Hey, in this week's lesson, I'm going to teach you 10 proven techniques that will help you speak English more fluently. If that's your goal, this video is for you. Are you ready? Well, then I'm teacher Tiffany.
Let's jump right in technique. Number one, the first technique you need to understand and start putting into practice is practice English. Through storytelling. That's right. Practice English through storytelling.
Here's the thing. You can improve your fluency and creativity by telling stories in English. This technique encourages you to express yourself confidently and engages your imagination, thus enhancing your overall language skills. Think about it. At the end of every lesson, what do we have?
You know, yes, we have story time, right? Don't worry. I'm going to give you a story today as well.
Why do I tell you those stories? Well, I tell you stories so that you can get to know me more as your English teacher, but also for you to enjoy the process of learning English in a different way. Yes, I can teach you words, expressions, and techniques. But when I switch over to telling you a story, you start learning English in a different way.
You're just engaged in the story. You're listening. You're enjoying it. So the same thing will happen when you create your own stories. Start telling people stories in English.
Your brain starts becoming even more creative and this will improve your English fluency. So when someone asks you, hey, how was your day? Instead of saying in English, Oh, it was good or, Oh, it wasn't that good. Tell a story.
Oh, you know, I had an amazing day today. I met this lady at the store and we'd started talking and dot, dot, dot. Tell a story instead of just giving one, two, three words as an answer.
Makes sense. Yes. So again, technique number one.
to improve your English fluency practice English through story telling, you know how much I love telling stories. Number two, record and analyze real life conversations. Oh, pay attention, record and analyze real life conversations. You see, you can record your conversations.
You heard me, right? Your conversations with native speakers, or even dialogues from movies or TV shows by analyzing these recordings, you can identify areas where you need improvement and work on specific aspects of your speech. So there's power in analyzing your speech and analyzing your conversations. So once again, This technique, two ways you can analyze your own conversations that you have with others, or you can analyze conversations that you've seen on TV or heard from a podcast.
The key is listening very closely. So I want you to think about having a conversation, maybe with your teacher or maybe with another friend you have that's a native English speaker. As you're having the conversation, listen, it might be on the phone. Hit record.
It might be on the computer via zoom. Hit record. After that conversation, go back and listen multiple times. Analyze the conversation. What did you do?
Well, what do you want to work on? What expressions were used and what expressions could have been used in the place of other expressions. When you start analyzing these conversations, your brain will also start realizing Ah, okay. When you get into another English conversation, now we're going to switch the way we respond.
Analyzing conversations will help you improve your fluency. I know you've probably had this issue before you experienced this, where you get into a conversation and you find yourself saying the same thing over and over and over again, right? Or maybe you're using the same word. Over and over and over again. Listen, I know how that feels.
When I was studying Korean, I would get frustrated because I'd want to say something else, but I only had one word. I only had one expression, but when you go back and analyze the conversation that you recorded, right? And you see, I always say this word, then you figure out what you can say in place of that word. There's something that happens when you analyze your own conversations.
Okay. Again, you can also analyze conversations from other people's experience as well, and it will have a good effect, but I want you to. also focus on analyzing your own conversations.
Okay. All right, here we go. Technique number three, again, your goal being to speak English more fluently.
Speak aloud while reading. When you have a book, right? I have a book right next to me. I'm reading this book instead of reading silently, right? Read it out loud.
That difficulty is dot, dot, dot. Read it out loud so you can hear yourself. Here's the thing.
Read aloud to improve pronunciation, intonation, and rhythm in spoken English. This technique helps with fluency and building confidence in speaking. The more you practice, the better you'll get. Again, speak.
aloud while reading. I know you might feel shy. I understand. I know you might not like hearing yourself per se, because you don't feel like you sound like someone else.
Don't worry about that. Speak aloud while reading. The more you do it, the more you will improve. We're talking about this year, this year, my friend improving your English fluency. So again, speak aloud while reading.
You got me. Excellent. All right. We're going to move on to technique number four, but I want to remind you, I have a daily English vocabulary newsletter that I send out via email totally for free.
This year, I want to help you speak English fluently. So today I want to tell you about this newsletter. Go to dailyenglishvocabulary.com.
Every day from Sunday to Friday, I'll send you an email for free with five new vocabulary words about. A specific topic. I want you to be able to speak English fluently about topics. So every day I'm going to send you five new words.
So go to dailyenglishvocabulary.com and get it totally for free. All right. So let's move on to technique number four. Technique number four is seek out natural English conversations.
Seek. To look for. To search for. Seek.
out natural English conversations. So how do you do this? Listen to podcasts or watch videos that feature unscripted. Here's the key unscripted conversations between native English speakers.
I'm going to pause really quickly with the description. This is something that I do for my students in my academy every single month. They're in my speak English, like a native program. And I'm training them to sound like a native English speaker to sound like me. I want to help them reach this point.
So every month I actually record a real conversation between myself and another native English speaker. We don't have a script. We literally speak very honestly.
