would become conscious – should it be ‘have been’ or ‘has been’. How do I pronounce ‘schedule’?
Did someone just smirk because I pronounced it wrong?
Should I speak in a crowd where everyone knows better than me?
This would be a never ending process and every time I fumbled. Confidence was missing!
How to overcome the fear of speaking wrong English?
Be confident – be okay with the fact that your English can be wrong! In fact, you can even mention this – just apologize that you might pronounce something wrong and tell others you are still learning how to improve your English!
It’s not going to matter – no one will actually laugh or bother that your English is going wrong.
All this is being said just to help you understand that not being able to speak fluent English is not a crime. People survive without even knowing English – why be tensed about it?
So, now I hope you are feeling a bit better. Let’s start.
Core Principles of Improving your English:
If improving your English becomes a major goal, then you need to include these four things in your daily routine. It is not tough nor something that you cannot do.
- Read a Lot
So, that’s what we were taught in school. Isn’t it? Yes, read a lot. If you are really keen in improving your English, read good blogs, articles, newspapers, journals, books or anything you have interest in. It will help you in improving your vocabulary amazingly.
- Write Down
Do you know that many people find it helpful when they maintain a journal of new words they hear? You can keep a journal of new words or interesting sentences. Keep reading them whenever you have time. And yes, do not forget to use them whenever you can.
- Speak as often as you can
Speak in English as much as you can. In case you stay alone and do not have anyone to speak, you can even practice in front of the mirror. You can ask yourself questions and answer them all by yourself.
Confused what to ask? Here are some things you can speak to yourself about.
- Where do you want to see yourself five years from now?
- Suppose you have a lot of money, where do you want to travel?
- Do you regret anything in life?
- Where would you want to spend your money, if you got a good job?
Just ask yourself questions like these and answer with confidence.
- Listen
This is one of the easiest things you can do to learn English. Just turn ON your television and start watching a channel which has English content. You can listen to News, debates, English movies, English discussions. You will not just love how people speak, you will also get clarity on pronunciation.
In fact, listening should be kept for those days when you are very tired and do not have the time and energy for anything.
In case television is something you no longer watch, you have YouTube for your guidance. There are hundreds of English documentaries, tutorials, stories, and more which you can listen on a regular basis and improve your English.
Try the above daily and you will be able to see changes in your language skills.
Okay, this is good enough – what else can be done?
There are many people who set themselves goals. I truly believe in setting goals because we cannot be dedicated enough if we do not have goals for ourselves.
Let’s consider some goals and how you can set them.
- Short Term Goals – Set a goal for one day or two days and work on it. For example, you can set a goal of listening to a news story for at least 1 hour daily.
- Long Term Goals – Set yourself monthly goals. Focus on improving your pronunciation in 1 months’ time.
If you are still uncomfortable with the above methods and need to learn in privacy, here are some of the many things you can do:
Learn How to Improve Your English In Private:
Give yourself a Topic and Start Talking:
If you want to improve your English, you need to talk, talk and talk. Reading books may not help you always because you will still fumble when talking.
So, for instance, give yourself a topic.
Eg. How would you suggest people to wear masks?
( Now, this is one topic on which you will have plenty of information on the internet. So, in case you get stuck, you can take help)
Start a Discussion with Yourself:
Have you ever tried this?
Ask yourself some questions and answer them.
- Talk about one thing you would love to change in your life!
- Or talk about how Covid-19 has changed your life?
- How is your relationship with your mom?
I am sure, these are some topics on which we can speak a lot. The idea is to make yourself speak – so no matter what topic you have in mind, remember it is about speaking a lot. So, push yourself to speak.
Activities That Help To Improve your English:
For those who get tired with too much practice or find it a bit boring, can try out some fun activities that help in improving English.
- Try out Role Playing
- Tell a story
- Prepare a set of interview questions
- Write a story
- Try to translate a regional language movie into English
- Challenge yourself to speak on a new topic daily and see how well you can speak.
FAQ – How Can I Improve my English All by Self At Home?
How Can I master English at home?
The first step is to ‘speak, speak and speak’ Do not worry about the mistakes you make, but do not stop speaking in English. It is the ONLY way you learn or improve English at home.
What about the spoken English courses that help to improve my English?
Yes, there are several online spoken English courses. Udemy and Coursera offer a number of courses that help in improving English.
So, go ahead and start your English speaking course online, if you do not wish to learn English on your own.