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Romy Johnson, ESL expert and owner of ‘Cool Gurus’ and the ‘British India Academy’, shares his expertise on the importance of the English language and gives his advice on how to communicate clearly.
I would like to share a few tips to help you to overcome difficulties you might be experiencing with speaking English, using some simple methods to improve your English communication skills.
Continue Talking!
A common challenge I see with many of our ESL learners, that stops them from speaking English fluently, is because they are unsure of their vocabulary and grammar. They take long pauses when talking which can be distracting, making it difficult for listeners to follow.
My advice for overcoming this challenge is to just keep talking! Use filler phrases rather than stopping talking altogether. Examples of filler phrases are:
- Hmm
- Um, ah, err
- You see
- To be honest
- Well
- Actually
Filling silences with these phrases doesn’t really add anything to the conversation but it gives you time to find your words so that your conversation is not interrupted. As with most communication tools, try not to overuse filler words! Using too many is distracting, start by using just one filler phrase for every few sentences. You can practice this by recording yourself speaking in English for a few minutes and when you’re finished, listen to the recording to see how often you stop and whether you speak smoothly.
Be Understood
My next piece of advice is to make sure you are being understood.
Sometimes, because of the language barrier, it can be difficult to know whether people have really understood what you’re saying. The easiest way to overcome this challenge is to just ask them! Don’t worry about sounding rude. Explain to them that you’re learning English and want to make sure that your communication is clear.
Start by trying phrases like:
- I’m not sure if I said that correctly, do you mind repeating what I said?
- I want to make sure you understood what I was trying to tell you. Do you mind repeating it?
- Can you run that past me again, so I know you got it?
Likewise, there may be times when you are listening to spoken English and are unsure of what the speaker is trying to tell you or how to check this. Don’t be afraid to ask them to repeat what they said! People are usually very willing to repeat themselves to avoid misunderstandings. Another effective technique is to repeat what they said to you, to ensure you understood it correctly.
Examples to assist you with this include:
- If I understood what you are saying correctly, (repeat what they said)
- You mean (repeat what they said)
- Let me get this straight, you are saying… (repeat what they said)
Find your Rhythm!
Another problem for ESL learners is developing a natural rhythm in their communication. If you speak too quickly, words may be mispronounced. Speak too slowly and it can be difficult to follow. Solve this by developing your own natural speaking rhythm (the speed and sound of your communication) which helps you to communicate clearly. The pace of your speech should be easy for your listener to follow and gives you time to think. You can experiment with this by reading aloud short paragraphs until you find the perfect rhythm. Try saying sentences slowly and then repeat it again faster, then even faster again. With time, you will even figure out how to master other communication challenges such as sentence stress and intonation. Practicing these techniques regularly will help you to reach your goal of speaking fluent English.
How Cool Gurus can help!
For so many non-English speakers, IELTS preparation courses support their language learning and cracking this test enables them to gain recognition by educational institutions, employers, governments and professional bodies from around the world. It’s a web-based learning system for students who are not able to attend classes regularly and specialized preparation plans can be created by the Online IELTS trainer. It’s aimed at providing a One-Stop solution for the best online IELTS preparation courses, for individuals with basic to intermediate levels of English knowledge. It provides in-depth interactive lessons for every section of the IELTS, including 100+ videos, thousands of targeted practice questions and realistic practice tests.
Cool Gurus is a Canada based eLearning products and services company with well-established operations in Kerala, India with the British India Academy. Romy and his team are now aiming to provide an end-to-end suite of eLearning and web solutions for businesses, education, charities and the public sector to improve teaching and learning of English, so that it is done in a much simpler way via low-cost online courses. Cool Gurus Solutions provides blended learning management through mobile and cloud-based Learning Management System (LMS).
Cool Gurus will also provide and a wide range of online language learning courses including teaching English for Indian, Chinese, Polish, Russian, Portuguese (Brazilian) speakers, as well as helping those people who wish to learn about IELTS courses online. Learning modules will be available on-demand, with a dedicated LMS or with a subscription plan for individuals.
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This post is written in collaboration with Nidhi Mahajan —a partner of The Good Men Project.
Photo provided by the author.