We're very transparent. Why? Because I know the power of watching, of listening to.
Real English conversations in order for you to sound like a native English speaker, in order for you to sound fluent, to speak English fluently, to sound natural, you have to pay attention to what natural conversations actually sound like. So here's the thing. Exposure to real life dialogues helps learners understand the nuances of spontaneous speech. And fosters more fluid conversations. I've watched my students in this program literally start sounding more natural.
They're speaking English more fluently. Why? Because they're seeing every single month, a new conversation on a new topic between native English speakers.
And they're watching how we speak as they look at the videos. They're listening to our intonation. They're listening to the different nuances when they listen to it via the audio file. This is how you'll improve your English fluency. Once again, seek out search for look for natural English conversations.
Technique number five technique. Number five is another good one. Engage in group discussions, engage, participate in group discussion. Here's the thing.
Join discussion groups or conversation clubs to interact with other English learners, you are not alone engaging in group discussions allows you to practice expressing your thoughts, engage in debates. and develop fluency in a supportive environment. I love watching my students engage with each other.
There's this no judgment zone. They're not afraid of making mistakes. Why?
It's a supportive environment. Find an environment that you can be involved in where you can practice speaking English and not feel nervous, not feel shy, not feel scared. The more you practice, the better you'll become. So again, technique number five is engage in group discussions. Technique number six.
It's important for you to use mind maps for conversation planning. Use mind maps for conversation planning. This one makes me excited.
Let me explain. Prior to discussions or conversations. Create a mind map with key points or phrases related to the topic.
This technique helps organize thoughts and ensures smoother and more coherent conversations. Let me break this down for you. You know that I've taught you over and over again, the five W's method.
Say it with me. Who, what, when, where, and why. This is one of the methods, one of the techniques I have been teaching you for years.
Why? Because when you organize your thoughts, when you create this mind map, who, what, when, where, and why, and then enter a conversation, man, the confidence you have in that conversation will blow your mind because you have your ideas organized. That's what this technique is talking about. For example, if you know tomorrow, You're going to be interacting with someone in English and you know, Hey, we'll probably talk about, um, our careers or we'll probably talk about our families prepare, start now, creating your mind map, get a pen.
Get a piece of paper and I want you to write down. I'm looking for paper. I don't see any paper, but I want you to write that in a notebook on a piece of paper. Okay.
Draw a circle family. If we talk about family, draw the circle mind map. Now, what aspects of my family do I want to go into?
Ah, okay. My husband just got a new job. Okay. My husband's new job.
Okay. Next. Ah, my daughter, she's playing on the soccer team at school. Okay.
Soccer team. My daughter. Start planning out what your goal is. going to say, and I guarantee you, you'll be able to speak English more fluently. And you'll be at ease. You won't be nervous.
You'll be relaxed. So again, use mind maps for conversation planning plan ahead of time. Technique number seven, use the self repetition technique. Again, the self repetition technique. Listen closely, repeat what you just said, but rephrase it slightly.
This is something I do throughout my lessons and you've probably caught onto this. I will say the same thing over again using different words. Why? Because I want to help you learn synonyms.
I want to help you see how to say the same thing in a different way. For example, rephrase it slightly. Say it differently. Change the words and say it again. All of these mean the same thing.
Each of these statements mean the same thing, but I'm saying them differently. Again, repeat what you just said, but rephrase it slightly. This technique actually gives a mental boost by reinforcing what has been spoken and allows you, that's right, you, my friend, to add more details or clarify your ideas during conversations. Man, this ice cream, it's so good. No, it is delicious.
This ice cream is on point. Three different ways of saying the same thing. Again, technique number seven, use the self-repetition technique. Repeat what you're... You're saying in a different way.
We're talking about finally speaking English fluently technique. Number eight, implement the chunking technique, implement the chunking technique. Here we go. Break down sentences into smaller chunks or phrases and focus on speaking them fluently. This technique helps reduce hesitations and promotes smoother conversations.
I used to do this when I was teaching in South Korea all the time. I would recognize when students were having a hard time pronouncing certain words or actually saying something smoothly. So I would break the sentence down.
I would get chunks and have them repeat after me slowly at first, then a little bit faster and then very fast. Then we'd move on to the second chunk slowly at first, then a little faster and then very fast. Then once they had each chunk properly done, they were able to say them, well, I would connect them.
This is called the chunking technique. For example, the last sentence I just said was this technique helps reduce hesitations and promotes smoother conversations that sentence might be too long. So I would break it up into chunks.
This technique helps reduce hesitations. This technique helps reduce hesitations. Say it over and over again until you can say it smoothly like me. Then you move on to the second chunk. And promotes smoother conversations.
And promotes smoother conversations. Until you're able to say it smoothly like me. Then put the two chunks. Together.
This again is called the chunking technique. We're talking about, excuse me. We're talking about speaking English fluently. All right, let's move on to technique number nine. Use many short or small speeches.
