Recently, one of PTEAcademicExam readers asked us to give some advice on how to improve English speaking skills for PTE Academic.
He had a pretty impressive score in writing, reading & listening (W75, R80, L80) but he always missed his mark in speaking where was not able to score more than 55. And that’s pretty less.
He was not able to find a partner to practice English every day, and it is very important if you want to enhance your speaking skills.
Very often, I come across such candidates who can read and write really well in English but when it comes to speaking, they are very hesitant & nothing comes out of their mouth.
So, the main questions which come to everyone’s mind – Is there any way to improve your English speaking skills without a speaking partner?
Well, The answer is YES. In this article, I will share techniques you can use to practice speaking English alone.
3 Ways Improve English Speaking Skills Without A Partner
1. Learn English With Hollywood Movies & American TV series – People from Sweden, Netherlands & Denmark are world’s best non-native English speakers. You know why? because most of the movies they watch in cinemas are from Hollywood, they listen to English music & they watch American sitcoms.
I guess now you know, what you need to do. Live life like an Englishmen. Watch Hollywood movies, listen to English songs & watch American sitcoms.
Pick an American sitcom & start watching it today (How I Met Your Mother is my personal favorite.) You can take the help of subtitles for few initial episodes but eventually, you can graduate to watching shows in English with English subtitles and then with no subtitles
Benefits: This practice will help you learn English that is used regularly by native English speakers & increase your vocabulary.
2. Use ESL Program Podcasts – A podcast is an audio broadcast over the Internet. English language podcasts are a great way to improve English. The podcasts prepared by English-native speakers introduce you to common slangs, natural expressions, and interesting vocabulary.
Podcasts give you the opportunity to listen to people speak English in a variety of accents, and get comfortable with this variety. Check out these websites:
3. Listen to the recordings & repeat what you hear – ‘Practice Repeating’ what you hear out loud. This is the most important step to do if you really want to improve your English speaking.
Listen attentively to the recording, pay attention to the rhythm & how intonation is used to show attitudes & emphasis. Record your own voice, listen to it & keep tuning it.
Don’t simply repeat dialogues, try to grasp the true feeling of the sentence. Without emotional input, you will sound monotonous and boring. Speak as if that’s exactly what you want to say with true feelings.
Do you feel hesitant to speak English? And you don’t want to at the receiving end of people making fun of your wrong English. I am going to tell you a method, I personally used while I was going through the same phase.
CALL A CUSTOMER CARE !!! Yes, you read it right. Call a customer care, choose English as your preferred language & then talk to customer care executive in English.
They won’t make fun of your wrong English. You can talk to them about their new services or you can register a complaint or discuss a problem you are facing with their product.
Give a call to your telecom service provider (Vodafone, Airtel, Idea) or to your bank or to any other company whose product you owe or simply know.
Which methods do you use? Share your methods with us.
It really works talking to unknown person on cell phone like customer care or consultancies. It will be more better to speak with people in English even though they are answering you in other language. And never think what other people think about you because that is the biggest thing which will always keep you back, just keep on going on your path and ignore the negativity. You will succeed at the end.
Nice article!
I have appeared for PTE twice. I scored approx 51 in speaking in first exam and 90 in second. Yes! you read it right. I scored full marks second time in speaking. The first approach you have mentioned was the key trick for me as suggested by my partner. She is fond of watching all Hollywood series and i did not use to watch it at all. She suggested to me watch it and it helped a lot.
could you please mention few hollywood series to watch?
1. How I Met Your Mother
2. Friends