Everyone wants a speaking partner to help them improve their English.
But, sometimes it's hard to find a partner with good level of English and something interested to say.
Read below for some tips and activities for improving your IELTS speaking by yourself!
How to Talk to Yourself (and Not Look Crazy)
1.
Amateur Dubbing: Choose a movie or TV show or YouTube video you like Tap
into your inner actor and try acting out what each character is saying. Don’t
try to say it exactly the same as in the actual scene but try to keep the
meaning more or less the same. Or completely change the meaning and make it
funny! Try recording yourself because maybe you’ll become a famous YouTube star
doing this.
2.
Mirror Pep Talk: I know, I know, you already spend a few hours a day
talking to yourself in the mirror. Here are some ideas about what you can say
to yourself: your to-do list for the day, give yourself a pep talk, insult
yourself, give a summary of what you did that day, tell the mirror your darkest
secrets, practice failing to say tongue twisters. If you’ve got any other
creepy ideas please keep them to yourself!
3.
Pause and Predict: When watching something on TV or the internet (interviews
are really good for this) – pause it and predict aloud what they will say next.
After you listen to their response, practice repeating it (not word for word,
but try to repeat the basic meaning).
4.
Bore a Pet: Talk
to your cat/dog/fish. You will feel less embarrassed even though you are
basically still talking to yourself. Use a Part 2 Speaking Cue card to
practice.
5.
A Song a Day: Learn a song a day. Put the lyrics on your phone and sing
it throughout the day softly until you’ve completely learned. Use every break
you can to do this – in the shower, waiting for the bus, etc. If you don’t want
to use a song – maybe learn part of a famous speech or scene from a film.
6.
IELTS Speaking Tests: The examiner is basically just a tape recorder reading
questions off a piece of paper – you can replace them with a piece of paper!
Read and answer the questions yourself. Record yourself and go back and try to
do better the next time!
7.
Going to Bed:
Research has shows that practicing in your head can be just as effective as
physical practice. In experiments, basketball players that imagined themselves
shooting improved as much as ones who were actually shooting. The best time to
do this is at night as your brain will continue the practice through your
sleep. Think in English. Have a conversation or remember a conversation you had
earlier as you drift off to sleep…
8.
Dictation Diary: Start a speech dictation diary of your daily activities. This
will work well because you will repeat a lot of the same words every day (brush
my teeth, not bother to shower, etc) and get better at saying those. You will
also work in new vocabulary each day (met my future wife today, had terrible diarrhea,
etc.)
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