IC1 and IC2 Speaking

17/5/2011

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Record your speaking

Here's a reminder from last week's lesson....

If you want to improve your speaking you should record yourself using your mp3 player or mobile phone.  
Then listen and analyse yourself. 

But what should you listen for?

Grammar
  • Are your verb tenses correct?
  • Is your sentence structure (subject, verb, object) OK?
  • Do you use prepositions correctly?
  • Are you using Articles correctly?
  • Are all your sentences simple, or do you use complex grammar (such as first conditional, reported speech, passive etc)?

Vocabulary

  • Can you find the words you need when you speak?
  • Do you only use simple words?  Can you use some new words from class?
  • Do you connect your ideas together? (using firstly, after that, while, so, and then etc.)

There are so many things you can check.  It will help you to understand what your speaking problems are.

To help you start here are some topics for you to talk about.  And then I'm sure you can think of some other topics yourself.

You can record yourself again and again with the same topic.  Hopefully each time you can better and include more complex grammar and vocabulary.

And with all this practice your speaking level should match your class level!

Happy speaking!
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IC2 Congestion charge debate

8/4/2011

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Why don't you listen and analyse your own speaking?

Well done!

This was your first debate in class and you only had 10 minutes to prepare, so I think you did very well.  Also it's very difficult to speak when you know it is being recorded, so I think you may have felt a little nervous at the start.

I managed to write down some of the "typical" speaking mistakes that students make, and we can go through those in the next class.  However, you might find it useful to listen to yourselves, and think about your fluency and accuracy.  Notice where you make mistakes or what you would like to improve, and see if you can work on that.  

Click here to listen to the debate

Unfortunately, with all the pressure of the recording and the excitement of the congestion charge(!) you didn't have time to work on using those great "discussion phrases" that we looked at in class.  Perhaps you could listen and think about which phrases you could have used. 

Recording your own speaking every few days or every week is a very good idea as it helps you to focus on your mistakes at home.  Then you can try to avoid these mistakes when speaking in class. 
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