Improve listening and speaking skills in English at the same time. Many students want to improve their speaking in English but neglect listening. Know for sure that listening is a key to improving pronunciation and fluency in speaking. Read on and know how to be fluent in a short time.
I’d say that speaking a language is dependent on hearing the language. Can you imagine learning a language without hearing it first?
How do babies and children learn a language? If you observe, you will see that it’s basically from hearing and then copying the language they hear around them. Though the babies cannot read words or understand grammar, they can begin speaking words, phrases, and sentences.
Additionally, have you ever watched some movies like Tarzan and Jungle Book? Tarzan and the jungle boy sounded and moved like the animals around them. Purely fiction? No. There are stories of feral children on YouTube who lived with animals and copied the sounds and movements of the animals who nurtured them.
What about those hard of hearing only? People often think they are both deaf and mute, not realizing that the real problem is hearing.
Many of my students have admitted that they do not watch English movies because they could not understand enough. However, they don’t realize that the more they don’t listen, the more they won’t improve.
Improve listening and speaking by
- Watching English movies, videos, and TV programs
- Listening to English songs and singing the songs
- Taking dictation, taking notes, and mimicking or shadowing
- Listening to audio files and doing additional exercises
- Reading aloud and recording yourself
- Talking to yourself
- Having a speaking partner
- Immersing in a country that speaks the English language
- Using the language in daily life
Improve listening and speaking through listening activities
Watching English movies, videos, and TV programs
Let’s start with the easiest and most enjoyable one (well, supposedly).
Observing babies and children again will teach us that listening is the foremost important skill we need to develop.
We know of many parents who use television and cellphones as substitute nannies for them. I’m not saying the practice is good but let’s observe concerning language learning.
Think of the babies watching the YouTube videos for children. They hear the songs and conversations while seeing movements, lyrics, and words on the screen.
In the beginning, they just quietly watch. Later, we see these babies dancing. Much later, when they are able, we hear them utter the words and phrases or sing the songs they regularly hear.
We then realize that even though in the beginning, they can’t speak because they are yet babies, the sounds and vocabulary knowledge get embedded in their brain. They also develop a reading skill which is picture and sound association.
To learn English now as an adult can also start with movies, videos, and TV programs. It is better to watch short videos intended for ESL learning and move on to longer ones.
I will add here listening to podcasts and radio programs even though it’s not watching.
Listening to English Songs
For this activity to be fun, listen to songs you like or are interested in learning and singing. How do you maximize listening to English songs to improve your listening? Here are the steps how.
- Keep on listening. Even if you don’t intend to learn or sing the song, you will find yourself singing at least the chorus or a few stanzas of the song.
- Set a time to transcribe the song. Write down the lyrics you hear. Often, you will have to repeat playing the music to complete the lyrics. After you have written down the lyrics, try singing the song repeatedly while paying attention to the correct pronunciation of the words.
Listening to Dictation
Listening to a dictation is listening to words, phrases, or sentences said aloud or recorded on tape.
When you listen to the dictation, it should not be merely listening.
Here is a series of steps we can do to improve our listening
- Listen to dictated letters or spelling and imitate the sounds while writing.
- Then, listen to dictated words and phrases and imitate the sounds while writing.
- Next, listen to sentences with missing words and phrases, write those missing, and read aloud the sentences.
- Listen to jumbled words and put the words in the correct order to form sentences.
- Listen to whole sentences and write them. Then read aloud the sentences written.
You may opt to listen to whole paragraphs and write the keywords and main ideas. Later on, you can try transcribing a whole paragraph.
Listening to audio files and doing additional exercises
You may also copy and paste short English text from the internet or about yourself into Google Translate. Then click the speaker icon to hear the computer reading the text aloud. Mimic the sounds on the computer and keep repeating. This shadowing is good for practicing speeches or your interview answers without memorizing them. This mimicking is also advisable for IELTS or TOEFL Speaking Test preparations.
Reading aloud and recording yourself
Read aloud texts that interest you. Even without the recording, you can practice listening to yourself and thereby develop your listening ears.
You can use the resulting audio or video file to compare your pronunciation to that of the computer when using Google Translate.
I don’t suggest focusing on grammar when speaking because you might lose your ideas. Ideas are more important than grammar.
Instead, it is good to record yourself to listen to your recording later and take note of your mistakes. Later on, as you practice speaking, you will naturally correct yourself even while speaking.
Improve listening and speaking through speaking activities
Talking and listening to yourself
Don’t think you are crazy when you talk to yourself intending to improve your English speaking skills. You can talk to yourself in the mirror.
However, be spontaneous. Don’t speak to yourself with something memorized. You may also give feedback to yourself.
