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“I can’t practice my speaking because I don’t have a speaking partner.” This is a common problem for anyone who is learning a second language. However, there are things you can do to practice your speaking—even if you are completely alone! In this lesson, you will learn about shadowing, reading out loud, and visualizing situations. You will also learn how music, literature, poetry, and visual media can help you to improve your pronunciation, stress, and intonation. You can always find a way to practice your English and to improve your speaking skills! Get more English resources on my website: More of my videos about how to learn English: My Top 5 Tips for Learning English More Effectively “Can I learn English by myself?“ In this lesson: 0:00 5 ways to practice speaking English ALONE! 1:02 1. Shadowing 2:47 2. Reading out loud 4:14 3. Visualizing 5:54 4. Singing a song 7:28 5. Poems & Monologues TRANSCRIPT Hey, everyone. I'm Alex. Thanks for clicking and welcome to this lesson on five ways to practice speaking by yourself. Another way to put this is solo speaking practice. So, in this video, I will give you five things that you can do to help you practice your speaking even though you are by yourself and even though you don't have a speaking partner or you are not in an English class or you don't have a private teacher, just because you don't have someone to speak with doesn't mean that you can't exercise your speaking muscles by yourself. So, that's what we are going to talk about in this video. And before I start, if this is your first time watching something from my channel, make sure to like the video, share it, and subscribe to my channel. That's all for now. Let's start with number one. Shadowing. Another way to say shadowing is mimicking or perhaps listening and repeating. So, you can watch videos, you can listen to audio recordings, you can listen to dialogues, you can watch and listen to movies and TV shows, you can listen to what people are saying, and repeat. Basically, pause, rewind, and repeat. Repeat the intonation, repeat the pronunciation as well. This is a way to help you practice and to see how the language is supposed to sound or if you... Another way to think about it is to think about how you, you, excuse me, how you want to sound. So, maybe you have found a good role model that you want to emulate, that you want to mimic or shadow. So, for example, if you enjoy the sound of my voice, for example, you can watch some of my videos, pause them, repeat after me, listen. How does my voice sound? How is my intonation? Am I going up or am I going down at the end of my sentences? So, listen and repeat. Shadowing. This is a good way to make sure that you are getting a model for how the language is supposed to sound or how you want to speak. Let's go on to number two. Reading out loud. Pick a book. Pick an article. Pick a paragraph. Anything at all that will help you to read and to exercise your speaking muscles. Reading out loud is great because it allows you to pay attention to the structure of the language you are studying. You can slow down. You can learn and practice the correct forms. You can look at, “Oh, okay, what tense is this? Oh, I can use this word here? Oh, okay.“ So, you are forcing yourself to speak correctly if the writing is good, of course. So, for example, you might pick up a book like this one. So, lately, I have been reading The Art of Living, which is a philosophical book by Epictetus. I mean, it's not in the original Greek. So, you could pick up a book like this and read, “Okay, nothing truly stops you. Nothing truly holds you back. For your own will is always within your control.“ Good advice. Good advice. So, read out loud. Practice your ability also to decode words. And let's move on to number three. Visualizing. So, in this situation, you want to imagine real situations where you would use English. You would practice what you would say in a particular context, a particular situation. So, for example, you can imagine yourself speaking to someone while you are ordering a coffee. Like, imagine you are ordering a coffee, for example. Or, imagine you are making an appointment with the doctor. What would I say in that situation? “Oh, okay. I'd like to make an appointment.“ Or, “I'd like to make a reservation.“ If you're calling a hotel, for example. “For two nights, please.“ Okay? Even short sentences like this will help you to continue stretching your muscles, exercising your speaking muscles. It's all about practice. So, visualize your situation, put yourself in that moment, and yes, you will feel a little funny, but that's okay. You will get used to it after a little while. So, I do the same thing in French from time to time. My French still is not great, but sometimes I talk to my walls, you know? […]
