ENRICHING YOUR SPOKEN ENGLISH AS AN ESL/EFL TEACHER (LISTENING APPROACH)

There are several ways one can improve his spoken English. Listening to native speakers has been the most effective way for me.

As an English teacher, your fluency, diction, pronunciation, grammar, etc. are your assets.

They're what you got paid for. You shouldn't fool around them. Acquire the skills!

Have you ever received positive reinforcement from students like "Ma, I cherish the way you speak"? or from parents like " I love your English teacher. His spoken English is just amazing."

There's always this pressure on you as an English teacher to display these assets.

Everyone would want to give you that graveyard silence because you speak like the Queen.

Dear ESL/EFL teachers, You can improve significantly by listening to native or near-native speakers to speak competently. This is learning by imitation. We become what we are by what we see and listen to.

Summer is here again!

In this, I will dish out some steps you should take during this vacation to develop yourself in speaking before the next session in September.

Let's say, you're a graduate of English or you've had several certificates in the field and you already have the theoretical perception of English pronunciation in your head.

You have read several phonetics and phonology books from scholars like Peter Roach, A.C Gimson, Ayo Osisanwo, etc among others. That's not a problem.

The problem is bringing the theory to practice. Integrating all the phonological units in order to stimulate practical speaking competence.

THESE ARE SOME ACTIONS YOU SHOULD TAKE

👉 DOWNLOAD AND LISTEN MORE TO BBC RADIO NEWS REGULARLY ( I strongly recommend BBC Sounds)

👉 LISTEN TO TOPICS/SPEAKERS THAT SPUN YOUR INTEREST ON TEDx TALKS REGULARLY

👉 ATTEND ELT WEBINARS ( I strongly recommend British Council's webinars for teachers)

👉 YOU CAN CONSIDER TAKING COURSES ONLINE (I recommend www.futurelearn.com, Coursera or edx)

👉 LOOK OUT FOR SPACES ON TWITTER AND JOIN CONVERSATION ON TOPICS.)

👉 RECORD YOUR VOICE OR CREATE PODCASTS AS IF YOU ARE TEACHING (I use anchor)

👉 SPEAK AND LISTEN TO YOURSELF REGULARLY AND DO SELF-EVALUATIONS.

These are some of the many ways you can enrich your speaking skills. You will surely notice an impressive transformation in how you speak from time to time.

Note: It's not a day job as Rome was not built in a day. Be consistent and always practice speaking.

THANKS FOR READING!!!

Let me have your view about this submission.

Hammed O. Lawal