I’ve watched a video a long time ago of a pastor or an evangelist who didn’t have a congregation. He practiced preaching to empty chairs. He combined faith with action or practice. Eventually, he became very good at preaching to an audience.
Having a listening and speaking partner
The very reason many students hire private tutors is to have someone to practice speaking English. However, sometimes it can be costly depending on the school or the tutor you get.
Since I am an English tutor, I won’t discourage you from registering for private lessons in schools or hiring private English tutors.
On the other hand, I suggest that you be creative in getting your speaking partners to have more time to practice the language. There are many websites where you can find language partners.
Remember, however, that your goal is not just to practice speaking with your partner. There are times that ESL learners fail to listen because they focus on what they want to say. A conversation should be a two-way communication where at least two people listen and speak to each other. You cannot give good responses and feedback if you don’t try to listen well.
Thus, you can arrange with your speaking partner to have feedback time (not criticism time) for each other. In this way, both of you will try to listen carefully to each other.
Using it in your daily life
Even if you are in your own country, you can still find opportunities to practice English. Almost everyone wants to improve their English speaking skills, so try to find those people who would like to practice with you.
Let’s start with your family.
In your home, if you have children, start talking to your children in English. Giving commands or instructions to children or asking questions doesn’t have to be challenging. You can list down some simple ones and try to use them every day. When you start using English at home, you will get used to it, and it can just be natural to use the language outside of your home.
Here are some sentences you can use:
“Get up and make your bed.”
“It’s time for breakfast/lunch/dinner.”
“Go and take your bath.”
“Go and get dressed.”
“Do you have homework?”
“Do your homework.”
“Have you done your homework?”
“It’s time for bed. Go to bed now.”
When shopping, use these simple sentences:
“How much is this?”
“How much is a kilo/half-kilo?”
“I need ….”
“I’m sorry. Could you repeat?”
“Here you are. Thank you so much.”
You can also arrange with your family to have an “English Only Day” where everyone in the family has to speak English. For fun, you can agree to charge a penalty to anyone who speaks the native language.
It can be a simple task or some small amount. The small amounts raised can be put together to buy some goodies for the children.
With friends, it can also be the same.
Set days to speak English. Your goal can be as simple as using English in your conversations. You can also make your meeting with friends a little challenging by creating topics using a particular tense.
Immersing in a country where people speak the English language
Sometimes, using English in daily life will be difficult when in your country and there’s no one to speak English to. Thus, immersing in a country that speaks the English language is ideal but, of course, quite expensive.
The 2000s I guess is the decade with the highest number of Korean ESL learners coming to the Philippines. That was before the popularity of online Many of my students arrived for short-term or long-term stays in the Philippines. For the short-term, they enrolled in language schools, and for the long-term, they enrolled in Philippine primary schools, high schools, or universities.
Some students told me that learning from language academies and native speakers in their country was quite expensive. They also could speak English only when they were in the academy.
On the other hand, in the Philippines, they could practice everywhere except in their dormitories run by fellow Koreans. Some stayed with Filipino host families or Korean host families but hired Filipino English tutors to go to their homes for one-to-one tutoring after school.
After high school, some of my students enrolled in top universities in my country. Some moved to the USA and Singapore to take their university studies. One was even able to enter the University of Pennsylvania, ranked 12th in the world during her entry.
Improve listening and speaking with persistence
A long time ago, I went to Hong Kong to attend a one-week mission conference. Participants were Chinese, Koreans, Europeans, Americans, and the five of us, Filipinos.
When the first mealtime came, we realized there were no regular spoons and forks. Instead, there were chopsticks and soup spoons. Naturally, most of us who were not Koreans and Chinese didn’t know how to use the chopsticks.
When we tried to use the chopsticks to pick the chicken cuts was frustrating with the chicken going in different directions. Using the soup spoon for putting rice into our mouths was also quite annoying.
Though we all tried using the chopsticks, I noticed that some Americans and Europeans gave up immediately, whereas we, Filipinos, continued using the chopsticks. On the third day, our group made it. We started enjoying the use of the chopsticks and heard some Europeans say, “We wish we had continued using the chopsticks.”
Listening to the English language (or any language) is like this. The beginning is difficult, but your listening skills will improve over time. Just continue doing activities that will help improve your listening skills. As a result, your pronunciation and speaking skills will also get much better and you’ll develop fluency much faster.
As I have mentioned in How to Improve Your English Communication Skills, listening is a receptive skill, and speaking is a productive skill. You produce what you receive and you speak what you hear.
How to improve in listening and speaking? Simple. Listen and speak. That’s all.