Chapter 6: Learning How to Speak (again)

6.1 Method

The way most courses and teachers work can actually stop you speaking English. This is because they teach you to write before they teach you to speak. When you try to speak you make sentences as if you were going to write them. So you translate and create whole sentences in your head.

When you are in a conversation and have to respond quickly to keep the communication going the more you try to create grammatically perfect sentences the more pressure (“arousal” or “anxiety”) you experience.

All language learners need some time to absorb and get used to the basic patterns of communication in the second language. It is OK not to talk and just to read and listen. The more you do this and the more you understand of what you read and hear the better. This is how you get going and lay foundations for speaking.

If you are a real beginner and have never studied English before the best thing you can do is to start reading like a small child and get used to the sounds and patterns of very simple sentences. You don’t need to know the rules (grammar) but if you really want something to be a bit clearer it is OK to look up the rule or have someone explain it to you. But don’t just study grammar and expect it all to stick. It won’t.

Most English learners have had some exposure to English already and often, because of the teaching techniques used, have studied a lot of grammar already. If you have studied a lot of grammar it doesn’t necessarily mean you can also speak comfortably.

In fact, the reverse is often true and people who know a lot of grammar and can read and write fairly well are still very low level speakers. Again, this is because they try to speak the way they write.

6.2 Correction

Through most courses teachers correct students’ accuracy and pronunciation, often in front of other students in the class. This can cause problems because students who get very little opportunity to speak anyway are faced with a severe test of their ability to speak accurately in front of all of their friends and the teacher. Ask most students what was the scariest thing about their language lessons in school and they will usually say “speaking in class”.

Everyone needs some correction, but the wrong kind of correction can be very damaging to confidence and when damage has been done it is often extremely hard to repair. English Out There repairs this damage by preparing and enabling learners to have positive speaking

experiences, with non-teachers.

6.3 Personalization

Every conversation you have is unique and highly personalized. Even if you try to have exactly the same conversation separately with three different people each conversation will be very different. The only constant in each will be you. So if you record and listen to them again they will, naturally, be personalized to you.

By recording your English Out There conversations and listening again you are creating an amazingly personalized and super-interesting English course for your brain to learn from naturally.

6.4 Transparency

In a second language, especially when you are at the beginning, you need to get comfortable using the main patterns of conversation. Often these are the hardest things to grasp because they are deeply rooted in the natural flow of the language. Often they involve grammatical rules that someone a long time ago decided should only be taught at a higher level.

English Out There lessons sometimes give you bits of language and don’t explain them. They are there because that is how people speak and they help you get into a conversation in which you understand the meaning of what is being discussed.

So, how do you make sure you can practice properly when you have the opportunity to speak with a fluent English speaker who is happy to help you? You prepare before you speak.It is better to have lots of short similar conversations with lots of different people in which you, the learner, are in control, than to have one long conversation in which you are not in control and end up struggling for understanding and also struggle for something to say.

English Out There gives you more control of your practice and having fewer surprises lowers your level of anxiety. When you are less anxious it makes it easier to speak. Having three or four similar practice conversations with different people but based upon the same lesson and language means that you will become less anxious each time you have a successful conversation and your confidence will start to grow. This is very important to your development as an English speaker.

You will begin to enjoy using English