Exercise A
Use a mirror or the camera of your phone and watch yourself speaking. Talk about a specific topic, such as your hobbies or something you are passionate about. Now, you can see what words make you lose your flow or cause you problems. Whenever you notice that something doesn’t work, just try again.
What did you notice?
Possible struggles:
- struggle to pronounce “th”
- some word combinations were hard to articulate
- many breaks in-between talking
- wrong intonations
- …
Examples:
When you notice something that doesn’t sound quite right, just try again. Practice is key!
Exercise B
Another handy tip for practising your language skills is to use apps and programmes designed for chatting in different languages. You can use apps to talk to native speakers who want to learn your language, or you can use AI tools to practice your pronunciation. If you don’t have a programme at hand, or if you would prefer not to use AI, you can start by recording yourself speaking, then listening to the recording again.
When talking / listening to native speakers:
- accept feedback from native speakers
- try to catch up new vocabulary in different contexts
- improve listening skills
- learn rhythm and intonation of the language by coping your speaking partner or by looking up words online
- try to engage in topics that you struggle with in order to learn how to overcome language barriers
- pick up on idioms and collocations
- ...
Exercise C
If you want to practice structuring your thoughts and arguments, journaling can be a great tool. It challenges you to write down your ideas in a structured and organized manner. By doing so, you’ll practice the language you want to learn every day for a few minutes, and it always lets you keep track of your improvements.
To start, write down a note about your day in about 5 sentences.
As you can see in the example text, you can use specific topical vocabulary (holidays/Christmas).
Exercise D
Next, use the entry from your journal to practice speaking by making it into a one-minute-speech:
- Get ready to record yourself using your mobile or any suitable device.
- Start speaking about it for 60 seconds without looking at your notes recording your speech.
To focus on structure, try to use at least three of the following expressions:
- To start with ...
- Another thing ...
- What is more ...
- Just a small point ...
- I would also like to mention ...
- I almost forgot ...
- And besides ...
- In addition ...
To make it more challenging and develop your speaking skills further make a one-minute talk / impromptu speech:
- Choose a topic from the list below to talk about first and start speaking about it for 60 seconds impromptu (= without preparation) while recording your speech.
- Listen to it and write down two things you want to improve.
- Give another impromptu speech about a second topic, record it and check if you could avoid the mistakes you identified in your first speech.
Topics:
- My biggest concern for the future
- A day I will never forget
- One of my biggest mistakes
- A personal achievement I am most proud of