Behind Better Speaking in English (Cont'...)

Hi readers, it’s a pleasure to see all you again in English zone. On some previous issue, we have discussed first four secrets of being a more fluent speaker of English. So, check this out to find out the rest of those secret.

1. Showing where you are going

When you are speaking English, one thing should be considered is what important is in your talk and places where the listeners don’t have to need to concentrate on so much; it is called signposting. It means showing how information is relevant to the talk (important for the listeners) and it can be done by saying such these phrases ‘Let me begin with …’ First of all …” and “one of the most important thing is …”. By having signposting, you can make the listeners easily to locate what part of your speech is important or not. So, how can you signpost your talk effectively:

1. Listen out for your signposting

When you are listening to your favorite anchor on Metro TV or VOA at JTV, try to locate what phrases they use for signposting. Becoming aware and try to practice it are the best way to knowing your signposting.

2. Plan what you are going to say

If you are going to give a talk or presentation, plan the stages in your talk – introduction, list of points, and conclusion. When you are going to introduce a new idea, use phrases such as: ‘Let me tell you about… or asking question to the listeners. If you want to give a list of points, you may use: ‘first of all …’, ‘another thing is …’. And to finish? You can use phrases like ‘in conclusion…’ or to finish off …’

3. Ask a friend to follow your plan

When you are practicing speaking, ask your partners or friends to record how many signposting you talk. Then you may ask for the feedback from your friend to improve your signposting.

6. Keeping the listener interested

The secret of being an interesting speaker? Just make sure that the person you are speaking to really wants to listen. Maybe grammar and word choices are important in your speaking but knowing how your listeners feel is more important as the listeners will stop listening if what you say is dull. So how can you make sure that you can keep the listeners’ attention.

1. Vary your vocabulary

Don’t repeat the same words too often since it can sound boring to the listeners. So try to vary your word choices for the same idea by seeking the synonym or thesaurus of those words.

2. Plan what you want to say

Spend short time to do Brainstorming before delivering speech or talk. Brainstorming means gathering ideas or vocabulary that related to the topic discussed by asking to other people who know the topic well.

3. Involve the listeners

When you are speaking, try to involve the listeners by asking such questions, “Have you thought of …?”, “Do you know about …?” before telling your topic/story. Asking those questions can give the listeners background knowledge about your topic.

7. Being a supportive listener

Basically speaking needs the presences both speaker and listener. In listening to the speech or talk, listener has an important role in making sure the speaker’s message is clear. The listener can ask question, nod your head up and down, or use noises such as ‘uh..uh’ (means yes) or word such as really, question tag. By being an active listener, you help the speaker make his/her pointes clearly and make sure that the conversation is successful. Being an active listener can be done through:

1. Recognize how you listening in your own language

Try to find words or phrases or noises which are used in our language to show your interest and understanding on the topic discussed.

2. Show you are interested

You can be an active listener by asking at least one question to the speaker to show that you have been listening to her/him.

3. Ask for clarification

Don’t hesitate to ask for clarification if you feel something you don’t understand which isn’t really clear. For example: the speaker is feeling exhausted and you are not sure the meaning, you can ask ‘I’m sorry, I’m not sure what you mean. How do you feel?”

8. Sounding natural

Pronunciation is a difficult area in speaking English. Improving your pronunciation involves many things. First stress – thinking syllables you need to put emphasis in order to make you meaning clear. Then you also need to think intonation to show you how we feel about the subject we are talking about including pitch and stress. So, how do you work on your pronunciation?

a. Notice the stress

When you learn a new word, try to notice which syllable is stressed. Getting the right stress is important since if you put the stress on the wrong syllable, listeners may not be able to understand you.

b. Getting the rhythm right

When you speaking in English, try to think which words are the most important in showing the meaning of what you want to say since those stressed words likely to carry most emphasis.

c. Speed and fluency are not same

Don’t try to imitate the native speakers since the speed and fluency are not same since it can lead to difficulty in understanding you. Try to slow down a little and concentrate on stressing

Well, it’s the right time for you to start speaking English better, so what are you waiting for? Let ask for you buddy to help you in improving your speaking English.
All the information can be accessed on http://www.bbc.co.uk

