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    4.  Effective ways to improve your speaking skills

Speaking is often the hardest of the four language skills. It's one thing listening and understanding, or even reading and writing, but it's another talking to a native speaker and not getting all flustered and experiencing brain shut down. But with the right tricks (and constant diligence), you can get over the learning curve with ease.

Part 1 of 3: Improving Your English at Home

1 Record yourself. When you're by your lonesome, you have no reason to be nervous. You can let your brain flow freely -- so record yourself now! Your English is going to be at its best. Find a book on tape or a clip online that you can mimic. Does your English sound the same?

·         Or record yourself reading from a book. You'll be able to actually hear yourself (which we surprisingly have trouble with in real time) and be able to pinpoint the quirks in your English and where you slow down and have trouble. Then rerecord it and see how you've improved!

2 Read aloud. If your hands are full or you don't have a recording device, simply read aloud -- ideally, every day for at least 15 or 20 minutes. You'll get used to speaking for longer periods of time and forming long sentences won't phase you. And you'll run into words you can add to your vocabulary.

·         It's best to choose books with lots of dialogue. The language is generally more real and a bit simpler; after all, dialogue is conversation. Being able to read poetry is great but conversations are a much more practical skill, you know?

3 Listen to mp3s, podcasts, and the news. We live in such a digital age; even if you think you don't have native speakers at your disposal, you actually do. Scientific American, CBC, BBC and Australia's ABC Radio are great mp3s to get started with, but there's also a million podcasts out there and handfuls of news stations, too. And the best part is that these people generally speak clearly and have pretty generic accents.

·         Another bonus? You'll have interesting things to talk about in English! You'll be up on all the news - even if you're just repeating what you've heard (not like anyone will know!). You're improving your English by expanding your knowledge. Two birds with one stone, really.

4 Listen to music, too. Alright, so it's not as good as listening to spoken news/podcasts/etc., but it is good. If you can concentrate on one song a day or so, event better. Just make sure you actively try to understand it. Google the lyrics and sing along!

·         It's best to stick to ballads -- songs that go a bit more slowly. Pick one a day until you have it mostly memorized and understand what the words actually mean. It's a great way to learn idioms and slang, too.

5 Watch TV and movies. An integral part of speaking is hearing or listening. Because of this, the easiest way to involve yourself in a conversation without actually having one is to watch English TV and movies. If you absolutely have to, turn the subtitles on -- but try to resist!

·         Movies are great because you watch them over and over; the more you watch them, the more things you'll pick up. TV is good though, too, because you develop relationships with the characters and you grow accustomed to how they talk and the quirks of their speech.

6 Narrate your world. As you go about your day-to-day, talk to yourself. What are you doing? What are you feeling? What do you see, taste, smell, hear ? What are you touching? What are you thinking? Right now you're reading wiki how. You're sitting in a chair (probably). Maybe you're listening to music or have the TV on in the background. The possibilities are limitless.

·         Think the future and the past, too. What are you going to do next? What did you just do? You get to thinking in English consistently to truly get better. The more you think in English, the faster it'll come out.