Tips to improve speaking! (part 1)

Hello everyone! Welcome to the outro of season one of English Airs, the podcast that gives you effortless accuracy. For those of you who are new, my name is Parya. I am an English teacher currently based in Tokyo, and today I have tips for you on how you can improve your speaking. I’m sure you have all experienced having something in your head, but it just won’t come out of your mouth, like your voice is stuck in your throat. So frustrating! You understand what you hear, but even though the answer is easy and you know it, you can’t say it. I want to tell you how to fix that. Come with me!

First, I have a question for you: Can you drive? Or ride a bicycle? Or swim? I am pretty sure that you can do at least one of these things, if not all of them. And here is another question: did you learn them only by reading a book? You didn’t, did you?

Speaking a language is also a skill. Even your mother tongue, that is, your first language, is the same. You hear it when you are growing up, use it, and gradually you make fewer mistakes and use better words. So the simple answer to “How do I improve my speaking?” is “Speak!”.

Simple enough, right? But easier said than done. I know, I know. We are all busy with so many things in life. And who do you even speak to? Also, how do you know if you are speaking correctly or not? Or, what do you even say?

Well, that’s why I am making this podcast! So far, you have listened to 12 episodes. I mean, I hope you have listened to all of them! Did you listen to them more than once? Again, I hope you did. In each episode, there were pauses for you to think and speak. And I posted regular reminders on Instagram and Facebook so that you remembered to spend under 10 minutes practicing. I hope you used all of that as much as you could, but if not, it’s not late! Plus, here is the next part of my plan!

Season one covered the most confusing pairs of tenses at the elementary level. 12 pairs, and that’s a lot! You need time to go back and review them. Season 2 starts on 13 December (and for my listeners in Iran, 22 Azar). Until then, you have 3 weeks. If you listen to 4 episodes a week, it’s under 40 minutes of practice. Doable, right?

The next thing you need to do, as I said a minute ago, is to speak. So, choose as many episodes as you want, say your examples out loud, record your voice, and send it to me at info@englishairs.com. If you are ok with it, I will use the examples to make a special episode with a storyline! So it will be like making a radio program together. And trust me, you will remember what you hear in that story. If you don’t want to have your voice in the story, just let me know in your email. You can still get some real speaking practice, and I will give pronunciation tips based on those.

One important point: do not listen to all the episodes at once and forget about them until the end of the week! The idea is to have regularity so that your head has a bit of English in it all the time. Try listening to one episode every 2 days. That gives you three days off every week.

Let’s recap what I just told you:
First, if you want to improve in speaking, you need to speak. Simple as that.
Second, reviewing is very important.
and finally and most importantly, a little every day is better than a lot once a week.
You have a chance to participate in a global project. I think it’s something you can put on your résumé!

That’s all for now! Let me know if you have any comments, ideas, or questions. You know that I will be happy to hear them, right? And remember that you can now listen to podcast on my YouTube channel while reading the transcript. Just turn on the CC, or Closed Caption. And you can always go to my website for extra material.

Please tell others who might need or enjoy this podcast about it; learning together is more fun, and more memorable. Until next time,

Parya out!