I have recently been working with a number of students who want to improve their IELTS speaking. This is great news as often students are a little gung-ho about this and don’t really prepare well and end up disappointed in the exam.
I know that for some people speaking is actually the most difficult thing to practise because there aren’t many people around them with whom they can do this. It reminded me of when I first learnt French. I was still at school and there weren’t that many students in my French class (languages are not really popular in the UK sadly) so my chances to practise were limited. I did however have a dog at home and he was always interested in anyone who would engage with him in any language!
So I used to practice my French conversation with my dog. I chose different topics and conversed with him. Obviously he didn’t reply so the conversation was a little one-sided, but it helped me with my pronunciation and also to talk about a wide range of topics giving me the chance to use different vocabulary and sentence types. I always got a ‘look’ from him, some sort of expression, so it did feel like a conversation.
Therefore, if you have a dog, or cat or any pet then you can try this method.
If you haven’t, then here are some other goofy ways you can practise which are similar.
Warning – you might want to do some of these behind closed doors!
All the activities require a little imagination, do them when you are performing routine tasks.
1. Singing:
I love to sing and do these quite often. Great for in the shower, washing the dishes, cleaning or driving.
Choose a song you like and make up English lyrics – anything will do, wild and wacky or sad and sentimental.
Invent a ‘jingle’ to advertise your favourite chocolate bar, car, band etc.. let your imagination go wild!
Make up a rap about what you are doing.
OK, so how do these help anything, you may be asking. There’s spontaneity, which is something you also need when speaking – you don’t know what’s coming next. You can be totally uninhibited and try anything – true freedom of expression! It will help you drag out vocabulary from your boots, you’ll be surprised at what you know. You’ll also find out what you don’t know – no worries – look these words up in your dictionary later on.
2. Present a TV show!
Cooking is GREAT for this! As you prepare your dish/meal imagine you are on TV and show your audience how to make it.
Choose another task you are doing and imagine you are making a video to show others how to do it.
This is great practice for giving instructions and describing a process. Conjure up a team to help you and soon you’ll have your own TV studio!! Get into the part. You could even invite your friends to join in too!
3. Recite a poem:
Learn a poem or verse by heart and then practise it while you go about your daily tasks. You can, alternatively, base it on a poem in your own language or even make one up.
When I was learning French at school we used to memorise poems and ‘perform’ them in class – great for pronunciation!!
4. Converse with pets!
Converse with your dog or cat! You have a real live partner for your conversation even if you get very quizzical looks! (I always did). It adds a dimension to your creativity and great for pronunciation.
5. Making speeches.
OK, you need a microphone for this, so grab that washing-up brush, wooden spoon or shower gel bottle and make that speech to your invisible audience!!
6. Become a tour guide!
Grab your ‘microphone’ again and pretend you are a tour guide and give a guided tour of your city, town or village!
7. Recite tongue-twisters!
Great for pronunciation
Make your language practice a part of your daily life!!