Scrabble Games

The term SCRABBLE is very common among students and teacher. Scrabble is a popular word board game, in which two to four players score points by forming words from individual lettered tiles on a 15×15 game board. The words are formed across and down in a crossword fashion, and must appear in a standard dictionary. Official reference works (e.g. The Official Scrabble Player's Dictionary, now in its 4th edition) which provide a list of permissible words, some of which are rarely found in standard English writing, are also available.(Retrieved from http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Scrabble)
Frankly speaking, scarbble letters can be modified for several games for breaking the ice berg. Here are some recommended games utilzing scarbble letter. (This article is retrieved from http://www.teachingenglish.org.uk/try/try.shtml?mtk=7)
# pelling tests – Divide the class into teams and give each team a set of Scrabble letters. Get them to spread out the letters on the table so they’re all facing up. Then give clues for words you want to test them on, e.g. ‘the day before Wednesday’, students ‘write’ TUESDAY on the table by selecting the scrabble letters. ‘What’s this in English?’ – point to things in the classroom, draw on the board etc. Once students get the idea, ask one of them to lead the game and give the clues instead of you.
# Tenses – If students are learning the past simple tense, give them the sets of letters and you say the infinitive and they write the past simple forms using the letters. Eg. You say ‘go’ students write ‘went’ in scrabble letters.
# Crosswords – Put students in groups and give each group one set of scrabble letters. Ask them to see how many words they can make with their set connecting them up like a crossword.
# How many words can you make in two minutes? In groups students use a set of letters to see how many different words they can make. The winning group makes the most / longest words.

Wanna try, why not? Create a new environment of Teaching Learning Ativities (TLA) through scrabble games and get the advantages on it.

Speak OUT

HI online buddy,

It's a nice day to see u again through this blog. In this nice weekend I wanna share some spoken phrases using word OUT. Frankly speaking, this word is very common spoken in daily conversation. In this issue, you can check out ten of phrases using OUT.
1. if you 'ask someone out', you invite them out on a date (with
the hope of romance between you.)

I want to ask her out but I am too shy.
He asked me out on Friday but I told him I had to wash my hair.

2. If you 'cut something out', you no longer do it/ eat it etc.

My doctor told me to cut out dairy products.
I cut out going to the gym because I did not have the time and now
I am fat.

3. If you 'eat out', you go to a restaurant.

He never cooks and always eats out or has a takeaway.
For my birthday, I would like to eat out somewhere nice.

4. If you 'jump out', you come out quickly and suddenly.

I was walking quietly down the street when this young man jumped
out in front of me.
Stop the car at the corner and I will jump out.

5. If you 'keep someone out', you prevent them from entering.

There is extra security today to keep the protestors out.
Please keep out of my office. I need some peace and quiet.

6. If you 'leave something out', you do not mention it.

Did you leave anything out or is that the whole story?
It is just a summary. I left out a lot of the details.

7. If something 'slips out', it escapes quickly and quietly.

I have slipped out of the meeting for a few minutes but I must get
back.
I did not intend to tell him. It just slipped out.

8. If you 'squeeze something out ' , you get it out using force or
pressure.

I can never squeeze out that last bit of toothpaste from the tube.
I managed to squeeze out of her that the job was offered to Alain.

9. If you 'stay out', you do not come home.

I stayed out all night and I feel terrible.
We stayed out celebrating until the early hours.

10. If you 'walk out' , you leave as a sign of protest.

When we heard their derisory offer, we walked out of the meeting.
This presentation is dreadful. I have a good mind to walk out.

