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Do you want to improve your English-speaking skills? If so, keep reading because this article is made for you!
Many learners of English do not have native speakers that they can talk to on a daily basis. This challenge was specifically designed for someone to build their speaking skills without needing anyone else. The best part is that it can help you improve, no matter what level you are at! So how does it work?
Take a topic and talk about it for less than one minute in English and record yourself doing it. That’s it!
We have a saying in English, “Half the battle is just showing up.” This means, even if you are unprepared, unfocused, unmotivated, distracted–BUT ARE IN THE RIGHT PLACE, half of the work is already done! Just getting your camera out begins the process of thinking about English. Next, figure out what you want to talk about.
There are two different aspects of speaking that you can focus on: fluency or pronunciation.
Are you trying to increase the speed that you recall words from your memory that you’ve already learned? If so, then find any random list of questions off the internet and choose one question to answer. The difficulty of any question will have a significant impact on your answer, so make sure to choose a question that you feel comfortable with before you start recording. Once you have a great question, go for it! Begin your video by reading the question first. The total time you talk should be about 45 seconds–definitely more than 30 seconds, but never more than 1 minute.
This process gets your brain activated thinking about all the vocabulary words that you already know surrounding that topic and forces you to speak using them in the same way that you would if you were talking to someone. Answers don’t have to be perfect, but they should be satisfactory. If the video isn’t as good as you like, I would suggest that you use your dissatisfaction in today’s video as your motivation to focus more on the video that you will make tomorrow! In this challenge, quantity beats quality; 30 mediocre videos are better than 10 great ones.
Instead of fluency, are you trying to sound more like a native speaker? If pronunciation is your goal, choose something to read. Any website that is made for English speakers will do fine. Unlike speaking practice for fluency, you don’t have to answer any questions. All you need to do is read. Pay special attention to all of the sounds of English that are not exactly congruent with sounds in Korean. ㄹ is neither R nor L, ㅂ is not V, and so on. Once you feel ready, hit “record” and start talking. Again, the goal is about one minute.
On day two and beyond, the goals remain similar but slightly different. If you are recording for fluency, find a new question and begin, whereas if you are recording for pronunciation, listen to the recording from the day before, very intently focusing on the sound (or sounds) that you believe are your weakest and are in the greatest need of improvement. Focus on refining those sounds in the next recording.
Both skills are great for totally different reasons. Fluency builds your comfort in thinking in English and words will come to you faster the more that you use them. Pronunciation improves other people’s perception of your English skills which is a tool for increasing their desire to communicate with you.
Either skill is a win-win. Repeat this process for 30 days and see where it takes you!
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▲ Dept of. Global Language Center
Prof.Michael Wesorick
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