Learn How To Speak English - Your Practical Guide

Students all say the same thing when they come to my language school inquiring about English courses;
"I'm looking for a conversation course"
..or "I don't want to study grammar"
..or "I just need to talk with the teacher as much as possible"

What they are really saying is ..."I'm looking for a course that will actually result in me being able to speak the language".

The most frequent problem with language courses is that they tend to focus on the grammar a bit too much and almost totally ignore the practice. The result is students who have good reading skills, can write to some extent, hardly understand spoken English and can't put more than two sentences together. Does this sound familiar?

The best way forward is to trust your teacher, so don't go telling the expert what you need to do to achieve your goal. You should however make your goal very clear. In order to start speaking a language you need to know what you want, you need to think in terms of
what you want to do in English not what you need to know about English. Studying the grammar and then trying figure out how to put it together just doesn't work.

Here is an example of looking at the same language from both perspectives:

Grammar focussed
1. Today we are going to study the modal verbs can, could, will, would.

If you approach your lessons by defining them in terms of grammar you will come away from your lesson with words to memorize and formulas for conjugating them.

Function focussed
2. Today we are going to learn how to ask for something or offer something.

It's clear that if you focus on figuring out how to actually do something on a practical level you will come away from your lesson feeling empowered, motivated and satisfied with your progress.

The funny thing is, you will always be working through your grammar, the actual content of your lessons remain the same, you just approach them differently.

Now go back to finish reading the English Success article.

...or, take a look at this fantastic tool for practising your spoken English!
Have you tried recording your pronunciation?