If you find it difficult to speak English, then you can build your speaking confidence with these tips!

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Speak English Confidently: Do These 5 Simple Things Now

Too much listening/watching English content

This is not a bad thing, but the ratio is all wrong. You need to balance listening/watching with speaking. This means that you can practice speaking and improve your communication skills while still enjoying English content.

You could try…

• Watch/ listen to something for 5 minutes
• Speak about it for 2-3 minutes – Imagine you are telling your friend about it
• 50% description / 50% opinion
• Record your voice / make a video using your phone

Start using the new things you learn

Learning new words and grammar patters is important, but they don’t just belong in a notebook. You should be trying to learn new words and phrases that you learn in your conversations. Not only will it help you remember them for longer, but you get some speaking practice too.

Try this:

• Learn 1 new word or pattern per day
• Make a sentence using the word related to your day/life
• Try to use that sentence in a conversation or say it to yourself

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Thinking in your native language

This is natural. You have spent years thinking in your native language, but it is holding you back from speaking fluently in English. It takes time and effort to constantly translate from English to your mother tongue, so the sooner you can stop it and just think in English, the better. 

I suggest:

• Summarise your day in English at the end of the day
• Think about 2 – 3 main things that happened
• Explain/talk about them in English

Start using the notes you make

So you make a load of notes in your notebook… all the new words and phrases you learned this week, but that is where they stay… WHY?!? Use them for speaking practice. Read your notebook out loud once a week and you will get some speaking practice and you will review your notes at the same time!

Give this a try:

• At the end of the week – look at your notebook
• Read your notes out loud x 3
• Record yourself the last time
• Listen to the recording for extra review.

Not sure what to speak about?

Anything will do. It doesn’t even need to be your own thoughts. You can use the internet to find someone else’s words and use those to practice speaking. You can learn new words, and practice speaking while enjoying reading and learning about new topics.

I recommend:

• Find a text (book/article)
• Read it out loud
• Review words that are difficult to pronounce

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