As usual, you will find exercises on this by clicking on this link.


http://www.business-english.com/outphrasals1/menu.php

Behind Better Speaking in English

BEHIND BETTER SPEAKING in ENGLISH

Hi Buddy. It’s nice to see you again in this English corner. We all know English is spoken all over the world. It is not a wonder that acquiring English is an urgent demand nowadays both spoken and written English. For this issue and the next, we are going to raise you up to become a more fluent speaker of English, and at some of skills you need for effective communication.
Are you eager to improve your English speaking; here are eight tips to build a more fluent speaker of English (1) Becoming a confident speaker, (2) Fluency or accuracy, (3) Finding the right words, (4) Learning language in chunks, (5) Showing where you are going, (6) Keeping the listener interested, (7) Being a supportive listener, and (8) Sounding natural
1. Becoming confident speaker
Confidence is a very important in learning to speak a language. Many learners worry that they are going to make a mistake or that the people listening will not understand them. You want to relax when you are speaking English; here are the tips to make you sound more confident.
a. Practice often. The more often you speak the easier it becomes. Try to think of people you can talk to in English, or places in your town where English is spoken a lot. Is it an uneasy way? If not, how about joining a conversation club?
b. Relax and think about the message. You are so easy become nervous if you only focus on the grammar rules in your speaking. In speaking what you want to say is more important than how you say it. Then the key of relaxing is talking something which is really interesting. Therefore, speaking is easier if you have what something to say and you enjoy having conversation.
c. Rehearse what you want to say. If you are very nervous, try to practice saying what you want to say to yourself a few times. Planning and rehearsal can make your speaking more confident.
2.Fluency or accuracy
Speaking English fluently is a goal for many learners of English. However, other learners have the goal of speaking accuracy. Which is more important for you? Basically, speaking a language well requires both fluency and accuracy. So, how can you develop both?
a. Identify your learning style. Is being correct when you speak in English the most important for you? Or do you always take risk in speaking English though it is not correct? Therefore, try to recognize what is easy for you and then working on what is difficult.
b. Focus on one area at a time. If you want to have fluency in speaking, you just make sure your listeners understand what you’ve said, not on avoiding mistakes (both tenses error, speak slowly, and vocabulary). So just focus on one area to improve your speaking.
c. Vary your practice. If you are joining a conversation club, make sure you vary the types of activities you do so that you get practice both fluency and accuracy.
3. Finding the right words
Vocabulary is important in learning a language. Using the right words for your expression in speaking is needed to become a fluent and confident speaker. Here are some tips to help in finding exact words for speaking well.
a. Explain what you mean. Don’t worry if you can’t find the exact word you are searching for. Instead, try to explain what you mean. In this case, you can give a short description, a short definition, even use you body language to demonstrate the meaning.
b. Start your sentence again. It’s not funny to stop at the middle of speaking as you lose your words. Remember that what you are saying is important for both speaker and listener. So, to give yourself more time to think of a word or definition, go back at the beginning of your sentence and start again.
c. Ask for help. If you get stuck in finding the right word, why not to ask the listeners for help. Together, you and your listener might be able to finds words for the idea you want to express.

4. Learning language in chunks
A chunk is a phrase or group of words which you hear together all the time. Chunk is important for better speaking since it can make our speaking sound natural and fluent. Curious in using chunk in your speaking, here are the tips:
a. Listen out for fixed phrases. Be keen on your English radio/television program. Are there any phrases which are repeated a lot in that program? Please focus on phases rather than individual word, then you can build your store of language chunk. It can help you become more confident since you will not need to think about each individual word in your sentences.
b. Record collocations. Collocation is defined as a sequence of words or terms which co-occur more often than would be expected by chance. For instances: ‘bank’ we have some collocations with words bank – bank account, central bank, bank river, bank deposit, and bank manager. When you are listing new vocabulary in your notebook, remember to think about any important collocating words. So your English will be more natural.

Do you have any gut to practice four tips above in order to improve your English speaking? So, please wake up and find your difficulties in speaking then fix it? Practice makes perfect, doesn’t it?
Stay tune on the next issue for the next tips…. (To be continued)

(Above article can be read on Tabloid RGB June 2006 issue and the material can be downloaded at http://www.bbc.co.uk in the form pdf)

Grand Launching

Well, today (June 9, 2006) a new blog is launched to fill my hunger in finding some references of teaching English for others English as spoken language. However, this open space is provided for all readers to share all about English.Then, we can have discussion on it.
English Activities Zone is free of charge to be downloaded in order to enrich your experiences in learning English. All the materials are supposed powered by many URL for English learning. I am waiting for your nice big welcome to my English Zone