Use many, M-I-N-I for those listening, many speeches. Give short speeches in English, for example, on a current event or an interesting topic. This technique helps build confidence in speaking and promotes fluency in expressing ideas.
You, my friend, can and will achieve your English goals this year. This is one technique that will help you achieve your goals. Pick a topic.
Write a short speech about that topic. Short. It doesn't have to be 10 minutes, 15 minutes.
No, it can be a short two minute speech, three minute speech, but practice giving a speech. Practice giving your ideas on a specific topic. Even if you are alone, practice doing this because what you're doing is training your mind to be able to produce your ideas, produce your thoughts, produce your opinions in another language.
And that language being English. So once again, technique number nine, use many speeches. Technique number 10, practice storytelling using pictures. Now we talked about the other technique of storytelling. This is my other favorite technique.
Practice storytelling using pictures. This is something I did all the time with my students in Korea as well. I would get an image, I would get a picture and I'd ask them to describe it, to tell a story based on the picture. Why? It opens your mind.
It helps you become more creative, which will improve your fluency. Here's the deal. Use pictures to practice telling stories in English.
This technique helps with fluency and create. One thing that makes the English language very unique. And again, after learning Korean, I realized, okay, there are differences.
And one of the differences outside of grammar and everything else is the fact that English is a very creative language, right? As Americans, native English speakers, right? We focus on being able to share our ideas, share our opinions.
And we focus on being able to share our opinions. and present them in a way that people can understand them. So we have to constantly think in a creative way. We love storytelling. When you meet someone, even if you don't know them, they'll start telling you a story sometimes.
It's a very creative. Native language. So when you practice telling stories, when you practice looking at a picture and trying to figure out what that picture is about, it will actually help you improve your English fluency.
Trust me, I'm telling you, this is going to change your English this year. I hope you enjoyed this lesson and I hope these techniques really help you achieve your English goals this year. I'll talk to you in the next lesson. Do, do, do, do.
You still there? You know what time it is. Sing it with me. It's story time.
Hey, I said it's story time. All right. So today's story, it is kind of a funny. when I think back on it. So I was living in South Korea, right?
I was living in South Korea. And at that time, the Winter Olympics was being held in South Korea. Now I was a busy missionary teaching English and the Bible, and I was in grad school, but I didn't want to miss the opportunity of going to the Olympics while I was actually living in South Korea. So one of my closest friends, she's Korean, she's also an English teacher in South Korea. We decided to go to the Olympics, right?
She had a car and it was going to be without traffic about a two hour drive. Traffic was horrendous. We were in traffic, I think, for four to five hours.
So, but we got in the car, we were excited. It was freezing outside, but, you know, we were in the car, we were warm inside the car. So, we had been driving for about three and a half to four hours, and all of a sudden, we both felt the urge to use the bathroom.
We both said, wait a minute, I have to use the bathroom. We both said at the same time, But we were stuck in traffic. I mean bumper to bumper traffic, meaning we weren't moving at all.
We were at a standstill for a long time. 20 minutes went by, 40 minutes went by, an hour went by. And we said, this is a problem. This is a problem.
Um, we need to use the restroom, but we're sitting in traffic and we're still about an hour away from our destination now. I knew that I could hold my bladder for a while, right? You know, as you get older, you know, you get busy doing things, you just learn how to hold your bladder when it's necessary, right?
If I'm teaching a class, I can't use the bathroom in the middle of the class, right? So I could hold my bladder, my friend could as well, but it was getting to the end. It was getting to the end. And I was sitting in the car, I mean, the way my legs were...
literally wrapped around into the tight, like, Lord, help me, please. Lord, help me, please. Lord.
And the cars slowly started to move. I honestly was concerned. That's how bad it was.
Imagine holding your bladder for two hours. Two hours. That's a very long time. So I'm holding my bladder. I said, Lord, I don't know.
I don't know. I looked outside. I said, that's not an option.
I couldn't find anything to do. I was like, Lord, please, please. I prayed every prayer you could possibly pray.
So I made it. We made it. to our destination. I made it to the bathroom and the release I felt, I said, thank you Lord. Thank you.
And I got to the back. I made it to the bathroom. There were no accidents.
I made it to the bathroom. But in that moment, as I was sitting in the bathroom in the stall saying, thank you Lord, releasing my bladder, I thought to myself, As human beings, we can do more than we actually realize. You didn't think I'd bring a lesson out of going to the bathroom, did you? But no, I realized you can go further than you even know. You can push yourself more than you might realize.
You have more capabilities in you than you realize. In that moment, I was made aware of the power of determination. And I want you to keep this in mind.
Whenever you are struggling and you feel like you can't go anymore, you remember your... teacher, Tiffany held her bladder. I held it for two hours. I was determined to keep going forward.
You can do it. And there's going to come a moment when you have release, when you feel this extreme joy, when you realize all of your efforts. We're not for naught. We're not something that was done away with. No, your efforts, they paid off.
You are going to achieve your English goals. Hang in there. Keep pushing forward.
I hope you enjoyed this story. I'll talk to you next time.